How Comedy Can Heal: An Interview with ‘Lopez vs. Lopez’ TV Show Creator Debby Wolfe

George Lopez is back in primetime and this time he’s bringing his real-life daughter, Mayan. This hilarious and heartwarming comedy tells the story of a working-class old-school Latino who moves in with his modern Gen Z daughter as they rebuild their dysfunctional relationship one argument at a time. It’s old vs. new, father vs. daughter, Lopez vs. Lopez.

The universal themes that drive Lopez vs Lopez are what give it heart and humor. Not to mention the cadence of jokes and George Lopez's rhythmic punch lines, you're in for a great watch. Mayan Lopez's vulnerability and heart ground it all - the show could've been easily named "Daddy Issues" - but Lopez vs Lopez has a catchier title.  

Who knew that a TikTok video would inspire a heartwarming show? Comedy veteran Debby Wolfe did - thanks to scrolling through the social app at three in the morning. I had the great honor of speaking with Debby about why Mayan's TikTok video personally connected to her, finding the humor in pain, writing jokes, her writing journey and so much more.

This interview has been edited for content and clarity.

Sadie Dean: Knowing that you were inspired by Mayan Lopez’s TikTok video, what about that video personally connected to you and that urge or the need to tell this POV through not only a narrative lens but also through a comedic lens?

Debby Wolfe: The video that I saw was so raw and so honest and putting everything out there about how she felt about her parent's divorce and what the reality of it was and I just was so struck by that, because that's something I do in my own writing. I always write from my experiences, from my personal life, that's what I like to put out there. I think that's how you connect with others. And I saw that she was doing the same thing. So, I just felt immediately drawn to it.

I emailed Bruce Helford who was the original creator of the George Lopez show and he was my boss on The Conners, and I said, ‘Look at this. This is how we bring George Lopez back to network TV. It’s a story of him and his daughter. And this is going to connect with a lot of people.’ And he agreed with me.

Sadie: When sitting down with George and Mayan, what was thematically important to you collectively to hit in each episode and for the overall season arc?

Debby: I think the biggest thing was just really hitting the power of healing and the power of being open and honest, it's how you heal. It's being willing to admit your mistakes. And that was something that I think George at his older age is like, I think the same with my parents that I've noticed in them as they've gotten older and I think closer to death, [laughs] they look back on their life and they reflect and they have this regret and sort of like looking back at some mistakes they made and I think the younger generation, because we're so therapized, we're very unafraid to call them out and have them face these things. 

And because they're older and they want a relationship with us to last in their final years they're really open to having these discussions and that's what I saw with George and Mayan immediately and I think that's something that we really want to tackle is that it's OK to have these difficult conversations with your parents because they may surprise - they may be open to growth and healing because at the end of the day, there's love there and love motivates you to want to connect and be kind and heal. So, I think that that was a big major theme that we wanted to tackle.

There were other things that we tackle, like a lot of issues that are in the LatinX community that was relatable to me. My mother is from El Salvador, so I'm a product of first gen. And so, there's generational trauma, [laughs] that's something that we definitely wanted to tackle as a show. And we like to bring it up - I think there's a line ‘some people pass on wealth, we pass on trauma’ which will hit home with a lot of people.

Sadie: How do you find the comedy in these vulnerable situations and through these characters?

Debby: Well, I think that was a recurring thing too, is in my family, and the same thing with George and Mayan, is that we use humor to deal with the pain that we've experienced. And when the pain is unbearable, you just gotta laugh at it. And I think that's something that is continuous throughout the show. So, it's easy to find the humor in it, I think because when you're at rock bottom, all you can do is laugh. Just talking to Mayan and George whenever they would tell a story about something they've been through together, we're always in hysterics because there's always a joke or a punch line that comes out of it. So, it's actually been very easy to find the funny in it. And I think it's unique, that we can do that.

I also came from mentors who had done it really well before me. I had the fortune to work for Norman Lear on One Day At A Time, and Mike Royce, he ran Everybody Loves Raymond Gloria Calderón Kellett was on How I Met Your Mother, and then also Bruce Helford who ran Roseanne and The Conners. Those multi-cams were always grounded, real and authentic, and found the funny in the pain. I've been training to do this for a long time. [laughs] I think it's the best kind of comedy because it's real. I think we can all relate to it.

Sadie: What’s the joke writing process like in your writers’ room?

Debby: I'm definitely someone that doesn't settle for a kind of joke. There's nothing I hate more than a kind of joke. It has to be a hard laugh. That's just how I came up. I actually learned that on the show called Dog with a Blog [laughs] I had a mentor on that show Michael Kaplan and he would never settle for a kind of joke, he'd be like, ‘but that's not funny.’ He would challenge us. And I always took the challenge seriously as a Latina writer, I'm like, ‘I'm not messing around. I'm going to do this the best that I can.’ I have to do things three times better than everyone else, because I'm not going to be given the same opportunities. So, I always took joke writing very seriously.

And on top of that, l have a hilarious room. I have, I think, the best comedy room in Hollywood, of amazing writers who are all super funny. When we go through a script and when we see it on stage, that's when we really see if the joke is working or not. And if a joke gets a kind of a chuckle, it's not good enough. It's out. We got to keep going until we find that joke that has the hard laugh, but also is true and authentic to what the character is saying. A lot of the funniest jokes are when the characters say something that comes from their voice. It's something that they would definitely say. It comes from their attitude and their point of view. And I think each one of these characters has a very specific point of view. And this is something I've been told by my writers, not to toot my own horn, [laughs] but according to them, I set up really great characters that are easy to write for, because they really understand every character's attitude and point of view.

Sadie: Which is so important, these characters are the foundation of the show.

Debby: Yeah, absolutely. And I also want to credit our actors. We have a fantastic cast, that are all pros. Like Selenis Lyva, she's incredible as Rosie. She's added so many layers to this character. And Matt Shively, he's a veteran. He's been doing this since he was a kid. And he really dove into Quintin. There was a TikTok trend I based the character on that was like every Mexican family has a white guy that's happy to be there. [laughs] And that is Matt with Quintin - such a positive, awkward, sweet character he created. And then we have Al Madrigal is the comedic genius, he developed this character of Oscar, based on a friend of his who is a stoner [laughs] such an incredible character. And George is George and Mayan is Mayan. And they're playing versions of themselves. I'm just really blessed to have very funny people working for me.

Sadie: You previously mentioned working with some of the greatest TV writers in the business who also happened to become your mentors, but I’m curious, what inspired you to become a storyteller?

Debby: I think growing up bicultural, I think about this a lot, I have an El Salvadorian immigrant mother and I have a Jewish father. So, I was like, ‘I love money, but I never have any.’ [laughs]

Sadie: [laughs]

Debby: I always make jokes like that. I pay myself to clean my house. [laughs] Two different worlds that I was raised in and I've never really felt accepted by either because it wasn't full-on Jewish or full-on Salvy. And when I was with those families I felt like an outsider looking in. So that's how I came up - always like an observer of life, and a mimicker. I was trying to find my identity. It was very confusing. I was unlike anyone else. And I've never met another Salvadorian Jew in my life. I'm sure they're out there and I would love to meet them.

I turned to writing as an outlet to deal with my identity crisis. I was always feeling like the underdog and so I would just write just from an early age. It was actually in the fifth grade when my teacher told me, ‘You have a gift. You’re a great writer and this is something you should do for the rest of your life.’ And I was like, ‘Thank you Mr. Mingle, way to go inspiring me at 10.’

From then on, I always knew this is what I wanted to do. And so, I went to film school. I thought I was going to be an indie feminist filmmaker at first. [laughs] And I was gonna make these raw edgy films, but they always end up being funny and always had jokes. So Sundance Lab and the like would always reject me and I'm like, ‘Man, I guess I'm not edgy enough for that world.’ [laughs] I made a short film that played the NBC Diversity Film Festival and they encouraged me to apply to their writer's program. And that's when I got introduced to television. I didn't even know television was an option. I grew up in Hollywood, Florida. I thought the actors wrote the scripts [laughs] I didn't know how television worked. 

[A Mosaic of Memory: A Conversation on Adapting 'From Scratch' with Co-Creators Attica and Tembi Locke]

That writer's program really changed the game for me and they gave me great training. And they got me my agents. They got my first writers’ room, which was Whitney, season two. And that was 10 years ago. I just had a really blessed journey since then coming up in TV and the moment I got into the TV writers’ room, I was like, 'Oh, these are my people. Why am I trying to hang out with that indie crowd? They don't get me.' [laughs] These comedy writers, they got me. These are my people. These are my weirdos.

Sadie: Everyone has to find their creative weirdo tribe, right? It's important. Going back to the show and the pilot episode and as we all know the inspiration was from a TikTok video, you certainly don't shy from using that as a device in the show. And I think how you use it is cleverly done in using it as a device to set up a scene. Was that always intentional?

Debby: It's definitely an innovative way to get the pipe out. That's what Bruce Helford said, it’s a brilliant way to get the pipe out. Because that's always the challenge in the pilot is you have to set up what the series is and what the story is and this was just a fun way to do it - using something that we are all using every day. So yeah, it was definitely intentional to use it to set up a story and in the series, we're using it sparingly. We're not using it every episode. It's just so ingrained in our culture, social media, so it'd be weird I think, not to have it in a show at this point, because it's part of our lives. It just felt very organic. Also, it’s how the show came about. It's what inspired it.

Sadie: Full circle.

Debby: I think we might be the first show inspired by a TikTok. I don't know but it just seemed like it was an organic device that we've incorporated into the show.

And we used it as a casting tool as well. We also cast TikTok stars as guest stars. And then our little boy on the show Brice Gonzalez, he's a huge TikTok phenom, he has 15 million followers. And I've been following him for a while and I knew whenever I created the show, I have to have this kid, because he's incredible. I think most people might call it a curse, but I call TikTok a blessing. [laughs]

Sadie: You knew how to use it to your advantage! I love that we're seeing more women and Latinx and BIPOC writers creating and running their own production companies that are making more space and providing mentorships to lift more of those voices both behind and in front of the camera. Why was it important for you to create your own shingle Mi Vida Loba in 2018?

Debby: I think we're still, Latinx people, are still vastly underrepresented in media. I think we're the only family sitcom on network television with a mainly Latino cast. It's mind-boggling, because we're something like 60% of America now and we're still not represented in the same way in media. And so that's something that's always been a goal of mine. It's what drives me, representation, because I grew up not seeing myself represented on television and longing for it. So, in everything I make, I always keep that in mind. I want to get more Latinos on TV and it's so important.

[Identities and Voices Prioritized: A Conversation with The Disruptors Fellowship Cohorts Kirby Marshall-Collins and Diana Romero and Mentors Zenzele Price and Jenniffer Gómez]

I have this project and then I also have a pilot at Disney Channel for Latino kids called Basic Witches. So I'm working really hard to create more representation. And I'm hoping that by doing that I can open more doors for others. It's a tremendous amount of pressure because I feel like there's so much pressure on every one of our shows to be that breakout show that it opens doors for others. I try not to focus on that. I know it exists, but I'm focused on just making the best show possible. And making the most authentic show and something that feels true and real and honest, and I hope that we get support from our audience and that I can continue to do this.

Sadie: Crossing fingers. Any advice for TV comedy writers?

Debby: You're always going to have to beat jokes in a comedy room. So, anticipate what jokes might be kind of soft. I would take the time and I would write alts in my script, like on show night or you know, in multi-cam, we have show night, but if I was in a single cam writers' room, I would also do this. And having these alts at the ready so when that job comes up, and the boss is like, ‘Hey, we need something here.’ You fire out three or four things and you make it seem like you just came up with it just then, but you were thinking about it [laughs] the whole night before coming up with it. And then you look like a genius. That is something that they would call me “Kid Genius” in the Whitney room [laughs]. That's definitely something I think that everyone should do - be prepared. Preparation is everything. Take that extra time and work on your joke crafting, because that's very valued from lower-level writers - your joke writing skills.

Lopez vs. Lopez is streaming on Peacock.