George Lopez says he would have no interest in late-night talk show on NBC

3/30/2013

Amid rumors of another Tonight show shake-up, comedian George Lopez says he has no desire to return to the late-night talk show scene.

Lopez said he had a great two-year run as a late-night talk show host. But, he said, “I’m out of that thing.”

“I know all those guys. They’re all good guys, but that’s a tough job. There are a lot of tough jobs in TV. That could be one of the toughest, hosting a show every night,” Lopez said Wednesday night.

Lopez’s comments come amid turbulence in the late-night talk show business after word leaked last week that Late Night” host Jimmy Fallon will unseat Jay Leno as the new host of NBC’s Tonight. The network has not confirmed the rumor.

Lopez lost his cable television gig in August, 2011, in a trickle-down effect from the last time the Tonight seat changed hands.

TBS canceled Lopez Tonight after its second-year viewership dropped 40 percent when Lopez moved his show back an hour to midnight to make room for Conan O’Brien. Lopez gave up his 11 p.m. slot to accommodate O’Brien, who joined TBS after a time-slot dispute that ended up reinstating Jay Leno as Tonight host.

Lopez said he had a great time hosting the TBS show and that the gig gave him the opportunity to get to know everyone in the entertainment field, from actors Helen Mirren and Ben Kingsley to musicians Prince, Janet Jackson, and Snoop Dogg.

“I tried to create a party, and we did,” he said. Lopez joked that he’s probably better off that the party ended “just for the fact that I wanted to live a little bit longer.”