It’s been said he was born to Puerto Rican immigrants, which is technically untrue, as Puerto Ricans are US citizens. Although, he’s got an uncle who was once deported to the Bronx.

With the premiere of his first television special, “Comedy Central Presents: Bill Santiago,” he won over fans nationwide with his dead-on observations about Spanglish – “twice the vocabulary and half the grammar!” and his beloved catchphrase “¡Porque Because!”

Notably, his special premiered May 5, Cinco de Mayo, in a shrewd programming decision to attract a wider Latino audience, despite his not being Mexican (allowable under the “close enough” clause in his contract). Soon after, Santiago landed his first book deal, to write “Pardon My Spanglish,” based on his act and promising laughs for Latinos and the Latino-curious.

He has also appeared on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” Comedy Central’s “Premium Blend,” “Que Locos,” “American Latino,” and is scheduled to appear on “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” this fall. Last year, he hosted the Latin Grammy Person of the Year Award ceremony, honoring Juan Luis Guerra (the tallest Dominican he’s ever met), at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas.

Formerly an awarding-winning journalist (despite his worst efforts), he contributed regularly to newspapers including the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, Boston Globe and Philadelphia Inquirer. While living in Puerto Rico, he worked as a staff writer for the San Juan Star. He was also a humor columnist for Mother Jones magazine online.

When not on stage, he enjoys curling up with a good book or a well-read, Spanglish-speaking woman. He lives in New York City.

Comedian Bill Santiago on . . .

The Origins of Spanglish in America — “From a historical perspective, Spanish was here first. In fact, there’s evidence that when Ponce de Leon landed in Florida, the natives he ‘discovered’ were already fans of Ricky Martin. He’s older than he looks.”

Gringo Spanglish — “What’s my honest opinion of gringo Spanglish? Well, and I think I speak for a lot of Latinos when I say this: At least you’re not dancing the Macarena anymore.”

Anti-Spanglish Grammar Nazis —“Los enemigos del Spanglish cannot win. La suya es una lucha perdida de antemano. You might be able to stop global warming, pero Spanglish just isn’t going away así de fácil.”

White Castle Burgers — “Growing up in New York, I was convinced that those little square hamburguesas were traditional indigenous Puerto Rican food. I went straight from breast-feeding to White Castle hamburgers. And every Thanksgiving, Mami would stuff our turkey with eighty to ninety White Castle hamburgers. Our friends and neighbors would come over and rave, ‘Oh my God, this Puerto Rican stuffing is delicious!’”

Dora the Explorer — “Dora the Explorer is like the animated reincarnation of Cesar Chavez in the body of Shirley Temple. Even just by minimally sprinkling her English with Spanish, she is single-handedly doing more to boost Spanglish literacy in preschoolers than any other chica de la pantalla chica.”