George Lopez jokes "Argo" star Ben Affleck "our finest Latino actor right now"

(CBS News) George Lopez has built a career finding humor in just about everything, from politics to his Hispanic roots.

On "CBS This Morning," the stand-up comedian and actor -- one of the voices starring in the new animated movie "Escape from Planet Earth" -- got the co-hosts laughing when he talked about Ben Affleck, star and director of the Oscar-nominated movie, "Argo," in which he plays a Latino man Tony Mendez sent to rescue Americans in Iran during the 1980 hostage crisis.

"'Argo' is an amazing movie," Lopez said on "CTM," and then quipped, "Ben Affleck, clearly our finest Latino actor right now."

But Lopez sarcastically noted he had some problems with the role: "Affleck's portrayal of (Mendez) had him shirtless doing pull-ups in the closet. First of all, no Latino is ever shirtless, nor can we do a pull-up, and usually our closet has all our clothes and shoes in there."

Watch Lopez do "CTM" co-host Charlie Rose's signature line in the video below.

"...But for Ben Affleck to carry the banner for Latinos, I'm hoping that he does win (the Oscar). I'm pulling for him," he said, then added -- referring to the widely-panned film Affleck did with Jennifer Lopez -- "Listen, the dude did 'Gigli.' We should all know that in life redemption can happen."

Turning to the speculation that the next pope could be from Latin America, the comedian said, "I hope that we have a Latino pope. There's enough room for his children there. We're guilty enough, so more guilt would be great."

He continued, "For the pope now, you don't quit. There's no crying in baseball -- there's no quitting in Catholicism. You just can't throw in the holy towel and say, 'Listen, I'm concerned about my health.' They propped the other dude (Pope John Paul II) up, so you have to know it's a life-long job."

Then, Lopez turned to "CTM" co-host Charlie Rose and said, "Charlie, it's like this job. You're in it for life."

Pressed on what he means about the pope leaving his post, Lopez said, "I think the pope is being squeezed out by some bad cardinals. You'll see it on Showtime, 'The House of Cards.'"

Lopez, who, in addition to his comedy, is also a powerful figure in the Latino community, said he was contacted by President Barack Obama during his first bid for the office. Lopez recalled, "In 2008, President Obama called me personally, and said 'I need the Latino vote, George, can you help me?' and I said, if you think 14 votes are going to make that big a difference, then I'm you're guy.'

Then Lopez said, joking, "But Barack Obama, for Latinos, one of the reasons we connected with him is that he has a lot of the traits that our culture has: He spends money he don't have. He lives in as house he don't own. His mother-in-law lives with him and helps him raise his kids..."

To watch Lopez's full "CTM" appearance, watch the video at the top of this post.