Rodrigo Fernandes

Rodrigo Fernandes is a filmmaker, writer, actor and comedian, born in Cuiabá - Mato Grosso, Brazil. He is also known as Jacaré Banguela, due to his famous comic blog of the same name. His career as a humorist began in 2004, with the birth of the blog Jacaré Banguela, dedicated for the production of varied and comic content, related to daily life, entertainment and POP culture. In 2009, the platform expanded, with the creation of the eponymous YouTube channel, which reunites his involvement in TV programs, such as Fox Sports and Comedy Central, in addition to original web series, such as Não Fale com o Motorista, which features interviews with personalities from the Brazilian entertainment world. The channel also features some performances by Fernandes as a stand-up comedian, travel videos, as well as short films and other comic sketches produced for the platform. He started his career in stand-up comedy on February 8, 2011, with Estação Standup, a group of comedians formed by Murilo Couto, Rafael Studart, Nigel Goodman and Daniel Belmonte. In his first performance, he and Léo Lins replaced Couto and Belmonte, who were not present at the time. Fernandes then went on to make weekly performances in comedy clubs in Rio de Janeiro, until his move to São Paulo, where he continued his career. In 2010, he made his first participation in the original Multishow series, Vendemos Cadeiras. In 2012, also through the same broadcaster, he made a brief appearance in Adorável Psicose. In February of the same year, the comedian was invited by Rafinha Bastos to direct comedy sketches, in addition to the Digital Shorts block, from Saturday Night Live, from RedeTV! - the latter brought parodies of video clips and commercials. Rodrigo continued as director at SNL until September. In 2013, Fernandes participated in a skit from the group Porta dos Fundos and was also invited to replace Maurício Cid, from the humorous blog Não Salvo, on the block called Fenômenos do YouTube (later renamed as Celebridades da Internet), on Eliana's TV show. He officially joined the cast, where he remained until 2018. Between 2014 and 2016, Fernandes participated in the TV show República do Stand-Up, from Comedy Central. In 2015, he also hosted Bloopers, a Brazilian TV show recorded in Argentina, which shows homemade and comic videos. The comedian debuted in theaters in 2013, in the film Entrando Numa Roubada, directed by André Moraes and starred by Deborah Secco. He has participated in 15 national productions and starred in his first picture in 2020, in the North American movie Second Date. At the end of 2015, he was invited by the Comedy Company Os Melhores do Mundo to join the cast during the 2016 tour. With the group of artists, the comedian performed weekly around Brazil throughout the year, ending the touring in New York and Boston, where the last two performances took place. As a writer, Fernandes published the book Tinha Tudo Para Um Certo Se Não Fosse Eu!: Crônicas de uma Vida Amorosa de Merda. Launched in 2017, the work is based on his own life experience and reunites 50 comical stories of disastrous love encounters. In the same year, he started his tour with the stand-up special O Namorado da Minha Namorada. The monologue is based on the American show My Girlfriend's Boyfriend, by comedian Mike Birbiglia. Fernandes acquired the adaptation rights with the artist in 2015. The show, directed by the comedian Oscar Filho, was performed in Cuiabá, São Paulo, Brasília, Goiânia and Uberlândia. Fernandes was also the first Brazilian student in the history of the Harold Ramis Film School. The program belongs to Second City University of Chicago, the largest comedy school in the United States, responsible for launching the careers of great comedians, such as Tina Fey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bill Murray, Amy Poehler, Steve Carell, Bonnie Hunt, among others. He was part of the 2019-2020 class, being also the first student in the Second City history to present a feature film, entitled Second Date, as his course completion work. The film is a comedy developed entirely with the support of crowdfunding. Released on December 31st, 2020, Second Date was directed, scripted and starred by Fernandes. The comedy was shot in 2020 in Chicago, during the Coronavirus pandemic.