It was May 2003 and comedian George Lopez was making his first big-time appearance in Tucson.
About 6,000 people, many of them introduced to the Latin comic through his eponymous TV sitcom, filled the Tucson Arena for his hilarious stand-up.
Just over a year later, 9,000 fans packed that same venue to capacity. Lopez was smaller in girth — he'd lost a bunch of weight — but bigger in popularity, and his stand-up morphed into a multimedia show, with video montages and outtakes from the TV show.
It's anyone's guess what he'll do when he plays the arena next Thursday, or how many people will squeeze in to see his "Who Told You That?" show. Bets are good, though, that plenty of folks opening Christmas presents Sunday will find tickets wrapped beneath colorful paper and shiny bows.
Lopez is following up his popular tour — and subsequent DVD — "Why You Crying?"
"Who Told You That?" picks up where that left off, with tales of Lopez's life and the wacky characters who occupy it.
The show starts at 8 p.m. at the arena (Main Stages map, Page 10). Tickets are $45-$55 through the Tucson Convention Center box office, 791-4266, or Ticketmaster, 321-1000. (See related interview in next Thursday's Caliente.)
His show at the Tucson Arena a follow-up to his last hit tour
