TV

Watch Chris Cubas join the 1% for one month on “Chris Gets Money” on Fusion

In the 1985 film, Brewster’s Millions, Richard Pryor plays a minor-league ballplayer who’s offered a challenge of spending $30 million in 30 days to inherit a $300 million windfall from a deceased relative.

The stakes in Chris Gets Money aren’t quite that high. Fusion’s new comedy documentary takes Austin-based stand-up Chris Cubas, who has to work as a bouncer to help make ends meet, and gives him $30,000 to spend in 30 days. It’s all in an effort to explore income inequality — the chasm between rich and poor, between the haves and have-nots — that has become a central problem in America. And do so in a funny way.

“The point I wanted to make with this film is that income inequality isn’t an abstract idea — it is a real, tangible problem with real-world implications for regular Americans,” Cubas said. “I’ve never had money in any real way. My father worked for the post office, my mother was a stay-at-home mom and we got by, but it was never easy. And now people might think ‘Oh he’s broke because he decided to try and being a comedian,’ but the fact is I work more than 40 hours a week and still barely make ends meet. I think it’s important for people to realize that it’s not just homeless people or jobless people that this is a problem for.”

Chris Gets Money premieres at 8 p.m. Eastern/Pacific on Fusion.

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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