Lopez vs. Lopez will be even more of a family affair than usual with the new episode on November 1 in the 2024 TV schedule, with the arrivals of Quinten’s parents for a visit. The NBC comedy brought back Stephen Tobolowsky to reprise his role as Quinten’s dad Sam and cast The Carol Burnett Show alum Vicki Lawrence as mom Ruthie. It’s a safe bet that some kind of chaos will ensue, and the two guest stars spoke with CinemaBlend about what surprised them about working with George Lopez on the show.
Vicki Lawrence has more TV comedy experience than most coming into Lopez vs. Lopez, having started her career on The Carol Burnett Show and remaining on board for nearly 300 episodes across eleven seasons. Add in some later sitcom work on shows including Mama’s Family, The Cool Kids, and even Hannah Montana, and Lawrence has a very strong list of comedy credits.
When I asked the actress what it was like for her to work with George Lopez – who has plenty of sitcom experience and well as stand-up success of his own – on Lopez vs. Lopez, she shared what she didn’t know she was getting into:
He’s just absolutely delightful. If you haven’t met somebody and you’ve never been on their set, you really never know what you’re walking into, and that is just a lovely, well-oiled machine that I think probably reflects him. The most important thing I feel like I learned from Carol Burnett is, so it is at the top is the way the set runs, and she is such a special person that The Burnett Show was just a really happy place to work. And that’s the way Lopez vs. Lopez is. It’s just a very happy, easy set. It was delightful.
Although George Lopez is of course successful on his own, a positive comparison to Carol Burnett is a high compliment coming from somebody who worked so closely with her for so many years. Vicki Lawrence didn’t quite know what she was in for when she signed on for Lopez vs. Lopez but got a “delightful” surprise with the leading man. She went on to share what made her want to play the role of Ruthie on the show, since she hadn’t met George before:
Honestly, I had never seen the show, so I started streaming a few episodes, and it’s just a darling story. The characters are cute. It’s well written. And then when I found out that Stephen Tobolowsky was going to play my husband and we had worked together on The Cool Kids, and he’s such a great fun character actor, that I said, ‘Absolutely, sign me up.’ It was fun to go over there, and as Carol would say, it was fun to play with them in the sandbox.
While the new episode on November 1 – called “Lopez vs. In-Laws” – will be Vicki Lawrence’s first as Ruthie, it will mark Stephen Tobolowsky’s return after playing Sam Van Bryan back in Season 1. At the time, series regular Matt Shively raved about Lopez vs. Lopez casting a “legend” to play his on-screen dad. (You can find that episode streaming with a Netflix subscription and/or a Peacock subscription.)
Stephen Tobolowsky is a renowned character actor with credits all over the large and small screens, notably including Groundhog Day as a film and One Day at a Time and The Goldbergs on TV. He even appeared in The Cool Kids opposite Vicki Larence during its one and only season. When I noted to the actor that I was looking forward to seeing him back on Lopez vs. Lopez, he responded:
That was good news for me. I loved doing the show so much… We all had such a good time, and the characters on that show were so wonderful. And I guess the thing that Lopez vs. Lopez does, too, is there’s always a darker undercurrent to everything, because of George. George is a dangerous character. [laughs] He’s a great leader. This is something that I don’t think I’ve heard anybody say, and was a shock to me. He’s a great leader, and when he comes out on stage, the audience is in the palm of his hand. He is a great leader with the rest of the cast.
George Lopez’s level of leadership was “a shock” for Stephen Tobolowsky when he came to Lopez vs. Lopez, not least because that’s not something that everybody says about the sitcom star. That said, creator Debby Wolfe praised Lopez’s ability to energize the audience with his stand-up skills, and a co-star shared how his “hands-on” approach was helpful. Tobolowsky went on:
There’s so many different ways [and] I’ve been with different types of leaders. George just has a commanding personality, and he has a burning desire for the show to be good, always good, and that’s good to have in the leader. [laughs] A lot of times I’ve been on shows where the leader just wants it to be over. I’ve been doing this for 50 years… On Lopez vs. Lopez, whenever you finish a show, they’re ready with the new scripts, ready to go for the next one. They’re on to the next and it’s a great feeling that you’re with a cast with that kind of feeling.
The actor went on to share that One Day at a Time had the same great feeling among the cast, who came together earlier this year for a table read of final episodes. All in all, it’s clear that George Lopez is a leader who makes joining Lopez vs. Lopez a positive experience for guest stars, earning him high praise from fellow (albeit different) comedy greats.
You can find Vicki Lawrence and Stephen Tobolowsky as Ruthie and Sam Van Bryan opposite George Lopez and Co. in the next new episode of Lopez vs. Lopez.. It’ll air on Friday, November 1 at 8:30 p.m. ET on NBC, immediately after a new episode of Happy’s Place. If you’ve missed any of Season 3 so far, you can find the earlier episodes streaming on Peacock.