hear from americans, you everyday americans, as well. if you want to send us an ireport, go to ireport.com. we'll get it on the air for you and hear your side as well as we quickly come to that deadline. i'm don lemon at the cnn world headquarters in atlanta. i'll see you back here tomorrow, 6:00, 7:00, 10:00 p.m. eastern. >> tonight on cnn presents, don't teach, don't tell. tonight, george lopez, one of the funniest guys on late night tv. i have a bone to pick with him. when i was on his show, this happened. wait a minute. old man sitting on his ass? >> i thought they were screaming so loud oh. >> old man sitting on his ass. one of us is in his 50s and the other isn't, ladies. >> well, tonight, you're on my show, mr. lopez, old man. let's see what happens, shall we? is it a good thing being single at 50 or is it fraught with pitfalls and potholes? >> well, i'm 50, so i think i'm fraught with pitfalls and potholes.

if you look at my face, i look a little indian. i'm a little sanjay gupta but then i'm a little bit mexican as well. so i'm not native american enough to get a casino but i did blackout when i drink occasionally. >> difficult childhood, the end of his marriage, and the woman he says gave him his life and career. his good friend, sandra bullock. plus, an exclusive sneak peek at latest project. george lopez on this hour of "piers morgan" tonight. george, welcome. >> piers, i'm very excited to be here. >> how do you like being interviewed? as a man you interview so many other people. >> i don't have a problem with it as much as some of the people i work with. i'm going to try to be honest. i always try to be honest. i do. you know, it's been interesting for me. i've exceeded my own

expectations seriously of what i had planned out when i first started in the business. so, you know, it's all fun. every day is -- >> do you find as you get more famous and successful being very honest and candid is problematic? >> you know, it really is, because when i do stand-up you're your own boss. you're very free. you are an enclosed area. i try my best to curtail people either using their cameras or video cameras because some things are just meant for that particular room. it's chased some very good comedians out of clubs. >> your stand-up routines are brilliant but pushes boundaries you couldn't push on television. do you find a constant conflict between those two roles? >> as a child growing up, a lot of our great sitcoms come from adaptations of british shows. "all in the family," carroll o'connor created a comedy you probably could not do today. in a sense, social commentary for comedians have been what people look forward to. dick gregory, lenny bruce, chris rock, there have been a lot of comedians who have fallen in

that vein. you hope that as you progress further in years that unique window shuts. >> are you more hispanic, latino? i saw when we got the stats. >> you're going to breakdown my ethnic breakdown? >> apparently she did this, revealed your dna. 55% european, 32% native american, 9% east asian, and 4% african. but you relate most to being latino. >> you know, it's an interesting -- i mean, if you look at my face, i look a little indian. i'm a little sanjay gupta but then i'm a little bit mexican as well. so i'm not -- i'm not native american enough to get a casino but i do blackout when i drink occasionally. so i would say that of all of those things, i'm happy to be all of those things. i'm happy to have a little bit of african-american in me. i love the asian part in me. and then i like that nativeness because i come -- i think my

father was -- i didn't know my father but i believe that he was from an area of mexico has been inhabited by indians. >> are you seen by the la latinos, are you seen by one of them, are you seen as their guy on television now? >> i would believe and have to say yes. the most difficult part for me and to get people to understand is before i came along, there wasn't somebody who had a successful show on tv that portrayed a mexican-american family successfully. they had tried but not one that ever went 120 episodes. it's interesting because you know, i can be very edgy and i can be very across the line on several occasions with things in stand-up. then i'm fortunate enough to do movies that kids like. i'm in "smurfs" and i was in "rio." you can maintain that and maintain an audience that follow me, i have been around the last ten years when they were 12. i'm not a new kid but also i've maintained a fan base.

>> you often see a new world now on this tv late night war zone, as people call it, which has many caucuses, rotting bodies of people who have been chewed up and spat out. how do you feel about that? do you like being that competitive? are your ratings chaser? do you mind all of the attention that comes with such a swap? >> i like the show. i like what it is. i like that it wins awards for diversity and portrayal of people of color. i went into it thinking i could change the -- you know, the pallet of late night tv, to give it a little bit of flavor, a little bit of spice. you've been on the show. the audience is tremendous. it is diverse. >> incredible energy. i notice very beautiful young women, george.

>> yes. i'm for nate as there, as well. but it is difficult because you are trying to do something that has -- the most people have failed at. >> yeah. >> and you want to have partners. and i believe i do at tbs and as well as warner bros. that have shared that same vision from when we started november 9th. it's not easy. it is a grind -- it is more of an abusive schedule than i imagined it when we first put it down on paper you were gracious in welcoming conan to take your old time slot on pbs. you described jay leno as the biggest two-faced dude and a back stabber. >> was that me? >> i'm afraid it was, yes. >> yes. you know, i will say this. i do not have a personal relationship with jay leno. we are not -- we are not friends, nor have we ever been friendly. i've heard some things said about me by him that i took exception to. >> like what? >> you know, there were things that he said that i was not appropriate to people of my own color. >> really? >> which i found disingenuous from somebody else. that's a pretty big chip to pull out. and i disagreed with that. and we -- >> what do you mean by that, do

you think? >> i think when you understand the material, you understand it. and when you don't get it, you might think that i'm negative towards my own people. >> also strikes me as strange. i've met jay leno, five or six times on his show. he's always been unbelievable courteous. comes back, chat, cup of coffee, have a laugh and yet he seems to attract, from all of his competitors, extraordinary amount of antipathy. >> there's not a -- there's not a union of super heroes amongst late night talk show hosts. i just met david letterman really for the first time i did his show. i waited 28 years to do it. i've known conan for a while. i know jimmy kimmel, craig ferguson. to a man, i think one thing we agree on is we're all not crazy about jay leno. >> why is that? >> i don't know. i think in our own personal dealings, some people get along and some people don't. >> is he much more competitive than people realized, do you

think? >> i don't -- you know, i don't know if competition is the right word. i think he's a little bit more interested in everybody else than he should be. >> do you think he sees you as threats? >> no, no. listen, i'm struggling to maintain my audience. >> doesn't everybody in the end in this game, don't you all aspire to the "tonight" show? isn't that the holy grail still? >> if you ask me personally, you didn't ask me, who i thought should have been the host of "the tonight show" when johnny carson left, i did that show with him in 1991, i think the heir apparent would have been david letterman. >> you still believe that? >> i do. david letterman is the best late night talk show host hands down and has been since he first took the desk. >> how did you feel when conan and jay had their huge split? >> well, you know, personally, in my opinion, i don't think that the "tonight show" should have been offered to jay -- to conan o'brien.

i think they probably should have kept jay in there. he was doing well. ratings were great. so when they made that move, and conan was happy at 12:30 and he was doing all right. i think they messed with the formula that was already fine as it was. and then it just shook up everything else in late night. >> as a result, neither of them talked to each other. >> they don't talk to each other, no. >> complete silence. >> complete. >> it's a shame. >> it is. this business is a game. when you are done with the show you take your uniform off and go home and there's another game tomorrow. >> can you do that? do you do that? >> absolutely. piers, i don't watch the ratings and i don't watch the show. i like to think that, almost like music, use your ears. >> how do you know when you've done a good show but when you go home and you shut the door and it's just you and you look around, how do you know when it's really going well? what do you look for? >> i trust what i've always trusted. i trust my instincts and my heart and my head. when you were on. you and i met at the dodger game and the nba all-star game and you and i got along well. we you were on the show we had

fun, i made you laugh and we got some stories out and we truly enjoyed each other's companies. that's what i go by. an awkward moment you feel in your gut and in your heart. i'm sure we'll have one, but when you were on, you were fantastic. >> funny enough, i don't mind awkward moments on this show. i quite like them. >> right. >> i think it can often be quite revealing about the person you're interviewing. i don't look for it. i don't seek out an awkward moment. but if it does get awkward for any reason, there's often a fascinating reason why. >> i agree with you. the question you asked, is how do i like it and i slid over so that conan o'brien would be at 11:00. i thought that we would make a better team together and it would give me a nice lead-in in that thing. tbs had never been in late night. they had only been in the baseball and sports and they covered golf and they did a lot of shows that were already out of production, syndicated shows. >> i want to play a clip from when i was on your show recently. >> okay.

>> and then come back to you after this, george. >> i'm not convinced they're all here for jordan knight. >> i will see you on your show. i'm taping your show on friday. >> you are. >> to air at another time. >> you are. thank you. >> hey. and nothing is off limits. >> you're going to get it, lopez. so, george, nothing is off limits. >> that's what apparently was said. i think i was misquoted. >> i deliberately replayed that. go into the first break with you now feeling like there's a sentence you wish you had never said on air. see you in a moment, george. >> you bet. almost tastes like one of jack's cereals. fiber one. uh, forgot jack's cereal. [ jack ] what's for breakfast? um...

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we're going to do something my mother never did for me. >> you're going to breast-feed him? >> we're going to go outside the family and get somebody to help. we're going to get him a tutor. >> you don't need a tutor. you know, having a dumb kid is nothing to be ashamed of. i wasn't. >> that's from "the george lopez show."

six seasons on abc. do you miss doing the show? >> you know what, i do. i miss the people. i had a lot of great relationships. it's interesting because when the show first started i was so disconnected from people that the first thanksgiving that we had there i went to my dressing room and closed the door. i couldn't be involved because i couldn't see people happy to be someplace. so i had -- i was uncomfortable with that. as the show progressed i got more and more involved. if it wasn't for that. the community is very closed off and troubled. so it revealed a lot of the things that have always been wrong with me. >> your life is completely fascinating. i had no idea about most of your life. and when i met you a few times, i must find out about george lopez and i read up about you. i was quite shocked, actually, what you had been through. you talk about troubled comedians but your life was beyond that.

i read this, this quote here. i was never encouraged or congratulated by anybody or for anything, i didn't come from a home where people asked did you have a good day or cared what others were doing or what i wanted to do. i fill that void now with laughs and adulation from doing comedy. i hear a lot of comedians talking about a lack of love in their early lives which led them to seek applause and affirmation from an audience. never quite as strikingly as you seem to have done. >> of all the comedians that i've met i don't think any of them had the situation they had. i never knew my father. my mother was epileptic and illiterate. >> they both left before you were like 10 or 11 years old? >> yeah, yeah. it was difficult for her to be around because mentally she was probably like an 8-year-old. and when you have a child like that, it didn't matter to her what i did. and if i would have been raised by her i'm not sure what would have happened to me. there's a lot of stories ability me being neglected and being left and my grandmother ended up

taking me. my grabbed mother wasn't much better. very hard woman, hard life but ultimately wouldn't let anybody mess with me. and even though there was the negativity, she never learned to be positive. everything i tried to do for her was met with negativity and, you know, i took her one time to see her house toward the end of her life and i was redoing the house for her and i walked in and she says, it looks horrible. and it wasn't done. but to her, it just wasn't -- nothing was ever enough. and i kept trying. i remember going home and sitting on the edge of the bathtub thinking that is the only person in my life that could ever make me feel like i'm 10 years old again. no one else. >> that's heartbreaking. >> it is heartbreaking. it is. it hasn't been easy. it's very difficult. you have success and you have people that love you but then you have to make sure that you appreciate it when no one taught you to appreciate it. that's the hardest thing i think i deal with every day. >> neither your parents nor your grandmother never told you they loved you? >> no, no. you know, the only -- the only encouragement i got that i never forgot, it's amazing how different my life would have been if i had gotten it every day. there was a guy who came to our elementary school. probably in third grade. and he was a aa or aaa baseball player for the baltimore orioles. and he said if you stay in school and you stick to what you want to do you can become anything. that's the first time i ever heard that from anybody and it came from somebody that i didn't even know at an assembly with most of the kids who ent 3 %ang i ised3 y le blod ls 3 y, er ii' gteali vehed atitr.3 % y, er ii' gteali vehed atitr.3 % >> really? >> yeah. >> where do you keep her? >> i keep her in my dressing room. >> do you really? >> yeah. yeah. >> wow. >> i look at her every day. >> when you look at her, what do you think? >> i think that i wasted -- i think that i wasted a lot of time not seeing her when i should have spent more time with her.

and that goes for all people. you know, i should have spent more time with her when she was alive, whether she was lucid or not. and you know, it wasn't until the end that i really appreciated all the times that we spent together and missed all the times that we could have spent together. >> is there anything you wish you would have said to her that you didn't have the chance to? >> i wish i would have told her that there was nobody that loved her more or anybody that would have protected her more than me. and that when she wasn't around, that i would think of her every day and never forget her. >> do you think she knew how much you cared about her? despite the fact that she wouldn't show that, do you think she knew? >> yeah, i think she did. i think she did. i think she knew. yeah, i think she knew. i'm not even going to say i hope, i think that she did know, because i did things for her that nobody would have done for her. and i made her a promise in 1988 that i would take care of her after her husband died. and i did, until she passed away. >> so you did the right thing. >> i did the right thing. >> don't you ever think at your parents or are they just something you blanked out? >> you know, on father's day this year, a friend of mine, we had just come back in town.

my daughter was in costa rica, not with me on father's day. we were watching golf, the u.s. open, i'm a huge golfer, u.s. open is always held on sunday, father's day. he was fortunate -- he was nice enough to spend an afternoon with me knowing that i was going toby myself. and as we're watching rory mcilroy win and hug his father i looked over at him and said the

one thing i regret in my life is not having a father because i think every boy should have a father. not a father figure but it would have been nice to have a father. >> short break, and come back and talk more about your life. we spent together and missed all the times that we could have spent together. >> is there anything you wish you would have said to her that you didn't have the chance to?

>> i wish i would have told her that there was nobody that loved her more or anybody that would have protected her more than me. and that when she wasn't around, that i would think of her every day and never forget her. >> do you think she knew how much you cared about her? despite the fact that she wouldn't show that, do you think she knew? >> yeah, i think she did. i think she did. i think she knew. yeah, i think she knew. i'm not even going to say i hope, i think that she did know, because i did things for her that nobody would have done for her. and i made her a promise in 1988 that i would take care of her after her husband died. and i did, until she passed away. >> so you did the right thing. >> i did the right thing. >> don't you ever think at your parents or are they just something you blanked out? >> you know, on father's day

this year, a friend of mine, we had just come back in town. my daughter was in costa rica, not with me on father's day. we were watching golf, the u.s. open, i'm a huge golfer, u.s. open is always held on sunday, father's day. he was fortunate -- he was nice enough to spend an afternoon with me knowing that i was going toby myself. and as we're watching rory mcilroy win and hug his father i looked over at him and said the one thing i regret in my life is not having a father because i think every boy should have a father. not a father figure but it would have been nice to have a father. >> short break, and come back and talk more about your life. >> all right. >> it's been a pretty extraordinary journey for you. >> thank you.

george, you finally did meet and fall in love with someone. your ex-wife, and you were together 17 years. what did marriage bring you, given all that you had been through? >> you know, ann was great. you know, and ann came from a family that was very connected. you know, both her parents were doctors. i was just to say, you know, we're opposites because both her parents were doctors and mine never went to the doctor. so she brought a sense of family and of home, you know. and the holidays were important to her, very important, every holiday. it was great for my daughter to grow up with that. i battled that in the beginning, going over the top at christmas or the tree or spending a week to do the lights and doing the lights to the as a family. it's all -- it was all very different for me and hard for me to do. >> you had never been used to. >> no. >> you blank that out and say that's not for me, that kind of thing. >> and she was giving -- very

giving of other people and very considerate of her friends and things like that. and you know, i was fortunate enough to be married to her for 17 years. and, you know, as marriages go, you know, it was fun. i mean, we used to look at each other and laugh and, you know, we had nothing when we started, you know. so it was -- it was a great period. you know, it's funny because i look at pictures of us and it does seem like, you know, another life. seems like another life. >> you had this extraordinary time when you needed a kidney. >> right. >> and she gave you one of her kidneys. >> you know, the most interesting thing for me as i found out that i had kidney disease, that could have been prevented, is that i was born with narrow ureters that made me wet the bed because it didn't drain properly. my grandmother would not let me drink water or not let me do this or not let me drink punch when it was about a defect. instead of taking me to the doctor which would have been easily found out, you know, i had borderline hypertension when i was 18 years old, it just continued to get worse and worse. and kidney disease is not painful because it shows up in fatigue.

it is painful but it shows up in fatigue so you're always tired. people work now and say i'm so tired. i've been working hard. but it misled me to think that i was tired because i was working so hard when really my kidneys were shutting down. >> 2010 is well-known, well documented. you filed for divorce. a bit surprised, i think, given that you seemed such a perfect couple. you got quite a bit of flack as a guy often does. >> i've taken a lot of hits, yes.

>> what's the truth? how much of the flack was deserved, how much do you think was unfair? >> the kidney -- the kidney thing created an awareness of kidney disease but also of a wife giving a gift to her husband, which i've run into a lot of people that have done that. you know, we have personalities that are very big, you know, and she's funny and she's great. and i would honestly say to you that i deserve a lot of the hits that i got. >> but wasn't unfair in the sense that because of the kidney thing, one in three marriages fail, but because of kidney thing it put you on a pedestal of marital purity, there could be no greater thing a woman could do for herman, therefore you had to be the heartless rat, even though it was years later. i get a sense of that. >> exactly. >> you had no way of this. >> i had no way out. you know, there's a lot of -- there's a lot of -- there's a lot of complexity to a gift. and a lot of times -- most times they don't like donors to meet because they like it to be an anonymous thing because there's an expectation that goes along with giving the gift of life.

>> in the heat of the arguments you must have had building to the divorce, did you ever hear the immortal words, i want my kidney back? >> not quote/unquote in those terms but it did come up, piers. you know, it is -- you know, i am -- as we all are. when you're an entertainer and i don't want to blame entertainment, i don't want to blame creativity, but, you know, when you grow up a certain way, unfortunately i was not equipped with a lot of the tools that a person would need to be a partner. >> are you emotionally fragile, you think? >> i don't think i'm emotionally

fragile, i think i'm emotionally closed off. i'm very -- it's one of the reasons why i think you can be so successful in business because they ask you do you ever get nervous and when the answer is no, the answer should be, oh, yeah, sometimes i'm scared to death. but when you're that closed off and you put up these barriers, it's difficult for people to get

through. you know, now, i smile and i love what i do, but i'm happy to say that it's not what i am. and have i taken hits? that personality has taken hits. but the real person inside is much different than the public persona. and unfortunately there aren't a lot of people that get to see that because i don't trust a lot of people. and i never have. it's not new. i never have. and i'm not as willing a partner or incorporated myself in people's lives like someone else would. there are times that i go through a weekend and my phone won't ring because in order to be a friend, it's a two-way street. >> really? >> yeah. >> that's interesting. >> yeah. >> how do you feel about that? >> it's a problem for me. i mean, it is. i have to say that it is a problem. and i do miss -- i do miss times when -- because i work so much and i hide it in work. i have a nice home in pebble beach and sometimes when i sit out there you get really a chance to be a normal person without work and things that go along with work and i don't do enough of that. i think if i did enough away from work, it would -- it would make me -- give me a little more normalcy. but i do have really good friends. >> your divorce came through very recently. you just turned 50, as well. >> yes. >> you're a single, foot loose and fancy free. >> foot loose and fancy free. >> is it a good thing being single at 50 or is it fraught with pitfalls and potholes? >> i'm 50 so it's fraught with pitfalls and potholes. but i'm not a dater and i'm not interested in ever being remarried. >> what are you doing to do? you're not going to date or get remarried? you're going to be a monk? >> tylenol pms and sleep a lot. i'm not sure. that's a good question. i think i'm going to take a little period of time to assess the good and the bad in my life, and hopefully make good decisions. >> how has your daughter been through the whole divorce? >> it's been a little difficult

for her. it's not anybody that i love more with all my heart. she inherited the love that i had for my grandmother. she's a good girl. and she's very funny and i -- i regret that i have put my daughter a position where you don't want to. >> 15? >> 14, and she's 15 now. >> a tricky age, i think, for a girl to watch -- obviously an only child as well. >> an only child. it is tricky for her. but she knows that i love her and that i tell her all the time that she's the most important thing in my life. and it's interesting because so many people think that they know -- they know somebody. and i love that i live from the walls in and not from the walls out. >> do you think you're a good father? >> i don't think i -- you know, i always wanted a father. i don't think i've been a father to my daughter to the father i wish i had. i could do better. >> it's not too late. >> it's not too late. no. i will do better. >> do you think you have it in

you? you talk about this emotional closure you have. >> yes. >> do you think you have it in you to be the father you would like to be? >> for her, yes, because it's my only unconditional love. so, yes, i would say yes. >> good. another break. you know when something's bad -- but you do it anyway? that's me with the blow dryer and the flat iron until i see smoke. so pantene said, "breakage and split ends? no problem." they gave me this pantene called breakage to strength. [ female announcer ] the keratin protection pro-v system helps prevent then repair split ends. zero fear of breakage, 100% more strength. no regrets, just health. i'm not giving up the heat.

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i'm going to run for -- i don't believe i'll pass the background check now. i do intend to run for mayor at some point of los angeles. >> if arnold schwarzenegger can be governor, why can't george lopez be the mayor of los angeles. we have obama, we can have lobama. >> lobama, george lopez, we think it was a joke on my favorite morning show "good day la." >> i got messages from everybody. >> did it make you think twice? did you think, because, i mean, if you just got the hispanic vote in l.a. you would probably get? >> i would like to think i would get the hispanic vote. i have to tell you that i'm not ruling it out. not now but in eight years. >> really? >> yeah. i ran into a candidate who is

run for mayor now and told her i'm going to attempt to run for mayor of los angeles. >> why would you seek public office? >> this is a great city. and it's my city. i believe that there are certain things that can be taken care of that you don't need a strong political background? >> like what? >> the streets are terrible. and it's unsafe in some areas. and people ignore those things. you know, downtown can be as viable as new york city, and in some areas it has. but that architecture downtown is beautiful. and people live here but they don't have a pride in los angeles that they did years ago when i was growing up. >> i want to play a clip, because you were a big supporter of president obama. i want to play what you then said about him here. >> latino vote now has become very powerful tool in politics. and i think we'll both agree that it's not something that we're just going to give to you.

>> you're disappointed with obama's performance, would that be fair if. >> i'm disappointed with his performance as far as immigration goes. if you would have asked me if i were president i'm not sure i would have started with health care when the economy seemed to be the bigger issue at that time. am i happy that the country is going broke? no. do i think that barack obama has done a good job? absolutely. i think he's done a better job than he's gotten credit for. >> you said elect sarah palin as president of the u.s. in 2012 and we'll all leave voluntarily. >> i agree. if sarah palin becomes president at any point, i with will say allegedly, i will move to canada. >> really? >> i will go further north. i've been south. i will go north. >> you will leave the country? >> i will leave the united states of america. >> why would you be so drastic? >> i like my politicians to actually have a political

background, to be politically -- to know politics, to -- to actually have inherited something from working in the political world. >> why is someone like sarah palin so popular with so many people, do you think? how does she resonate with people? what is she giving them they're not getting from conventional politicians? >> you know, is it that maverickness? is it that homespun kind of andy griffith wink your eye, shoot the imaginary gun thing? maybe. is it just that we've become a culture of personality, of do we elect somebody by their smile instead of by their content? you know, it's a little bit of all of that. >> you find it quite scary? >> i think it's scary to me now politically and addressing the immigration thing, again, with carlos santana, is that we feel like we're here, there are more people in the united states here legally than illegally but there is a service provided that no

one else wants to do. and that is run the country from the ground up. i see it in the neighborhood that i live in. all the people that come to work and you can't have it both ways. if there was a way of a path towards citizenship and there's that divide where those people don't trust authority figures, it's -- it's very broken. and i understand why barack obama didn't want to deal with it in his first term. not guaranteeing in the second term but that vote, that latino vote is very important to him. >> what is the simple best way of getting somewhere to resolving it? >> you have to make us feel like we're important in the united states. you can't make us feel like we're invisible. if i see television, piers, it's as black and white to me as the day it was invented. you cannot ignore the largest demographic in the united states is latino. we don't see them in advertising, in anchors, television shows in spanish.

my show struggles for ratings and struggles for publicity when other shows get publicity and nominated for emmys and do all of those things. i understand, it's a condition. >> one in six americans are now considered to be latino. >> absolutely. and with that comes power. power comes in economically and we do have a lot of resources but we're not together. if we ever really got together it would be interesting to see. >> as that latino population increase, of course, the power mace of that electorate increases. >> right. >> you said you might flirt with the mayor of los angeles. have you got bigger political aspirations? >> no, because in the background check gets more intense. short break. when we come back, george, i have an exclusive sneak peek from your latest big screen project. >> okay. i'm good about washing my face. but sometimes i wonder... what's left behind? [ female announcer ] introducing purifying facial cleanser from neutrogena® naturals.

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have a smurfy day. >> i kissed a smurf and i liked it. >> that's embarrassment of riches. they're giving you gold here. >> thank you. >> master winslow, you know it's the right message if it comes from the heart, right, smurfs? >> yes, of course. >> welcome to my world. >> look at george lopez as grouchy in the new smurfs movie coming out this friday. brilliant cast.

neil patrick harris, katy perry. you don't actually get to see of them in the filming? >> i did not see any of them. he is brilliant in the movie. i did not. you know, when you do these things, you're just in the room with a director and a producer.

>> i didn't get to see them. hank azaria is brilliant in the movie. i did not. when you do these things you're just in the room with a director and a producer. it's probably the only profession in hollywood where you don't need a shower before you show up to work, you know? yeah, but i quite enjoy it. i've been able to because of the schedule that i maintain to do more animated work, more voiceover work. >> you've done five animated feature films. >> unbelievable. unbelievable. it's almost like a reluctant movie star. these things -- was it valentine's day that was number one and rio was number one? smurfs? do you feel the mystique after celebrity is just getting chipped away all the time? in the old days because you didn't know much about these stars and you put them on these pedestals and stuff. there was much more respect really for them. whereas now, i get the sense it is a real bear pit out there in the attitude towards famous people. >> i think respect is right. they have these tours that go up and down and you know more than you did. i believe the less you knew about a star made them a bigger star before there was the internet and tmz and perez hilton. >> the queener who always had this great quote because she was immortallized in the king's speech". she was the helen nap bonham

carter character. she once said there are three rules to public, >> really? >> yeah. >> do you like being famous or is it quite restricting now? >> i like the fact that i did something that i never imagined that i would do and something i told my friends i was going to do, whether i believed it or not. i do like that. i do like that when i sit down and look around that you know, sure there's been ups and downs but inherently, i stayed with what drove me in the beginning. >> i'm going to come over a final break and ask you if you could relive one moment in your life, again, what would it be? >> okay. almost tastes like one of jack's cereals. fiber one. uh, forgot jack's cereal. [ jack ] what's for breakfast? um... try the number one! [ jack ] yeah, this is pretty good. [ male announcer ] half a day's worth of fiber. fiber one. but not your wrinkles. new neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair. its retinol formula smoothes wrinkles in just one week. why wait if you don't have to.

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this is so low. how do you expect to run from the cops in those shoes? ♪ >> sand dra, you know you look the part but i don't think you're hard-core. >> dude, dude, dude, dude, you have no idea how hard-core i really am. you really have no idea. i don't need this. i don't need the outside because i got it on the inside. >> that was sandra bullock who was a kind of mentor. she sort of found you, didn't she? >> i would say without her, i would not have had an opportunity in the last ten years to have the career that

i've had. >> amazing. >> i love her. >> do you still stay close to her. >> on occasion we talk, yeah. >> i felt so sorry for her. >> everybody loves sandra bullock. >> i felt so sorry for her because it was so publicly humiliating. she didn't deserve that, did she? >> no, she's a good woman and she has always been very loving to everybody, very fair to everybody. she is what she appears to be, this great person. >> and a great actress. >> absolutely. >> you've had time to think. if you could relive, you've had a pretty checkered life. we've discussed an that in some detail. if you could relive one moment again, what would it be? >> you know, i -- it's interesting because it's, you know i was a huge freddy prinze fan. of "chick coand the man." it actually inspired me. it ignited something in me when i was 12 years old that i'd never felt before, which was a love of a performer that kind of

looked like me, that was latino at a difficult time and was a friend in the house where i had no friends. i wrote a letter to nbc asking for tickets to see "chico and the man." and i asked my grandmother if she would take me. and she said that she would. and then on the day of the event, i didn't go. because she wouldn't take me. and then he committed suicide i think two years after. i'm friends with his widow kathy and his son. but the one thing for me inherently because i would have liked to have seen him with my own eyes. >> we've discussed a lot of pretty heavy stuff today, george, which was enlightening because you're just known as this fun guy on tv, and then you find out there are so many more layers to you. what have you really learned about yourself? you know, the one thing that i believe nothing was ever going to be given to me and nothing was ever going to be easy.

i was always a quitter in everything i did. if i picked a friend up, i quit on them. when things got difficult, i quit. i started playing golf in 1981, and i love golf. and it taught me things that people should have taught me. it taught me courtesy, it taught me honesty, it taught me to be -- temperament. i had a tremendous temper growing up and i was very angry. and with people that i've met along the way and things that i've done good and bad, the one constant thing through that is i'm continue to learn and hopefully learn from my mistakes and golf was the first thing that i looked at it almost like a father figure that helped me get on that path. you know, i'm not perfect, but i am george lopez. and that's all i ever really wanted to be. >> i don't think i'd like you as much if you were perfect, george. i quite like the imperfect george lopez.