The Kardashian family have long been the inspiration behind Internet memes and comedy that circulate on platforms like Vine, Instagram, and now, TikTok. Enter Andrea Lopez, a DC-born 25-year-old comedian, who went viral in March 2020 because of her hilarious impression of the one and only Kourtney Kardashian.
Her video, which parodies how Keeping Up With the Kardashians made her “transform” into Kourtney, has over 11 million views and has been recreated by countless other TikTokers.
While Lopez’s comedy is now garnering the attention of the Internet, this is the kind of ripple effect she’s been waiting for since she began impersonating the eldest Kardashian at age 17. “It wasn’t until I got TikTok, three months ago and I started getting views, crazy views like hundreds of thousands,” says López. “ I never got that reception on Instagram.”
The young comedian has a vast career beyond her viral TikTok videos. She’s a commentator for Buzzfeed’s AM/DM, a host for the podcast Hey Frase, and a cast member of NBC’s Bring The Funny. Her affinity for comedy and impressions actually started in her family, she says, who’ve always inspired her because of their loud personalities.
“It’s mostly that I just came from like a melting pot of a family,” says Lopez, who’s dad is Mexican. “So I had a lot of different cultures in my life all the time.”
Emperifollá caught up with the TikTok sensation to discuss her love of Kourtney Kardashian, how being a female comedian informs her style, and why moving to Spain made her obsessed with red lipstick.
Emperifollá: Where did the idea for your Kourtney impression come from?
Andrea Lopez: I think the Kardashians, obviously they’ve been around forever. They’re on season 18 now. Kourtney was always this funny character. I thought she was the funniest in the show. Her and Khloe. I love picking up characters that just have a special, like sassy way about them and Kourtney is so herself, you know what I mean? I love that about her.
E: It’s crazy that you only got TikTok a few months ago, how has it helped you do far?
AL: I’ve been doing voices on Instagram for six years and have about 20,000 followers. And I’ve been doing TikTok for three months and I have 150,000 followers. I like how TikTok is almost more authentic. Like it encourages you to just put it out there, do the content release like 10 videos a day. It doesn’t have to be perfect.
E: I’m sure you thought a lot about how to dress up for Kourtney, how was that process?
AL: You just have to watch kind of what they’re wearing, what they’re doing. And for Kourtney, she’s really not that hard. She just wears those like sunglasses and then a black shirt. Very simple. It’s funny that the video went so viral that I’m upset I didn’t take more time to do it. Like that girl, Gabby Hernandez, she’s an incredible style blogger as well. And she did a remake of that video and her outfits were so much better. Like if I had only taken like 15 more minutes to do that video, but I love what she did with the video and how she recreated it.
E: Do you also think about style when doing standup?
AL: Whenever I do stand up I’m always like, alright, what am I going to wear tonight? Like I can’t say I tried too hard, but I also have to look cool. I love mixing jeans with blazers and I love mixing the types of styles, just like serious and, and like a little fun, playful. I have the most, the thing that dominates my wardrobe is blazers, jean jackets, fun sneakers, and like random print tees and sweatshirts. I also lived in Spain for three months and got obsessed with red lipstick.
E: How so?
AL: So girls just looked so good and model-esque with it. Like I tried to put it on and it doesn’t have the same effect. Like I still love it. The girls just looked so beautiful and I just loved it on them and they would do really rosy cheeks, and then they would do the red lips and it looked so culturally Spanish. So I held onto that red lip cause it reminded me of Spain.
Emperifollá 