Jose Miguel Agrelot

Giuseppe Michel Agrelot (April 21, 1927 - San Juan, Puerto Rico, January 28, 2004) known as José Miguel Agrelot or Don Cholito was a popular comedian and television and radio host from Puerto Rico.

His grandmother was Italian, Giuseppe Michel grew up all his life in Estancias de Tortuguero in Vega Baja.

Biography

Agrelot was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico of Italian descent. He was the third of four children born to Felipe Agrelot and Ana Luisa Vilá; his sister Ana Mercedes, later also became a part-time comedy actress. He started working at radio stations when he was 14 years old. At that time, he was employed by radio businessman Tomás Muñiz, then general manager of WIAC-AM and father of later producer and actor Tommy Muñiz. During this period Agrelot developed his first comic character, Torito Fuertes, a mischievous eight-year-old boy for a family comedy show sponsored by Borden, Inc. and his evaporated milk (the name Torito Fuertes was a pun on 'calf'). strong", a desirable consequence of drinking good milk). The character later took on a life of his own on a radio show first called Professor Colgate (sponsored by Colgate-Palmolive's flagship toothpaste) and later called El Colegio de la Alegría (The School of Joy). This show featured Tommy Muñiz as the schoolteacher of a rather dysfunctional classroom.

The 2003 Guinness Book of World Records listed his program Her Joyful Awakening in the longest-running daily radio program category, after 53 years of uninterrupted broadcasting.

It is also worth noting that the name of the famous coliseum kindly named as ''El Choliseo'' honors his name.

He was a member of the Fi Sigma Alpha fraternity

Programs

Other programs of his, on Puerto Rican television, were:

• The school of joy
• Professor Colgate
• The spoiled maid
• The crown special
• Defying the geniuses
• Making History
• The midday show (in the role of Don Cholito)
• Looks amazing.
• Ha ha, ji ji, jo jo jo with Agrelot

Characters

Agrelot created the following characters:

• "Don Pulula", an evangelical pastor of gentle manners with a propensity to the soft double senses (modeled his voice from that of Rafael Quiñones Vidal, a Puerto Rican television presenter).

• "Mario Trauma", a crazy mental patient who constantly screamed in falsete and was actually more sane than the people around him (modeled his voice from a floor coordinator in WAPA-TV).

• "Passion," a bachelor who desperately seeks male company.

• "Serafín Sin Fin y Sin Meta", a shaved man with a heart-shaped birthmark on the cheek (while claiming that Serafín was not homosexual and never made a pass to anyone during the character's career, Agrelot faced protests from the local chapter of GLAAD and discontinued the character).

• "Soldado Manteca", an inept character like Beetle Bailey who was part of the U.S. Army (Agrelot once described him as Torito Fuertes, every adult).

• "Cerebrito Ligon," a man who claimed to be a Tom peeping, but they don't dare be pious. A famous episode had a young Alida Arizmendi, then Puerto Rican legislator, facing him while trying to sneak into a women's solo gym.

• "Speedy Gonzalez", a handyman who spoke extremely fast galleries, who always charged US$ 10.00 for their services (then increased to US$ 20.00 due to inflation). This character was one of the favorites of Benicio del Toro.

• "Don Remigio Rodríguez and Rodriguez", a almost catatonic businessman, very frank (and owner of Rodríguez and Rodríguez Sociedad en Comandita) who had predilection for facial gestures and for taking out the tongue. He had a permanent dispute with Joaquín, the owner of the Spanish shop on the other side of the street (interpreted by the Spanish actor Ricardo Fabregues), whom he constantly insulted.

• "Joaquin, I get it!" Don Rodriguez then starred in the movie Sunshine Logroño.

• "Chona, La Puerca Asesina."

• "The Judge", a character modeled after the meat of porcine Markham and Sammy Davis, Jr. 's 'Here Come Da judge' character (more than Davis by Markham) who had a huge spleen and would use it against the head of an accused if necessary during the trials

• "Don Segismundo", the mayor of Trujillo Bajo, a fictional municipality in Puerto Rico (Agrelot once said that Segismundo was actually Don Rodríguez and Rodriguez converted into a public servant).

• "Pancho Matanzas" a Cuban immigrant who, like many did at that time, sold anything to keep himself and his family.

• "Juan Macana" a not very bright policeman, PPR plate number 13,378 that popularized in Puerto Rico a phrase that Agrelot constantly heard in Mexico during one of his tours: "Yes, how not?" ("Yes, Why not?")

Agrelot also parodied famous film and film characters in his comedy show, "Ha Ha, Ji Ji, Jo Jo With Agrelot". His most famous parody was that of Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone in the Godfather film trilogy.

Agrelot appeared as Father Ambrosio, a priest, in Jacobo Morales's Dios los Cría II. He also played a major dramatic role in a television miniseries, Nobody Will Know, in 1991.