PHOTO COURTESY OF RODRIGUEZ ENTERTAINMENT Comedian Paul Rodriguez performs with WAR at the Casino Del Sol's Anselmo Valencia Tori Amphitheatre, 5655 W. Valencia Rd. on Sunday at 7:30 p.m.

Before John Leguizamo, Carlos Mencia, and George Lopez arrived on the scene, Paul Rodriguez was cracking up audiences of all ethnicities in both English and Spanish with his uproarious but down-to-earth comedy.

However, as one of the Original Kings of Comedy, Rodriguez' biggest competitor happens to be his 20-year-old son, one of the several bittersweet facts fueling his latest routine, which he'll be performing at Casino Del Sol's Anselmo Valencia Tori Amphitheatre this Sunday evening.

Rodriguez will perform with WAR, the self-described Afro-Cuban-rock-jazz-blues band that gave the world "Low Rider" among other great songs, and also gave Rodriguez his break when he was starting out back in the day.

Rodriguez, who considers himself a stand-up comedian first, has acted in a number of films, including "Born in East L.A.," "A Million to Juan," "Tortilla Soup" and, more recently, "Ali" and "Blood Work."

Currently, he's working on a new television show for Comedy Central, he's starring in two very different films with two of Hollywood's most acclaimed actors, and he's even trying to pimp his own son, Paul Rodriguez, Jr., for a ground-breaking reality show in which all of his son's most fanatical teenage stalkers have their fantasies fulfilled by meeting him. (Rodriguez is still waiting for Junior, AKA "Pauly," to come around for that one.)

In addition to doing improv, Rodriguez started out performing at colleges, including the UA.

"I played there during the summer of '87. They had a program where you would go over there to talk to over-privileged kids," he said. "The program didn't last long because there were so few."

After becoming a commercial success, Rodriguez left ungrateful college audiences behind him.

"I'm doing a lot of corporate stuff for people who, I guess, grew up with me and now they're The Man. I used to bitch about The Man and now they're The Man," Rodriguez said. "I guess that's normal."

Though political and social issues are frequently topical in Rodriguez's comedy, he said he does not believe force-feeding agendas to audiences is as effective as simply making them laugh.

"Sometimes a Carrot Top is a lot deeper than a Dennis Miller, if that makes any sense, because, in that sense, your job is to entertain," Rodriguez said.

With years of entertaining under one's belt comes the wear those years have on the heart, mind and body. Now 50, Rodriguez said he's shocked at how quickly time has snuck up on him.

"You really don't understand that until you wake up one day and say, 'Oh my God. Not me!'" he said. "I saw a bumper sticker that said, 'No one is hip forever' and, boy, nothing brings that home than if you have a child."

Make that two children, with a 5-year-old son in addition to 20-year-old Pauly.

"Every 15 years I get lucky," Rodriguez said.

His eldest has become a phenomenon in his own right as a professional, award-winning skateboarder.

"Father's Day, I went, 'Oh my God. He's mine? That guy? He's a man! Who is that guy?'" Rodriguez said.

Even if Pauly never does crack his head open on the pavement, Rodriguez said he gets frustrated with the fear something bad will happen to him.

Having performed for U.S. troops in Baghdad three times, Rodriguez is going back for a fourth, but is reluctantly allowing Pauly to tag along.

After one visit to Baghdad, Rodriguez became quite troubled when he heard a lot of small arms fire as the plane was taking off.

"I remember the pilots saying, 'Ah, they're shooting at us again,' very casually, like it's something that happens all the time," he said. "I thought they were pulling my leg."

While many don't see times of war as the most humorous, Rodriguez, who served in the Air Force, said he finds humor in the worst situations. On several occasions, he's even taken his act to San Quentin State Prison where he's performed for death row inmates.

Performing for royal families in the Middle Eastern countries, such as Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, has also helped spark a few realizations about war (cultural and political) for Rodriguez.

"Sometimes when God allows wars to happen in a few parts of the world it teaches geography," Rodriguez said he once joked with a friend during his first visit to Baghdad. "And there's nothing in this part of the world that couldn't be cured by a cold beer, a beautiful woman and a joint. And it's true."

While Dave Chappelle has been helping America get their laughs at the expense of Blacks, Rodriguez hopes to do the same for Latinos with a show he's currently pitching to Comedy Central. Rodriguez, one of the only four Latino men to head a television show, has created the tentatively titled, "Telegringo: Spanish Television for the non-Spanish."

"Basically, Spanish television runs on T&A. Blatantly. The equivalent of a Barbra Walters will be sitting there with a blouse down to her navel," Rodriguez said. "It's basically a Latino Benny Hill and it's very sexist. And they say very racist things, but, apparently it's OK because nobody ever calls them on the mat."

Inspired by Second City Television – a fictitious Canadian TV station that made fun of the hokey wholesomeness of its network TV – Rodriguez came up with the idea to parody it when he realized Telemundo and Univision are broadcast in several northern states where the majority of inhabitants do not understand Spanish.

"I basically told the [Comedy Central folks], 'Look, how about a Spanish station for the Spanish-impaired? Too Good for Telemundo!' The programming that's just too blatant for Telemundo, we'll put it on the air here,'" Rodriguez said. "And that's why I'm trying to find a way to parody a parody."

Before (or after) Rodriguez's television dreams are realized, audiences can also see him in two films opening later this year: "The World's Fastest Indian" with Sir Anthony Hopkins opening in November and "Cloud Nine" with Burt Reynolds.

"The World's Fastest Indian," best described as "basically "Seabuscuit" on a motorcycle" by Rodriguez, is a semi-biographical drama about Burt Munro (Hopkins), a New Zealander who comes to the U.S. with the dream of breaking the world's speed record with his motorcycle named "The Indian."

Rodriguez plays Fernando, a shady car salesman from El Salvador who has it out for Whitey, but slowly realizes how much he has in common with Munro, a kind and generous man who tends to have a positive impact on the somewhat callous characters he encounters throughout the film.

"At the end of shooting, he just pats me on the back and says, 'You're quite a find.' And I had no idea what the hell that meant," Rodriguez said. "And I had no idea if he was making a pass at me."

Paul Rodriguez and WAR perform at the Casino Del Sol's Anselmo Valencia Tori Amphitheatre on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $11 for the lawn, $15 for reserved seats. The Casino Del Sol's AVA is located at 5655 W. Valencia Rd. (and I-19).