A Washington Heights Podcast Journey To 100 Episodes: A Look Back

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — Before the coronavirus changed the world, you could walk into the Monkey Room bar and restaurant in Washington Heights and find Ricardo "Rick" Hierro, Luis "Craze" De Leon, and Jaylah Sandoval talking with just about anyone for their hit podcast — The Rick H. Show.

The award-winning team recorded their podcasts live out of the Washington Heights bar, inviting the audience to participate throughout and having the show's guest of the day interact with the crowd afterward.

While coronavirus has put a stop to the live shows, it hasn't slowed the podcast — which is about to record its 100th episode.

The Rick H. Show was started in September of 2018 as a sports podcast before quickly transitioning to include all elements of culture.

Hierro, the creator of the podcast and a Washington Heights native, grew the show through a foundation squarely built out of the Upper Manhattan community.

"We decided to do a podcast on culture, whether it be sports, arts, music, or film," Hierro told Patch. "We started out interviewing guests from Washington Heights and Inwood, so the first three seasons, most of our guests were either music artists, contemporary artists, filmmakers, or actors from Upper Manhattan."

In the years since, the podcast has had guests like directors Jessy Terrero and Oz Rodriguez, comedians Michael Diaz and Aries Spears, actors Jonathan Fernandez and Manny Perez, and many others.

Many of whom have ties to Upper Manhattan.

The podcast has also gained quite a bit of popularity, expanding its viewership base out of New York City and taking home the 2020 Latin Podcast Award Winner for Comedy Interviews, and securing a total of nine nominations over the past two Latin Podcast Awards.

"The goal was never to get to the 100th episode, it was to make every episode as fun and as interesting as possible," Hierro told Patch. "We wanted to have anybody who tuned in that was from the neighborhood to think, 'oh this guy is from the neighborhood, this lady looks like me, I can be a director, I can be an actor, I can be a comedian, I can do all these things.'"

The Washington Heights native is hoping to return to live shows sometime in the summer, depending on how the COVID-19 situation continues to develop.

Hierro knows the podcast wouldn't be at the level it is today without the help of the community it was born out of.

"The neighborhood has had a heavy influence on me. Just the culture," Hierro said. "Growing up there everybody knew each other, you knew the officer when you were younger, you knew who owned what store, all my friends are from the neighborhood, and the neighborhood has supported me in a big way."

The co-host of the show Luis "Craze" De Leon is also from Washington Heights.

Justin "JT" Triest, the director, producer, and editor of the podcast, and Clarence Wright III, the photographer for the team, are also major parts of making the Rick H. Show happen.

Hierro shouted out the Dominican Writers Association, Latinos Out Loud, and the Uptown Collective as other Upper Manhattan creators and organizations with who the Rick H. Show have formed a network of support.

In terms of what the podcast hopes to achieve in the next 100 episodes, Hierro kept it simple.

"Just continuing to highlight different creatives, different people from different backgrounds, and to have more fun — because it's just fun to do a podcast," Hierro said.

You can find out more about the Rick H. Show on its website and Youtube channel.