Mayan Lopez isn’t afraid to go toe-to-toe with her father in ‘Lopez vs Lopez’

Humor has always been like an extra member of Mayan Lopez's family.

“I was always a funny kid. I would be performing at five years old in the living room,” Lopez told CALÓ News in a video conversation about the second season of “Lopez vs. Lopez” and how she became interested in comedy at a young age.

“I used to get in trouble at school because I would just say it like it is,” she said. People would chastise her for being mean but she would clarify, as she raised her index finger, admitting she was “mean, but funny.”

Lopez made her television debut in season six of her father’s ABC comedy “George Lopez,” but she trained her comedy skills in the classroom as well. It was during college at the Conservatory Program at Second City as well as the Columbia College Comedy Writing and Performance Program in Chicago when she started to find her own path doing improv. Lopez has also been featured in “Handsome: A Netflix Murder Mystery,” “Other People,” “Jersey” and “Mr. Troop Mom.”

She now co-stars with her father on the only show currently on network television featuring a predominantly Latino cast. Given the recent rarity of second seasons, especially for Latino shows, it helps to have an average of 4.7 million viewers across platforms and to be the highest-indexing broadcast series for viewers in English-dominant Latino households.

The 28-year-old comedian is also the co-creator, writer and co-executive producer of the NBC comedy series. Lopez conceptualized the series from her TikTok content during the pandemic. She portrays a fictional version of herself, “loosely based on our lives,” she said.

In the show, she has a son named Chance, played by Brice Gonzalez, and lives with her boyfriend, Quinten, played by Matt Shively. George's ex-wife, Rosie, comes to TV life with Selenis Leyva from “Orange is the New Black” and Al Madrigal plays Oscar. Recurring guest stars include Cheech Marin and Gabriel Iglesias, who plays George Lopez’s sobriety coach.

The father-daughter comedy duo is not afraid to put their family strife to good use. In the series, the Mayan and George characters have been estranged for 10 years while in real life they were estranged for four.

“Being raised by a standup [comedian] you get a thick skin very early and it’s always been Lopez vs Lopez in a way,” Lopez said of her relationship with her father, which has always included playful banter, wittiness and sarcasm.

“It gets really real and very personal,” she said of the show, which is billed as a comedy but has also dealt with serious issues like maintaining sobriety and receiving support from family. “We balance the funny but we go to those real places.”

When asked what actors and comedians she looks up to, Lopez mentioned Lucile Ball and Eva Longoria and she also thinks of Desi Arnaz and how he innovated television shows.

“I think about how a Cuban created the sitcom as we know it [with] the three cameras,” she said of the Latino creator who paved the way for her to be where she is today.

“Lopez vs Lopez” is now in its second season, airing on Tuesdays on NBC and streaming the following day on Peacock.