Hacker News Reader

Comment by swah | Hacker News Reader

I suppose this actor is mostly unknown to americans?

It was huge in latin america. Maybe "El Chavo Del Ocho" is a bigger thing in Brazil than Mexico.

Everyone my age (30) has good memories of this series and will consider watching it again if its on TV. It was huge like Sesame Street is on the US.

As a kid, I never noticed that the actors were adults playing children.

Some episode with english subtitles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwm3MmWjess

(To brazilians, the version dubbed in portuguese is considered the better version).

I love to hear about the customs of other countries regarding this small, everyday stuff. Like how finns leave their babies in the outdoors: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21537988

I wish this was easier. Mostly I can be exposed to US and UK cultures. The other countries, only stereotypes.

View on HN

The show is still on air in Chile in one of the largest TV channels. I'm in my late 30s and I remember the show was rather old already when I was a kid :-)

Now seeing the show with the eyes of an adult feels like a portrait of a much simpler but much poorer era. El Chavo (mexican slang for "the kid") was a boy who slept inside a barrel in the shared patio of a slum ("la vecindad") where most of the action happens. With plenty of physical humor, El Chavo was frequently hit in the head as a punishment in the show, specially by Don Ramón, a character which would never find a job and was always hiding from the landlord.

It's the kind of show it would never pass if it were to be filmed on this date, but we grew up watching it and learning to love it, in the same way we loved racist cartoons by the Warner Bros. or those old episodes where the Flintstones were heavy smokers.

El Chavo (mexican slang for "the kid") was a boy who slept inside a barrel in the shared patio of a slum ("la vecindad") where most of the action happens.

Interesting! In portuguese they made it into a name ("Chaves").

Some say that El Chavo Del Ocho ("The kid from 8") actually lived in the apt. 8, and just liked hiding in the barrel ;)

To me, when Ramon hit El Chavo it was funny, like Chaplin or The Three Stoges slapstick humor.

(But I agree it would be banned in this politically correct days.)

Me on the other hand didn't notice that several of the characters were played by the same character. Like El Chompiras, El Chavo, and El Chapulin Colorado.

By the way, I'm surprised to see this on HN considering that he is an unknown in the English speaking croud here in America.

This is very interesting that I found out about this on HN. I just told my family and they were all surprised. It goes to show how diverse HN may be. I have seen the cartoon version of the show playing recently. When I was a kid it was "Chavo del ocho" and "Cantinflas" on tv, both really Mexican comedians who have infiltrated all latin america. Only followed by "Sabado Gigante"'s Don Francisco.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com