Ricky Martin interview: ‘Palm Royale’

“Not knowing what’s going to happen, I just love that. That’s what comedy is about,” declares Ricky Martin about learning comedy at the “Palm Royale.” He explains, “It’s very important to allow yourself to leave your script in your dressing room and be open to whatever happens from action to cut. It gives you a freedom and liberty. And to be next to the queens… Carol Burnett, are you kidding me? Laura Dern and, the one and only Kristen Wiig. It’s been nothing but a gift.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.

“Palm Royale” delves into the world of an exclusive resort club for Palm Beach in the late 60’s. Martin plays Robert Diaz, a bartender at the club and caretaker for the wealthy Norma Dellacorte, played by Burnett. With Norma in a coma, Robert continues to live in the Dellacorte mansion. When Norma’s daughter-in-law Maxine (Wiig), comes to break into high society, conflict develops into an unlikely friendship between the two outsiders.

On the themes of the show, Martin reflects, “It’s not worth it to change who you are to be part of a club. We’ve all been there. If you went to high school, you always wanted to be part of that group of kids that were cooler than you. Me, as an artist, I always wanted to be part of the club of people with Grammys, until I was able to accomplish it. But now you want to be part of other clubs. The Emmys club, the Tonys club. You want other recognitions. But I think that’s part of being human. He later adds, “We are so addicted to the applause. And now with social media it’s incredible that we get the immediate reaction of an audience. It’s a vice.”

The actor reveals, “With Carol Burnett I was in a sad moment telling a story. Her character is in a coma, so she’s just laying there. But she would open her eyes and close them. That was magic. That was comedy. That’s the beauty of it. Don’t take yourself so seriously.”

Martin also shared a memorable scene with Dern. He admits, “Our characters were smoking marijuana and obviously it’s fake marijuana, but we still felt stoned. I felt super high, and Laura was like, ‘I am s***faced.’ It was funny like that”

In the most recent episodes of the series, Robert has spoken to Maxine and Norma about his sexuality. Martin explains, “The first seven episodes were about making the audience fall in love with him without telling them too much about who he really is. He’s a gay man, there’s a lot of hate out there and that is a reality in 1968. And it also happens now. It is what it is. We had seven episodes to see this guy as caring and strong. But then there is a very fragile aspect of Robert that he’s starting to show.”

Martin has won two Grammys. The most recent was the 2016 Best Latin Pop Album award for “A Quien Quiera Escuchar (Deluxe Edition)”. The artist says, “My beginning in music was completely theatrical. I was part of a boy band where we were told what to say, what to wear, how to dance and how to behave. I took it as a big script… Five years of crazy preparation. Then later on in life, as a soloist, I started to get rid of what was given to me. I started shedding skin to become who I was. For me, that is when the magic started happening. Preparation is one thing, but what happens in the streets is what really makes you who you are.”