Tonight Pepe Navarro and Florentino Fernández will go have fun at ‘El Hormiguero’, two widely known faces in the history of Spanish television and who have shared projects since the journalist decided share space on the program ‘Tonight we cross the Mississippi’in the 90s. An extensive professional career that led the actor, known artistically as ‘Flo’, to know both the good and negative sides of wealth, as happened to Pablo Motos.
The well-known Spanish presenter, Pepe Navarro, and the comedian Florentino Fernández will attend Pablo Motos’ program to talk about the different professional projects they are working on and tell some of the most notable anecdotes from their extensive journey together. A story marked by laughter and camaraderiebut also for life lessons that will never be forgotten. Especially those related to economics.
One of these lessons came at the beginning of the career of Florentino José Fernández Román, better known as ‘Flo’, who decided to audition for the program ‘Tonight we crossed the Mississippi’. His dream had always been to dedicate himself to the world of acting and, above all, comedy, and the opportunity came with Pepe Navarro. Before that, the man from Madrid worked as a security guard, so The arrival of fame meant a big change in his life.
The actor rejected an offer of 100 million pesetas
In the program, a young Florentino dedicated himself to playing different characters and performing imitations, always in a humorous tone. A facet that helped him win the affection of the public and become one of the best-known comedians in the country. Therefore, it is not surprising that only six months after starting the program, the network decided to give him a contract with a high financial offer: 100 million pesetas per year of contract.
Although it was a very attractive opportunity, his loyalty to Pepe Navarro, who had decided to give him a chance in the sector, made him hesitate. When he discussed it with his parents, his mother gave him advice that will never be erased from his mind: “When there is excess money, it is cancer. He gave me the example of my family, who had a lot of money, but they got along terribly,” he expressed on the program ‘La noche D’. It was then when he decided to reject the offer.
A decision that surprised Pepe Navarro. “He told me if I was stupid“, he explained in the program ‘And now Sonsoles’. However, that loyalty was highly rewarded, as the presenter decided to offer him a million pesetas a month if he accompanied him in the change of television network to Antena 3, even in the event that they were fired, as finally happened three months later.
He also made financial mistakes
With the rise in salary, so did fame. A time in which Florentino remembers making impulsive decisions, such as buying a new car for 120,000 euros. “I arrive with an illusion… I get on, all the lights turn on and it doesn’t turn on,” he explained on the Mago More podcast. When he went to claim it, the company asked him more than 20,000 euros for the termination of the contract. A high figure that, however, he decided to pay without thinking about it.
It was due to these types of situations that the comedian learned to differentiate between happiness and money, “two concepts that are always associated, but do not always go together,” he explained in the program ‘La noche D’. According to your own experiences, you can have great wealth, but that does not make you happier. The most important thing is learn to value what you have and “not take things for granted”.
A humble childhood in the Madrid neighborhood of Vallecas
Likewise, he reflected on the difference in opportunities depending on his starting point in life. “The difference between being poor and being rich is that The rich man is not poor because he does not want to and the poor man is not rich because he cannot.“, he assured. Something that he knows very well after having lived in a humble and modest childhood in the Madrid neighborhood of Vallecas. “There was nothing there, we took cardboard and wet them so that they would pay us more by weight,” he confessed to ‘Diario Sur’.
For this reason, Florentino Fernández so appreciated the opportunity that Pepe Navarro offered him by accepting him on the program that marked the beginning of his career as a comedian. A close professional relationship that has lasted to the present day and that will take them to share a table tonight at ‘El Hormiguero’. A program in which both professionals will share anecdotes and talk about their new projects.