Over the last decade, Gabriel Iglesias’ star profile has grown to massive – nay, fluffy – proportions. In addition to being one of the world’s best-loved stand-up comedians, the delightful Californian is now a fully-fledged Hollywood actor.
What’s more, he also hosts the popular Comedy Central TV show Stand-Up Revolution. Despite his extensive workload, live comedy remains his number one priority.
Iglesias has just returned to Australia for his biggest tour yet, and will roll into Sydney’s Qantas Credit Union Arena on Saturday night. As evidenced by this year’s feature-length stand-up movie, The Fluffy Film, Iglesias has seamlessly transitioned into venues of this size.
“What I do is very relatable,” he says. “I’m not that controversial. My comedy is very… fluffy. It’s stories about things that people can relate to – stories about family and relationships.”
Iglesias’ comedy essentially revolves around the inanities and amusements dotted through everyday travails, and specifically the relationships he has with his girlfriend and adopted son. His material is never shy on hilarity, but the stories generally appear to be a direct retelling of lived events.
“My son now recognises the look in my eyes when he’s done something that I’m going to talk about in my comedy,” he laughs. “He gets mad, but he’s going to do the same. I can already see signs of it in him – inheriting my humour.”
While his teenage boy now knows that what happens privately is liable to be repeated in front of thousands of people, that doesn’t mean Iglesias is in ‘performance mode’ when he’s not onstage. “When I’m at home the last thing I want to be thinking about is work. I don’t want to be one of those comedians. I hate it when comedians are trying to be funny all the time. When I’m at home I just want to relax.”
Even though Iglesias refrains from turning each situation into a joke, judging by the content of his comedy it seems safe to assume he’d have a pen and paper on hand at all times, ready to jot down every humorous incident. Well, that’s not quite how it works.
“I don’t write anything down,” he reveals. “When I get onstage I just tell stories about the things on my mind that I think are funny. I’ve never written it out. Even in school, I couldn’t really understand things by writing them down. When I want to try out new material I do gigs at a small club here in LA. Sometimes I’ll take a recorder and listen back to the shows to see what jokes are working.”
As unconventional as this technique might sound, it works wonders for the fluffy antihero. Last year, Iglesias placed ninth in Forbes’ list of the world’s highest-paid stand-up comedians. This is certainly a noteworthy feat, but having your financial particulars disclosed to the public isn’t so great.
“My managers wanted to release that information because it’s a big achievement, but I wasn’t too happy about everyone knowing how much I’m earning,” Iglesias says. “After that happens you have all these people calling you, asking for favours. You know, I have every charity knocking at my door.”
Either way, this detail further emphasises the extent of Iglesias’ growing star status. By now he can’t leave the house without being recognised, which is a part of the job he happily accepts.
“Honestly, I love it when people come up to me and they want to get a photo or tell me they like my comedy. The only problem is, my family don’t like it so much. But I can’t be mad about it – I know what I signed up for.”
Catch Gabriel Iglesias atQantas Credit Union Arena onSaturday September 27, tickets online.
