美国国家公共电台 NPR George Lopez Reflects On 'The Wall,' A Lifetime Of Comedy And Jokes About Trump

STACEY VANEK SMITH, HOST:

We're going to turn now to comedy.

(SOUNDBITE OF COMEDY SPECIAL, "GEORGE LOPEZ: IT'S NOT ME, IT'S YOU")

GEORGE LOPEZ: Mitt 1 Romney wants the Latino vote. He ain't going to get it. He ain't going to get it. And you know why? Because Mitt Romney's a [expletive] Latino and he won't admit it. His father was born in Chihuaha, Mexico. Mitt Romney is a Chicano, but he won't admit it. I'm not. I'm Danish. I'm French.

SMITH: That is comedian 2 George Lopez in his 2012 HBO stand-up, "It's Not Me, It's You." George Lopez became a household name in 2002 with his breakout sitcom 3, "The George Lopez Show." For years, Lopez has been a signature voice in the Latino community. He has a show on TV Land right now called "Lopez." And tonight, he's performing a live HBO comedy special called "The Wall" wall right here in Washington, D.C. As you might imagine, there will be plenty of talk about politics. We caught up with him before the show. And I started off by asking him if there was a message he was trying to send by hosting his special just a mile away from the White House.

LOPEZ: I would say that as long as I've been doing stand-up that I have never seen a place more divided even amongst its own ranks. And it is probably the most difficult time, I would say, for a comedian to be starting. But if you have some success and you're not hung up on what people think about you, it could be the most fruitful time of someone's career.

So what I'm trying to accomplish clearly is, you know, when I do it live, I know that it frightens most comedians 4 to be able to do a show that is in the moment, you know, akin 5 to like boxing. When a boxer 6 knows that he's going to fight months away, he has to make sure that on that day, August 5, that he is as great as he will be at any time at that particular moment, let's say 10 o'clock tonight.

SMITH: What do you think the role of comedians is right now? I mean, is it different in this political climate than it was, like, back in 2012, when you were making jokes about Mitt Romney?

LOPEZ: Absolutely. It is completely different. The role of the comedian now is - and a lot of comedians don't like to take that role. You see Stephen Colbert's ratings excel when he turns his talk show primarily into a kidding about Donald Trump 7. And you see Trevor Noah, who was not a successful pick in the beginning like, you know, Jon Stewart. They thought it could have been somebody else.

SMITH: He was having trouble with ratings, for sure.

LOPEZ: And now because of the fact that he chose to take the Trump route as well, he's seen his ratings excel. And then you look at Jimmy Fallon. All people I know, by the way. And Jimmy Fallon was a little bit pandering 8 because Jimmy Fallon is like a puppy, that he's so energetic. And you cannot dislike him. But also, he doesn't want to take a political stance, you know. So when Trump does the Jimmy Fallon show, "The Tonight Show," and Jimmy Fallon doesn't press him on issues, it's not that he doesn't want to press him on issues, it's that that's really not his thing. And, you know, that's fine. That should be fine. And then you'll see some people that say, I thought he pandered 9 to him. I didn't think he was tough on him. But that's not Jimmy Fallon's role.

So there are some comedians that - like D.L. Hughley, who has a radio show and on stage, that he goes after Donald Trump and goes after issues. He's not making anything up. I'm not making anything up. But when he and I do shows together, whoever is a Donald Trump supporter definitely does not want to come and see D.L. Hughley and George Lopez together. So the role of the comedian is one that it is - it can be a landmine 10 for some, but it could - those landmines 11 can be fruitful trees to others that don't care what people think about them.

SMITH: Yeah. Where do you fit into all of this? Where does "The Wall" fit into this?

LOPEZ: "The Wall" fits into - I'm an American citizen. I've seen a lot of change in this country. I've also seen my grandfather, who had a green card, who was documented, work harder than I've ever seen anybody work in my life.

SMITH: What did he do?

LOPEZ: He was a dig ditcher. He digged sewers 12. And he worked in construction. But he wasn't a builder, he was a digger. And that was his life. And it's tough, man, when you see a guy like that that you grow up. And those are the eyes - your impressionable eyes that you see this guy coming in and beat down from working. You know, he's struggling to take his shoes off. And when you're a grown man and you see someone depict 13 that as lazy or a violator or anything like that, it doesn't - that doesn't stand with me.

You know, the thing that upsets me the most is the entitlement of people that will stand with a flag and say to some other people that they need to go back to where they came from, when, in fact, they also would need to go back to where they came from because you need to go all the way back to the beginning. And if we all had to go back to where we came from, there would be less traffic. And there wouldn't be as many crimes. And we would be living in a place that had a lot of space. I don't think real estate would be as much as it is now if everybody went back to where they came from.

SMITH: So last month, you got some backlash after you posted on social media. Quote, "the Trump administration is deporting 15 Latinos to make streets safer. You want to make the streets safer? Deport 14 the police."

LOPEZ: That's right.

SMITH: And, of course, Kathy Griffin got a lot of backlash for her photo holding a severed 16 head that looked like President Trump. It sort of seems like the boundaries of comedy are shifting right now. And I was wondering if there's anything that's off limits to you?

LOPEZ: Well, yes, of course. But police brutality 17 is not off limits. It can't be. You know, holding up a severed head of the president, would I do that? No. Would anybody that worked with me allow me to do that? No way.

SMITH: Why not?

LOPEZ: Because it's - that's - you know, I've always had a certain amount of respect for the office of the presidency 18 up until - and even a little bit now. Like, I won't acknowledge that the guy there - like, I won't say the president such and such. I just think you have to be better qualified 19 to earn that title. Like, you might have won the election, but that doesn't make you qualified to sit in that chair. I know a little bit about that guy. And listen. I'm full of [expletive], but that guy really is full of [expletive]. Like, he's overflowing 20. Listen. I'm positive that there's good cops and bad cops, just like there's good fat and there's bad fat.

SMITH: (Laughter).

LOPEZ: So, you know, in life, there's a ying and yang and a balance. And when you don't have balance, you have comedy. And when you can't take a joke, it is a sad indictment 21 of our society right now.

SMITH: So you know President Trump. You've played golf with President Trump.

LOPEZ: I know Donald Trump, yes.

SMITH: This was, I think, back in 2007.

LOPEZ: Yes. At the time that we played golf, yes, I never had any bad experiences with him. He and I played golf at Bedminster. And I arrived in a town car. And he arrived by helicopter.

SMITH: Has your opinion of him changed?

LOPEZ: No. I don't have a good opinion of him because I don't think he's working for everyone. Let's say if he came in and he lowered taxes to 20 percent, I'd be out there yelling, build that wall. But that's not going to happen, I don't think (laughter).

SMITH: You've been a comedian for decades. I'm wondering how you feel about your profession? I mean, is it something that you still love?

LOPEZ: I love it, yes. It's the freest form of expression. Even though they - people get upset, it is the only place that you can truly have free speech. Politically, you can't. And, you know, you skirt around issues. And I think skirting around stuff and being politically correct is what's dividing the country in a sense. I mean, you can't - you don't want to get it to where you're using words that incite 22, but images and misperceptions? Those should always be funny. You know what I mean?

SMITH: Yeah.

LOPEZ: So those are the things that I gravitate to because those are the things that happened to me. Like, when I was married and we were working on this house, there were workers at the house all day long. And I wasn't around because I was doing my show. And my wife was around. She's - she was light-skinned. So all the guys are around the front yard.

And I come out one morning in a T-shirt and jeans with something - a bag. And the guy says to me, hey, the lady doesn't like it if we use the bathroom in the house. And I thought that was funny. So after 56 years and 38 of them doing stand-up, those are the things that make me laugh. If they make people feel uncomfortable, then that person has to deal with their uncomfortableness and not with the fact that I'm speaking my mind.

SMITH: Lastly, you probably don't want to give too much away.

LOPEZ: Is it lastly already? Wow. Wow. That's - wow. All right.

SMITH: I was wondering if you can give us a little taste of your show tonight?

LOPEZ: Yeah. I would say that, you know, if they build the wall, the most difficult part for Mexicans is to watch someone build a wall and not have anything to do with it. So that's almost like mental torture, that Latinos will be looking and going, oh, my God, what are they - what he's doing. He's using sparkling water to make cement. He doesn't even know. What are all those things too every 10 feet? Those are port-a-potties.

SMITH: Well, that would explain the $30 billion, if they use sparkling water to make the cement.

LOPEZ: For $30 billion, you could get undocumented people to build the the wall themselves. You can pay them to stand as a wall shoulder-to-shoulder in eight-hour shifts and still have money left over. But also, I say that I hope the wall isn't so heavy that it crushes the tunnels that we have underneath 23.

SMITH: That's true. That's a risk. Oh, yeah.

LOPEZ: And if this country wants to elect someone with no political experience who's racially insensitive and golfs, here I am.

SMITH: (Laughter) Is this your official announcement?

SMITH: I will - in my first hundred days. I will make Taco Tuesday the law.

SMITH: George Lopez 2020? You heard it first.

LOPEZ: Health care - and I will legalize marijuana. Not only would I legalize it, I will sit down and smoke it with you in my first hundred days.

SMITH: I feel like that could be an effective platform.

LOPEZ: That would be pretty good.

SMITH: George Lopez's comedy special "The Wall" airs tonight on HBO. George Lopez, thank you so much. I'm honored to be on NPR. Thank you.

(SOUNDBITE OF WAR'S "LOW RIDER")