We’re looking forward to introducing you to Chris Mata. Check out our conversation below.
Chris, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What are you most proud of building — that nobody sees?
I’m most proud of building a satire news show from scratch. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. Each episode used to take about four days to complete, but now it’s just two. In the beginning, I was just one person trying to make the self imposed Friday deadline – doing everything: writing, scripting, filming, editing, learning green screen, wrestling with sound, casting the hosts. I even switched my major from history to cinema production so I could make the show look like the big satire news shows.
I would work on my computer, alone on my couch in my tiny apartment, frame by frame, discovering what worked and what didn’t. No no social life… just me, chasing something that felt bigger than me because I believed the right joke, or the right line could actually inform people of the world around them.
Now the show has a small team of writers, a rotating line up of hosts and production is faster. But nobody saw me power through those four-day episodes. Nobody saw me learning chroma key at two a.m. or giving up my personal life so I could give this show everything. That’s what I’m most proud of: quietly building something that looks effortless, powered by every sacrifice nobody ever witnessed.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Chris Mata. I’m the creator of A News Show, a fully independent satirical news program that tackles politics, culture, hypocrisy… basically everything people in power would rather you ignore and we do it with a sense of humor sharp enough to leave a mark.
I started as a stand-up comic, but eventually wanted to do something that actually held people in authority accountable, so I became completely consumed by satire.
What makes A News Show different is that it’s fearless. We’ll drop jokes about government agencies, politicians, as well as billionaires, presidents, and basically whoever needs to be cut down to size. It’s not just hot takes, it’s my obsession fueled by everything I ever wanted to say when I was a teenager but didn’t have the words or the traveled world view to articulate it.
We drop new episodes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday across all social platforms including YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. It’s a sprint so the commentary is as current and as sharp as possible.
A News Show is a fast-moving, independently produced satirical news series hosted by a rotating roster of comedians. We blend smart comedy with sharp cultural critique, breaking down headlines, political absurdities, and social trends in a way that’s fearless, funny, and grounded in truth. We may film in an apartment, but we carry ourselves like we’re already on network.
Our style? Think The Daily Show’s commentary, Last Week Tonight’s depth, and Weekend Update’s punchlines — all in one. But we’re Latino owned, unapologetically independent, and filmed without permission in Los Angeles. Each episode of A News Show is written, performed, and produced by a tight team of comedians who value clarity, precision, and providing news in a way that’s both insightful and funny.
There’s no filler, no chaos, and no corporate middlemen. Just a clean, high-standard workflow from first draft to final cut. The tone is direct. The jokes are earned and the show works because we trust our audience to keep up.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
Before the world told me who I had to be, I was just a kid from the wrong side of the tracks, trying to get to school on time… and usually failing. I wasn’t getting in trouble for fighting (although sometimes that happened) or being some menace, I was late. That’s what stacked up. Tardies led to detentions, detentions to suspensions, and because I couldn’t finish all my Saturday detentions, they barred me from walking the stage. My high school diploma was handed to me over the principal’s desk. That was me: a kid with a job, running late, paying for it with every kind of detention.
What hits me now is how much harsher it’s become. I’ve been back to my old schools. Today, with zero tolerance policies, kids like me (kids just trying to get by) are labeled troubled and funneled into a system that punishes them before it ever tries to understand. If I grew up in this era, I wouldn’t be making comedy or writing or producing. I’d be another statistic. The system doesn’t always see who you are. It sees who it’s afraid you might become.
Who was I back then? A dreamer full of hope. I was late. Misunderstood. Stubborn – probably too loud, definitely a little cocky, but creative as hell and unwilling to just accept whatever an authority figure said. And I’m still that person. Only now, I channel it into this show. I never became the trouble they tried to box me into. I became the guy who questions it, jokes about it, and proves there’s always another way to see it. If anything, I’m living proof that the system has no clue what to do with someone who won’t fit the mold.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Suffering taught me that the truth matters more than applause. When I did stand-up, I was doing material that felt empty… about me, my life, funny observations, the kind of stuff anyone with a sharp eye and timing could’ve done. It wasn’t until I lost the crowds, lost the bookings, lost the momentum because I pivoted into satire, that I realized what my comedy was really for.
Success told me I was good. Suffering forced me to ask, “But are you honest? Are you necessary?”
When I moved to New York in 2004, I discovered satire, and it wrecked me in the best way. I realized stand-up without a point of view was just noise. But as my beliefs and opinions shifted, I lost my point of view completely. I was learning so much, failing my own responsibility to know anything, trying to grow into someone who actually deserved a microphone. That kind of rebuilding meant stepping away from the clubs that once knew my name. It meant becoming obscure. And it was lonely. Audiences don’t want to watch a comic rediscover himself on stage.
It was humbling to see how unprepared I was to be a participant in this republic, how little I understood my own civic duty. That’s when I made the conscious decision to pivot entirely to satire. It’s a different muscle. A harder one. Writing it, delivering it, building something that cuts through the noise instead of just adding to it… all of that cost me everything I’d built before.
But it gave me something better. That’s how A News Show was born. Suffering taught me what success never could: that conviction outlasts comfort, that losing a room hurts less than losing yourself, and that I’d rather bomb with a solid, earned, lived point of view than kill audiences with a lie.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. Where are smart people getting it totally wrong today?
Where are smart people getting it totally wrong today? They think being informed is the same as being wise. That knowing the facts automatically means they understand the problem.
A lot of people who consider themselves smart, politically savvy, educated, or well read cling to a narrative because it makes them feel morally superior. Or safe. Or certain. They’ll argue with you into the ground because they’re terrified to admit they might be wrong.
That’s why I make A News Show. Because it’s fun to explore another angle, to flip a story on its head and see what shakes out. It’s easy to repeat a headline. It’s harder to question it, especially if you don’t know it’s okay to.
Smart people get it wrong when they treat truth like a weapon instead of a mirror.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. What do you think people will most misunderstand about your legacy?
What do I think people will most misunderstand about my legacy? Probably why I stepped off the easy road. I was already a comic with momentum. But I pivoted into satire because I couldn’t keep telling jokes that were hollow. Once I understood what satire could actually do, there was no going back.
So what’s the legacy? If someone ever tried to document it, they’d see that it was about trying to see the world clearly, and having the nerve to question it out loud.
I’ve always been drawn to that old idea from Plato’s Allegory of the Cave: most people only see the shadows, never the fire, never the objects casting them. When someone steps out into the light, it’s painful. You can’t unsee it. And if you’re brave enough to go back and tell the others, they might hate you for it, or just not understand.
That’s how I’ve approached my comedy. Not claiming to be right, but refusing to settle for shadows. Always testing what I think against new information and whatever growth time gives me. Because truth isn’t a weapon, it’s a mirror. Sometimes it shows you you’ve been wrong.
So when I’m on my deathbed, looking back on my life, I want to know I used every moment to explore what I truly believed, as honestly as I could at the time.
That’s what A News Show is. It’s my body of work. Proof of what I cared about, what I challenged, and where I stood even when it cost me. It’s not a perfect record. It’s an honest one. And that’s the only kind of legacy worth having.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://anewsshow.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anewsshowofficial/
- Twitter: https://x.com/anewnewsshow
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anewsshow
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ANewsShow
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@anewsshowofficial
Image Credits
All images provided by A News Show
