José Antonio Díaz (born February 19, 1963), also known as Joey "CoCo" Diaz, is a Cuban-American stand-up comedian, actor, podcaster, and author.

After pursuing stand-up comedy full time in 1991 in the Colorado and Seattle areas, Diaz relocated to Los Angeles in 1995, where he began acting, securing various film and television roles, including in My Name Is Earl, Everybody Hates Chris, The Longest Yard, Spider-Man 2, Grudge Match, and The Many Saints of Newark.

[3][1] He was first raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City, before moving to North Bergen, New Jersey, at the age of ten,[3][4][5] a town where he noted he and his mother were the only Cuban Americans at the time.

[9] He was taken in by four families around North Bergen during his teenage years – he later credited about twenty people who helped him – but his reckless nature and tendency to get into trouble caused him to move from one home to another.

However, his growing homesickness led him to return to New Jersey in 1984; he initially only intended to spend his twenty-first birthday there, but he ended up staying in the state for nearly eighteen months.

He did not enjoy his time there and quit before taking up work selling roofing, which earned him money but failed to make him any happier.

[12] During his time in prison, he would perform stand-up routines for his fellow inmates during the weekly film screening event whenever the projector broke.

It took Diaz a further three years to try stand-up professionally despite being often told of his talent; he later called his entry into the line of work "the last resort", as he had had many other jobs since his release from prison.

In April 1992, prior to his opening spot for Troy Baxley in Boulder, Colorado, Diaz took cocaine before going on stage and had a set that he described as "a disaster".

[1] In 1998, Diaz received a contract to star in a television pilot, playing a bartender in a series titled Bronx County, after a talent scout at CBS saw him perform comedy in Seattle.

The offer was a total surprise to Diaz, who initially did not believe him until he saw the talent scout possess tickets to have him fly to Los Angeles for the shoot.

[1] Diaz's profile increased with subsequent roles in Law & Order and his first major feature films, Spider-Man 2 (2004)[10] and Taxi (2004).

[8] Diaz regards his role in the 2009 television film The Dog Who Saved Christmas as a point of pride, as it allowed children in North Bergen to see him act.

[10] Around 2011, Diaz raised $1,400 from fans on Twitter and Facebook to finance a documentary about his upbringing in North Bergen, chronicling his life and how he was influenced by the various people who took care of him following his parents' death.

That same year, he played Robert De Niro's coach in the feature film Grudge Match, which premiered on December 25.

[18] On September 2, 2012, Diaz launched his own podcast, The Church of What's Happening Now, which he co-hosted with producer and sidekick Lee Syatt.

[21] Episodes were released on various audio-only podcast platforms in addition to the audiovisual version on YouTube, where they garnered over half a million subscribers.

[22] On October 5, 2020, Diaz launched a new podcast series, Uncle Joey's Joint after moving back to New Jersey from California.