Against the odds, Julian Gonzalez is building a successful career out of telling jokes.

After graduating from Alisal High School, Julian Gonzalez immediately started working at a carpet store. Then he enlisted in the Army, and served for three years, including a tour in Iraq. When he came back home to Salinas at 24, he wasn’t sure what to do with himself. So he went to manage his father Guillermo’s auto repair shop, Memo’s Smogs 40 (so named because they charged $40 for a smog test). He learned responsibility fast, running a business and as the father of a young child. But he saw the internet as a deep well he might be able to tap to make money, so he started posting comedy videos.

At first, he used the Memo’s Instagram handle, but his wife advised him it was a bad idea to mix the auto shop business with his startup comedy endeavor. So Gonzalez took on a new nickname: El Gordo Mamon.

After six years, he was earning enough through comedy to quit at the auto shop. Now 35, Gonzalez is a full-time comic.

Weekly: Did you always think of yourself as funny?

Gonzalez: I’ve always been a class clown. I don’t want to sound cliche, but I always wanted attention. I like attention. I was told by certain sergeants, you joke around too much and you’re going to get beat up for it one day.

Part of your success comes from social media, rather than live performance.

Social media is where I get most of my income. I have 88,000 followers on Instagram and almost 280,000 on TikTok. Once you get a certain amount of followers, you get monetized. Most of my videos hit around 10,000 views.

In comedy, you need to earn your stripes. If you are an opener, you get paid like $50. And it’s hard to convince locations to do a comedy show. They say, people come here and they just want to drink coffee, they don’t want to hear some dude talking about vaginas.

But you have some regular gigs. How is the local comedy scene doing?

There’s not enough of it here. I am at the Beerded Bean open mic on Fridays, and XL Public House once a month. I’ll get spots at Fox Theater, if there’s a big headliner in town.

You mentioned the dark side of social media is hackers and nasty comments. How do you deal with that – do you respond to your critics in the comments?

No. If I’m bored and I want to mess with people, I’ll create a thread. But you could record yourself passing out food to the homeless and people would criticize you for it.

I am at a point where I just need to produce for myself; nobody else is going to make me happy.

Do you ever worry you’ll offend someone and get canceled?

Ehhh. I think people get over it and move on; something else happens.

You do standup in Spanish and English. Is it different for you telling jokes in either language?

I have to write it in Spanish. Some jokes won’t translate. I do better in a Latino crowd, just because I can relate to them, and I know what they like and what to say. When I do an all-white crowd, it makes me work harder.

Do you ever have a total flop?

It happened to me in the middle of Florida, MAGA country, retirees. I was supposed to do 30 minutes and I’m up there just sweating, I couldn’t relate to them. I called it a day and jumped off early. But I was there for an entire weekend. The second night it started working better – I just slowed down, to let them get the laugh. There’s a cadence to it.

Do you prefer live shows or videos?

I like doing standup over videos. I like the high of being on stage. It’s just an awesome feeling.

Plus, if you go up and you bomb, you can’t delete that.

Are there any lessons you learned from your time running the auto shop that apply to your comedy business?

It’s the same hustle. If you want to make money, you’ve got to be there. I learned at the beginning, when I would take a three-hour lunch, that I’ve got to be there if I want to make money.

Do you feel like you’re famous?

Not yet. I’m local famous. At the California Rodeo, an older Mexican dude recognized me and said, “I love your videos.”

El Gordo Mamon’s schedule and web content is viewable at elgordomamon.me