The Wall

George Lopez took the stage at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., during a highly polarized summer, and he did not play to the middle. Released live on HBO in 2017, the special is titled after Donald Trump’s proposed border wall, and Lopez wastes no time addressing the political climate. His frustration with the administration’s anti-Latino rhetoric is central to the set, manifesting in pointed commentary about the contradictions of immigration policies and the strange reality of how documented the undocumented actually are.

Yet, despite the politically charged title and venue, much of the hour is a return to his standard playbook. Lopez spends significant time contrasting what he views as tough, traditional Latino upbringings with the perceived fragility of modern American culture. He takes aim at gluten-free diets, peanut allergies, and therapy dogs for anxiety, comparing them to the harsher style of parenting he grew up with.

Filmed at the Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall, the special marked Lopez’s fourth live hour for HBO. At the time of its release, he was balancing his TV Land sitcom, Lopez, with the Comedy Get Down arena tour. While his core fan base welcomed the defiant posture of the performance, the set received mixed reviews. Some critics and viewers felt the transition from political outrage to complaints about modern parenting felt disjointed, and a few of his riffs on allergies and childhood anxiety drew backlash from audiences accustomed to a lighter touch.