José Mota

José Sánchez Mota (born 30 June 1965) is a Spanish comedian, television director, satirist, singer and actor, notable for his television comedy shows. He was member, with Juan Muñoz, of the comedy duo Cruz y Raya between 1989 and 2007, and later he started a solo career.

Cruz y Raya

In 1985, while he was serving in the military, Mota met Juan Muñoz, with whom he began his career as a comedian. The two started performing shows at small theaters in Madrid, such as Cien personajes en busca de humor (One Hundred Characters in the Quest of Humor), but it was Javier Sardá who gave them the opportunity of making their own radio show, La Bisagra. In 1989 they moved to television with the program Pero ¿esto qué es?, in the Spanish public channel . The sketches were about a radio station, "Cruz y Raya, the station that should, but never shuts up". Later they were aired on Telecinco with the show Tutti Frutti, and then came back to TVE in order to replace the famous Spanish comedians Martes y Trece at several New Year's Eve special shows.

Other works while at Cruz y Raya

Mota has also given his voice to several characters in the Spanish dubbing of animation films such as Monsters, Inc. and the Shrek films. In 2006 he adapted, along with Santiago Segura, the Spanish version of The Producers. The comedian made cameo appearances in TV shows such as 7 vidas and Manolo y Benito Corporeision.

Separation

After more than ten years fully dedicated to Cruz y Raya, José and Juan decided to work in other projects on their own. In November 2007 the definitive separation of the famous couple was confirmed.

The José Mota Hour and other sketch programs In 2009 before his separation with workmate Juan Antonio Muñoz, Jose Mota decided to make a new television show, La hora de José Mota. The television show was aired on the Spanish State television (TVE) on Fridays. He started to do another type of humor mixed by the latest he did. For example, he criticized bad Spanish and European politics, society and he did more imitations. Many sketches and their characters have become very famous in Spain. He has made impersonations of many public figures such as Bear Grylls, Woody Allen and Larry King as well as Spanish and international politicians like José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero (ZP) Mariano Rajoy and Merkel and Sarkozy. He also created new characters such as La Vieja'l Visillo (The Old Woman in the Window) or El Tío la Vara (The Man of the Rod). He has created several catchphrases such as behind the musgo (behind the moss), that is used in his Bear Grylls sketches.

In 2013 he created the sketch show La noche de José Mota, very similar to the former, in the television channel Telecinco. The success of the new show was lower than expected, and it only lasted for one season (however, Mota said later that it had been planned that way from the beginning). He returned in 2015 to with a weekly show named José Mota presenta, which premiered on 20 February.

From March to June 2017 he starred in the sketch comedy show El acabose.

He has starred in La 1 New Year's Eve specials from 2007 to 2011 and 2014 to 2020, with great success.

Personal life He has three children with the actress and model Patricia Rivas.

Career

TV programs

1994: Vaya tele 1995: Estamos de vuelta 1998: Este no es el programa de los viernes 1999: Estamos en directo 2000-2004: Cruz y Raya.com 2004-2007: Juan y José.show 2009-2012: La Hora de José Mota 2013–2014: La noche de José Mota 2015–present: José Mota presenta 2016: El hombre de tu vida 2017: El acabose 2019: Hoy no, mañana (director) 2020–2021: Mask Singer: Adivina quién canta (panelist) 2021: ¿Y si sí...? (director)

Filmography

1990: Ni se te ocurra... (Luis María Delgado) as Jose. 2000: Ekipo Ja (Juan Muñoz) as Tomás Rabero. 2001: Torrente 2: Misión en Marbella (Santiago Segura) as a lifeguard. 2005: Torrente 3: El protector (Santiago Segura) as Josito. 2011: As Luck Would Have It (Álex de la Iglesia) as Roberto Gómez. 2017: Abracadabra (Pablo Berger) as Pepe. 2021: García y García (Ana Murugarren) as Javier García. 2023: Little Red Riding Wolf (Chus Gutiérrez) as Alberto

Dubbing 1998: Mulan, as Mushu 1999: Goomer, as Oz and Receptionist 2000: 102 Dalmatians, as Waddlesworth 2001: Shrek, as Donkey 2001: Monsters, Inc., as Mike Wazowski 2003: Brother Bear, as Rutt the Moose 2003: Rugrats Go Wild, as Spike 2004: Shrek 2, as Donkey 2007: Shrek the Third, as Donkey 2008: Hellboy II: The Golden Army, as Abe Sapien 2010: Shrek Forever After, as Donkey 2011: Zookeeper as Donald 2013: Monsters University, as Mike Wazowski 2016: The Angry Birds Movie, as Chuck 2019: The Angry Birds Movie 2, as Chuck

Theater

1987: 60 personajes en busca de humor (in Madrid) 2006: The Producers (Spanish version).