Jeremy Bradley- The hilariously funny Johnny Sanchez from MADtv joining us on the line right now. Hey, Johnny.

Johnny Sanchez- How are you, Jeremy?

JB- Good. How are you?

JS- Good. Thanks for having me, number 1.

JB- It's great talking to you. We're going to talk, of course, about MADtv is just a second. Let's rewind a few years. When did you… this might be a stupid question, but when did you realize you're funny?

JS- (laughing) Um, you know, that's… um, it was probably grammar school. I was doing some early impressions and stuff in grammar school. I remember doing Steve Martin in class, and stuff like that. It kind of started there. But, watching some of the old shows that were in syndication in the late '70s-early '80s - Flip Wilson, Lily Tomlin - so way back in the day. When I was a little bit older I started listening to Richard Pryor and that was it for me once I listened to Richard Pryor. And Cheech and Chong too, by the way. It's interesting, people always ask, Were you the class clown? And I go, You know, I really wasn't the class clown, I was kind of the guy that clowned the class clown, you know what I'm saying? I wasn't completely loud all the time. I really liked to sit in the back, let this guy do something and then add one on top of that. I guess you could say I was that way.

JB- Always one-upping the big shot.

JS- Maybe, yeah. I was always just really good at storytelling and stuff, and I think that's involving characters and people's voices. That's kind of where that all started.

JB- You have been doing stand-up comedy for years.

JS- Yes.

JB- What got you into sketch comedy on television?

JS- When I got to Los Angeles I was doing stand-up already. And then I happened to join a sketch group for a while. I did sketch for about a year and a half with this troupe. And then I had just moved on and was doing stand-up… like I said, I'm a storyteller and I do characters, my style lends itself to sketch comedy. With that, it was a little bit easier for me to make the transition.

JB- We're going to talk about the Rice and Beans Tour in just a second…

JS- OK (laughing)

JB- But before that… (laughing) you joined the cast of this hugely successful show and you follow in the footsteps of people who've launched into super stardom.

JS- Right.

JB- Is that intimidating or did you go into it knowing you'd do awesome?

JS- I think it happened at the right time. I did audition for MAD, like five years in a row, a few years back. I kept always getting turned down and I was like, Man, I guess I'm just not meant to get on the show and it eventually happened. And, I think by the time I got on the show a couple seasons ago, I was really seasoned as a stand-up and I had already done some other acting and stuff. I actually came in feeling really comfortable and the characters that I brought were well liked immediately from the other cast people. It's nerve-racking though, because when you get on a show like that some of the people have been on there like five, six, seven years already. It was all about not coming in with an ego, though. I think that's one of the big things. A lot of people come in and think they're going to be better than these cast members that have been on it for years and it still works, it's a blast, but you gotta bring the chops.