Talking (good) tequila with Mario Lopez
After a long night at the Daytime Emmy Awards, where his hosting chops positioned “Extra” to win outstanding entertainment news program, a “tired” Mario Lopez took several minutes out of his 8 a.m. hour to talk to me about booze.
“I won an Emmy last night,” he said, when I asked how he was.
I responded with something along the lines of, “Congratulations, I’d like to talk to you about tequila.” He didn’t hang up.
This isn’t the kind of tequila you quietly ask the bartender for on the last Saturday before payday, once all of your friends have given you some privacy. No, it’s that 80-proof, glass bottle, top-shelf gold you order in front of your ex’s new girlfriend.
Casa Mexico Tequila, to be exact — a brand being introduced to the world with the help of Lopez’s hypnotic brown eyes, sinking dimples and bright smile. (I’m sorry, what were we talking about?)
Tequila. Right.
“It’s organic to who I am,” the actor, host and dreamboat said of the liquor. “I’m Mexican.”
After a friend shared the beverage with him about a year ago, Lopez decided to share it with his family and friends during his wedding weekend in Mexico.
“It was a big hit,” he said. They only drank 120 bottles.
Then, he brought a bottle to Ellen DeGeneres.
“We’ve been talking and drinking,” Lopez said with a laugh of the talk show host and comedian. She liked it.
So, maybe you weren’t invited to A.C. Slater’s wedding. And maybe you’re not Ellen. There’s no reason to feel left out, because Lopez wants to share this life-changing tequila with you, too, Las Vegas.
On Friday — it’s a fight weekend and the day after Cinco de Mayo — Lopez will showcase his Emmy-award-winning hosting abilities at Lavo inside The Venetian during the brand’s official launch party.
He couldn’t confirm whether there’d be another “Saved by the Bell” reunion on the Strip but said he had just seen Elizabeth Berkley, the bane of my 1990s existence for playing Slater’s love interest, on (you guessed it) “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”
I don’t know about you, but I’m so excited. And really hoping a wrestling singlet is Lavo-appropriate attire.
Attendees can look forward to “a good time and good tequila,” Lopez said.
Contact Kimberly De La Cruz at kdelacruz@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Find her on Twitter:@KimberlyinLV.
