Adiós, El Cucuy

In 2008, famed radio host El Cucuy de la Mañana (The Morning Bogeyman) bid farewell to listeners of Spanish-language radio. For over two decades, El Cucuy’s trademark wit, cunning humor, and relentless use of laugh tracks boomed over the morning airwaves. Los Angelenos tuned in historic numbers to chuckle Monday through Friday to El Cucuy’s radio show where matters of immigration, both personally and politically, were laced with humorous fanfare. As opposed to anger, laughter as a response to injustices can suppress, trivialize, and “laugh off” the matter at hand. Despite El Cucuy’s departure, the lucrative pairing of immigration as fodder and laughter as its chief sentiment continues to reign on Spanish-language morning radio.