Rather than laugh, is inspiration: Andrés López



Andrés Lopez was born on June 25, 1971 in Bogotá . He is a comedian and actor that is considered a pioneer of stand-up comedy in Colombia. Lopez gained notoriety in Colombia after releasing his show called “La Pelota de Letras” which earned him a Double Diamond award from Universal Music.
As a student of Systems Engineering and Anthropology, in 1990 he started performing in the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá. Later, the University assigned him a classroom for him to teach the art of stand-up comedy for people interested in performing dramatic and comedic theater. He also created the University’s Newspaper “El Mercurio” where there was an area for people to express themselves artistically by placing their stories, paintings, poems and photographs. Later he went to Toronto to study experiential education and became a dedicated reader and a researcher of human behavior. Lopez returned to Colombia to work at "La Mega RCN". There, he became a creative potency by developing many comedy parodies such as 'Tratame Suavemente' better known as 'Catalina y mi Andy', 'Juan Bracitos´, 'Jason Libardo' and many others. They were made for the popular morning show called ´El Mañanero´. As a result of the rising popularity of the morning show, it was given its own TV show by RCN TV. ´Pido La Parola´, as this show was called, was mainly based on sketches, parodies and prank calls. A lot of them were led by Andrés Lopez.


Lopez has also been performing in various places all around the world. In 1998 he performed in the Colombian version of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare or “Las Obras de William Shakespeare”. Andrés played Juliet Capulet, Desdemona, Lady Macbeth, Ophelia and other Shakespearian women on this work. In 2003 the show changed its name to “The Royal Shakespeare Criollo” and later changed it again to “Shakespeare para locos”. The original version by the Reduced Shakespeare Company was first performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1987 and is London's longest-running comedy.

Lopez's most recognized show La Pelota de Letras consists of a refined sociological analysis of life in Colombian families between the 1960s and the 2000s. More than 2,500,000 people attended his shows since his first appearance at the Hard Rock Cafe Bogota in the beginning of 2004. In 2005 and 2006, when he opened a concert with 44,000 guests. After the show, he was given a standing ovation after the show. As today he has been performing more than 1500 sold out shows in Colombia and other countries, 5 tours around Colombia and more than 500 private shows for companies. Andres has performed in many cities in Colombia and internationally. In December 2005, he launched, La Pelota de Letras on DVD in the Hard Rock Cafe Bogota under the Universal Music Colombia label.

Lopez began his international tour in July 2006 performing in cities such as; Los Angeles, Panamá, Quito, Toronto, New York, Greenville, Madrid, Houston, Orlando  and Atlanta. An average of 1,500 people attended these shows. On September 2007 Andrés toured USA with Me Pido la Ventana in the corresponding cities;  Orlando; Queens, NY; Elizabeth, NJ; Atlanta, GA; Houston, TX and in Boston, MA. As you can see, some of the places are the same where he performed La Pelota de Letras. Since the end of 2007, Andres is part of the agency William Morris. Andrés has also performed with other comedians like Kathy Griffin, Dave Attell, Jeff Dunham, Jeffrey Ross, Katt Williams, Kristina Wong, Louis C.K., Ralphie May and Stephen Lynch.



How is he an inspiration?



© 2015 Gabriela Aguirre