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:''This article is about the comedian. For the sitcom starring the comedian, see George Lopez (TV series)''.
'George C. Lopez' (born April 23, 1961) is an American comedian and actor.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Career

Personal life

Conflicts

In popular culture

References

External links

Biography

Early life

Lopez, a Mexican American,^[1] was born in Mission Hills, Los Angeles, California. He was abandoned by his father as an infant and by his mother when he was ten years old, and was subsequently raised by his maternal grandmother, Benita, a factory worker, and maternal step-grandfather Refugil Gutierrez, a builder.^[2][3] He was raised Roman Catholic and lived in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California.

Career

Lopez became a popular stand-up comedian, especially among the Latino community for his satirizing of Mexican-American life and culture in the United States. Much of his humor was drawn from the financial poverty of his upbringing and of the Mexican American community in general. He has released four albums of recorded stand-up comedy shows, including ''Right Now Right Now'' and ''Team Leader,'' which was nominated for a 2004 Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album.^[4] He appeared in ''The Latin Kings of Comedy'', where he was special guest along with other top Latino stand-up comedians. ''Alien Nation'' in 1996 was his first album released of his stand-up comedy shows. His first stand-up comedy special ''George Lopez Why You Crying?'' premiered on Showtime. He recently released ''El Mas Chingon'' in September of 2006. His second special ''America's Mexican'' was broadcast live on HBO on February 24, 2007.
The theme for Lopez's sitcom and his standup appearances is "Low Rider" from the album ''Why Can't We Be Friends?,'' by the band War.

Personal life

Lopez married Ann Serrano in 1993. Their daughter, Mayan, was born in 1995. In April 2005, he received a transplanted kidney from his wife.^[5] An episode of ''George Lopez'' was based on this. It is also mentioned briefly in a ''Curb Your Enthusiasm'' episode, where Larry David seeks inside information from George Lopez about the "kidney consortium" and in the Nickelodeon series ''The Naked Brothers Band'' by Rosalina.

Conflicts

Lopez criticized Jay Leno, someone he once considered a "close friend", during an interview on radio station WOMX-FM in Orlando, Florida on January 24, 2007. "He's the biggest two-faced dude in TV," Lopez said of Leno he also added "Fuck that beezy". He also called him a back-stabber^[6] and said he can not interview guests very well.^[7]
Lopez is also known for his conflict with Carlos Mencia. In an interview on ''The Howard Stern Show'', Lopez accused Mencia of appropriating 13 minutes of his material in Mencia's HBO special. He also claimed he had a physical altercation with Mencia over the alleged appropriation.^[8] The joke that Lopez specified was stolen and used on Mencia's HBO special was a Taco Bell joke. Comedian Ted Sarnowski countered this claim, stating that the Taco Bell joke he performed on radio in 1988 was later taken and used without permission by Lopez, the radio station's resident comic at that time. Sarnowski claims to have given Mencia permission to use the joke, yet Lopez later began referring to Mencia as a "thief" over the joke Lopez allegedly plagiarized.^[9]
Lopez had some choice words when told of his show being cancelled, calling race into question, although ABC continues to air the Latino-casted sitcom Ugly Betty), and the fact his show was produced under Warner Bros..
:"I get kicked out for a fucking caveman and shows that I out-performed because I’m not owned by ABC? So a fucking Chicano can't be on TV but a fucking caveman can? And a Chicano with an audience already? You know when you get in this that shows do not last forever, but this was an important show and to go unceremoniously like this hurts. One hundred seventy people lost their jobs. TV just became really, really white again".^[10][11]

In popular culture

Lopez is mentioned in the popular animated series ''Family Guy'', where the character Chris says that the television show ''George Lopez'' only "furthers the stereotype that George Lopez is funny". He is also mentioned in 'Scrubs', when Elliot says, "Like remember when Carla was pregnant and we all told her how beautiful she was, even though she looked like George Lopez"
Lopez was once mentioned by the character Rosalina on the ''Naked Brothers Band'' TV series. He made an appearance on an episode of ''Punk'd''.

References

1. http://www.prdomain.com/companies/V/Viacom/newsreleases/200782244758.htm
2. http://www.filmreference.com/film/5/George-Lopez.html
3. http://marriage.about.com/od/entertainmen1/p/georgelopez.htm
4. http://www.georgelopez.com/bio/bioinfo.html
5. http://www.webmd.com/content/article/121/114100.htm
6. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/orl-lopezaudio-012407,0,6385878.mp3file?coll=orl-caltop
7. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/orl-lopezleno-bk,0,5890460.story?coll=orl-home-entlife
8. Is Carlos Mencia a thief? Goldyn, Debra
9. Carlos Mencia Just Said That CARL Kozlowski, Carl
10. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2007/05/post_1.html
11. http://defamer.com/hollywood/victims-of-the-upfronts/george-lopez-vs-cavemen-260367.php

External links

★

★ George Lopez's official site

★ The George Lopez Show official site

★ Lopez - Feherty Foundation Anti-Pro-Am official site

★ George Lopez at MySpace