George Lopez is the prominent Latino comedian in today’s stand-up circle. Influenced by Hispanic comedians like Cheech and Chong and Fredde Prinze, the torch of the Latino-American has been unofficially passed to him (though Carlos Mencia keeps trying to steal it), and he accepts the responsibility. He has done many great things to help the Latino community, and his community as a whole through his philanthropic efforts. He even tries to bring as much diversity in entertainment through his television shows. It’s no surprise that his sets are centered around his heritage.
From his first joke to his last, he essentially just talks about one thing: being Mexican-American. He delves into numerous aspects of growing up in such a household, from being raised poor, to family “vacations” to Mexico, to anticlimactic birthdays, Lopez gives the audience a very clear idea of what his childhood was like.
However, Lopez’s biggest demographic is his own, and it’s clear that much of his audience already seems familiar with the situations he describes. I listened to one of his jokes with a friend of mine (both of us are white), and there were parts that we didn’t quite get, but the audience was hysterical. Throughout his CD, Lopez will throw in some Spanish sentences (mostly imitating one of his family members/friends) that will go over the head of any non-Spanish speaker. I can only assume that they’re funny, since the audience is eating it up. Though, to be honest, even if you only know a little bit of Spanish, you can piece together what he says, add the context of the joke, and have a good idea of what he’s saying. Some people don’t like to think that much when they listen to comedy, but the parts I was able to piece together were entertaining.
When he’s describing life as a poor Mexican-American, he is sure to compare his lifestyle with the typical suburban white family. This seems like it would be instinctive, but there are plenty of comedians who joke about their own culture/background without comparing it to the larger demographic, and it hurts the set (Dat Phan comes to mind). He does a good job painting the picture and showing the contrast, but I have to say, I cannot stand his white-person voice. Everybody knows what I’m talking about; most minority comedians have a distinct voice that they use to refer to white people (white comedians Daniel Tosh and Mike Birbiglia even have jokes about it). Dave Chappelle’s sounds like a news anchor, Carlos Mencia’s sounds like a southerner, and George Lopez’s sounds like a valley girl. It’s not offensive, it just gets a little annoying after a while. Minor criticism, nothing deal-breaking.
One thing that Lopez does very well is set up a foundation for his jokes. I’m not referring to the set-up for a punch-line, I mean setting up jokes in the future. Latino idiosyncrasies that he jokes about in the beginning of the CD keep coming up again and again in the later tracks. He does this so well that regardless of how good a punch-line is towards the 15th, 16th, 17th track, he makes it instantly funnier by adding a quick quip from an old joke. It helps build for later jokes, and aids the jokes that aren’t particularly strong on their own. The end result is a very consistent stream of comedy.
My biggest criticism for this CD is that Lopez never veers away from his main premise. A great comedian is able to joke about a wide variety of topics and their wide variety of subtopics. Right Now Right Now only deals with many subcategories of the same subject: life as a Mexican-American. Yes, his jokes on this subject are quite good, and there is a lot of material in it, but half-way through the CD, I was hoping he’d move on to something else; he needed to shake things up. As mixed up as it sounds, it’s easier for an audience to stay with you when you make a few turns than when you just go straight.
To sum everything up, what would make this an excellent CD is his layered material and his consistency of quality jokes. What would make this CD poor is its one-trick-pony tendency and its limitations on a larger demographic. Overall, a quality CD that’s good for laughs.
Worst Tracks: Holmes Depot, Original Factory Color
Best Tracks: Memmer?...You Memmer!, Chicano Dudes
Overall rating: 6/10
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