PROFILE : Funnyman Shows He’s a Family Man

Comedian Paul Rodriguez has made six movies, is about to star in his third television series, performed in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, recorded a comedy album and, most recently, has been a morning deejay for rock radio station FM-92 KKBT.

But in the eyes of his father, Pablo Gutierrez Rodriguez, his son’s success was most evident when, on a recent visit to the family citrus ranch in Dinuba near Fresno, a news crew from the local Spanish-language television station stopped by to interview the family.

“To my parents, Channel 21, the Spanish station, is more important than if I was interviewed on ‘The Tonight Show’ or ‘Saturday Night Live,’ ” the younger Rodriguez said. “For my father to be interviewed on Channel 21 is the ultimate for him. My dad even put on a suit. He never wears a suit. I wouldn’t question him, but I’m sure he’s the one who tipped them off that I would be here.”

The family is proud of the 34-year-old funnyman--they invited friends to the ranch on his recent visit to prove that they really are related to him--but they also remind him that they are his familia.

“If he acted like a big shot around us, I wouldn’t bother to see him when he comes up Page here,” said Rodriguez’s older brother, Jorge. “But he’s the same guy--he just carries more money in his pocket. The only thing I tell him is to call mom. But he doesn’t need too much reminding.”

Rodriguez’s father, a migrant farm worker and one-time Pentecostal minister, said he is satisfied. “For me, I can’t really say proud, but rather satisfied that he is successful in his chosen path,” he said. “It’s true that we did not want him to go into show business before he finished school, but realizing that we can’t dictate what career he should pursue, we have given him our moral support.”

That support has helped Rodriguez, who was born in Culiacan in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, come a long way since he dropped out of Dominguez High School in Compton in 1973 to join the Air Force.

After completing his four-year military commitment, Rodriguez earned a general arts degree at Long Beach City College. He then enrolled at Cal State Long Beach with the idea of pursuing a law career. But he never completed his first year.

He began performing at comedy clubs and got his first big break when he got a part in the movie “D.C. Cab” in 1983.

He’s never looked back.

He recently completed hosting TV’s “Newlywed Game,” a move prompted by his manager, Jeff Wald.

“I felt that no show in the country was more white-bread than ‘The Newlywed Game,’ ” Wald said. “We took an incredible chance putting this hip, HBO comic into this middle-of-the-road show. But I thought this show would expand his recognizability throughout every part of the country.”

The risk paid off. Wald said that being on nationwide television five days a week has helped increase Rodriguez’s personal appearance fees from about $4,000 a night to between $15,000 and $20,000 a night, and tripled his annual income from about $500,000 to $1.5 million.

Wald’s long-range goal is to make Rodriguez as versatile as Bill Cosby: a stand-up comedian, television and motion picture actor, and ad pitchman.

Television viewers will get the opportunity to see Rodriguez regularly in Spanish and English early next year when he hosts a weekly Spanish-language variety show for Univision and co-stars in a CBS action/adventure series.

Rodriguez’s 26-week Spanish-language program will air locally on KMEX Channel 34 and in several Latin American countries. He describes the show as a hybrid of “Saturday Night Live,” “The Arsenio Hall Show” and “Late Night With David Letterman.”

The TV series, which is based on the movie “Midnight Run,” is a mid-season replacement co-starring John Schneider. The network has ordered a two-hour pilot and seven episodes.

He has also made a number of commercials, and early next year he will host a nationally syndicated Top 40 countdown radio program for Spanish-language radio.

“He’s a pioneer,” said Fernando Oaxaca, who heads a media and marketing firm specializing in the Latino market. “He has made the mainstream non-Latino audience more aware of Latinos, I think, in a positive way.”

Rodriguez’s success, however, has not been without criticism, particularly from the Latino community. Critics say his material perpetuates Latino stereotypes and is sexist. Early in his career, he was known for one routine in which he appeared with a bandanna around his head and flashed an oversized switch-blade he called “The Mexican Express Card.”

Oaxaca said some of the criticism may be based on envidia , or jealousy, and Rodriguez’s fast-talking style. “Paul is brash, fast-moving and incredibly ambitious,” Oaxaca said. “Sometimes our folks have a problem with that kind of personality. I happen to think it’s terrific.”

Rodriguez publicly shrugs off that criticism, saying ethnic humor has been around for years and has proven successful for comedians such as Jackie Mason and Eddie Murphy. (Early in his career, Rodriguez refused to take a manager’s advice to change his name to Paul Rivers.)

But privately, the criticism hurts, particularly when his commitment to the Latino community is questioned.

“Let me see what they have given back to the community,” he said of his critics in a recent interview. “I’m really tired of having (Latinos) telling me that I haven’t done enough. . . .

“I’ve been fortunate enough to have some success, which is why I give some of that back. It’s my civic duty.”

Indeed, Rodriguez continues to make free appearances at many Latino group fund-raisers. In October, he organized and hosted a benefit at the Santa Monica Improv to raise money for the Red Cross for San Francisco earthquake victims. He has also established a scholarship fund for an Albuquerque-based theater group called La Compania.

Rodriguez’s success has also allowed him one luxury: He collects old cars, including a ’59 Cadillac, a ’36 Ford Roadster and a ’57 Corvette.

But his first priority after collecting his first big paycheck in 1983 was to take care of his family. Against the advice of his accountant, he bought a 60-acre citrus ranch in Dinuba near Fresno that he and his family once harvested as migrant farm workers.

“I didn’t really buy it as an investment, but as a home for my father, who was literally dying in the city,” Rodriguez said of his father, who is suffering from angina, an inflammatory disease of the throat. “We wanted my dad’s last years to be in the country. But the minute he went out there, he got better.”

Since then, Rodriguez has bought an additional 60 acres and has provided homes for his brother and three sisters. He has also bought a house in the San Fernando Valley for his 4-year-old son and the boy’s mother.

“In the eyes of my parents, I have overachieved,” Rodriguez said. “If you were to tell them when we first crossed the border that they were going to be able to have this kind of life style, they wouldn’t have believed it. I don’t pat myself on the back, but that is my proudest moment. What kid doesn’t want to be in a financial position to be able to take care of his parents?”