WISE Score
Marcello brings his SNL 'short king' energy to Miami for a loud, sweaty, and very specific look at growing up first-gen.
If your teen is obsessed with Marcello's SNL sketches, they’ll find this hilarious, but be warned: he's not playing for a PG audience here.
It’s a solid debut special that captures the chaos of a first-gen household, but the 'old-school parenting' jokes (you know the ones—belts, shoes, and shouting) might feel a bit dated or even jarring depending on your family's vibe. It’s funny, it’s fast-paced, and it’s very Miami, but it's definitely not family movie night material.
This is strictly for the 16+ crowd. While younger kids might know him from SNL or TikTok clips, the full special has the language and mature observational themes of an adult comedy club set.
While it's rooted in family dynamics and the first-generation experience, stand-up comedy inherently relies on edge. It's not 'clean' in a traditional sense, but the focus on his mother and heritage provides a grounded, albeit loud, emotional core.
It's standard stand-up. Marcello is an incredibly physical and expressive performer—bringing that SNL 'character' energy—but it doesn't push the boundaries of the medium or invite the audience into a creative 'world' beyond his anecdotes.
Typical Netflix stand-up safety profile: expect heavy profanity and mature themes. Specifically, some segments regarding old-school Latino parenting and physical discipline have sparked 'child abuse apologia' critiques from viewers, making it a potential minefield for younger or sensitive viewers.
Offers a genuine, high-energy window into the Cuban-Dominican-American experience. For older teens navigating their own hyphenated identities, there's real value in seeing these specific cultural nuances played out on a big stage.
If your teenager follows Saturday Night Live via TikTok clips, they already know Marcello Hernández. He’s spent the last few seasons carving out a niche as the high-energy, "short king" presence who can turn a simple sketch about a mother-son relationship into a viral moment. American Boy is essentially that persona turned up to eleven. It’s loud, it’s sweaty, and it’s filmed in Miami, which gives the whole thing a hometown-hero energy that you don’t always get with these polished Netflix specials.
But don’t expect the sanitized, network-friendly version of his comedy. On his own stage, Hernández leans into the physicality of his set. He isn’t just telling jokes; he’s performing them with his whole body. For a generation of kids raised on fast-paced, personality-driven content, this style lands perfectly. It feels less like a lecture and more like a conversation with the funniest guy at the party.
The biggest hurdle for families—and the thing that has split critics on sites like Letterboxd—is how Hernández handles the "immigrant parent" trope. We’ve seen this before in specials from Jo Koy or Sebastian Maniscalco: the stories of the terrifyingly strict mother and the looming threat of the belt or the shoe.
While some viewers find these stories a hilarious, relatable look at the first-gen experience, others have called out the "child abuse apologia" in the latter half of the set. It’s a specific kind of friction that depends entirely on your family’s history and your tolerance for jokes about physical discipline. If you’re trying to decide if the material is too intense, our guide on whether the SNL star is too raw for a family watch breaks down exactly where those lines are drawn.
Where the special really finds its heart is in the "cultural translator" bits. Anyone who grew up in a household where they had to explain American slang to their parents or navigate two different worlds at once will find this deeply relatable. Hernández excels at capturing that specific anxiety of being "too American" for your family and "too Latino" for your friends.
This isn't just a collection of "my mom is crazy" jokes. It’s an exploration of identity that feels relevant to the 2026 cultural landscape. He talks about the pressure of being the "American Boy" who has to succeed to justify his family’s sacrifices, but he keeps the tone light enough that it never feels like a therapy session.
If you have a 16- or 17-year-old who is a fan of stand-up, this is a solid pick for a weekend stream. It’s currently sitting with a 6.9 on IMDb, which feels right—it’s a strong debut, even if it doesn't reinvent the wheel.
Ultimately, American Boy is a loud, proud introduction to a comedian who is clearly going to be a fixture in the industry for a long time. It’s not perfect, and it’s definitely mature, but for the right audience, it’s one of the more energetic specials to hit Netflix this year.
Get a personalized guide on any topic
