When a surfer drops in on a huge wave, riding it all the way to shore, they may exclaim “Cowabunga!”
And now, as Ralph Barbosa has dropped in on the comedy scene and ridden the success of late night shows, a sold out stint at the Kessler Theater and a Netflix special, he is saying the same.
Barbosa, a native of Oak Cliff, made his Netflix debut with the release of his hour-long comedy special, Cowabunga, this week.
“I named it Cowabunga cause that’s a cool (expletive) word,” Barbosa wrote on social media.
The special was filmed over the course of six nights at the Kessler Theater, where Barbosa performed the half-dozen sold-out shows in August. The Oak Cliff residency took place across the street from Oak Cliff Barbers, Barbosa’s former place of work.
A description of the special on Netflix describes it as “chill and cheeky,” with jokes hitting every topic from Barbosa’s dream woman to moon rocks.
The comedy special release comes at the end of a big year for Barbosa.
In January, he performed a five-minute stand up set on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, which he described as being a “long time dream come true.”
Barbosa is not the first person from our neighborhood to find themselves on Netflix this year this year. In February, Alejandra Zendejas and Jesse Acosta, co-founders of the neighborhood nonprofit Pasos for Oak Cliff, partnered with the media giant to promote the movie You People.
