Comedian Leo Gonzalez was once an aspiring TV reporter and now has a huge following online for his impersonations of reporters and other characters he’s created.
For as long as he can remember, Gonzalez has found humor in almost everything, even TV News.
In fact, it was his impersonation of a news reporter that earned the comedian his first viral video.
“I made one video, which was like mocking news. That one kind of got some traction, so I had gone from like 10 or so followers to like 5,000 that night,” he said.
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That was four months into the pandemic.
Today, Leo Gonzalez has over 1 million followers on TikTok and over 100,000 on Instagram, all because of his impersonations.
His videos are so popular, they've taken him from Hanford to Hollywood.
"We're in LA. I haven't taken it in yet,” he says.
Leo moved to LA this year after leaving his job working behind the scenes in TV news, of all things.
Now, he works full-time in front of the camera creating content on social media.
“TikTok reached out to me, and they made me part of their Latin creator program thing, and then I was like okay, pressure,” he said.
Leo's has been creating content for years, including about homelessness, something he and his mom experienced when he was growing up.
“I think it was a good way to not be as lonely. In school, I didn’t have a lot of tools for making friends, but I had the tools to make groups of people laugh,” he added.
Those tools helped Leo get through the toughest part of his life, when just a few years ago, his mom suffered a series of strokes and then his best friend passed away.
“The trauma of losing my friend, that took a long time because he was the guy that would go with me to see my mom in the hospital. So when you lose that, I didn’t even know my name,” he said.
But now many people do know Leo’s name, including his comedy idol George Lopez.
“He’s been really opening himself to help me. He wants to come to my first show. He's actually supposed to come by today to help with my monologue to make a little cameo, which is weird,” Gonzalez said.
Leo is now hosting his own show on TikTok highlighting other talented Latinos and playing a real life version of the anchor reporter he loves to impersonate.
Leo not only is funny, but there is truth in his humor and his humility.
Who is Leo Gonzalez? Comedian? TikTok-er? Instagrammer? Influencer?
“I make videos that I hope are funny to some people,” he answered.
