No te Duermas

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Antonio Sanchez ("Gangster") with models Taína (left) and Glerysbeth (right)

No te Duermas (translated as Don't Fall Asleep) is a Spanish-language television program, a late-night talk and variety show from Puerto Rico. It started in 1989 as a late night show with comedian Antonio Sanchez El Gangster in WSTE-TV SuperSiete. Later on, the show moved to Telemundo Puerto Rico, enjoying great success.

Sanchez has been the host of the show for its duration, occasionally being accompanied by a female host. Some of the co-hosts that have shared the stage with Sanchez are:

Lourdes Collazo (1989 - ????)
Sandra Vanessa
Jailene Cintrón
Yizette Cifredo (2003 - 2004)
Laura Hernandez (2005 - present)

The show has also put models in the spotlight by being on a prime time show. Some of the most famous have been Taína, Glerysbeth, La Burbu, Mara Cruz, and others.

The show features interviews to artists, music performances, curious facts, and comedy sketches featuring mostly characters by Sanchez himself. The show was criticized in its beginnings for its raunchy style and general portrait of women. This, however, has helped the show to maintain a strong male following.

However, the show ratings began to decline in the late 90s. Apparently, audiences were getting tired of the same format and the same comedy sketches. In recent years, the show changed from a weekly show (Mondays) to a daily one (from Monday to Friday) to compete with Univision's main show, Anda Pa'l Cara. The latter still holds most of the audience, but the former has slowly rose back to better ratings.

[edit] Comedy Characters

Here is a list of some of the comedy characters portrayed by Antonio Sanchez in his show:

Lindín - an obese man (Sanchez in a suit) that finds himself inmensely attractive.
Kiko Jones - a spoof of Indiana Jones. His "adventures" are always intercut with scenes of real movies in a campy way to make it funnier.
Super Moncho - a Puerto Rican version of Super Dave. A stunt man performing increasingly absurd stunts always failing. At the end he will always yells "Estoy vivooo!!" ("I'm aliiiiveee!").
Pedro Lambellagas - a news reporter with a lame voice and a unibrow. Most of his news reports are criticisms of the local government or funny takes on local news.
Pepe Pirindingo - a taxi driver that's always faced with crazy situations.
Pepín Galarza - a naive and innocent geek. Somehow women are attracted to him putting him in extremely sensual situations. At that point he would always ask to the screen "Gangster, ¿que hago?" ("Gangster, what should I do?"). After receiving a good advice from Sanchez, he would go and do some stupid thing.
Dr. Selastraga - a promiscuous doctor that's always asking his female patients to get undressed.
Minga - A gossiping woman that comments on celebrities and other everyday subjects. She would go on to have her own show (see Minga y Petraca).
Don Remigio - a horny old man that always pursues beautiful women and ends up getting hit. His sketches are usually featured in a silent movie style with fast-tracked editing and old music in the background.