By Annabel Garcia–

George Lopez has been successfully doing stand up for quite some time now. However, it is only recently that he has started his own talk show on TBS. The set up of the show is his classic stand-up at the beginning, and interviews with some famous people.

Lopez has come a long way since the days from just a comedian now he is a bonafide star in his own right. But does that stardom include being a talk show host?

As a journalism student we are trained to be skilled in interviews and quick to come up with and ask the right questions. The first time I caught “Lopez Tonight,” I caught the interview part of his show. Lopez uncomfortably leaned forward to ask his guest the next question. His body language and flow of the conversation was overall uncomfortable to even watch.

So after watching that I tuned out, indefinitely, well, OK I tune in every so often. However, never without a snarky remark to the TV. I have been serving Lopez a tall glass of hater-ade.

When I decided to write this article on him I decided to catch some more episodes so that I can properly slam him. However, what I found made me grind my teeth. Yes he is unbearable to watch during the interview segment but I started to notice the amount of Latino stars he had on the show.

Jessica Alba, Eva Mendes, Oscar de la Hoya, Shakira and Los Lobos (the famous L.A. band) to name a few. After seeing, that I took my tall glass of hater-ade and painfully swallowed it.

Lopez may not be the most skilled interviewer but I’m sure that Ellen DeGeneres, Jimmy Kimmel and Jay Leno all started out a bit rocky. So I will keep my expectations high for Lopez.

He has the opportunity to really take this show and make it as credible as those other talk shows.  Like revamping some segments like “Chola Make Overs,” which actually makes fun of girls who put too much product in their hair, lip liner but no lipstick, and painted on eyebrows that make them look eternally angry.

I know those interviewing skills will grow over time. However, Lopez should take notice if he hasn’t yet, that he is the first Latino comedian to have his own talk show on an English- speaking network. This is the perfect opportunity for Lopez to continue to obviously make fun of Latino stereotypes and hopefully promote Latino artists, musicians, celebrities and writers.

Annabel Garcia is a journalism student at Columbia College Chicago.