Valentine’s Day, a day of love and comedy? apparently…
On Valentine’s day, Gabriel Iglesias, also known as Fluffy, performed a sold out show of 14,000 people at the Kia Forum. This Valentine’s Day, Fluffy and his fellow friends told a series of raunchy and unfiltered jokes.
Iglesias, a well known comedian who has been performing since the late 90’s, has developed a huge fan base over the years, with many fans who have grown up watching him. With Netflix specials, several movies featuring his voice acting, and 4.2 million followers on Instagram it’s clear Fluffy has made an impact.
After the various performances by fellow comedians, it was time for Fluffy to enter the stage, he came out wearing a vibrant baggy polo shirt with hearts and lips printed all over. Quite on theme for Valentine’s Day.
For many of his punchlines, he made jokes about his own culture as a Mexican American man, and growing up with Hispanic parents.
As the show went on, Iglesias explained that he is someone who likes to “push the envelope” within comedy. As someone who had not heard of him before this show, I didn’t know what to expect.
Iglesias has made jokes about identities in terms of ethnicity and race outside of his own, as he has mocked accents in the past. In this set, he joked about his friend Jokoy (a fellow comedian) being Filipino and mocked a Filipino accent. Stating right after that he loves Filipinos.
Iglesias made a joke about pronouns such as getting asked how he identifies in an interview in which he stated “hungry” and “fat.” Stating the interviewer had asked him if identifies as they/them, in which he joked “Have I eaten so much that I’ve become a plural?!”
After he told this punchline, Fluffy explained to the audience that pronouns don’t apply to him, and his mother always taught him growing up to “mind your business.”
He addressed the possible controversy of these jokes saying that he wants to bring people together, he loves everyone of every race and ethnicity, and his goal is to make people laugh.
He continued to explain that he had only good intentions. Further stating that if someone gets offended by his jokes, then that is their issue, and not his.
Gabriel Iglesias is not the first comedian to address controversy and “cancel culture.” There has been an ongoing discussion regarding how cancel culture will affect stand up comedy. Several comedians have decided that it won’t affect their shows, but Fluffy seems to address “cancel culture” in a more meaningful way than others have.
This show in particular featured many surprise guest performances by musicians Mariachi Los Reyes and Pepe Aguilar as well as comedians Martin Moreno, Ismo, Jokoy, Matt Golightly, and Gary Owen.
His friends Jokoy and Martin Moreno, explained that Iglesias has always been successful, and despite this, has always given his fellow comedian friends the chance to perform with him.
The stage was decorated with hearts and balloons and outside featured a Valentine’s Day photo booth for attendees who wanted to take pictures.
As his performance went on, Fluffy began to take shots of Patron while his friend and musician Pepe Aguilar performed. This wasn’t the first time Fluffy has had one too many drinks on stage, (a quick Google search can confirm that) and it probably won’t be the last… Fluffy loves to have a good time.
After the many shots, Fluffy came back to perform and said he had taken a couple too many; but this didn’t stop him, in fact, he continued to perform after the show had “ended.”
He stated that he was emotional as he looked out to the crowd and thanked his fans, saying he was so happy and it wasn’t just because of the alcohol. One thing is clear… Fluffy loves his fans.
As a first time attendee, I enjoyed the show and seeing Fluffy. I thought the special guests he brought out were talented, I was surprised at some points regarding the nature of certain jokes of Fluffy’s, as I believe they did “push the envelope.” While I didn’t find the controversial jokes funny due to their angle, I also believe that addressing the controversy was important for context. I think it’s up to the audience to decide what jokes go a bit too far.
Overall, Fluffy certainly knows how to put on a show, and he knows how to bring a crowd together.
