 The character was born within "El Derecho de Lavar", a comedy spoof on a particular radio (later television) telenovela, "El derecho de nacer", whose basic format has been followed as a formula for almost 70 years in Cuban, Puerto Rican, Mexican, and other Latin American media.The ""Taller de Actores Puertorriqueños"" (Puerto Rican Actors' Workshop), of which Alicea was a member, set up an entire story behind the parody, as to make it resemble the original but exaggerating its main story line as to make it absurd enough to have a comedy made out it.At the initial stages of the character, Don Epifanio had a laundromat, something that was unbecoming of his avowed origins.