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

 

STACEY VANEK SMITH, HOST:

We're going to turn now to comedy.

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

GEORGE LOPEZ: Mitt¹ Romney wants the Latino vote. He ain't going to get it. He ain't going to get it. And you know why? Because Mitt Romney's a [expletive] Latino and he won't admit it. His father was born in Chihuaha, Mexico. Mitt Romney is a Chicano, but he won't admit it. I'm not. I'm Danish. I'm French.

SMITH: That is comedian² George Lopez in his 2012 HBO stand-up, "It's Not Me, It's You." George Lopez became a household name in 2002 with his breakout sitcom³, "The George Lopez Show." For years, Lopez has been a signature voice in the Latino community. He has a show on TV Land right now called "Lopez." And tonight, he's performing a live HBO comedy special called "The Wall" wall right here in Washington, D.C. As you might imagine, there will be plenty of talk about politics. We caught up with him before the show. And I started off by asking him if there was a message he was trying to send by hosting his special just a mile away from the White House.

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

So what I'm trying to accomplish clearly is, you know, when I do it live, I know that it frightens most comedians⁴ to be able to do a show that is in the moment, you know, akin⁵ to like boxing. When a boxer⁶ knows that he's going to fight months away, he has to make sure that on that day, August 5, that he is as great as he will be at any time at that particular moment, let's say 10 o'clock tonight.

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

LOPEZ: Absolutely. It is completely different. The role of the comedian now is - and a lot of comedians don't like to take that role. You see Stephen Colbert's ratings excel when he turns his talk show primarily into a kidding about Donald Trump⁷. And you see Trevor Noah, who was not a successful pick in the beginning like, you know, Jon Stewart. They thought it could have been somebody else.

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

LOPEZ: And now because of the fact that he chose to take the Trump route as well, he's seen his ratings excel. And then you look at Jimmy Fallon. All people I know, by the way. And Jimmy Fallon was a little bit pandering⁸ because Jimmy Fallon is like a puppy, that he's so energetic. And you cannot dislike him. But also, he doesn't want to take a political stance, you know. So when Trump does the Jimmy Fallon show, "The Tonight Show," and Jimmy Fallon doesn't press him on issues, it's not that he doesn't want to press him on issues, it's that that's really not his thing. And, you know, that's fine. That should be fine. And then you'll see some people that say, I thought he pandered⁹ to him. I didn't think he was tough on him. But that's not Jimmy Fallon's role.

So there are some comedians that - like D.L. Hughley, who has a radio show and on stage, that he goes after Donald Trump and goes after issues. He's not making anything up. I'm not making anything up. But when he and I do shows together, whoever is a Donald Trump supporter definitely does not want to come and see D.L. Hughley and George Lopez together. So the role of the comedian is one that it is - it can be a landmine¹⁰ for some, but it could - those landmines¹¹ can be fruitful trees to others that don't care what people think about them.

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

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

SMITH: What did he do?

LOPEZ: He was a dig ditcher. He digged sewers¹². And he worked in construction. But he wasn't a builder, he was a digger. And that was his life. And it's tough, man, when you see a guy like that that you grow up. And those are the eyes - your impressionable eyes that you see this guy coming in and beat down from working. You know, he's struggling to take his shoes off. And when you're a grown man and you see someone depict¹³ that as lazy or a violator or anything like that, it doesn't - that doesn't stand with me.

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

SMITH: So last month, you got some backlash after you posted on social media. Quote, "the Trump administration is deporting¹⁵ Latinos to make streets safer. You want to make the streets safer? Deport¹⁴ the police."

LOPEZ: That's right.

SMITH: And, of course, Kathy Griffin got a lot of backlash for her photo holding a severed¹⁶ head that looked like President Trump. It sort of seems like the boundaries of comedy are shifting right now. And I was wondering if there's anything that's off limits to you?

LOPEZ: Well, yes, of course. But police brutality¹⁷ is not off limits. It can't be. You know, holding up a severed head of the president, would I do that? No. Would anybody that worked with me allow me to do that? No way.

SMITH: Why not?

LOPEZ: Because it's - that's - you know, I've always had a certain amount of respect for the office of the presidency¹⁸ up until - and even a little bit now. Like, I won't acknowledge that the guy there - like, I won't say the president such and such. I just think you have to be better qualified¹⁹ to earn that title. Like, you might have won the election, but that doesn't make you qualified to sit in that chair. I know a little bit about that guy. And listen. I'm full of [expletive], but that guy really is full of [expletive]. Like, he's overflowing²⁰. Listen. I'm positive that there's good cops and bad cops, just like there's good fat and there's bad fat.

SMITH: (Laughter).

LOPEZ: So, you know, in life, there's a ying and yang and a balance. And when you don't have balance, you have comedy. And when you can't take a joke, it is a sad indictment²¹ of our society right now.

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

LOPEZ: I know Donald Trump, yes.

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

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

SMITH: Has your opinion of him changed?

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

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

LOPEZ: I love it, yes. It's the freest form of expression. Even though they - people get upset, it is the only place that you can truly have free speech. Politically, you can't. And, you know, you skirt around issues. And I think skirting around stuff and being politically correct is what's dividing the country in a sense. I mean, you can't - you don't want to get it to where you're using words that incite²², but images and misperceptions? Those should always be funny. You know what I mean?

SMITH: Yeah.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LOPEZ: For $30 billion, you could get undocumented people to build the the wall themselves. You can pay them to stand as a wall shoulder-to-shoulder in eight-hour shifts and still have money left over. But also, I say that I hope the wall isn't so heavy that it crushes the tunnels that we have underneath²³.

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

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

SMITH: (Laughter) Is this your official announcement?

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

SMITH: George Lopez 2020? You heard it first.

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

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

LOPEZ: That would be pretty good.

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

(SOUNDBITE OF WAR'S "LOW RIDER")

1 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

2 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

3 sitcom   

n.情景喜剧，（广播、电视的）系列幽默剧

参考例句：

• This sitcom is produced in cooperation with Hong Kong TV.这部连续剧是同香港电视台联合制作的。
• I heard that a new sitcom is coming out next season.我听说下一季会推出一个新的情境喜剧。

4 comedians   

n.喜剧演员，丑角( comedian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The voice was rich, lordly, Harvardish, like all the boring radio comedians'imitations. 声音浑厚、威严，俨然是哈佛出身的气派，就跟无线电里所有的滑稽演员叫人已经听腻的模仿完全一样。 来自辞典例句
• He distracted them by joking and imitating movie and radio comedians. 他用开玩笑的方法或者模仿电影及广播中的滑稽演员来对付他们。 来自辞典例句

5 akin   

adj.同族的，类似的

参考例句：

• She painted flowers and birds pictures akin to those of earlier feminine painters.她画一些同早期女画家类似的花鸟画。
• Listening to his life story is akin to reading a good adventure novel.听他的人生故事犹如阅读一本精彩的冒险小说。

6 boxer   

n.制箱者，拳击手

参考例句：

• The boxer gave his opponent a punch on the nose.这个拳击手朝他对手的鼻子上猛击一拳。
• He moved lightly on his toes like a boxer.他像拳击手一样踮着脚轻盈移动。

7 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

8 pandering   

v.迎合（他人的低级趣味或淫欲）( pander的现在分词 )；纵容某人；迁就某事物

参考例句：

• This magazine is criticized for pandering to the vulgar taste of some readers. 这家杂志因迎合某些读者的低级趣味而遭到批评。 来自辞典例句
• We're four points up there; we don't need to get hit for pandering. 我们在那儿领先四个百分点；我们不必为了迎合一些选民而遭受批评。 来自电影对白

9 pandered   

v.迎合（他人的低级趣味或淫欲）( pander的过去式和过去分词 )；纵容某人；迁就某事物

参考例句：

• The newspaper here pandered to people's interest in sex scandals. 这里的报纸迎合了人们对桃色新闻的兴趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His films never pandered to public taste. 他的电影从不迎合公众的口味。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 landmine   

n.地雷

参考例句：

• A landmine is a kind of weapon used in war.地雷是一种运用于战争的武器。
• The treaty bans the use,production and trade of landmine.那条约禁止使用生产和交易雷。

11 landmines   

潜在的冲突； 地雷，投伞水雷( landmine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The treaty bans the use production and trade of landmines. 该条约规定，禁止使用地雷相关产品及贸易。
• One of the weapon's of special concern was landmines. 在引起人们特别关注的武器中就有地雷。

12 sewers   

n.阴沟，污水管，下水道( sewer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sewers discharge out at sea. 下水道的污水排入海里。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Another municipal waste problem is street runoff into storm sewers. 有关都市废水的另外一个问题是进入雨水沟的街道雨水。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

13 depict   

vt.描画，描绘；描写，描述

参考例句：

• I don't care to see plays or films that depict murders or violence.我不喜欢看描写谋杀或暴力的戏剧或电影。
• Children's books often depict farmyard animals as gentle,lovable creatures.儿童图书常常把农场的动物描写得温和而可爱。

14 deport   

vt.驱逐出境

参考例句：

• We deport aliens who slip across our borders.我们把偷渡入境的外国人驱逐出境。
• More than 240 England football fans are being deported from Italy following riots last night.昨晚的骚乱发生后有240多名英格兰球迷被驱逐出意大利。

15 deporting   

v.将…驱逐出境( deport的现在分词 )；举止

参考例句：

16 severed   

v.切断，断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 )；断，裂

参考例句：

• The doctor said I'd severed a vessel in my leg. 医生说我割断了腿上的一根血管。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We have severed diplomatic relations with that country. 我们与那个国家断绝了外交关系。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 brutality   

n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• a general who was infamous for his brutality 因残忍而恶名昭彰的将军

18 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

19 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

20 overflowing   

n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The stands were overflowing with farm and sideline products. 集市上农副产品非常丰富。
• The milk is overflowing. 牛奶溢出来了。

21 indictment   

n.起诉；诉状

参考例句：

• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
• They issued an indictment against them.他们起诉了他们。

22 incite   

v.引起，激动，煽动

参考例句：

• I wanted to point out he was a very good speaker, and could incite a crowd.我想说明他曾是一个非常出色的演讲家，非常会调动群众的情绪。
• Just a few words will incite him into action.他只需几句话一将，就会干。

23 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。