Review: Julio Torres’ ‘Color Theories’ on HBO Max – Watch or Skip?
Julio Torres returns with a second HBO comedy special that maps human traits onto color. The hour-plus performance treats hues as emotional systems. His premise is vivid and consistently surreal.
Creative background
Torres first drew notice with distinct sketches on Saturday Night Live. He later won a Peabody for the HBO series he co-created and co-starred in, Los Espookys. His earlier solo special, My Favorite Shapes by Julio Torres, premiered in 2019.
He also wrote and starred in the A24 film Problemista, alongside Tilda Swinton. Torres has credited his immigrant experience from El Salvador in shaping that work. His other HBO work includes the late-night series Fantasmas.
Concept and structure
The special explores why colors carry emotional intent. Torres argues colors influence how we interpret people and places. He uses a playful, theatrical staging to make his case.
Primary colors and their mixes receive focused attention. He treats navy blue as a signifier of law and order. He defines black as the unknown and white as the known, noting waiting rooms end up gray.
Celebrity examples and comic beats
Torres assigns celebrities to colors to illustrate his theory. Ellen DeGeneres presents as yellow, with a revealed peek of red. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson serves as an archetypal orange—energetic but safe.
Barbra Streisand is cast as purple, in part for eccentric choices like cloning her dog. Torres also frames small sensory images as colors, such as rain sounding green or flying a kite feeling yellow.
Set, characters, and props
The production borrows from fairy-tale and children’s-show aesthetics. A crew of helpers resembles figures from Beauty & The Beast and Pee-wee’s Playhouse. A cuckoo-clock robot named BIBO keeps Torres on schedule and challenges him onstage.
BIBO appears blue and confronts Torres about his navy-blue fixation. Torres’s wardrobe choices—a white T and brown pants—become part of the running color commentary.
Off-topic tangents and audience moments
The hour includes personal tangents beyond color theory. Torres recounts travel misadventures caused by visa issues. He also jokes about syncing problems between an old iPhone and a new model.
An onstage illustration about tax avoidance in the Hamptons provoked an audience reaction. A heckler broke silence with a homophobic slur during that bit. Torres handles the moment within his act.
Tone and comparisons
The show’s elaborate visual world may recall Pee-wee Herman. Its formal subversions nod toward Andy Kaufman’s influence. Still, Torres remains more immediately accessible than many avant-garde comedians.
Recommendation
If you are weighing “Watch or Skip?” the critic’s verdict is clear: stream it. Sean L. McCarthy, who covers the comedy beat, recommends watching for Torres’s unique voice.
Readers searching review perspectives on Julio Torres’ Color Theories and HBO Max will find this special a strong showcase. Fans of inventive comedy should give it a try.
