Episode 1136 - George Lopez
Marc:All right, let's do this.
Marc:How are you?
Marc:What the fuckers?
Marc:What the fuck buddies?
Marc:What the fucking ears?
Marc:What the fuckadelics?
Marc:What's happening?
Marc:Look, folks.
Marc:Be safe.
Marc:Wear your fucking mask.
Marc:I'm not telling you.
Marc:I mean, you know, I go on a hike.
Marc:I go on a hike and I bring my mask.
Marc:I got it on my chin.
Marc:And I don't see no people on the trail coming at me for, you know, 20, 30 feet or at all.
Marc:Not wearing it.
Marc:If I see someone coming 20, 30 feet away, put the mask on.
Marc:We all put our mask on.
Marc:Nod.
Marc:Someone's not wearing a mask.
Marc:They're coming at me.
Marc:And they're giving me the stink eye.
Marc:Under my breath or in my mind, I'm like, hey, I might have it, dude.
Marc:I'm helping you out.
Marc:Why are you giving me the shit face, stupid?
Marc:Don't give me the shit face.
Marc:You think I want to wear this?
Marc:I'm wearing this so I don't fucking kill you with my fucking...
Marc:dandelion virus coming out of my mouth.
Marc:Who knows?
Marc:Today on the show, George Lopez, I'm going to talk to George Lopez, okay?
Marc:I'm going to talk to George Lopez.
Marc:George Lopez, I've known of, I've met a few times, I've seen him around over the years, but he did...
Marc:Give me a ride from the airport in his limo once.
Marc:Didn't have to do that.
Marc:Could have just big time me.
Marc:Nice seeing you, man.
Marc:Good to meet you again.
Marc:I got to go.
Marc:Nope.
Marc:Said, I'll give you a ride.
Marc:Went to his house first and had the driver drop me at my house.
Marc:And I had to remind him of that during our conversation.
Marc:I will be talking to George Lopez shortly.
Marc:Hey, I just wanted to thank all the people.
Marc:I went to my P.O.
Marc:box, hadn't been there in a while.
Marc:Thank you for all the cards.
Marc:Like these are you guys who write the cards like someone brought you up.
Marc:Well, you know what to do.
Marc:I didn't know people wrote cards anymore, and I've been getting some at the house.
Marc:I get some from people I know, but there were just dozens at my PO box from just people like you guys and writing nice cards.
Marc:It's really a beautiful thing.
Marc:Lynn used to write cards, thank you cards.
Marc:I got to figure out how to be a person.
Marc:I really do.
Marc:That's what I want to learn.
Marc:I want to learn how to be a person that does nice things.
Marc:I think I can do it.
Marc:Don't you?
Marc:Yeah, I think so.
Marc:I went and did the COVID test here in L.A.
Marc:like every other person.
Marc:I was told that there was a place I could go pay for, pay 125 bucks, get one results, you know, in a half hour.
Marc:And I'm like, no, I want to go through the regular person thing.
Marc:I don't need special treatment.
Marc:That sounds like a racket anyways.
Marc:But I called them because I was online on the traffic line waiting for the regular one.
Marc:And I'm like, wow, this looks like it could be a few hours.
Marc:So I just said, well, look, if you got an opening like in the next 15, 20 minutes or in the next hour or so, call me up.
Marc:But they never called.
Marc:And I went all the way through the big, long line at Dodger Stadium.
Marc:I had that experience.
Marc:I had the COVID-19 test experience at Dodger Stadium like many Angelenos.
Marc:You get there.
Marc:They've got videos for you to tell you what to do.
Marc:They give you a bag with your toys in it.
Marc:You got the swabber toy.
Marc:You get the test tube with the liquid in it toy and baggies.
Marc:So I did that, dropped it off.
Marc:I haven't heard from them.
Marc:Everyone I've talked to said like one or two days, and it's been, well, you know, it was two days.
Marc:I'll know.
Marc:I'll know.
Marc:But, yeah, I've got to be honest with you.
Marc:I don't think I have it.
Marc:I do not think I do.
Marc:And if I do, it seems I might have the better one to have.
Marc:And also, if I do, by the time I get my fucking test results, I'll be more than halfway through my quarantine.
Marc:But I don't think I do because here's my deal.
Marc:You know where I'm at.
Marc:I'm in a lot of grief that comes and goes.
Marc:And I've got a sick cat and I let the grief happen as much as I can.
Marc:But I do stifle a lot of feelings.
Marc:And that means like that shuts down my my chest.
Marc:I'm a guy who holds stress in their chest.
Marc:And if I'm trying to shut down feelings, I'll have a hard time breathing.
Marc:Here's how I know it's probably not COVID is when I cry, my chest opens up.
Marc:Is that maybe that's the treatment that they're missing.
Marc:People need to just they need to cry to kill it.
Marc:I don't want to trivialize that at all.
Marc:I never really put it together until I was talking to my friend Michaela Watkins.
Marc:And I've done it my whole life one way or the other.
Marc:That if I have some big overwhelming fear or feelings or something that's out of my control that's causing me pain or panic or dread...
Marc:that or fear those are i guess all different words for it what i'll do is i will make it about me i will personalize it i will i will make something as extreme usually around my mortality or around some sort of sickness every time i've done a big show before i've done a special or a letterman appearance or anything either i'll think that i'm losing my voice or that i'm getting a cold sore and sometimes i've managed to almost manifest both of those things and
Marc:And if I'm just terrified of something or there's just this horrible feeling of loss and pain and dealing with the anxiety of monkey right now, it's like I just will develop symptoms.
Marc:I will decide I have COVID or I have lung cancer.
Marc:I'm having a heart attack because if I can make my fear something I have control over,
Marc:Obviously, I don't have control over really having those things, but I can go get a test or I can get through it or I can realize that I'm being crazy or whatever.
Marc:Something that I can do something about, then it's somehow comforting to me or it's somehow grounding or it's somehow it makes it easier for me to process.
Marc:That's easier for me to process.
Marc:But ultimately, it's avoidance.
Marc:And it's a weird thing that my brain does as opposed to sit in the fear or the pain, the sadness or the anxiety.
Marc:Why not give myself something that I can make up or something life threatening to obsess about?
Marc:I guess it's a survival tool, but it seems more to be an avoidance tool.
Marc:I don't know, but it's something I've done most of my life.
Marc:Most of my life.
Marc:But here's the thing.
Marc:Here's what's going on with me and why I'm exhausted.
Marc:There's a good possibility I'm deeply emotionally exhausted because...
Marc:I'm sleeping, but I'm not sleeping good.
Marc:I got monkey, you know, who's, you know, on his last legs.
Marc:He's mostly sleeping in the closet.
Marc:And he comes out and he eats and stuff.
Marc:But, you know, people have been asking about Buster Kitten.
Marc:Buster Kitten's around, but I'm like, I'm really fucking not treating Buster Kitten that well.
Marc:Because I'm focused on Monkey.
Marc:And to be honest with you, Buster beats the shit out of Monkey.
Marc:And Monkey is old and frail.
Marc:And it's really a fucking nightmare.
Marc:But I got to wake up to hear that old frail 16-year-old cat being bullied by this little tank of a black cat who can't stop fucking eating.
Marc:This little fat, this cat is nuts.
Marc:It's a fat cat now.
Marc:And he runs up and down the fucking stairs.
Marc:And it's not like cat sounds.
Marc:It's like, and then I hear like, and he's fucking with monkeys.
Marc:So now I got a lock monkey in the goddamn room with litter and food with me.
Marc:at night, just so his last days can be comfortable and he's not fucking riddled with stress from this little fucking pig cat that, like, just beats the shit out of him.
Marc:Now, I got a lot of love for Buster, but it is what it is.
Marc:So that's what's up.
Marc:That's why my chest is like this.
Marc:That's what I believe, but I'll let you know.
Marc:So Carl Reiner died, and...
Marc:You can listen to the 2013 interview I did with him.
Marc:It's available in whatever podcast feed you use and at wtfpod.com.
Marc:And I interviewed both him and Mel Brooks.
Marc:There's a beautiful story on the Carl Reiner episode about the two of them that I also told on Letterman.
Marc:It's very nice to actually have a personal Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner story.
Marc:It's one of my favorite things in my life.
Marc:I was talking to those two guys and having what happened happen.
Marc:And I'm just so glad that when these people passed, and he lived a good full life, this guy, Carl Reiner.
Marc:I tweeted, Carl Reiner was great.
Marc:He was just getting started.
Marc:Life is unfair.
Marc:And I thought that was a very Carl Reiner-like joke, and he would enjoy it.
Marc:But he and Mel Brooks were friends.
Marc:They used to spend, I believe, almost every night together for years.
Marc:They loved each other.
Marc:And it's a beautiful friendship.
Marc:And I wanted to play this clip from Rob Reiner.
Marc:I talked to him in 2016.
Marc:And this is obviously Carl Reiner's son.
Marc:Noah Slouch in the show biz himself.
Marc:But he talked about the special thing that Carl and Mel shared.
Marc:But, you know, I went to your father's house and he says he hangs out with Mel every night.
Marc:Mel.
Guest:Mel and my dad every single night.
Guest:Really?
Guest:Every night?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Virtually every night.
Guest:That's really something.
Guest:Listen, it's wonderful that they have each other.
Guest:They met each other when they were in their 20s doing the show of shows.
Guest:And to have that kind of bond and that bond to stick and they make each other laugh.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:They enjoy each other's company.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:They both lost their spouses recently, so they have that.
Guest:And they'd say that, you know, they watch any movie that has secure the perimeter in it.
Guest:They watch it.
Marc:Do you go over there?
Guest:Yeah, I've been over there.
Guest:I was over there one time when they got into a huge fight over... It was an appearance that Mel did on the Carson show.
Guest:And they were arguing about... It was like the Sunshine Boys movie.
Guest:They're arguing about which line got the biggest laugh.
Guest:And Mel was a guy who played an expert on wine.
Guest:He could detect any wine.
Guest:And they blindfolded him.
Guest:They gave him a glass of wine.
Guest:He tasted it.
Guest:He went, I think it's a red.
Guest:It's a Cabernet.
Guest:It's 1970.
Guest:And Carson says, no, no, that's not.
Guest:It's not.
Guest:He says, OK, wait a minute.
Guest:Let me try.
Guest:He takes another sip.
Guest:oh yes it's a red it's a bordeaux it's a 1980 no it's not that he says all right let me taste it in okay i got it it's a white and it's and that was a big laugh and then mel says that's the line that got the big laugh and i said no my dad says no it was the line after that it was the line after he's he takes another sip and he says oh i know what it is it's chicklets and and that got a big laugh too and and my and mel said no but the but
Guest:But the white wine got the bigger.
Guest:My dad says, yes, but it's not as funny as the chiclets because here's a guy who was a wine expert who couldn't tell the difference between a liquid and a solid.
Guest:That's the funny part.
Guest:So they yell at it, yelling at each other.
Guest:And you're sitting there.
Guest:I'm sitting there.
Guest:I love it.
Guest:I love it.
Marc:Beautiful.
Marc:Rest in peace, Carl Reiner.
Marc:What a tremendous gift your presence was all these years in the world of comedy and show business and also just as a decent human being.
Marc:So George Lopez, as I said earlier, we've met, but we never really talked.
Marc:And he has a new Netflix special.
Marc:We'll Do It For Half is streaming now.
Marc:And I talk to him in just a second.
Guest:what's going on mark hey george what's up brother how you doing man good good good i'm good what do you got on the wall there you a guitar player i dabble a little bit let's say uh santana model there the green one and then the other one is just a les paul and
Guest:There's some crazy ones in here upstairs.
Guest:Van Halen.
Guest:I got a couple from Van Halen that are awesome upstairs with those taped up Stratocaster ones.
Guest:One of those models.
Guest:But then he gave me one for my birthday that was one of the four black stealth guitars that he was playing on this last tour.
Guest:Oh, really?
Guest:Oh,
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:So how long you know Eddie?
Guest:He's been at that club, that lakeside for, you know, as a golfer for like 20 years.
Guest:He never showed up.
Guest:And then we met in 2009.
Guest:And I said, hey, man, you ever go play?
Guest:I haven't played in years.
Guest:So I said, let's go play one morning.
Guest:You know, he gets up early.
Guest:He doesn't have much to do.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And I said, you want to warm up or anything?
Guest:You want to hit a ball?
Guest:He hasn't swung the club in 20 years.
Guest:He goes up there.
Guest:Boom!
Guest:Right down the middle.
Guest:Of course, it's like gambling.
Guest:You go to Vegas, you win the first time.
Guest:Right.
Guest:No good.
Guest:He loved it.
Guest:I mean, he loved being out there and he kind of worked at the game.
Guest:So it was good to see somebody that you respect also, you know, as meticulous about golf and wanting to do good as he is about, you know, music and getting everything right.
Guest:How's he feeling?
Guest:You know, I think he's hung in there pretty well.
Guest:You know, he's taken a lot of treatments these last few years.
Guest:But, you know, he's a tough dude, man.
Guest:And he's getting by.
Marc:So tell me, like, about golf.
Marc:Because, like, I'm one of these guys, like, you know, I know guys love it.
Marc:And I kind of understand it.
Marc:Like, if I think about it, why it would be a nice thing.
Marc:But I still don't give a fuck.
Marc:Why not?
Guest:That's a school of thought, too, for golf.
Guest:A lot of people don't give a fuck about golf.
Guest:It depends on... There's a familiar aspect to it, like guys who play with their fathers, who play with their buddies, guys who maybe played casually at public golf courses.
Guest:When I was growing up, I didn't have a father.
Guest:My grandfather...
Guest:We never really did anything together.
Guest:We'd go to baseball games, but not anything we had to spend any time with someone.
Guest:So on Christmas Day of 1981, my buddy that I grew up with, Ernie, says to me, hey, man, let's go golf.
Guest:And it's like 1.30.
Guest:I'm like, where?
Guest:Up here in Silmar at El Corizo.
Guest:I go, they're closed.
Guest:He's like, no, they're open.
Guest:And I called them.
Guest:They're open.
Guest:We don't have clubs.
Guest:Well, we rent clubs.
Guest:So we rent clubs.
Guest:We hit some golf balls.
Guest:We didn't know what we were doing.
Guest:We had some tall 32-ounce silver bullets.
Guest:plowed some of those away laughing bullshitting and you know what it changed my life it taught me all the things that were wrong with me that needed to be corrected that I didn't have a male figure or an adult invest their time in me because I would always quit because it was really hard and I wasn't that natural at it and when it got really hard I'd make an excuse to leave or I'd pick the ball up but yeah
Guest:Those were the things that taught me temperament and taught me that when shit got tough, not to quit, which is what my baseball coach told me when I was a senior that nose to nose and my buddies behind me, they were tripping out.
Guest:They never seen a student and a teacher fucking go at it.
Guest:And he's like, you know what?
Guest:You're a quitter and you're always going to be a fucking quitter.
Guest:And when the shit gets tough, remember he said, you pack it in.
Guest:I go, is that right?
Guest:He's like, that's right.
Guest:Nose to nose.
Guest:That's right.
Guest:Because you're a quitter and let's see where you, good luck, you know, let's see where you get in life.
Guest:And I started playing golf and I started quitting.
Guest:And one day I picked up and I left.
Guest:And in the car, it's almost like you could see him.
Guest:I pulled over to the side of the road and I said, motherfucker.
Guest:I said, man.
Guest:Wow.
Guest:And I went back to the school.
Guest:I hadn't seen him in four years, and he's looking at me, and he's like, is that my third baseman?
Guest:I said, what's up, coach?
Guest:And he's like, what you doing here?
Guest:And I went over there to apologize to him for the way that I treated him when I was a student, and couldn't believe that four years later.
Guest:And I had never done that, Mark.
Guest:I'd never –
Guest:really apologize to somebody face to face.
Guest:Because usually if I was drunk and I pissed somebody off or I said something to somebody or treated somebody bad, I just eliminated them from my life.
Guest:Never tried to run into them again or never tried to see them again.
Guest:But with that advice that that guy gave me, I don't think I could have continued my life without telling that guy that I appreciate you, even though I didn't want to hear it at that time, that you may have given me the one key advice that I could use the rest of my life.
Guest:that's a wild story so it's just stuck in your head in that moment huh and then you know we didn't talk for years and he passed away like two years ago so i was trying to recall the story and you had parkinson's he was a little demented and he's like i don't remember that and i'm like are you sure it was me like motherfucker yes it was you so i try to get all sympathetic you know and he's like uh i don't remember any of that shit
Marc:So that's sort of... It taught you temperament and tolerance and follow through and everything else.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:And now you just enjoy playing now.
Marc:Do you shoot?
Marc:Are you good?
Guest:Well, you know, I'm about a 12 handicap, but I played like...
Guest:You know, I used to grow up.
Guest:I grew up alone.
Guest:So I grew up early, wake up early in the morning.
Guest:And then I would watch the British Open.
Guest:And it started at like 3 o'clock in the morning.
Guest:So I would get up early.
Guest:I started to watch golf.
Guest:I started looking forward to this golf tournament, the British Open.
Guest:I would go get some food from this place I still eat at.
Guest:So I'm maybe 13, 12, 13.
Guest:I'd walk up there and walk back, get some food.
Guest:Every year was a ritual thing.
Guest:I played at all the courses that I watched growing up.
Guest:And we had a seven iron.
Guest:I don't know where the seven iron came from.
Guest:A fucking garage sale.
Guest:And my grandfather used to use it to keep the dog in the backyard.
Guest:He would put the seven iron between the wall and the fence because the dog would push the fence and get out.
Guest:So all of a sudden, I start passing this golf club.
Guest:And I'm like, what's this golf club doing here?
Guest:And I'd go in the morning and pull lemons off of the lemon tree and hit lemons over the fence.
Guest:If I hit it good, it went over the fence.
Guest:And it cut it.
Guest:And the juice would fly up.
Guest:And one day my grandfather says, come over here, I want you to see something.
Guest:Look in the alley, there's all these fucking rinds of lemons and limes in the back.
Guest:He's like, go get a fucking trash can and pick this shit up.
Marc:He didn't tell you to go get some other clubs?
Marc:No, just that one.
Marc:Just that one.
Guest:So you grew up with your grandparents?
Guest:Yeah, I didn't know my father.
Guest:And it's funny, man, because, you know, with kids now and Ancestry.com.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And, you know, you can put 23 and me and everything you could trace.
Guest:You know, my daughter's 24.
Guest:But let's say I think it was like six years ago, you know, with her mom, you know, being divorced and her mom.
Guest:And they found relatives that were on my wife's side.
Guest:And, you know, they're saying, what's your father's name?
Guest:You know, my father's name.
Guest:And where did he...
Guest:you know, where did he, I said, I never met my father.
Guest:So I'm just going to give you stuff that I kind of know.
Guest:And just like nothing, you know, casually I said, so do you ever find out about my dad?
Guest:And she goes, yeah, he died.
Guest:Your dad's been dead for like 30 years.
Marc:Wow.
And,
Guest:And I'm like, hey, well, you know, wow.
Guest:Thanks for, you know, said, thanks for putting me down gently.
Guest:And they had no, you know, you're just looking for fucking results that someone's dead.
Guest:You're just like, oh, yeah, I thought your dad died like 30 years ago.
Guest:I don't think it was the right person.
Marc:Right.
Guest:But even if he was living, I don't think I'd get involved with him.
Marc:No.
Marc:I mean, I wonder about that.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Well, yeah, because why now?
Marc:I mean, how would that help anything?
Guest:You know, it was tough, Mark.
Guest:You know, when you're a kid and you're playing Little League and you're the kid that always has to get a ride home from somebody and if there's no room in it, to walk.
Guest:And, you know, my grandmother was so fucking tight.
Guest:Like, you know, every week, every kid has to bring snacks.
Guest:And my grandmother would be like, hey, grandma, we have to stop at the store.
Guest:And he said, for what?
Guest:For your tip-top bullshit.
Guest:And then every week, every game, every other guy on the team has some juices and some, you know, licorice or some potato chips.
Guest:fucking week that is my week.
Guest:They're like, I didn't, I don't have anything.
Guest:Well, you know, your, your grandma is supposed to bring snacks, but yeah, I know.
Guest:I know.
Guest:So where'd your mom go?
Guest:My mom was not the most stable person.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And she was having a hard time mentally.
Guest:You know, she was epileptic.
Guest:And, you know, she was tough to be around, man.
Guest:She's almost like childlike.
Guest:You know, if I told her, I don't want to go to school.
Guest:She's like, don't go.
Guest:We'll just go outside and play.
Guest:Like, you know, play with your mom in the backyard.
Guest:She's still around?
Guest:She lives in Sacramento, I believe.
Guest:But it was awful, you know.
Guest:It's awful, man.
Guest:It's awful not to have, you know, it's tough to not have siblings.
Guest:But when you're surrounded by people who either ignore you or they're awful people to be around, it's fucking tough, man.
Marc:Yeah, I mean, you know, how are you going to come into your own?
Marc:How are you going to become a person?
Guest:My grandmother caught me writing a threatening note to myself.
Guest:So I don't think I've ever told this story.
Guest:She comes up behind me.
Guest:She goes, what the fuck are you doing?
Guest:First of all, all this shit runs down your whole body.
Guest:And she grabs this letter and she's like, you better tell George that we're going to kick his ass if he comes to school and we're going to beat the fuck out of him.
Guest:And you know what?
Guest:And I was writing that to myself to have her find it to try to get some attention.
Guest:So she found it and found out that I was writing a threatening letter to myself and looked at me like I was...
Guest:the most disturbed fucking person she'd ever seen.
Guest:So you're writing a note to yourself?
Guest:No.
Guest:You're writing a note to beat yourself up.
Guest:And you're just like... It's a cry for attention.
Marc:Yeah, that was a plan, though, so you would get some attention from her?
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:They would just ignore me.
Marc:Oh, my God.
Marc:So they didn't want you.
Marc:They just took you because you had nowhere else to go?
Guest:I didn't have nowhere else to go.
Guest:And listen, my mom... I took a bus ride from...
Guest:San Fernando, California to Sacramento on a Greyhound.
Guest:My mom always went Greyhound in the early 70s.
Guest:I was maybe 13 and she bought me a Playboy magazine to look at on the bus.
Guest:And that may have single handedly been the absolute worst thing that she could have fucking given me.
Guest:How old were you?
Guest:13.
Guest:Jacking off behind houses and fucking in the garage.
Guest:You know, just every chance you could get the fire off.
Guest:Set me up for relationships where already you're remotely removed from people.
Guest:Now, if you can satisfy yourself, why would you need anybody else around?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So that was it.
Marc:She ruined your brain.
Guest:Lonnie Chin was the centerfold.
Guest:Lonnie Chin.
Marc:Oh, you remember.
Guest:I guess you don't.
Guest:You know, you're kissing the magazine, you know, the catcher.
Guest:The other time they called me kissing the fucking TV.
Guest:It was on Channel 13.
Guest:It was on when you'd watch, like, you know, Gomer Pyle and Gilligan's Island.
Guest:And they had those Chris Craft commercials for if you wanted to buy a boat.
Guest:And I'm leaning in to kiss the TV and my grandfather comes behind me.
Guest:I fucking hit my lip against the TV.
Guest:And back then, you know, I had all those rays that if it got wet, you could see little electrodes, little rainbows.
Guest:And he's like, fucking kissing that TV.
Guest:No, he goes over there close and looks to the side.
Guest:You could see saliva on the TV.
Guest:Like, shit, fucking kissing the TV.
Guest:All before I was 15, by the way.
Guest:Oh, my God.
Guest:And you were the only kid in the house?
Guest:The only kid in the house.
Guest:It was awful, man.
Guest:But did you have cousins and shit?
Guest:I had some cousins, but they didn't like me because my grandmother was raising me, and they were just tough people.
Guest:Oh, my God.
Marc:Where'd you grow up?
Guest:I think I'm making it sound more fun than it was.
Guest:I grew up in the San Fernando Valley in this track home right by Brand Park, right by the 5 Freeway in San Fernando Mission.
Guest:But the saving grace...
Guest:for my childhood was that in that cul-de-sac, there was a lot of cul-de-sacs in that area, that I met some of the guys that I'm still friends with today.
Guest:And had it not been for those guys living there, I'm not sure how bearable life would have been at that time.
Guest:I mean, kids my ethnicity, kids my age, and just if anything went right growing up, that did.
Marc:Oh, that's good.
Marc:You got in with the right guys, not the wrong guys.
Marc:And they're still your friends.
Guest:So my friends, you know, as a matter of fact, you know, we're talking about, you know, violence and the police and all that stuff.
Guest:You know, I had a friend of mine, Kenny Ramirez.
Guest:He was shot in, I believe, 1980.
Guest:He was 19, 20 years old.
Guest:I grew up with him.
Guest:I knew him from kindergarten.
Guest:And his brother, Chris, Kenny was working at Lockheed and Burbank night shift.
Guest:So his brother, Chris, and a couple other guys that Chris was younger brother hanging out, they dropped him off in Burbank.
Guest:And then they went purse snatching in Beverly Hills.
Guest:I should say allegedly.
Guest:They allegedly went purse snatching in Beverly Hills.
Guest:And they grabbed this lady's purse that was standing there waiting for the light to change.
Guest:And the lady didn't let go of the purse.
Guest:She hung on.
Guest:And they dragged the lady alongside the car.
Guest:And while they were chasing the car, one of the guys got the license plate number down.
Guest:called Beverly Hills Police.
Guest:They tracked it down to San Fernando, and they were laying kind of a stakeout with some cars there.
Guest:They go and pick Kenny up around 1.30.
Guest:They get back about 2 o'clock in the morning.
Guest:He gets out of the car, because I guess those guys used to go play pool or drink after the guy had a pool table.
Guest:So he goes, I'll be right back.
Guest:He gets out of the car.
Guest:A cop car goes by LAPD, Foothill Division, Rodney King Division.
Guest:It goes down, you know, without the lights on.
Guest:gets to the end, circles back without the lights on.
Guest:He's coming out of his house and they say, hey, Kenny, watch out.
Guest:You know, the cops are right here.
Guest:So at the end of his driveway down the, you know, where the car starts to come up, meets the street, that cop opened, there's two cops in the car, opened the door,
Guest:and fired and hit him over the right eye dropped them they said he fell so close he almost hit the bumper of the police car and all these other cars swarm in and he was gone I mean and they kind of bargained the brother over what the penalty would have been for the officer so you know I dealt with that and still even now you know I was a little bit I was out of town a little bit and then as I came in
Guest:you start to see the beginnings of what were the Black Lives Matter protests.
Guest:And I got emotional, man, because, I mean, here's this dude that went away and with nothing, just became another statistic.
Guest:And then now, these years later, you see kids out there holding up these signs and families and kids on their shoulders about lives, you know, and about people being killed senseless by the police.
Guest:And, I mean, I was emotional because, I mean, I thought we were going to grow old with this dude.
Guest:This guy was like, and I don't think I'd ever, even now, it's like, how many years have passed?
Guest:To think about
Guest:you know, all the stuff that we wanted to do or we used to talk about even being – I was being a comedian.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:For him to have seen all this or just to see us go old.
Guest:I mean, I take those guys to the Laker games.
Guest:I take them to Dodger games.
Guest:And of all the guys that I grew up with, he's the one dude that's missing.
Marc:That's sad, man.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:So add that with that incredible childhood.
Marc:So how did you start?
Marc:Like, you know, did you like to did you like to watch comedy to get you out of your shit?
Marc:Or how did you start thinking about comedy?
Guest:You know, I started watching, you know, the Midnight Special.
Marc:Oh, yeah.
Guest:I started, I started.
Marc:Don Kirshner.
Guest:Don Kirshner's Midnight Special rock show.
Guest:I started to see, you know, Cheech and Chong albums and guys that were older had older brothers.
Guest:They'd let us listen to Richard Pryor on an album.
Guest:He's in the living room drinking and you're listening to this.
Guest:you know, voice and you're imagining all this stuff.
Guest:And so from that and then Sanford and Son, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Chico and the Man, like in 73, when I saw Freddie Prinze, I was just like, man, what's this dude?
Guest:At least he's Hungarian, Puerto Rican, but, you know, wanting to do
Guest:you didn't even know a standup is a profession, but wanting to do that at 11 and then seeing this guy at 13, he wasn't, wasn't around that long.
Guest:He was around until January of 77, but it had such a tremendous impact on me because it was like the first person that I had in my life that I could look forward to seeing, even though I didn't know him.
Guest:Right.
Guest:But it gave me almost a connection.
Guest:And, uh, um,
Guest:I think it was a little bit of that.
Guest:And then at San Fernando High, when I was a senior in high school, my buddy Ernie went to Kennedy and they had written about this guy named Don Nielsen, who was going to the Comedy Store in Westwood on Monday night.
Guest:So he was written up in the school paper.
Guest:And then he brought me the school paper and he's like, look at this dude's doing stand up.
Guest:He's a senior in high school.
Guest:You and I ought to go out there and we ought to try it, man.
Guest:You ought to try to go up there and see if you can do it on a Monday night.
Guest:I did.
Marc:Don Nelson.
Marc:What happened to that guy?
Guest:Don Nelson was a little bit of an actor.
Guest:He was doing some Budweiser commercials in the, in the eighties.
Guest:And I think he was still doing a little standup.
Guest:I don't remember if I met him, but he was at that time, the epitome of the tweed jacket,
Guest:With the patches.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:And then the knitted tie.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:And and the khakis.
Guest:And he just looked he just looked perfect.
Guest:And back at that time, you know, Joey Gaynor was at the Comedy Store in Westwood.
Guest:Holly Mandel, Tim Thomas and Ollie Joe Prater, Shanling and those guys that, you know, John Fox.
Marc:Late 70s.
Guest:Late 79, summer of 79.
Guest:And even though I didn't really know those guys, I was kind of around.
Guest:But to see those guys at that time and then, you know, to go to the comedy store on Sunset and just hang out and, you know, you see...
Guest:David Letterman there.
Guest:I saw Pryor there.
Guest:I saw Robin Williams, you know, Yakov.
Guest:So at those times, almost now, if you look back, those guys almost seem like, you know, you know, icons or dinosaurs amongst amongst, you know, humanity that those guys now are so iconic.
Guest:Yeah, that that they almost look like they didn't exist.
Guest:It's been so long.
Marc:That's true.
Marc:Except that, you know, you can still go see Yakov.
Guest:And, you know, he's the first dude.
Guest:He's the first dude.
Guest:He used to go to the comedy store.
Guest:Danny Mora had a workshop at the comedy store, Cross Street, in the original room, but then sometimes at Cross Street in that annex.
Guest:And we went in there early, and Yakov Smirnov was on stage
Guest:He did an hour, his show, verbatim, where he would even look into the audience and go, how's your name?
Guest:Even look at the chairs.
Guest:That dude had it down.
Guest:I'd never seen anybody do it like that since.
Guest:There's a lot of guys that, you know, Denny Johnston still does the same stuff.
Guest:But the fact that this guy could fill an hour in an empty showroom talking to the chairs and knowing what chairs to talk to as an 18-year-old kid fucking blew me away, man.
Guest:I was just like, what the fuck is this guy doing?
Marc:Like it's all planned.
Marc:That's where you learn the trick for some of those guys.
Guest:You make it look like improv-ing.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:So he's doing a whole other thing now.
Marc:I mean, I guess he got his degree in psychotherapy.
Marc:He does a whole man and women and psychology trip because, you know, the Russian thing don't fly anymore.
Guest:He went to Branson.
Guest:Didn't he have his own theater in Branson?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And he went to graduate school.
Marc:And yeah, now he's got this whole other men and women thing.
Marc:Not like what a country.
Marc:It's about, you know, it's more of a one man show, you know.
Guest:What a country was pretty good.
Guest:That's a pretty good one.
Guest:Pretty good, man.
Guest:Because I come here, I land at the airport, I see a billboard that says Smirnoff.
Guest:I'm like, what a country.
Guest:Yeah.
Marc:So you started going over to Westwood when you were like 18 or 19?
Guest:I just turned 18.
Guest:I went on Cinco de Mayo in 1979.
Guest:I was still in high school.
Guest:Me and my buddy Ernie went on a Saturday night.
Guest:We went in there.
Guest:They would let you in if you were 18.
Guest:I saw all those guys.
Guest:I saw Yakov.
Guest:I saw Danny Morrow for the first time and
Guest:Saw some others.
Guest:I saw Fox and Lois.
Guest:Bromfield.
Guest:Bromfield.
Guest:Like that.
Guest:So I followed Danny Morrow to the sidewalk.
Guest:I followed him outside.
Guest:And I said, hey, man, he's wearing a Laverne and Shirley hoodie.
Guest:He's riding on Laverne and Shirley.
Guest:He still has that leather bag.
Guest:He probably still has it to his days.
Guest:Same bag.
Guest:and i said hey man you know i'm i want to be a comedian too and you know he's like oh yeah well you know what's your style i said i don't have a style yet but like i'm i want to be like you and that motherfucker spent the next 10 minutes telling me how i couldn't be like him and how i've had to find my own identity and how you just can't walk up to somebody and say you want to be a comedian and you want to be like that person yeah and i was like fuck all right take it easy yeah
Marc:It sounds like between him and your baseball coach.
Guest:Fucking gems.
Guest:Fucking diamonds in the rough, these guys.
Marc:How many Latino guys were there really working around then?
Guest:At that time, there was Angel Salazar from New York.
Guest:Check it out.
Guest:Check it out.
Guest:And then I was at the comedy store on Sunset.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:By the time Angel's done, it looks like a goddamn flea market behind him.
Guest:Oh, yeah, dude.
Guest:So when he says goodbye, the next 10 minutes is him putting shit back in his bag.
Guest:And then Eddie Murphy walks up behind him.
Guest:And now as he has his back turned, this place is going fucking crazy.
Guest:Eddie Murphy goes in there with a leather jacket, fucking sleeves rolled up, taught as fuck.
Guest:And the thing that's funny is that Angel hasn't seen that Eddie Murphy is standing behind him yet.
Guest:So as he's gathering his shit, he looks up and he's just like this.
Guest:And now everybody's truly fucking rolling.
Guest:And he goes, shake it out!
Fucking like that.
Yeah.
Guest:He's like, Eddie Murphy, check it out!
Guest:That's hilarious.
Guest:I saw Jesse Aragon the last night of his life.
Guest:We were down at the comedy store on a Monday night.
Guest:He was driving a motorcycle, and he got hit on the side of the freeway that night by a truck that was, you know, they drive too close to the inside.
Guest:Crazy shit, man.
Guest:The greatest thing about Jesse Aragon is now when you start to do one-nighters in the car, somebody's driving.
Guest:I still work during the day.
Guest:He didn't.
Guest:So he really didn't have a car that was reliable.
Guest:So we go up to, I think, the San Luis Obispo, and we leave Friday because I'm working.
Guest:We probably should have left earlier, and we're driving.
Guest:We're going to make it.
Guest:Probably just go straight to the hotel, the ballroom.
Guest:And he says to me, he's looking through his bag, and he pulls out a bag of
Guest:oranges that are completely fucking rotten and twisted and black with fruit flies in them and you go it looks like what the fuck is that i'm driving what the fuck is that he goes oh man he goes i haven't worked i found this goes we gotta stop at the market before we go to the club because i gotta buy another bag of oranges you
Guest:And I said, so what do you do, man?
Guest:Like, before every show, you buy a bag of oranges?
Guest:And he goes, yeah.
Guest:I said, why don't you just get some fucking tennis balls and paint them orange and just put them in the orange bag?
Guest:That motherfucker looked at me like if I had discovered fire, man.
Guest:He just was like...
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:You changed all that.
Marc:So you guys were buddies, used to do one-nighters together, and then he passed?
Guest:We used to do one-nighters up there, yeah.
Guest:Lampost, pizza, the club showed up in Ventura.
Guest:It's funny, man.
Guest:You know, on a Sunday, you know, I'd invite my friends, and it's not glamorous, you know, when you're starting out on a Sunday.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:And Mark Wilmore...
Guest:was up before me, and there was a guy in the front row with his foot on the stage eating popcorn out of one of those coconut bowls.
Guest:And Mark Wilmore says to me, if that motherfucker right there is talking, I'm going to beat his ass.
Guest:So the guy's talking.
Guest:Mark Wilmore is going at him, and he leaves early.
Guest:And then I go up, and I tell my buddy, I said, if this dude is talking shit, man, I'm going to go at him.
Guest:And of course, he's talking shit.
Guest:I grabbed that popcorn bowl upside down and I flung it and it went like a Frisbee.
Guest:Fucking caught him right here.
Guest:Show's over.
Guest:Bob Zaney was a Bob Zaney gig.
Guest:The dude's bleeding from a slice like a stuck pig.
Guest:That shit running out.
Guest:He thinks he's going to lose an eye.
Guest:And the next day, Bob Zaney calls me.
Guest:It's $25.
Guest:And I remember he said, so you tell me, you think that I should pay you this $25 considering what happened last night?
Guest:And I'm like, you know what, man?
Guest:Fucking keep that $25.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:He wanted me to decide if I was up there long enough since I threw a fucking bamboo bowl at this guy and cut him over his eye.
Guest:You tell me.
Guest:I'll pay you.
Guest:But you tell me, do you think you deserve this $25?
Guest:I'm still working during the day, man.
Guest:I was like, you know what, motherfucker?
Marc:Hey, man, you got to throw a bowl at a guy who deserved it.
Marc:Couldn't do that shit out.
Marc:I say that all the time.
Marc:Back in the day, man, people used to lose their shit on stage and nobody was the wiser.
Marc:You saw some people really lose their fucking mind sometimes.
Guest:If you want to see some of the greatest, man, that dude that was playing the guitar, Kenny, whatever that guy's name is, Kenny Lane or some dude.
Guest:If anybody looks it up on YouTube, it was early on.
Guest:He's going like this.
Guest:He's trying to stay.
Guest:He goes, hey, don't come up here, motherfucker.
Guest:And you see the guy coming.
Guest:He grabs that guitar, hits him over the head.
Guest:The back comes off the guitar.
Guest:He puts it back on like nothing.
Guest:The back's missing.
Guest:And, you know, everyone's like, he tries to play it.
Guest:He goes, you saw him, folks.
Guest:That guy just came at me.
Marc:And everybody's like, no.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:That's crazy, man.
Marc:Crazy shit, man.
Marc:So when did you start doing the TV?
Marc:Like, one thing I don't know about, there was a time there way back when people gave a shit about, you know, the Mencia thing, where I talked to, you know, I talked to Barsena, and I talked to some other cats, and there was like, I never knew if there was a Latino circuit when you guys were starting out.
Guest:You know, the thing was that...
Guest:It started it started like this.
Guest:Like, I don't think I've ever told my story.
Guest:I would hear because I didn't go to the comedy store, even though I started the comedy store.
Guest:I didn't really spend my time there.
Guest:And I would hear about this doorman that was doing my material.
Marc:Oh, this is oh, this is this.
Marc:OK, yeah.
Guest:And I'm like, who is that?
Guest:They're like, this is some dude, like Mitzi's driver.
Guest:He's a comedian.
Guest:And, you know, Mancia had a little bit of heat in the early 90s.
Guest:Like, he was daring, you know?
Guest:You know, he was out there.
Guest:It was a bravado.
Guest:So...
Guest:I had already been doing Sunday comics and I had been doing Friday night videos, anything that you could do around.
Guest:And that was obviously, I was already married.
Guest:I was already doing Arsenio's.
Guest:So in 19... You were headlining?
Guest:Starting on the road.
Guest:And in 1993, he had a one night only or half hour comedy.
Guest:95.
Guest:HBO.
Guest:Right there.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So...
Guest:When it premieres the next morning, I have like 40 calls on my answering machine.
Guest:And they're like, yo, Lope, you got to see this dude.
Guest:This dude's doing your shit.
Guest:I'm like, where?
Guest:And on that, I got a copy from my lawyer, a copy of his half hour, his HBO special, half hour.
Guest:There was, it was a 21 minute special, 14 minutes of his 21 minutes was mine.
Guest:So we went to HBO.
Guest:But aside from that, I went to the Laugh Factory on a Saturday that week that that happened.
Guest:And as I pull up to the ballet.
Guest:He's waiting by the ballet and I look at him and I go.
Guest:It's not the time, man.
Guest:It's not the time.
Guest:I just want to talk to you.
Guest:I go, dude, leave me alone.
Guest:I said, man, it's not the time.
Guest:Don't follow me.
Guest:Follows me inside.
Guest:I just want to.
Guest:I said, listen, man, fucking stay away from me.
Guest:It ain't the time.
Guest:It ain't the place.
Guest:We go upstairs.
Guest:He's like, listen, if you don't understand, I grabbed this dude.
Guest:with both of my fists, spin them around, throw them into the corner of the laugh factory where you start to take the stairs back by where the DJ is.
Guest:I get them.
Guest:I have both fists in his shirt.
Guest:I'm picking them up and I'm going like this.
Guest:Mark, I was going to throw that motherfucker over the balcony while the show was going on.
Guest:So I'm back like this and my wife grabs my arm
Guest:And she's like, he's not worth it.
Guest:You know, leave him alone.
Guest:And fucking Messiah with his fucking bumblebee fucking body is down on the ground looking for some, you know, metal he was wearing.
Guest:And I said, man, get the fuck out of here, dude.
Guest:And I don't think I've seen him maybe once or twice in that time.
Guest:And it's like, you know, it's all good.
Guest:It's like, listen, man, I don't have an axe to grind with that dude.
Guest:It's so long ago.
Guest:It's almost fucking 30 years ago.
Guest:I mean, but that dude was about as felonious a joke thief as I've ever, there may have ever been.
Guest:oh for sure yeah i mean he had a lot of he did it to a lot of people and i guess like you know he paid the price that's for sure well he paid the price because you know you're now you're the fucking man in the iron mask because you know you would hear stories that there was a headliner at the riviera in las vegas and he closed with that joke where the two kids are eating breakfast and he goes how about some fucking oatmeal and the mom slaps the kid for saying fuck and you ask the other kid what do you want for breakfast i don't want any fucking oatmeal
Guest:So the headliner closes the first show with that.
Guest:Mencia is the host at the Riviera Sharipa's room.
Guest:He closes with it as he's doing his set, the beginning of the second show.
Guest:The headliner comes out of the room.
Guest:He's literally chasing him in the showroom, trying to catch him.
Guest:for using his shit.
Guest:It even goes outside the Riviera.
Guest:So I didn't really work there.
Guest:And I saw Sharipa early on and he'd go, Sharipa's like, you probably, you probably want to know why I never booked you.
Guest:And I'm like, yeah, why is that?
Guest:Why didn't you book?
Guest:He goes, you know, I had Mencia, same jokes, half the price.
Guest:so when you so you you started out the comedy store and then what you you just started touring or how'd that go like when i started to go on the road you know i was working over there at the ice house so i kind of tried to stay out of hollywood until i had a little bit of uh you know some legs or consistently you know i could be consistently funny it didn't come natural to you stayed over there at the ice house at bob fisher's place
Guest:I stayed over there.
Guest:I worked at Igby's and the comedy store and the improv, especially the improv on Melbourne.
Guest:It's a tough room, man.
Guest:So I stayed out of there.
Guest:It is a tough room.
Guest:I had some consistency for a few years.
Guest:So I was over there hosting the shows on the weekends.
Guest:Not a bad gig, man.
Guest:And I got a chance to get on stage and host this stuff.
Guest:At the Ice House.
Guest:At the Ice House, yeah.
Marc:Yeah, I mean, that's like a classic old room.
Marc:I mean, it's weird.
Marc:When I was living over in Highland Park, I'd go work there because it was close.
Marc:And Fisher would let you, you could do an hour there.
Marc:Now, I mean, was it ever a really popular place or was it always sort of off to the side?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It was pretty popular for the area.
Guest:I think they pulled from, you know, Pasadena and Altadena.
Guest:There was nobody from Hollywood.
Guest:Kippa Dada.
Guest:Kippa Dada.
Guest:Steve Blustein.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Guest:Oh, this dude, Ron Jones and Flame.
Guest:You know, Ron Jones and Flame.
Guest:So Ron Jones would go into this box at the end.
Guest:You're a fucking magician.
Guest:fitting into a fucking box at the end.
Guest:Like nobody knows he's in the fucking box.
Guest:Right.
Guest:So he says to me, you know, when you go up there, you know, vamp a little because I got to get out of this box.
Guest:So, you know, he wraps it up.
Guest:He said, he just disappears and smokies in the box and the box looks way too small.
Guest:to for this guy to fit so nobody is going to assume that he's in the box yeah so i go up there and i said listen take care of yourself we have another show coming in so if you guys could get out as quickly as you can i leave the stage and as i get back there they say man you're supposed to that dude's still in the box and i look and people are starting to get up and he's in the box and now we're like what about
Guest:so he's in the box yeah probably in the box 35 minutes come on comes out he's drenched in sweat he makes a move for me grabs my shirt he's pulling me towards him he's gonna fucking punch me he's like you're supposed to do some time to find that fucking box so he's in that box waiting for the room to clear like he doesn't want to come out so people see he's in the box yeah i forgot
Marc:So when did you start doing the big – where the hell – like, I watched the special years a while back.
Marc:It looked like you were playing the biggest, you know, room in the world.
Guest:I did one in San Antonio in 2009.
Guest:I did 85 minutes live at the AT&T Center where the Spurs play.
Guest:Right.
Guest:That was a long haul, man.
Guest:There was like 16,500 people in there.
Guest:That was crazy, man.
Guest:That was wild, man.
Marc:Because you were, like, you know, up there trying to manage that room.
Marc:I've owned it.
Guest:Imagine, man.
Guest:And I had them.
Guest:I had them all in one place.
Guest:I didn't have any hot spots.
Guest:I didn't have anybody yelling out shit.
Guest:I had them.
Guest:I don't think you could do that now with politics being the way they are.
Guest:You're going to get some bullshit going on.
Guest:I saw you, though.
Guest:You were locked in, man.
Guest:I was in there, man.
Guest:Locked in there, brother.
Marc:But I used to see you come up like when I was starting out or not starting out, but I mean, you're only a couple of years older than me, but you used to go up to San Francisco a lot.
Guest:Oh, yeah.
Marc:That's why I met you guys.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:That's the thing is the first time I met you is San Francisco.
Guest:You come in to comedy day, comedy day, comedy day in San Francisco, even though they don't do it anymore, was really one of the one of the coolest things.
Guest:One of the greatest things that I've ever been a part of to this day.
Guest:was that day in the park and having everybody be cool and everybody from different clubs out there and everybody's trying to bring their best guys and jose simone you know up there yeah and un gallo and all these dudes you know all in the same spot really the only time you'd ever see those guys all in the same spot johnny steel and will johnny lopez
Guest:Donnie Lopez.
Marc:Yeah, that's his name.
Guest:Alex Bennett.
Guest:Alex Bennett.
Marc:We met on Alex Bennett.
Marc:That motherfucker.
Marc:Oh, my God.
Marc:He'd just sit there and talk about it.
Marc:Like, anyone else got a stomach ache?
Marc:I got a stomach ache.
Marc:Does anyone have a stomach ache?
No, I don't.
Guest:I was in there one time with Al Goldstein from Screw Magazine.
Guest:He was tongue-kissing young chicks in there to get tickets to go to a car.
Marc:Just a whole buffet of Jewish pigs.
Guest:Man, those dudes were nasty.
Guest:Al Goldstein was nasty, man.
Marc:It was like by the time I got there, no one even really, the audience never showed up there and no one was really listening, but you still sat there with three comics.
Marc:You'd get up at six in the morning, go sit there for three hours to listen to Alex complain about shit.
Guest:No, and he would do those remotes.
Guest:Like he'd do them at the Walnut Creek Punchline.
Guest:Oh, the worst.
Guest:They do, I think maybe Sacramento did them.
Marc:Oh, they did them everywhere, dude.
Marc:I did it at a fitness center in Stockton or something.
Yeah.
Marc:Fucking six in the morning, you're doing comedy at a fucking fitness center.
Marc:Oh, man.
Marc:Wow, bro.
Marc:Yeah, man.
Marc:I remember all those guys up there.
Guest:Bobby Slayton.
Guest:Bobby Slayton.
Guest:One of the best ever.
Guest:Bobby Slayton.
Marc:So when you started touring heavy, what year was that when you were just doing, like, when you really started to hit the clubs?
Marc:So you go to the... You do the Ice House, and then you do Igby's for a while, and then what?
Marc:You start to come into the improvs, and you start doing those?
Guest:Then I start going a little bit of the improv.
Guest:I met Arsenio.
Guest:It's funny.
Guest:I had a...
Guest:A time at the Improv on Melrose.
Guest:And I would always talk myself out of going.
Guest:I'm not going to go.
Guest:I'm going to go.
Guest:I'm going to go.
Guest:I'm going to go.
Guest:745.
Guest:I'm not going to go.
Guest:At that time, I wasn't going to go.
Guest:I ended up going.
Guest:And I meet Arsenio.
Guest:His show had just started.
Guest:It had been February of 89.
Guest:And Scott LaRose had gone up before me.
Guest:He's like, do you mind if I go ahead of you?
Guest:Scott LaRose.
Guest:While Scott LaRose was up, Arsenio and his crew come in.
Guest:I ended up getting Arsenio out of that.
Guest:Scott LaRose went up because they had another time somewhere else.
Guest:I think he ended up doing it later, but I became almost like a staple on Arsenio.
Guest:That helped a lot to be able to do that.
Marc:Oh, when he first started with the talk show?
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:Scott LaRose.
Marc:I hadn't heard that name in a while.
Marc:Getting pictures.
Guest:He was doing all the commercials, man.
Guest:That dude did all the commercials for...
Guest:Maybe a five- or six-year period.
Marc:Yeah, him and Kevin West was the other kid.
Marc:Kevin West.
Marc:He was at the Comedy Store.
Marc:Little guy, little mousy guy.
Marc:Kind of looks like Scott LaRose.
Marc:Man, crazy.
Marc:Yeah, so Arsenio, now, when did you, like, when you look at your audience, like, from the beginning, is it, like, did you find that you had a pretty immediate Latino following?
Marc:Was it big?
Guest:No.
Guest:I was, you know what, I was moderately amusing.
Guest:You know, I wasn't edgy.
Guest:I wasn't political.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Doing stuff that, you know, that was more Latino, you know, flavored in, you know, some politics more about, you know, Taco Bell stuff.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Heart named after that mundane shit, you know.
Guest:So not not really.
Guest:And at that time, you know, they weren't there wasn't really a huge amount of Latinos even going to clubs.
Guest:Why is that, man?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It was just a different feeling for them.
Guest:That was almost a very white thing to do, was to go to a comedy club.
Guest:So over the years, they would start to come out.
Guest:They didn't really know how to behave.
Guest:They'd fight.
Guest:Shut the fuck up.
Guest:There's no decorum.
Guest:They'd try to leave on checks.
Guest:And gradually, gradually, gradually,
Guest:They started to get an identity and know how to behave themselves when they went to a show.
Guest:But when I started doing theaters, they would yell out shit like thinking they're helping.
Guest:There would be full on blows in the crowd.
Guest:And, you know, I ended up even back then, like I ended up hiring my own guys to patrol the room because without those guys, you couldn't get through your set.
Yeah.
Marc:But you were making most of your money just doing headlining sets?
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Yeah, yeah.
Guest:In the 96, 97, I was already making over six figures a year.
Marc:Oh, so you were one of those guys.
Marc:You were like 96, 97.
Marc:I never understood it, but you did door deals back then, right?
Yeah.
Guest:I did door deals, and I remember because I did a lot of the improvs, and you'd stay two weeks like in Addison.
Guest:The club's still there.
Guest:My goal was 16 shows in two weeks.
Guest:My goal was to make $1,000 a show.
Guest:And, you know, over a couple of years being there, I think I'd made like $18,000.
Guest:I was so happy that I finally got to my goal of $1,000 a show.
Guest:But on a door deal, you could have made more.
Guest:Could have made more.
Guest:You know, it was inconsistent, you know.
Guest:And a lot of times, you know, sometimes you'd catch a good weed.
Guest:It's a lot of shows, dude.
Marc:Jesus, man.
Marc:It's a lot of shows.
Marc:So, like, where'd you find it?
Marc:So you just built your reputation on the road.
Marc:You were doing little TV sets here and there, regular on Arsenio.
Marc:You do The Tonight Show with Carson or no?
Guest:I did.
Guest:You did?
Guest:I did November of 91.
Guest:Yeah, it's funny because...
Guest:A couple of months before that, I had auditioned for Shapiro West, Diane Barnett.
Guest:They had Jerry.
Guest:Jerry's show was on.
Guest:And Macaulay was at the, of course, Macaulay trolling at the Melrose Improv.
Guest:The Booker, yeah.
Guest:the booker, Jim McCauley.
Guest:And I was, I was up on stage and he's looking at me.
Guest:He looks at the George Shapiro.
Guest:He goes, you handle this kid right here.
Guest:He goes, no, we're looking at him.
Guest:He goes, well, if you handle them, tell him, you know, to put some stuff together and to give me a call on a weekend to come by my office.
Guest:And so when I got off, they go, Hey, we think we got you the tonight show.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Fucking do anything.
Guest:But it was standing right next to Jim McCauley.
Guest:They did nothing.
Guest:Got Diane Barnett who God rest her soul.
Guest:pulled me on the phone, yelled at me when I was asking about showcases, yelled at me, nobody wants to see you on the phone.
Guest:You don't understand.
Guest:Nobody wants to see you.
Guest:That was my manager, Shapiro West.
Guest:That was Diane Barnett.
Guest:Fucking yelled at me.
Guest:so you signed with them after that or you were with them but that was ready to go after that mr star on the walk of fame syndication fucking wax figure in the madame tussauds wax museum nobody wants to see you see yeah you remember that too right you'll never forget that i remember every motherfucking person i remember every fucking ding every dent the greatest
Guest:I saw Marty Klein came to see me, God rest his soul, great dude, one of the great agents, Marty Klein.
Guest:Marty Klein sees me at Igby's.
Guest:I'm green, man.
Guest:It's like 88, 89.
Guest:Sees me, Harvey Elkin, who had everybody go through him at one time, literally the Broadway Danny Rose of fucking Hollywood comedians.
Guest:Marty Klein signed me, didn't do anything with me.
Guest:And then we went in there for a meeting and Marty Klein doesn't know who the fuck I am.
Guest:And he goes, well, who's your agent?
Guest:It's Danny Robinson.
Guest:You know, Bud Robinson's son was a younger guy, looked like the critic, you know, big stomach, mustache.
Guest:So they bring him into the office and I'm standing there and Marty Klein looks at Danny Robinson and goes, would you start to work on getting this kid some work?
Guest:And he's like, you know, it's all for show.
Guest:I know.
Guest:And he goes, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Guest:And as he's leaving, Danny Robinson looks down at me and he looks up and he goes, hey, nice shoes.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So cut to I have my television show on.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It's been on like two years.
Guest:Lowell Sanders is doing Comic View.
Guest:He says, hey, will you introduce me for Comic View?
Guest:I said, nah, I'm working, dude.
Guest:He goes, just, it'll take five minutes, man.
Guest:Just leave.
Guest:You can introduce me, and then you can go back to work.
Guest:I said, I don't know, little man.
Guest:I was like, how can you leave, you know?
Guest:So I left.
Guest:I went over there, got out of my car.
Guest:I'm still, like, in the show thing, like a suit.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Almost like that scene in Goodfellas where they walk in, they go down the stairs, they go through the kitchen, they go through the back.
Guest:He walks on the stage.
Guest:I go, here's a guy, Lowell Sanders.
Guest:They go crazy.
Guest:I leave.
Guest:I walk back out.
Guest:People are tapping me on the back.
Guest:Hey, George Lopez.
Guest:All right, George Lopez.
Guest:The last dude at the door is fucking Danny Robinson.
Guest:And I walk up to him.
Guest:I look down like this.
Guest:I look up.
Guest:I go, nice shoes.
Guest:Fucking pick up.
Guest:It's the last thing I said to him.
Guest:Even.
Guest:You're even.
Guest:You know, it was this fight.
Guest:You know, I don't think it's healthy.
Guest:No, I know.
Guest:But I think somebody who succeeded against high odds knows, you know, when we were doing the television show, the woman who played my mother came in.
Guest:She was an acting coach.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:went to school with powers booth was related, you know, worked with all these incredible actors.
Guest:And she comes in one day and she's very demure.
Guest:She's like, I need to ask you a question.
Guest:Like, how did all this happen?
Guest:Like what motivated you?
Guest:And I, I go spite.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Fucking, I go fucking spite.
Guest:Me too, dude.
Guest:And she goes, that's not very healthy.
Guest:I said, Hey, got your ass here.
Guest:Oh man.
Guest:It is the, listen, spite for the person that can handle it.
Guest:can ride that shit like a rocket and it'll never let you down.
Guest:You'll never run out of spite either.
Marc:No, you won't.
Marc:I don't know if it's good, but...
Marc:But when I was starting out, I can't tell you how many times I would call Dave Becky and go, why the fuck is that guy doing that?
Marc:Who the fuck is that guy?
Marc:He got it?
Marc:How the fuck did that guy get that?
Marc:But ultimately, my spite, it never paid off.
Marc:I ended up turning things around in my fucking garage.
Marc:So I was never great at the spite.
Guest:Well, listen, you and I don't really know each other.
Guest:I saw you at the airport one time.
Guest:We were always cordial to each other.
Guest:You gave me a lift.
Guest:But I did give you a lift up.
Guest:Yeah, you saw me at the airport.
Guest:You're like, get in the car.
Guest:Come on, back in the car, dude.
Guest:When the president did your show, I was so proud of you, man.
Guest:As a comedian, as somebody in the trenches, I said, man, that's beautiful, man.
Marc:Yeah, it was something else, man.
Marc:It came over to my house.
Marc:Thanks, buddy.
Marc:And thanks for the ride.
Guest:I didn't know... You're welcome, brother.
Guest:You're welcome.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:But, like, what was the big turning point, though?
Marc:You know, you're making good money.
Marc:You're married.
Marc:That's going all right, I guess.
Guest:But you... When did... You know what the big... You know what the crazy...
Guest:You know, my wife had a friend that was an agent at... Ed Lomato's agent, big agent.
Guest:She was like the secretary.
Guest:And she called... I was living in a condo on Barham, maybe 1999.
Guest:And she says...
Guest:to me you know there's somebody that wants to see you he was working on this project with this producer it's kind of hush hush he wants to come and see you friday at the ice house i go to ice house on friday i see him i'm drinking on stage i'm like maybe this isn't the right thing to do for a showcase but i'm killing him they're laughing i'm drinking on stage he leaves and i don't see him you know and uh i'm like where did this guy go i don't know i don't know who you were looking for a year later almost to the month
Guest:I get a call and he says to me, are you still interested in this idea?
Guest:I'm like, dude, I don't even know what the fuck you're talking about.
Guest:What idea?
Guest:You know, my producing partner and I have an idea that you could be interesting for.
Guest:Well, we found out it was Sandra Bullock and Sandra Bullock came to see me at the Brea Improv.
Guest:Imagine...
Guest:getting Sandra Bullock to leave her house above Marmont, up there by where Jimmy Kimmel lives, and to drive the 65 miles to the Brea Improv to sit there on a Thursday to watch me.
Guest:And she did.
Guest:And I said, follow me.
Guest:And as she was following me, I kept waiting to see those headlights just veer off.
Guest:Well, this is too fucking far.
Guest:And she came, and she saw me, and we had a meeting, and we started to have more meetings, and that became my show.
Marc:And that show, like, I don't think people realize that, you know, it went into syndication and almost became bigger in syndication.
Guest:Right.
Guest:It became bigger in syndication.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:It was up against American Idol like the last three years.
Guest:People love that show.
Guest:Nickelodeon picked it up.
Guest:My goal, ultimately, you know, when we started to do the show and it looked like we might syndicate, my goal for me personally was to get the number for syndication.
Guest:We were at one twenty.
Guest:but also to be in production and syndication at the same time.
Guest:And the only reason the show didn't come back is allegedly the president of ABC at that time was having relations with several actresses, and his decisions were not based on performance of shows, but they were based on where he could put these particular people into shows, allegedly.
Guest:And then two years go by,
Guest:The guy is now a winemaker, sends me a case of wine with a card that says, you know, I know you're upset with me.
Guest:We haven't talked.
Guest:You know, if you get a chance, give me a call.
Guest:I called him and he apologized for not picking my fucking show up.
Guest:And I'm like, you know, what good does that do me now?
Guest:We were telling you that shit two years ago.
Guest:So that spike didn't go away.
Guest:No.
Guest:I was doing my talk show at that time.
Guest:So, you know, as long as there's somebody out there with an axe to grind and they make a move on me, I'll always be successful.
Marc:But the thing is that, like, the George Lopez show, you know, it was doing all right.
Marc:You're on a lot of years, right?
Marc:Yep.
Marc:But then, like, it was one of those things where in syndication it picked up a whole new audience of young people, I guess.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And so is that where you really became?
Marc:Because I'm just curious because I watched a new special.
Marc:We'll do it for half.
Marc:I just watched it.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And it's pretty clear that, you know, you're one of these people like, you know, you kind of an inspiration and a role model and a guy who speaks to the Latino community in a very personal way.
Marc:So I imagine that groundwork got laid with the George Lopez show.
Marc:Right.
Guest:Right.
Guest:Right.
Guest:You know, it's funny that, you know, when I first started to show up, you know, my wife had a higher opinion of me when we were married than when we were divorced.
Guest:And she was usually how it works.
Marc:That's usually how.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:Don't kid yourself.
Guest:You you were a draw.
Guest:Like I only worked on the west side of Texas and over here.
Guest:So all of that stuff was new.
Guest:And in the beginning, I wasn't political at all.
Guest:And as I started to look at things in the community and I started to have a voice in specials and started to take on politicians and politics, that I started to lose a lot of people who would say of any particular color that they liked me before I got political.
Guest:Right.
Guest:And then, you know, with the wall that we did two years ago in D.C.
Guest:live with all the Trump stuff, like, you know,
Guest:Really became a wedge through, you know, both sides where people would, you know, send me messages and threaten my life.
Guest:All anonymous, too, by the way.
Guest:Sure.
Guest:So, you know, I didn't grow up the toughest dude, but anybody who threatens my life anonymously is more than welcome to come and threaten me when I'm where I am.
Guest:Like that shit don't scare me.
Marc:Well, do you find that are you finding that like within the Latino community, there's you know, there's a fight because it seems like there's definitely two types of Latino voters.
Guest:I mean, there's three types.
Guest:There's the type that vote and there's a type that are Republican who look at it, look down on everybody.
Guest:And then there's a type that could give a fuck.
Guest:And then there's another type that aren't citizens and they can't vote.
Guest:So, you know, I would always say that it's up to us who can vote.
Guest:to be a voice for the workers that can't vote.
Marc:Right.
Guest:So those things became clear when you look at December, you know, they're putting people in camps and then in the middle of April, they consider all of the farm workers, the essential workers.
Guest:Listen, nobody wants to do that shit anymore.
Guest:for fun or for profit.
Guest:It's a fucking hard job to do.
Guest:And instead of being ridiculed and rounded up when you're taking your kids to school, they're out of social respect that they show up every day and not only feed your family, but they feed themselves too.
Guest:Better feed their own family too.
Marc:Yeah.
Marc:And then there'd be used to being used as pawns by, you know, these monsters.
Guest:And I became the guy that talked a lot of shit that, you know, hey, you know, you made quite a success for yourself in this country.
Guest:And if you don't like it here, stop bitching and fucking go back to Mexico.
Guest:I'm fourth generation.
Guest:I'm not from Mexico and I really don't even know anybody in Mexico.
Marc:Have you ever been there?
Guest:Yeah, I've been there, but I bought a house in Hawaii in the like 2004 through 12.
Guest:I lived in Hawaii and they say, why wouldn't you buy a house in Mexico?
Guest:And I'm like, Mexicans?
Guest:You know, if you grew up around them, why would the fuck you want to fucking go vacation around them?
Guest:I wanted to get away from them.
Guest:Which island did you have a house on?
Guest:In Lanai, before Larry Ellison bought it.
Guest:That was nice.
Guest:He bought my house, man.
Guest:It's like, you know, we're trying to sell this.
Guest:I got divorced.
Guest:I have this huge-ass house, you know, 12,000-square-foot house in Hawaii that, you know, I got left in the separation.
Guest:You know, I got that house.
Guest:I'm paying all these property taxes.
Guest:I'm going over to bring my friends.
Guest:Beautiful house.
Guest:And when Larry Ellison buys the island, about the island, I thought, where's this guy going to live?
Boom.
Guest:Bought my house.
Boom.
Guest:you know he was but he was he was he was kinder than tbs you know he's like tbs was like you got 36 hours to get the fuck out of here larry allison at least gave me 48 to make a decision yeah you did good though good when did you get sick man
Guest:I got sick.
Guest:You know, it's funny because I was born with narrow ureters, which I found later was a case of being born early.
Guest:The ureters didn't, you know, develop properly.
Guest:What are ureters?
Guest:The ureters were from the bladder, the tubes that take the urine from the bladder through the kidney and out, you know, so you can urinate.
Guest:They were narrow.
Guest:And what it did was it made me have to go to the bathroom a lot.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:But then, but then if I held it in, which I did a lot, you're backing that urine into your kidneys and you're poisoning yourself.
Guest:You know, that's why when kids hold it, you're really backing.
Guest:That was years holding that urine back into my kidneys, which, which damaged them.
Guest:And then it wasn't, you know, much like DL Hughley, you know, feigning on stage that he found out that he had, you know, COVID maybe if he doesn't faint on stage,
Guest:and he gets lightheaded in a hotel or at home, he probably wouldn't think that that's COVID.
Guest:He probably would have thought, you know, I'm traveling again.
Guest:Right.
Guest:I haven't been eating.
Guest:Yeah.
Guest:So in a way, it may have been the best thing that happened to him was to know early.
Guest:With me, I was already on the road just feeling horrible, bent over, and I couldn't understand why my back hurt.
Guest:That was all kidney disease.
Marc:Oh, my God.
Guest:So I was grinded, man.
Guest:It was crazy.
Marc:Holy shit.
Marc:So you were still married, and you talked to your wife out of a kidney?
Guest:No, you know, it's funny.
Guest:When I found out I had advanced kidney disease, it's almost like in the movies, like you and I are talking, but you could see her sitting in a chair between us.
Guest:And the doctor comes in.
Guest:He's like, I don't know how to tell you this, man.
Guest:You got...
Guest:advanced kidney disease, and you're going to need a kidney by the time you're 45.
Guest:I was 38.
Guest:And she's there, and she's like, I'll give you one of mine.
Guest:And I'm like, you know, fucking relax.
Guest:Just can't give kidneys to somebody without being tested.
Guest:She was the only one tested.
Guest:She was a perfect match.
Guest:Her mother, God rest her soul, wasn't sure if she should do it.
Guest:So her and I had a conversation about if she wanted to and if she didn't want to, I didn't feel like she should have.
Guest:I said, I'll leave it up to you.
Guest:And she did.
Guest:Saved my life.
Guest:And, you know, I've been I was very disingenuous to her.
Guest:But in reality, you know, it cost me a lot of money anyways to get married and divorced in California.
Guest:But if there's anything that I do appreciate out of all my spite and all the fact that I talk a lot of shit about people and even was disrespectful to her, which I should not have been, was that I'm very thankful that that after 15 years that she allowed me to continue my life.
Guest:You know, the same person that saved my life really made me want to fucking kill myself.
Guest:But that's life.
Marc:It's good she let you keep the kidney in the divorce.
Guest:Everybody's like, you know, you're going to give her back the kidney.
Guest:Imagine going to get coffee in the morning and some lady says, you know, I think you're a fucking asshole for getting divorced for your wife to get a cast.
Guest:You know, lady, it's like 645 in the morning.
Guest:Did you get that kind of shit?
Guest:Oh, man, yes.
Guest:People were mad at you?
Guest:They were mad at me, man.
Guest:But, you know, I don't know.
Guest:Do you stay together for the sake of somebody?
Marc:Yeah, because they gave you a kidney?
Guest:We had a huge fight one time, and she says, you should thank me every day for the way that you feel.
Guest:And, you know, that's why they don't want donors to meet, because you could lay that guilt on somebody in a relationship.
Guest:And I said, listen, if I could, I'd put my fist in my ass, pull it out of my asshole, and throw it right back at you.
Guest:So that's how bad it gets right before you think, you know, maybe I should be living in this house.
Marc:Yeah, it's weird that you do like, but you have no choice but to be grateful underneath it all.
Guest:You know, nobody gave me a chance.
Guest:You talk about in the beginning, you know, there's a lack of appreciation that I didn't get.
Guest:Until I got older when I started to really become grateful for people who invested in me.
Guest:And she was part of that.
Guest:Divorce is contentious.
Guest:There's a kid involved.
Guest:But I mistook that anger for the respect that I should have shown her for saving my life.
Sure.
Marc:Yeah, I mean, look, I mean, I didn't have kids, but my second divorce completely bankrupted me, and I fucking hated her, and I hated her lawyer.
Marc:But she got me sober, and I always give her credit for that.
Marc:And I used to thank her for it.
Marc:Every year, I just, you know, she hated me, man.
Marc:I'd send her this email.
Marc:I'm like, I just want to thank you again.
Marc:It's my anniversary.
Marc:I got another year sober.
Marc:Thanks to you.
Marc:And then finally, like just a couple years ago, she finally just said, if I want to hear from you, I'll let you know.
Yeah.
Marc:All right.
Marc:That's done then.
Guest:There's no, listen, there's no, there's no dissension, like divorce dissension.
Guest:No shit, dude.
Guest:Even if you say, just go say hello.
Guest:It's like, oh, we hate each other.
Guest:Just fucking go say hello.
Marc:Yeah.
Guest:No good.
Guest:No, no good.
Marc:It's not going to go anywhere.
Marc:So the TBS show, how's your spite level about that in retrospect?
Guest:They were afraid, man.
Guest:I mean, you know, Coonan and whatever that guy, White, whoever was the thing, you know, they wanted they thought they wanted to get in business with me.
Guest:We were we told them we were going to do what we did.
Guest:They made a Conan side or his people made TBS believe that if they didn't sign Conan, they were going to lose him to Fox.
Guest:Masterful, masterful move.
Guest:So he comes in.
Guest:I blame Jay Leno.
Guest:Jay Leno should have lost the Tonight Show and like a man taking his millions and walked away.
Guest:That 10 o'clock show put me in a position where I was going to lose my show.
Guest:Conan was the host of the Tonight Show.
Guest:Fucking Jay Leno goes there at 10 o'clock.
Guest:Conan looks bad.
Guest:Conan gets fired from the Tonight Show.
Guest:Comes over to TBS.
Guest:I move to midnight and this all happens because fucking Jay Leno couldn't just...
Guest:take his million dollar checks and, and stay off TV.
Marc:So you blame Jay.
Guest:You know, I don't blame him, but if he had just taken his hit like a man and not cock block and go to 10 PM, dude, you had the tonight show at 1130.
Guest:You mean you're going to do a show at 10 PM, give Conan a chance to succeed or fail on his own without you at 10 o'clock.
Marc:So you don't, you're not mad at Conan though.
Guest:No, man, we're cool.
Guest:I'm not mad at anybody.
Guest:I have little to complain about.
Guest:It may appear, but...
Guest:Nah, I'm happy, man.
Guest:But with those things like that, when you trust somebody that you're in business with and they completely lie to your face, it's hurtful because I thought that that show was important as far as late night and diversity goes.
Guest:You know, the people that did my show didn't want to do Conan's show.
Guest:Conan's show would call over and say, how can we get Sam Jackson to do our show?
Guest:They don't want to do it.
Guest:So...
Guest:uh, you know, I was in a good spot there and I wish I would have had, it's not, maybe not something I would have liked to have done forever, but to get pushed out, uh, when you had been playing ball along was, was a bit tough to accept.
Marc:Well, yeah.
Marc:I mean, yeah, you've taken, you know, he's definitely taken a few shots in show business, but you got to play in the big game.
Guest:I got to play in the big leagues, baby.
Guest:It's nothing's been, nothing's been better than having shows named after you.
Guest:And, uh,
Guest:being able to, you know, meet some of the people that you admired growing up and become friends with them.
Guest:And, you know, I have this love of music.
Guest:I have this love of concerts and I love golf.
Guest:And I've been able to, you know, like I said in the beginning, go play the golf courses that I watched on TV as that kid that wrote threatening letters to himself in that back room in San Fernando.
Guest:And did your grandparents live to see any of your success?
Guest:My grandmother lived to 2009.
Guest:Wow.
Guest:Wow.
Guest:And my grandfather passed away at 64 in 1988.
Marc:So what did your grandmother think of your success?
Marc:Did she give you any credit then?
Guest:You know, she was more complimentary to people that she would meet that would talk about me than she was to me.
Guest:But you know what?
Guest:God bless her, man.
Guest:I mean, you know, I miss her every day.
Guest:She had dementia and anxiety.
Guest:It was tough to look at somebody just kind of wither away that meant so much to me.
Guest:But I miss her, man.
Guest:And if I would have known I was going to miss her this much, I probably would have gone over there more.
Marc:I guess that's always the way.
Marc:It's great talking to you, George.
Marc:You look good.
Marc:I'm glad you're doing well.
Marc:I like the special.
Marc:It was good.
Guest:Thanks, brother.
Guest:Appreciate it.
Guest:Right on.
Marc:You take it easy.
Guest:Let's talk to you.
Marc:That was me and George Lopez.
Marc:His new Netflix special, We'll Do It For Half, is now streaming globally.
Marc:Globally.
Marc:That was funny when he remembered, or I reminded him that he gave me a ride.
Marc:It was almost like there was a moment there where he was like, oh yeah, I'm a nice guy.
Marc:I am a nice guy.
Marc:Actually, I did.
Marc:Honestly, I'm a nice guy.
Marc:Anyway, that was a fun talk.
Marc:All right, so now let's go out with some guitar.
Marc:I'm going to clean this guitar up a little bit.
Marc:I'm going to clean it up.
Marc:It's getting a little sloppy.
Marc:But let's do it.
Marc:Boomer lives.