What is "El Chavo del Ocho"?
Questions This Article Answers
Who created El Chavo del Ocho?
Who is El Chavo?
Who is Don Ramón?
Why is El Chavo del Ocho massively popular in Latin America?
Who is El Chapulín Colorado?
The Show
El Chavo del Ocho was a popular Mexican TV show created by Chespirito(Chespirito), which was the stage name of the actor, comedian, humorist, and screenwriter Roberto Gómez Bolaños(Roberto Gómez Bolaños).
The sitcom revolved around an orphan known as El Chavo(The Kid, or The Boy) and his life in a vecindad(housing complex), along with his friends and neighbors. The show employs comedia física(slapstick), running gags, conflicts, and moral lessons. The children in the show were played by adults.
The original show aired from 1973 to 1980. However, due to its massive popularity, it reran for decades, and millions of people from multiple generations across América Latina(Latin America) have watched the show.
El Chavo del Ocho is one of the most famous shows in the Spanish-speaking world. Some critics claim its success lies in the fact that audiences from all over Latin America can identify with the characters and the setting. The show portrays people of low income and good hearts helping each other, solving conflicts, and having fun, which resonates with the reality of many people in Latin America. Characters like El Chavo and Don Ramón(Ramón) became cultural icons, and many lines from the show are known by millions across Latin America.
Chespirito
The stage name of Gómez Bolaños is derived from the simplified Spanish pronunciation of Shakespeare plus the diminutive suffix -ito.
Click here to learn more about diminutives in Spanish.
The Characters
Let's learn about the main characters of El Chavo del Ocho.
El Chavo
El Chavo, played by Chespirito himself, is the main character of the show. He’s a naïve orphan dressed in rags who often hides in a barril(barrel) and loves tortas de jamón(ham sandwiches). When he gets scared, he gets the garrotera(stiffness), which can only be cured by splashing cold water on him.
Quico
Quico(Quico), whose full name is Federico(Frederick), is the son of Doña Florinda(Florinda). He has chubby cheeks and wears a sailor suit. He’s arrogant and spoiled, which often causes problems with the other children from the vecindad.
La Chilindrina
La Chilindrina(Chilindrina) is the daughter of Don Ramón. She’s a short girl with freckles, glasses, and uneven pigtails. She uses her intelligence to prank other children, and she has a crush on El Chavo.
Ñoño
Ñoño(Ñoño) is the son of señor Barriga(Mr. Barriga). He goes to school with the other children, and he often goes to the vecindad to play with them. He’s often made fun of for his big size.
Don Ramón
Don Ramón is a skinny man who lives with his daughter, La Chilindrina. He’s a widower who’s fourteen months behind in renta(rent) and makes a living doing odd jobs. He always wears jeans, a T-shirt, and a cap, which he angrily slams on the ground when he gets upset. He’s kind-hearted but irritable. He’s often mistakenly reprimanded by Doña Florinda for something the children did wrong, and he usually takes it out on El Chavo in return. Don Ramón always tries to hide when señor Barriga comes to the vecindad to get his rent money.
Doña Florinda
Doña Florinda is a widow who lives with her son, Quico. She’s haughty and refers to the rest of the people who live in the vecindad as chusma(riffraff). She’s in love with profesor Jirafales(Professor Jirafales), and her eyes light up when he visits her and brings her flowers. She’s overprotective of her son and often slaps Don Ramón.
El Profesor Jirafales
El profesor Jirafales is the children’s teacher at school. He sometimes visits the vecindad to see Doña Florinda, with whom he has a romance. He’s patient, but the children often make him lose his temper. His name is a wordplay on the word jirafa(giraffe) since he’s a tall and slender man. For this same reason, he is jokingly referred to as Maestro Longaniza(Professor Sausage).
Doña Clotilde
Doña Clotilde(Clotilde) is a single old woman who lives in apartment number 71. She’s in love with Don Ramón and tries to gain his love with favors, but he doesn’t reciprocate and usually tries to escape from her. She’s eccentric, wears a blue gown, and has a dog called Satanás(Satan). For all these reasons, the children jokingly refer to her as La Bruja del 71(The Witch from Number 71).
El Señor Barriga
El señor Barriga is the wealthy owner of the vecindad and Ñoño’s father. His name comes from barriga(belly) and is a reference to his big size. When he goes to the vecindad to collect rent money, he is usually greeted with pranks or accidental blows.
Other characters
The following characters appeared occasionally in the show.
- Doña Nieves(Nieves): Don Ramon’s grandmother
- Godínez(Godinez): a student
- Jaimito(Jaimito): the mailman
- La Popis(Popis): a student who’s also Quico’s cousin
- Paty(Paty): a neighbor
Don and Doña
In Spanish-speaking countries, don and doña are often used as a title of respect with a person's name, as in Don Martínez(Mr. Martínez). When it is used with a first name only, it is usually not translated directly, as in Don Ramón (Ramón), Doña Florinda (Florinda), and Doña Clotilde (Clotilde).
Famous Lines from the Show
Let's learn about the most famous latiguillos(catchphrases) and memorable lines from El Chavo del Ocho.
El Chavo says this out of frustration when he doesn't get what he wanted.
When people are losing patience with his antics, El Chavo will say this to gain their sympathy.
This is El Chavo's favorite phrase to apologize for something he did wrong.
El Chavo says this when he lets out something he didn’t mean to say out loud.
Quico says this when he loses his patience with someone.
This is Quico’s way of saying he doesn’t like someone.
Quico says this after failing to understand something.
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Doña Florinda says this to her son Quico every time they have a quarrel with El Chavo, La Chilindrina, or Don Ramón.
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One of Don Ramón’s memorable moral lessons.
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This is how Don Ramón expresses his views on work.
El Chapulín Colorado
El Chapulín Colorado(The Red Grasshopper) was another beloved character created by Chespirito. In this TV show, which aired around the same time as El Chavo, the grasshopper, as a parody of a superhéroe(superhero), comes to the aid of people who need help, but his clumsiness gets in the way. In the end, he always succeeds in helping them, although the solution is often not what they were expecting.
Here are some of his most famous latiguillos.
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Learn more about culture in Spanish-speaking countries in the following articles:
