Carlos Latre: “We couldn’t do ‘Martian Chronicles’ today because there are too many taboos”

He became famous with his imitations. How would you feel if they imitated you?

I would like to. They already imitated me and that’s a great feeling.

Haven’t you ever had a problem with imitation? Are politicians the ones who take it the worst?

I have never had any problems with politicians, even with politicians of one color or another. Even the Royal Family came to see my shows. That’s how it should be. A healthy society is one that knows how to laugh at itself. In this sense, the US is more advanced than us. Here, it is unthinkable for a politician to come on a program like Ellen DeGeneres’ and start dancing. In Spain, the hosts fall like bread. We are more critical and more Cainite in this sense.

It will be a closely contested third in the ‘access prime time’ slot, competing with Broncano and Motos.

People insist on saying it’s a duel, but I don’t see it that way. There’s room for everyone in this lane, so it’s going to be great fun. There’s a great vibe in both of them. Pablo was very kind to me and said he was sorry we couldn’t continue working together, but that trains come once in a lifetime and we have to catch up. He told me that he believed I would do great things.

Last year at that time, Jorge Javier couldn’t even last a month with ‘Chinese Tales’. Does that create pressure?

None. I’ve been in television for 25 years and I’ve seen them in all their colors. As one of my gurus and teachers, Joan Ramon Mainat, told me: “In the CIS, television is never among the 10 concerns of the Spanish, so let’s have a good time, that’s the important thing.”

Did the special show you prepared for ‘Crónicas marcianas’ on Telecinco play an important role in your signing?

It was very important for them to see that we, as a producer, have the ability to create quality television content.

There was a monkey from ‘Chronicles’, watching the audience…

It was crazy, we were a ‘trending topic’ two days in a row. The thing that people emphasize the most is that the freedom to make television, to talk about things without keeping them too secret, has been lost a little bit.

Is it hard to imagine now that freedom and Sarda would come out and shout, “No to war”?

It’s hard to imagine, and it’s hard to do. You can’t make a ‘Mars Chronicles’ today because there are so many filters and taboos. I argue that a program can be made with the most absolute freedom. The problem is that we have so many prejudices and we’ve lost a little bit of the goodwill of all the people who make television, entertainment and humor.

In what sense?

Before, without being able to make a joke, no one would think you were offending any group. Over the years, we have gained a lot in both freedoms and self-censorship. Now everyone thinks a lot about what they say because it will be used against them. Spain is a country of humour, of memes, of jokes, of bars, of WhatsApp, and for some time now, goodwill has been lost on comedians, on television and in entertainment.

He started on television at the age of 18 in none other than ‘The Martian Chronicles’. It wouldn’t have been easy to manage such success at such a young age. What do you think when you remember that now?

What a wonderful unconsciousness! I was completely unconscious, careless, I would jump into the pool even if there was no water. But I was also surrounded by the best: Sardà, Chicho, Mainat y Cruz, Tinet Rubira, Herrera, Julio César Iglesias, Antonio Jiménez, Carlos Alsina… And I was very careful and very hard-working.

Does it anger you that ‘The Martian Chronicles’ is associated with trash TV?

Now, over time, I look back and say: Oh my God, how bad we were! After all, those who did their job very well in this country must be destroyed. We say: Your San Martín will come. ‘Chronicles’ was a completely free program where we laughed at everything and everyone, for better or worse. Its content was better or worse, but it was made by very good people.