Reinvention: From A Live Truck To Live On Stage
MIAMI (CBS4) - Orlando Leyba works in the field for CBS4 News. He is a live truck engineer who does it all. He drives from scene to scene, sets up satellite signals, trouble shoots, and oversees field productions. He is a behind the scenes player who makes the people in front of the camera, never miss their cue.
And after a long day, just like you and me, this South Florida guy needs a break. So off he goes to the comedy club. But he is not meeting his wife or a group of friends. He is heading to his other job as a stand up comic... taking the stage alongside others who share their gift.
"You are in the Grove, going to the club, you are getting closer, you are seeing people sitting down, they are here to have a good time. What are you thinking?" asked CBS's Jorge Estevez.
"It is exciting," said Leyba. "It is like riding the edge of the cliff."
Orlando Leyba is "Re-Inventing" himself by stepping in front of the spotlight.
"Is this hard for you behind the camera?' asked Estevez.
"Yeah. A little bit because what we do is always behind (the camera)," said Orlando.
"Especially you!," exclaimed Jorge.
"Yeah yeah," responded Leyba.
Orlando first did stand up a year and a half ago.
"I was all over the place. I cannot remember anything I said, but I got laughs," Orlando told Estevez.
Much like these comics (got laughs) tonight, who are just graduating from comedy school at the Improv in Coconut Grove.
However, tonight, Orlando will hit the stage as a professional… a featured guest.
"I am not saying hello. I am feeling the crowd out," said Orlando.
And as he prepared, he is already in the zone. cracking one liners.
"I will just take a coke a cranberry juice my kidneys hurt." said Leyba who also joked with the CBS4 camera guys who were there to capture every moment.
"You guys shoot each other? You shoot him shooting me. Shoot him shooting me. Him shooting her. You shooting you. You shooting him and both of you guys shooting each other," joked Orlando.
But this second act in Orlando's life is no joke.
"I take every one of these moments from getting cranberry juice to saying hello to talking to the manager to talking to everyone and I soak that in," he told Estevez.
Backstage Jorge saw proof of that
"It is the rush. It is what I crave. When I don't do this for a while, I get sick for some reason. I start getting headaches. I start getting irritated," Orlando said. "It is emotional. I didn't think it was going to be that emotional."
But preparation is how he dials back his emotions.
"I don't even want to give you light as long I need you to do 15."
The host just extended his set time and that means more jokes.
"So you go from five minutes to ten minutes and now being asked you do 15 minutes. So right now, the set in my head is going... I have to add and subtract, ' Orlando told Estevez.
And then minutes before his set, Orlando notices someone in the audience, joke after joke, one man impenetrable to jokes.
Like a good journalist, he asked other comics in the green room about the guy.
"I am obsessed with the guy in the front row who will not laugh," Orlando tells his friends.
Later his day job at CBS 4 helped him identify the man as lawyer.
"I have seen him at MJB, the Metro Justice Building," Orlando recalled.
So faced with a challenge, Orlando went to work on stage after he was introduced by his co-worker, Ralph Murciano.
"My friend Orlando Leyba!"
Orlando nailed one joke...
"Celebrating today 180 days of P90X (an exercise workout). Check it out! I have only been watching. I can't get past the warmup," said Leyba.
Then he nailed another...
"How much are you going to give me today Tom? 110 percent. He is a liar. I know math and you can only give 100 percent."
And another...
"I am trying to start off this relationship with a DVD and they start off with a lie."
And another.
"My wife is beautiful too. I hate this. People meet my wife and they say 'that's your wife?' What is that supposed to mean? What were you expecting gold teeth?"
Finally, Orlando tackles the serious lawyer.
"My goal is to make you laugh. sir," he told the man.
And just like that the lawyer cracked a smile.
Orlando continued. "That's Metro Justice Building. I have seen him before."
"Do you think after you watched him laugh, you did your job?" asked Estevez.
"I did my job," Orlando responded. "Yeah. The main thing was to just get him to get loosened up... to get him loose. After the show, he came out and gave a hug and said 'you are going places,' he tells me. That is what it is all about... that giving that I was telling you about."
Comedy is a gift his wife, who was in the wings, knew he possessed all along.
"She said the ten years I have know you, everything you tried you have been all right at it. This is what you are meant to do," Orlando explained.
And his destiny is also his therapy.
"You say your addicted to it. Why?" asked Jorge.
"It feels good," said Orlando. "Everybody's natural way of being is to help other people. When you give that gift, when you make someone laugh, it is the same feeling. It's total happiness."
And the gift kept on giving. He gave us a peak at what is quickly becoming one of his trademark characters... "the brown bear."
"That is what I do to people when they are aggressive to me. I lock it in. I start talking loud. What is going on in there? You want some of this?"
And South Florida seemed to want some of that. In fact, he says he owes them more than they will ever know. Because while he is working has day job at CBS4, it gets him around. And it's the people of South Florida who make up who he has become.
Orlando explained. "Brazil, Argentina, Puerto Ricans, Cubans. South Americans..."
"Do they help make you funnier?" asked Estevez.
"Yes."
"Really?"
"Yes." Orlando elaborated. "You are walking down 8th street by the domino park and some random old person starts saying... 'Que Bola, (Cuban slang for "what's up?) Que Bola Que bola.' Oh my God, this guy doesn't even know me. We are blessed. We are blessed. Even in my day dreams, when I am speaking them out, like I say the only home I want to really own is in Miami. Everywhere else I don't mind renting a condo. I say that all the time... all the time."
"Because this is home," said Orlando.
"And these are your people," said Estevez.
"This is my back yard."
