To understand what Carlos Mencia’s professional life has been like over the last three years, watch “Fishsticks,” a 2009 episode of “South Park” in which an animated version of Mencia is beaten and killed after taking credit for a joke that isn’t his.

While the episode features a cartoon Kanye West and his cronies swinging the baseball bats, it has been fellow comedians who have come out in full force against the Latino funnyman and what they claim is blatant joke stealing. True or not, the reputation has stuck, and although he’s denied the allegations, Mencia has quickly become one of the most hated comedians in the industry.

Currently on a tour to prepare for a TV special he will be filming this fall, Mencia, 42, formerly of Comedy Central’s “Mind of Mencia,” spoke to EXTRA about where he is in his life and how he feels about his colleagues making him a villain in the comedy world.

EXTRA: Has life taken some time getting used to not having your TV show?
Carlos Mencia: What has been hard is thinking about why I decided to walk away in the first place. I come from a working family, bro. We don’t say no to work or money. I didn’t know if the next season would have been as good as I wanted it to be. I’d rather leave and have people say, “Hey, where’d you go?” than have people see it and say, “Ah, that last season sucked.”

Did you feel you were at a crossroad?
I was in a place where I was just not ready to go there. You go through periods in your life where you begin to question yourself. That’s never been a part of my psyche. I took some time off to ...