George Lopez

About This Event

A stand-up veteran with 30-plus years of specials and sitcom history behind him, at one of Chicago's most ornate downtown theaters rather than a comedy-club stage. A safer bet for a group night out than a club show with an unknown opener lineup.

Lopez broke real ground on network television. His self-titled sitcom ran on ABC from 2002 to 2007, and it was one of the only primetime comedies built around a working-class Latino family at a time when almost nothing like it existed on network TV — Sandra Bullock, who'd seen his stand-up, personally pitched and produced it after approaching him backstage. He became the first Latino ever nominated for the lead-actor Emmy in a comedy series in 2003, following a lineage of Latino sitcom stars that traced back decades to Desi Arnaz and Freddie Prinze but had gone largely dormant in between.

Worth knowing: showtime is 7:00 PM, and tickets start at $48 — check ticketmaster.com for current seating.