-George Lopez! -Gracias!
-It is always great to see you, my friend.
-Yeah. -You're such a funny, funny man.
You were showing me something backstage, by the way.
-Yeah. -Can we talk about it here?
Something very -- very cool thing.
This is -- -This --
[ Audience oohs ] -Look at that.
Yeah, show it off. That's gorgeous.
-This Rolex... -Yeah.
...belonged to the great Johnny Carson.
This is Johnny Carson's.
-Let me see this thing. How did you --
-There was a jeweler in Hollywood,
and it came into his possession, and they thought,
"Well, you know, I think I might know a guy that is interested."
You know, I love comedy. I love the history of comedy.
-Of course. -"The Tonight Show" --
I watched "The Tonight Show" with Freddie Prinze,
Richard Pryor, all my idols growing up.
-Yeah. -And then, now you.
It was only right that the watch come back to New York
and pay its dues right here on "The Tonight Show."
-Come on, Johnny.
-Johnny.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-What year was that when you were on with Johnny?
Do you remember? -Man, you know what's crazy is,
it was -- it was November of '91.
-Is that right? -So, then I'm 30 years old,
and then I'm behind this curtain here now,
and I'm 61 years old.
-Good for you, bud. Right? -And, man, I made it back.
So, yeah.
-[ Laughs ] Exactly. -I made it back!
-No, you're alwa-- -Even though I look like --
even though I look like a Mariachi and a wolf had a baby.
-No, no, no, you do --
[ Laughter ]
-You know what's crazy?
Before, when I left the hotel, they're like,
"Hey, good luck on your show Friday, Cheech."
[ Laughter ]
-Oh, my God.
-"All right."
-Cheech. I'll take -- I'll take it.
But, no, you always crush.
I remember seeing you at The Improv and Laugh Factory
out in L.A. and, honestly, you would never want to follow
George Lopez, because you -- the audience would
give you standing ovations during the middle of your act.
-They were all, you know, Latinos.
-No, no, no.
You crushed it every single time I saw you, everywhere.
You're always great. -Oh, thank you, man.
-And you're nice to me, too. I'll never forget that.
-Absolutely. You're a great guy.
-Thank you. Let's talk about your new series,
"Lopez vs. Lopez."
Your co-star is your real-life daughter.
-My daughter, Mayan. 26 years old.
-Mayan Lopez -- -I was divorced.
And, then, you know, Mayan and I didn't talk for a long time.
And she went on TikTok to respond to a video
that someone made attacking me.
And it was a video of her twerking upside down.
-Hm. -And then, you know, I mean,
I realized I wasn't the best dad,
but when your kid's twerking upside down,
you've got some real [bleep] problems.
[ Laughter ]
You're like, "I didn't realize it was this serious."
-Yeah, you got to -- you got to start -- yeah.
Yeah, wow, wow.
No, I understand. No, I get -- yeah, I got it.
All right, well -- -I better get out there.
I got to get out there.
-Yeah, I've got to get out there and start.
But you said you said you've been through therapy now
with your daughter. -Yeah.
The therapy -- yeah, of course.
You know, because, you know, you have to be responsible
for the trauma that you've caused.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
Where my grandmother would have been like -- yeah, hey, right?
So, I -- I'm owning, for the first time in my life,
my responsibility that -- to the marriage and as a father,
and, you know, as a -- you know, to my daughter that I --
for the first time in my life, I said, "Yeah, I'm responsible
for this, and I'm going to spend the rest of my life
repairing it." -Good for you.
-And hopefully we can do it --
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Good for you. -For seven years on NBC.
[ Laughter ]
-You didn't know it was going to be a TV show.
-And then nobody will ever see me again.
No. -[ Laughs ]
-No, but -- but, you know, if you think therapy is bad,
what's worse is the elevator ride down after.
[ Laughter ]
Because it's all heavy stuff,
and then you're just in the elevator --
You almost have to stagger out, like when you dine and dash,
somebody goes out the back, somebody goes out the front.
-[ Laughs ] So, yeah, yeah. Just leave right now.
Yeah, we're in -- -Don't go in the same car --
-No. -When you're doing
trauma therapy.
And somebody just leaves out the back,
and the other person's just out the front --
-Yeah. Can we describe the show any more than we have?
I mean, it's you and your daughter.
-Yeah, me and my daughter. And working it out.
Yeah. And, you know, the -- I live with them,
because after the pandemic, you know,
I might have lost my business.
So, it deals with -- the beginning of the episode
is where I start to live with them.
And that's why I look like this, because there's only --
you can only go up from this.
-[ Laughs ] No, come on.
But it's generational.
It's also -- -It's generational.
And everybody will love it.
And whether you have issues or not, it's just really funny.
-Yeah. -Yeah. And that's what we need
right now. -Absolutely.
-I want to show everyone a clip.
Here's George Lopez in "Lopez vs. Lopez."
Take a look at this.
-I'm still not calling you Chance,
because looks like there's a chance that's not your father.
[ Laughter ]
-Why would you say something like that?
-Because the kid looks very Mexican,
and you look like somebody that wouldn't get a rose
on "The Bachelorette."
[ Laughter ]
-Look, George, even though I'm not the toxic Alpha male
you wanted for Mayan's life partner, I am confident
in who I am, so you can't hurt me.
-Yeah, you broke eye contact at the end there, bro.
[ Laughter ]
-Dammit.
[ Laughter ]
-That's exactly right.
George Lopez, everybody.
"Lopez vs. Lopez" premieres this Friday at 8:00 p.m.
on NBC.
Cole Hauser joins us after the break.
Stick around, everybody!
Johnny!