Comedia Tapping Into New Markets: Sofia Niño De Rivera’s Tour Indicates Growth of Latin Comedy

Sofia
MORE MARKETS, MAS RISAS: Mexican comedian Sofia Niño de Rivero sold out 12 of 14 shows during her “Vacaciones De Sus Hijos” (“Vacation From Her Children”) tour across the U.S. (Photo by 3AF Photography)

For comedians, tours are a great way to connect with and grow your audience and to test new material; or, they can simply serve as an excuse to escape your children.

It was all of the above for Sofia Niño de Rivera, a Mexican stand-up star who recently wrapped up a successful 14-city trek across the U.S. which she aptly titled “Vacation From Her Children Tour” delivering her witty observations on life, motherhood and Mexican and American cultures that her 2.5 million TikTok followers have co-signed.

“You can love your children, but you can hate them for not letting you sleep, so you’re living with that duality,” Niño de Rivera tells Pollstar. “I titled it ‘Vacation From Her Children’ because it’s something that all parents think and say, ‘I need to go away for three days because if I don’t, I’m going to go crazy.’”

Like many comedians, Niño de Rivera taps into the dualities we experience in our lives that can be uncomfortable to talk about but she does it with an empathetic and hilarious touch, while pointing out the absurdity of it.

Her talents have helped her achieve a number of milestones throughout her 14-year career — including becoming the first woman to have a Spanish-language comedy special on Netflix with “Expuesta” in 2016. Her success coincided with the pandemic, which kept people in their homes with devices glued to their hands, which expanded Niño de Rivera’s reach beyond Mexico and Latin America.

The narrative of Latin American culture’s globalization is usually tied to the growth of music, but it can also be applied to comedy. Artists like Niño de Rivera and Franco Escamilla, who is performing at Inglewood, California’s shiny new Intuit Dome next month, are tapping into more markets in the U.S. and beyond.

“Now you’re seeing Latin comedians inspired by international comedians, getting better prepared with their stand-up comedy,” says Manuel Moran, Live Nation’s vice president of Latin Touring who promoted Niño de Rivera’s U.S. tour. “People feel like they’re experiencing something new. … It’s a genre that is going to keep growing.”

Niño de Rivera is paying attention, expressing admiration for comedians like Dave Chappelle, who she says goes on stage “with cadence and confidence” that seems effortless.

“It’s like those ballerinas at a ballet you watch and think it’s super easy. I try to do what they do and break my whole body,” she adds.

Stand-up comedy has taken longer to evolve in Latin America, Niño de Rivera says, but it’s growing thanks to the various digital platforms that exist offstage. The more people who upload their bits on YouTube or TikTok, the more aspiring comedians are inspired to try something new.

“Every time we see more [Latin] comedians, we see different styles of comedy, not just stand-up, we also see content on platforms for Latinos, and it’s very much empowering the voice of Latinos and Spanish-speakers. This is because, in addition to the fact that there are many of us, we have a lot of power in the market,” Niño de Rivera says. “We love to consume and whoever captivates us, we are super faithful to them.”

Moran saw that firsthand on Niño de Rivera’s recent U.S. tour with tickets selling fast in cities like El Paso, where she grossed $146,400 off 1,940 tickets sold at Plaza Theatre, according to Pollstar Boxoffice. It’s not her first U.S. rodeo, but it was her biggest yet, selling 95% of tickets in every venue.

“In every cycle, we learn,” Moran says. “We all had a feeling that on this one, it was going to be better because she’s been working on her career doing more [comedy specials] and being more active on social media. You can sense her career is growing. We feel very proud of the results, but honestly, it caught us by surprise. We were expecting decent results, but they were really good. … It’s waking us up to pay attention to a genre that is really important and it gives people a different experience.”

The shows were so good that Niño de Rivera received something she doesn’t often see. “There’s a lot of standing ovations in the U.S., something that one is not accustomed to in Mexico,” she says. “I love it, and I love touring over there.”