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George
Lopez
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PCM's
Kristyn Clarke recently particapted in a conference call with
comedian, actor, and soon to be late night television host George
Lopez! The new late night show, Lopez Tonight will premiere
on November 9th at 11:00pm Eastern and Pacific! Read on to find
out what George has to say about the new show!
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Q:
Do you have a hand in picking the guests for your show?
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George
Lopez: You know, I do. But here's one of the things that's
important is that, you know, as a - I don't want to say - well
I'm younger than most of the hosts but I do want to make sure
that the music is representative of everything that's happening,
not just everything that's happening to me.
So bands who -- like Kings of Leon or bands
that are starting out -- that are on the cusp, that are already
younger, that you - will necessarily - you know, I don't want
to be Carson Daly but I admire that of breaking bands.
But I do like to keep it current with all
different genres of music, which includes salsa and Latino
and meringue and Cuban and Afro and rock and pop and I just
want it to be a place where everybody can perform. Not that
you have to change the channel to see somebody that you might
particularly like but not - won't be on that show. So no boundaries
with the music.
You know, in a show like this there's somebody
who boasts the music specifically. As an executive producer,
yes, you know, you have a hand in who gets - in who gets booked.
I don't want it to become a home for John and Kate discussions.
I'm tired of that tish . I wish they would go away.
So no. We'd like to keep it more legitimate
with real celebrities and just a more eclectic mix of color
than what you might necessarily see on late night TV currently.
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Q:
Is the show live or taped?
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G.L:
It's taped at 5:00 and then aired at 11:00 and 10:00 Central.
So it's live to tape. So we're going to try to keep it - obviously
they tell me that the less they have to edit, the less expensive
it is. But, you know, we may go off and I may keep somebody
a little bit longer and we may just fill a little bit of the
time that would be spent with trying to do a piece or a taped
thing.
Look, if some band is playing (badass), I'll
keep them for another song if they're really playing great.
I'm not going to try to kill momentum of the show. I'll just
try to make everything fit in the hour that I'm supposed to
be on.
Because, you know, people get bumped because
an interview goes longer. They don't ask a band to play another
song.
If you want to kind of change the way the
late night format is and you bring a band on and they blow
the roof off the place and they're only scheduled to do one
song, let them do another song.
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Q:
What do you think will be the most stressful part about hosting
this late night show and how will you battle that stress?
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GL:
Well, I think the most stressful part of the show, obviously
because now people are - you know, there is no incubation period.
I mean you have to like hit the ground running. And I have a
Twitter account that, you know, I maintain probably 90% of the
time.
I'm not used to having somebody tell me -
well I am actually used to it. It hasn't happened since my
childhood. But I'm not really used to having somebody tell
me I'm going to fail before the show has even been on.
So there is such an intolerance and such
a divisive nature of humanity already and something sounds
as sweet as Twitter, but there's a lot of defeat and there's
a lot of hatred and there's a lot of divisiveness on that.
And it's unnecessary at a time when it's expected.
So in my approach for this show, the challenging
thing is to get people to hate less and give an opportunity
for something that is about something good and not about something
bad. And hate's a way overused term. I don't particularly
like it. And I think it's way overused.
So, you know, just let me have an opportunity
to succeed and fail as anyone else would have. And be as impatient
with me as you are with them.
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Q:
What specificially will Lopez Tonight bring to the late night
televison table that is new and exciting for viewers?
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GL:
Well first of all, my set, I don't have a desk. I don't have
a city behind me. I don't - I'm trying not to use cards. It
looks more like a club. If you go to lopeztonight.com, there's
a little bit of a pilot episode and it shows you the energy
and it shows you what the stage looks like.
The band is able to play different kinds
of music. Michael Bearden who is the musical director of Michael
Jackson, the This is It documentary and the guitar player
and the base player are in my band. And Michael is the - as
the musical director is the leader of my band.
So, when the show premiers, the movie will
still be in theatres and I will have that guy opening my show
every night. And he's a huge asset because he's such a talented
musician. And one of the - I think the only person that Paul
Shafer from Letterman show has filled in for Paul Shafer when
he's not able to be there.
So what we're going to try to do different
is just pick up the pace of what has been traditional and
then everything that they've done, try to not do that.
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Q:
Do you think the timing for your show is ideal, with all the
drama going on in the late night world? Are you ready to bring
your "A" game to the war of late night television
hosts?
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GL:
Yeah. I'm ready to bring my A game. I think the war is a little
bit - you know, if everybody was at the top of their game and
the ratings were at fever pitch, the highest they've ever been,
it might be a little intimidating to enter the late night genre
or the late night war.
I don't particularly think, and it's not
a secret that the experiment at 10:00 isn't working as well
as Jay Leno or NBC would have hoped it would be working, which
is affecting I believe Conan. And I start at 11:00. So they're
not competition.
And listen; being of a different ethnicity
and a different comedic approach, I don't think we're going
after the same audience. I don't think that there's an African
American audience or a - or a Latino audience that's watching
Conan O'Brien that he has to worry about me taking.
So TBS has a younger viewership. I think the
average age is 34. It's already wildly successful with African
American people and usually successful with Latino. That's
even before I get there.
Now I've crossed over and I don't want to
be divisive. I want to be inclusive. So if I can already pull
that audience and you're talking about 5 million people when
93 million people have cable, I like those odds.
And if I don't succeed, I fail. And there
is no - there is no shame in failing as long as you tried
the best that you can. That's all I will do. If this show
doesn't succeed, I don't think it hurts me. I gave it an opportunity.
Hey man, there are tens of guys that didn't
work, a lot of them. There's probably more that didn't work
than worked. So what makes me think that I'm going to be the
one to work? Because I believe that I offer something different
than want what Keenan Williams did, that Magic did, than Chris
Spencer when he hosted Vibe or Chevy Chase did.
I offer some - those - look; that's as black
and white as you can get. I'm not black or I'm not white.
I'm Latino and I've crossed over. And I'm not afraid. And
I speak perfect English. And I speak pretty good Spanish.
I would be afraid of that if I was another talk show host.
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Q:
How was it filming your promo with President Obama?
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GL:
Well, you know, I have known President Obama before he was even
candidate Obama. I met him in February of 2008 and then we -
he called me at my house and we spoke about how do we try to
get him the Latino vote. And I decided that I would go out to
Texas and the different states and try to get people to vote
for Barack Obama.
It wasn't easy in the beginning because Hillary
Clinton was still in the race. It was pretty difficult for
me. But I hung in there. So by the time we decided to shoot
this pilot in August, he was already candidate Obama. So what
we did was since I had a personal relationship with him, we
asked, it wasn't even the White House back then; it was just
his campaign, if he would consider doing it. And he did.
So in San Francisco at the Fairmont Hotel,
we shot this promo and in a hotel room. He was already two
hours behind in his schedule of fundraising and being out
there. And he gave me, you know, a nice bit of time to do
this thing. Never said don't put it on. He actually wanted
it to be on. So we held it for a while because he was running
for President and they didn't want it to come out while campaigning.
But never has the White House ever said don't
run it. I mean TBS is running it as a promo with the approval
of the White House. And the greatest part of knowing the President
and asking him to be in a promo for a show that hasn't aired
yet was the fact that he said George, I want you to change
late night because that's change I can believe in. I mean
you - nobody's been able to pull that one off.
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Q:
It has been noted that you plan to incorporate audience interaction
into the show format, how do you plan to go about that?
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GL:
Well, how about at the end of every show the audience is welcome
to join me on stage and dance...while the band plays and I say
my good night every night? I think GreenDay does it with much
success. I love - I love that aspect of a late night show at
the end that the party looks like it's continuing beyond the
hour it's supposed to be on.
They will be able to ask questions of musicians
and of actors and actresses if they are fans of theirs. And,
you know, they'll be able to ask a question. So I don't want
it to just seem like you come to a show, you're only asked
to applaud by somebody's waving their arms or they flash a
sign.
We're not having no applause sign and we're
not having anybody standing off to the side of the stage waving
people to clap. That's bulltish . It's going to be inherently
energetic or it's not going to be energetic at all. And that
will come across on the screen whether it's real or it's false.
It's an hour. With commercials it's probably
40 some minutes. And with music, the talk is very minimal. I
mean in a conversation in doing standup and being a guest on
talk shows, if you're not able to sit there and engage yourself
in a conversation for seven minutes, I mean really, I would
be in trouble.
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Q:
Did any fellow talk show hosts give you advice about what to
do for your late night show?
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GL:
Jimmy Fallon sent me a nice card and told me to get my -
told me to start sleeping. But he does five nights a week. I'm
four and I'll shoot Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. So it was nice
that he took time out.
Craig Ferguson has asked
me to be a guest on his show, which I think I will be. And
I had a very nice conversation for about 45 minutes with Arsenio
who couldn't be prouder of not only the way I've spoken about
him and his influence on me but also in support of this new
show which I know for sure he'll be an early guest on.
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