I'm on vacation starting today through Sunday, November 1. In the interim, I will include some non-timely items to keep the blog populated while I'm gone. Yvonne Zusel (yzusel@ajc.com) might throw in a breaking news item or two. Or you can go to Jennifer Brett (jbrett@ajc.com) of Buzz fame and Melissa Ruggieri (mruggieri@ajc.com) of AJC Music Scene fame for other entertainment news.
By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, filed Saturday, October 17, 2015
George Lopez is a huge fan of the legendary stand-up comic Richard Pryor.
Last year, he heard a fan in Pryor's hometown of Peoria, Ill. needed cash to finish a statue in Pryor's honor. Lopez called some of his stand-up comic buddies such as D.L. Hughley, Charlie Murphy and Cedric the Entertainer. They held a concert last fall, raised $130,000 and the statue was erected this past spring.
The comics enjoyed it so much, they decided to hold more concerts together and dubbed it the Black and Brown Comedy Get Down. The tour comes to Philips Arena October 24. (Buy tickets here.)
Lopez is the only "brown" representative in the group. ("You hire one, he does four jobs," Lopez joked.)
More seriously, the tour has enabled him to reach audiences who otherwise might only know him as that guy who had an ABC sitcom in the 2000s.
"I've performed in places I've never gone to before like Shreveport, La., Little Rock and Greensboro, N.C.," he said.
The show, which also include Eddie Griffin, is done in the round with the veteran comics in the center of the arena. "It makes it more of an event than if we set up traditionally with an end stage," Lopez said. "It's like a boxing match with four front rows. And we're all pros. It doesn't throw any of us."
Lopez opens the show and each comic gets 25 minutes. It ends up being more than two hours of non-stop comedy. "Time doesn't lag," he said. "Once it gets started, it moves fast."
What are his one-sentence summaries of his four colleagues?
Cedric: "I don’t think I’ve heard a bad thing about Cedric."
Griffin: "He's like that uncle. You don't know what's going to come out of his mouth."
Murphy: "He's a real craftsman. Very meticulous and methodical."
Hughley: "Likeable yet edgy."
Lopez will be back on TV next year starring in a TV Land comedy from the writers of HBO's "Silicon Valley." He wasn't ready to detail the storylines yet.
"We're in the process of hiring writers and putting stories together," he said. "It won't be as jokey as 'The George Lopez Show.' It's going to be a little more honest. It will be more the real me than the TV me."
He was considered for the host of "Celebrity Apprentice" after Donald Trump left but after Trump's comments about Mexicans, he quickly distanced himself from the show, which ultimately hired Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"I think in a civilized society, you don't target a group of people like that," Lopez said.
CONCERT PREVIEW
Black & Brown Comedy Get Down
Eddie Griffin, D.L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer, Charlie Murphy, George Lopez
8 p.m., Saturday October 24
$49.75-$69.75 before fees
Philips Arena
One Philips Drive, Atlanta
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