A few years ago, Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias thought about walking away from stand-up. He’d been doing comedy at the highest levels for 25 years, and as the first comic to sell out Dodger stadium as part of the Netflix Is A Joke festival, he felt he had peaked.
“Part of me wanted to retire the next day,” he says now, “because how am I supposed to top this?”
Had he been a little older, Iglesias insists he would have. But at 48, he still has the energy to keep going — albeit with a slightly scaled back schedule (more on that later) — and he enjoys it too much to stop. Audiences still seem to enjoy it too: Iglesias recently ranked No. 3 on Billboard’s annual Highest Grossing Stand-Up Tours list with a $43 million haul. So, he searched instead for a new goal, a carrot to keep him motivated. And while he won’t reveal what exactly it is, it’s a new audience target and he is committed to hitting it.
Before doing so, however, Iglesias is releasing his fourth Netflix special. Gabriel Iglesias: Legend of Fluffy, which drops Jan. 7, has him reminiscing on the perils of life: from dating, to home break-ins, to turbulent plane rides. He caught up with The Hollywood Reporter to discuss the new hour (which technically clocks in at closer to two) as well as his distaste for TikTok, disinterest in Hollywood and why he used to fear his own professional demise.
With this new special, what did you want to say or do that you hadn’t said or done before?
I wanted to let everybody know, hey, I’ve been around for a very long time and I’ve seen a lot of things happen and a lot of entertainers come and go. And if I’m still here after all of these years, I shouldn’t have to deal with any of these issues that are amongst us right now about what you can and can’t say. [The special mines woke culture for comedy with jokes about things like pronouns.] I’ve always felt like as long as I’m coming from a good place, I should be OK. So, I’m trying to be diplomatic and cool about things, but also be like, “Come on, you guys, I’m still going to be here after this, so let’s just stop it already.”
It’s a fine line because I’d argue that you are poking the bear …
I’m leaning into it, but I’m not making it an agenda to go out and just attack. I never attack, I react. So, it’s me sharing stories about going through certain experiences and how I reacted to them versus, “Hey, I want to talk about politics.”
This idea that you’ve seen a lot of comics come and go, is there a through line to why many don’t make it?
I think it’s pacing. There are a lot of entertainers out there that got that one thing that hits, and next thing you know, you’re “Gangnam Style, man,” and then you’re gone. It’s like, “Whoa, you were on top of the world a minute ago, where’d you go?” Being nice goes a long way. I think a lot of times people forget that, and they start being dicks to people. That eliminates people quickly. And then being consistent. With me, all the specials are branded, everything is a Fluffy-something. You want to keep reminding people that that’s the brand. Sometimes people say, “Well, that’s pretty excessive.” And I go, “No it isn’t because all it takes is one or two years for them to start forgetting you.” You have to constantly remind them and continue to put out what you’ve been putting out. I can’t just be doing a show that’s fun and friendly, and then all of a sudden go into this political rant about who you should vote for because now you’re turning people off. You’re going against what you told people you’re going to do.
You’ve refined this Fluffy persona over the years. How is he different from the real you?
The guy on stage is just louder and talks more.
He’s also always happy …
Eh, we both have our days. It’s about being mindful of people’s feelings. I’m always trying to keep that in the back of my head, so at least if I’m thinking about that, I’ll be less likely to rub people the wrong way. Nowadays, people can take anything you say wrong. That’s the time we’re living in.
Do you worry about that?
I did for the longest time. I was always looking on my phone, reading messages. But the more I continue to do this, the more I realize that as long as you do what you said you were going to do, your fan base is going to be there. The people who disagree are the ones on the outside making all that noise. I can’t worry about people who are not even fans — who don’t understand what I do and how I do it. Because people will watch a clip online, and all of a sudden they have an opinion, and they don’t realize that this person’s been doing this for almost 30 years, and maybe there’s a reason why they’ve been around so long. I’ve lost a lot of time worrying, and nothing that I ever worried about happened.
What was it, exactly, that worried you most?
That I was not in touch with people, that maybe I had fallen off, like, am I now considered the old guy in the room? And I felt like what I was doing was right, but just because I feel like what I’m doing is right, it might not come across that way. I started second-guessing myself, but I shouldn’t have worried because what I’ve been doing has been working for so many years.
You talk about some harrowing experiences in this special, including being on a plane that went down and having your house robbed. How quickly are you able to see the comedic potential in these types of experiences?
I don’t sit down, grab a piece of paper and a pen and start writing out jokes or ideas. I’ve never been able to do that. What I do is go up on stage and vent. I vent about real things that are happening in my life. Do I embellish? Absolutely. Because you want to be able to sell and entertain this idea that might not go over very well. It’s all in how you package it. So, yeah, when I was falling out of the sky on that airplane, I had a show that night, and as soon as I got off of the plane, I’m like, “I can’t wait to talk about this.”
Do you find your material lands differently as you travel the country? I noticed that in Florida, where you taped the special, you got cheers when you talked about being a registered gun owner now. I couldn’t help but wonder what the response would be in, say, California.
I’m always listening to see how things go over, but I don’t change [something like the gun bit]. I don’t try to make it so that California is cool with it. I try to push this idea of, “Look, you might not agree with it, but let me tell you why I did it.” I’m not just going to throw that out there. I’m letting you know that I started off the same way as you, and this is what happened to me that led me to go another way. Again, reacting to situations. So, even if people disagree with certain ideas, you can’t disagree with the person being affected by what’s happening around them that led them to that. I don’t think I’m losing anybody from that. And when I say that I’m a registered gun owner, I’ve had people in the crowd boo, too.
I can imagine.
And I’ll say, “All I ask is that you listen to my story, and if you still feel like booing me after I tell you my story, I welcome it. But to boo me without hearing the full thing, it makes you look like the bad person. So at least give me the opportunity to share with you why I’m this way.” And people immediately are like, “All right.” And at the end of it, I have yet to get another boo.
That’s impressive, particularly in the times we’re living in.
I’m trying to let people know, “Hey, this is where I’m at in life.” I’m not the same person I was 20 years ago when I started. When I started, I had hair, hope, happiness — all the H’s. But I’m almost 50, and with time, people do change, and if you want to stay along for this ride, cool; and if you don’t, I understand. But I feel older and a little bit wiser, and I’ll tell you, being able to relate to the youth is becoming a little more challenging.
And yet “the youth” is important to your business, so how do you stay tethered and better understand their needs and wants?
Hanging out with my son, who’s 27, helps, and then I have some employees in their 20s, too. Mostly, I’m always just listening and asking questions. But, yeah, it’s challenging. Like, I hate TikTok, I hate it, but that social media is so freaking strong. I got on it during COVID, and of course I had all the time in the world then, so I’m like, “Fine, I’ll do these stupid meaningless videos.” I’ve never seen my social media jump the way it did when I started using TikTok. But it’s when I did the stupid dance or the silly lip sync, and I’m like, really? That’s what you want? I got a video that hit 72 million views, and all I did was use a filter that gave my eyes glasses, and it made my eyes big. 72 million. I’m like, oh my God, why couldn’t I be wearing a T-shirt that said, “Come see Fluffy this weekend at blah, blah, blah.”
In 2022, you sold out Dodger Stadium, which I have to imagine felt as close to peaking as you’d come …
People always ask, “Were you nervous walking out on that stage?” and I wasn’t. I wasn’t worried about my performance because I knew the material, and everything had been battle-tested. I was also walking out to 50,000 people where I’m the hometown kid, so it was more like a celebration. I’m one of them, and they knew that. I grew up in a single parent, broken home, welfare, Section 8, a busted car that worked half the time. I went through all the same struggles that those people in that audience went through, and for them to see one of their own up there, it was emotional. And I wound up staying on stage longer than I should have. I wound up drinking on stage. I brought my friends out, and we started talking about experiences over the years and things that led to that moment. We wound up leaving at about 4 in the morning, and it was the biggest fine I’ve ever had to pay for any venue. It wasn’t a fine that you get at a theater or an arena. It was a stadium fine. A Taylor Swift-sized fine.
How much?
I want to say it was over $200K. People will say, “You made a killing that night.” And I go, “No, I’m the reason they could afford Ohtani.”
I imagine, after that that kind of achievement, there’s some piece of you that’s like, “Well, what now?”
Oh, I totally feel like I jumped the shark. Like, how do you set a new goal? What do you do? I think that if I was older, that would’ve been a great ending to a career. But I still love doing this, and I still feel young enough to stay in this game. So, I am trying to set a new goal for myself.
What is that goal now?
There is something I’m planning to try to top Dodger Stadium because at least if I have a goal, I’ll work hard towards it, I won’t just phone it in. Because after so many years, you do get complacent instead of getting excited and hungry and nervous. It’s been a long time since I’ve been nervous to do something in this career, and in the beginning I saw being nervous as a bad thing, but now I miss that feeling because it gives you that drive.
Is success in Hollywood something you covet? I know you did a Netflix show a few years ago, and you periodically pop up in movies …
In the beginning, it was, but only because the industry basically tells you what you need to be doing, and back then it was get on The Tonight Show, then get an HBO special and then get a sitcom. If you’re going to be a comic, those are the things you got to do. And then if you get a sitcom, then you do movies. That was the way it went.
Many, from Roseanne to Seinfeld, followed that trajectory.
But what I found is I hate sitting in traffic, going to auditions that are pointless, just being stared at. I never felt good going in or coming out of an audition. It’s great when you see your face on a poster at the movie theater or you’re in a trailer, but the work that goes into that, it does nothing for me. So let me focus 100 percent of myself on comedy, and if somebody sees me and thinks that I should be in their movie and they reach out, then that’s a different conversation. But it’s not a priority.
From where you sit, what’s the best and worst thing about the business today?
Comedy’s never been bigger. It’s the biggest and best it’s ever been, and the audience isn’t just in America, it’s worldwide now, thanks to the internet and social media. Someone like myself can go to 30 different countries and have a career outside of the U.S.. But by that same token, with social media, all it takes is one little soundbite and it’s just “Timberrr!” (Laughs.) So, it’s a double-edged sword. I do feel fortunate that I know what comedy was like before social media. I remember what it was like to have to go out and find an artist to design a flyer, and then print them and go out to parking lots and put your flyer in people’s windshields at 1 o’clock in the morning, looking all creepy. I remember what it was like having to pick up a phone and follow up with a club, like, “Hey, did you receive my tape?” Now I can promote to a million people from the toilet. I know that’s not a visual you needed.
I did not. You’re referencing this idea of social media killing careers overnight, but it’s also making them overnight. It’s certainly not the same struggle and sacrifice that you like to talk about with your rise.
People hear struggle and sacrifice, and I don’t think they fully understand what that means. It’s not just the, oh, I missed a birthday or two. I’d get family members who would say things like, “Well, if you were around more, you would know.” They’re like, “You need to focus on family.” But then I would, and it was like, all I’m doing is being judged and talked about in a very negative way. I’m like, I would rather go out and be around a thousand strangers who are happy to see me than be around these people right here shitting on my Christmas tree.
Fair enough.
But I did miss out on certain moments because I worked a lot. A lot. I mean, at one point it was 46 weeks out of the year — go, go, go. I said yes to everything because you don’t know when those opportunities are going to stop coming. And if you know what it’s like when you don’t have opportunities, you don’t want to waste that. It’s only now that I feel burnt out after so many years that I’m like, “All right, instead of working five days a week, how about four?”
So, you’ve gotten more comfortable with “no”?
It has been one of the hardest things for me to do because I’ve always said yes. I was like that movie with Jim Carrey.
What prompted the shift?
I just think not feeling good. Like, physically not feeling good. I never used to get winded on stage. I’m a big guy, but I can be up on stage for two, three hours no problem. Then my knees started hurting. Finally, I talked to my manager, and I’m like, “Dude, I’m tired. Can I take an extra day for me?” And what’s cool is that even though if I work, everyone gets paid, nobody fought me on it. It just wasn’t a thing, and I love the fact that I have real people around me who actually give a shit about my well-being.
You continue to make relatable everyman comedy when increasingly you’re not a relatable everyman. Has that proved a challenge?
All my friends bust my balls about the “Fluffy empire,” but I don’t apologize for being successful because I know how much work goes into it. I think that’s another reason why I’m still able to relate, because I understand what it takes to be in the position that I’m in, the amount of time and energy and sacrifice I’ve made for this amazing career. Someone asked me earlier today, “So, you got your driver taking you around town in a limo?” Nah, I drive myself. I do normal things. I walk into restaurants. I talk to people. I think once you stop wanting to engage with people, that’s when you’re going to face your downfall.
Gabriel Iglesias: Legend of Fluffy is now streaming on Netflix.
English (US) ·