George Lopez credits his success to Sandra Bullock: 'She just thought I was funny'
The "Blind Side" star helped launch Lopez's ABC sitcom in 2002.
George Lopez has headlined his own sitcoms, appeared as a commentator on Inside the NFL, and starred in films alongside Oscar winners and box-office titans. And he credits one woman with all of his success.
“I wouldn't be anybody without (Sandra Bullock),” Lopez, 63, said on the Set. 5 episode of Politickin' with Gavin Newsom, Marshawn Lynch, and Doug Hendrickson.
The comedian told the podcast hosts that he was in a dark place when he first encountered Bullock in Austin, Texas, in the 1990s.
“I was drinking a lot,” he said, “and the manager of the (comedy) club comes to me and says, ‘I think Sandra Book's gonna come in.’”
This wasn’t welcome news for Lopez.
Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.
SGranitz/WireImage
George Lopez and Sandra Bullock“I was like, man, I don't want her to see me like this. You know, I didn't even know her,” he said. “I got on my knees that in that f---ing green room, and I said. ‘Please, please don't let her.’”
Lopez got a reprieve when Bullock ended up not making it to his show, but the Practical Magic star resurfaced in his life a year and a half later when she was working on developing a Latino television show.
“I’d already kind of cleaned up a little bit, and then she saw me, and she's like, ‘Come to my office,’” he said.
The two of them talked for three hours about the show that would eventually become the ABC sitcom George Lopez.
“I told her, ‘Hey, you know, what you're gonna try to do has never been done successfully, and if I don't ever see you again or whatever happens, I just want to say thank you,’” he recalled. “And she was like, ‘Why don't you worry about being funny, and why don't you let me worry about everything else?’”
Lopez said he left the meeting and got in his car, and that’s when the tears started.
“I'd never had anybody believe in me,” he said. “She changed the direction of my life… and for no other purpose other than she just thought I was funny.”
George Lopez ran from 2002 to 2007 with Bullock as an executive producer and occasional guest star. In 2005, Lopez was named one of Time magazine’s “Top 25 Hispanics in America.”
The sitcom Lopez vs Lopez, which stars the comedian and his daughter Mayan, returns to NBC on Oct. 18.
Listen to the full conversation with Lopez above.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.
