There are certain bits in my act that will never change.
I'll walk up to a woman, I'll say the first thing that comes to mind: 'Hey, you hungry?'
You gotta hang out with people who have big dreams and believe in that dream.
I eat a lot of junk food, because that's what's usually available at 1:00am when I'm all done working.
At the time, it was a really funny joke [Fluffy] and I went back and forth with going against the joke or embrace it. I decided to embrace it and now we're talking about it, so it was a good call.
It's not an overnight thing. I can legitimately say I've been working my ass off for a long time and the fact that I'm getting this concert movie is perfect because it's coming at just the right time in my life.
If i wouldn't have done comedy, I would have been a teacher. I was really good when I took an exploratory teaching class in high school, at getting kids' attention, and delivering lesson plans. Though my principal even told me that this was what I was meant to do. And that being a big-mouth comedian was a waste of time.
Life is measured by how you lived it, not by the years.
By putting myself out there the way I've been doing people see me as a real person. Even though I do character voices and funny noises the stories are still real and I put them all out there.
I'm not fat. It's just my awesomeness swelling up inside of me.
People understand when I talk about my son not listening, or issues at home or his real dad coming back into the picture, or even stories about family members not seeing eye to eye with what you're doing.
People can relate to someone who isn't perfect.
I got on the high school speech team and everyday I would get up in front of the class and just start talking.
You wonder why I only talk about my personal life. But that's all I've ever done.
Once I started doing specials I always incorporated "Fluffy" into it. But with Stand-Up Revolution, I left it out because I want it to be different for people. I'm there, yes, but it's something different.
I don't even have a clue as to where to find a pregnancy test. I'm looking at all the aisles... they don't have one that says 'oops.
Wearing a Hawaiian shirt, you don't ever come across as offensive. Nobody sees you as a threat. You see someone in a Hawaiian shirt, and you are like 'this guy is ready to party.'
I'm not selling out, denying who I am or where I've come from, not at all. I acknowledge that.
I've already produced one hour specials for other comedians and I have a TV show called Stand Up Revolution where I showcase new talent and so I'd like to continue to do stuff like that and help out the next guy.
TV show's really quick. You're in, you're out. A film usually takes a lot longer. However, a voiceover is very much like TV in the sense that it's really quick. For example, I did the movie Planes in one day.
If you surround yourself with a bunch of guys who no mas se quieren puro pari and are like, "Aaah, let's go get some chicks." Guess what? That's going to slow you down and keep your head somewhere else.
There's been a lot of guys that come out of Texas who have made it really big. So it's not a geographic thing, it's a how hard are you willing to work for it.
I'm a big guy, but I'm really simple with the food. I'll hit the In-N-Out or just the regular buffets.
I'm not fat. I'm fluffy!
I think when we stop putting labels and start worrying more about the performance, that's when you're able to cross over and make yourself a household name and go everywhere.
Anything is possible as long as you're focused, determined and you really want to do it.
Every night, it's a bakery on the bus. It's a curse, because I talk about how much I love cake, people bring me cake. And now I just found out I'm diabetic, so I'm like, are you kidding me?!
I've got foundation jokes, the ones that got me where I am, so everything I do just builds on top of that.
I just know you can not be on top forever. There's always going to be the next guy, and if I'm going to go down, I'd like to know I helped the next guy take my spot. You can't prevent the inevitable, but you can join the ship.
I drink diet coke so I can eat regular cake.
I talked about the stuff so openly that people are able to connect and relate. I put everything out there [into the network], and if I'm having a bad time, people know about it.
I still come out to music that's in Spanish. There's no denying who I am, but I've just made it to where my performance is so anybody can understand it - whether you're 10 years old or 80 years old.
By the end of the semester [in the high school] I was the only one up in front of the class everyday. Actually I could have passed the class four times over because every time you got in front of the class you got extra credit.That was the only class I got an A in and it was the funniest report card because it read Speech - A but everything else was just D, D, D, D.
When you're a comedian, the Holy Grail is an hour long HBO special.
If you put your personal stories out there people always connect.
If I speak Spanish in my show, which sometimes I do, I translate what I say. I make it where I can still be myself, but I make it to where everybody knows what the hell is going on and when everyone leaves, they're like "OK, I get it."
I learned early on, stay away from politics, stay away from religion and don't talk about sports. Those three right there will get you in trouble.
I'm always very happy to talk to people. I relate to people, and the guy on stage is very much the guy that's off stage. People know when it's fake.
Believe it or not, I've got a really bad metabolism. One burger and I'm done. I'm not a guy that puts away 10 burgers.
Walgreens, Rite Aid, CVS and Wal-Mart have all figured out the evolution of life and they grabbed all the products that are necessary for a life. And they stuck them in one aisle and they put them in order according to how you mess up... First thing you're going to see: condoms. Next to that: lubricant. Next to that: pregnancy test. Next to that: Pampers. Next to that: formula. And at the end of the aisle they sell beer.
In the beginning, yes. I didn't like it because I wanted people to know me by Gabriel Iglesias, not by Fluffy.
Some people can handle alcohol. You know who you are. Some people can't handle alcohol. The police know who you are.
You pigeon hole yourself by the title you give yourself.
Well, like I said, there's no reason everyone can't have a piece of the pie, even if there's a gordo there eating most of it.
I want to be known as a funny comic not just a funny Latino comic. I want to be able to go everywhere and anywhere.
Now people are coming up to meet me at my shows and they're doing my bits! One guy earlier was at 7-11 and he comes up to me and goes "you want a falcon?".
You gotta live life before you can talk about it. Sometimes when things don't work out in life, they work out on stage.
There's 5 levels of fatness! Fluffy is one of the levels. There's big, healthy, husky, fluffy and damn.
Surround yourself with supportive people. All the negative people, man you have to push them aside.
I have no talent when it comes to pianos or guitars or any of that, even karaoke. For karaoke, I have to be wasted to get up there and sing.
I try not to get political, I don't want to get religious, I don't want to get controversial, I just want to have a show that relates to everybody.
As far as "uncut" I think we all know that you guys cut up the special. Originally it was going to be 2 hours plus and it got chopped down so I said "we can't use those words because it's not going to represent me right".
You can't be bad ass in a car that kills gas like I kill tacos.
Me racist? The only race I hate is the one you have to run.
I don't wanna just be remembered for the funniest guy in my neighborhood.
In the beginning, when I was doing my shows, I was incorporating a lot of Spanish, just trying to be a Latino comic instead of just a comic. Now I try to make the show as broad as possible... I don't want to alienate people. I want to make it so everybody can follow along and everybody can relate.
I did Popeye and Ronald Reagan and everybody was saying things like "yeah he's a cute little kid" but I started, little by little, telling stories about people I'd met and expanded my voices.
If I'm drinking I can either be the nicest guy ever or I'm the guy you should leave alone.
Comedy is my passion. I'm going to do this until I drop.
I don't get controversial, I don't get political and I don't tell you what to do with your life. I just go out there and tell some stories, and people can relate.
I found that laughter was a form of acceptance, and I really enjoyed that and I just - I crave it.
I went up on stage, and said, "Why did the chicken cross the road? To check out the chicks." I was a genius at 10. Try telling that at 21, and you look hacky and stupid. That was the only joke I've ever told. Everything since has been character voices, doing impressions or just telling stories.
Connecting with people is not hard. I love the interaction and the feedback after shows. It does take some time, but the fans appreciate it which makes it worth it.
I'm never home. I miss birthdays. I miss holidays. I miss anniversaries. I miss special moments. I'm not always there for important times, because I'm out on the road trying to make people laugh. I give up my privacy. I give up the ability to walk somewhere and relax.
If you Google the word "fluffy," I'm the first thing that pops up. It's me, dogs and rabbits.
When I go to dance clubs, I always dance with big girls, so we finish at the same time.
I see a lot of nice hotels, but I never really get to enjoy the cities, because I have to be on a plane the next day.
I started riding the whole 'fluffy' train, and it's a cute word and socially a lot more acceptable than someone saying is fat or obese. If you call a girl 'fat,' yo, she'll raise hell, but if you say, 'Aw girl, look at you, you're fluffy,' there's almost a sexy appeal to it.
Why would anybody connect to someone who has everything going for them? It's the person who has faults that people want to connect to. So people identify with certain insecurities on stage and just by me talking about my diabetes people come up to me after the show and tell me "Gabe, my blood sugar is out of control and I feel you". That's the first thing they say, they say "I feel you!".
I had to travel half way across the world to be called an American.
I got off the plane - I was walking and cooking at the same time.
Aside from producing I want to direct but I'm also going to get back out on the road.
[ The aim to be big] is not a joke about my size. It's just that I'm a dreamer, but I'm following through with it. I believe anyone can do it as long as they focus and have a game plan.
I'm always ready for TV. I don't have to edit my jokes - when you work clean, you can work anywhere.
For me, the hardest thing was dropping the whole Latino comic title.
Early on when I started talking about my weight, it was self-deprecating; everything was a joke.
The girl voice is always going to kill because they don't expect it.
You live by the cake, you die by the cake.
When I first got to St. Louis, I saw the arch and I said, 'I want to go to that McDonalds.
The response you get when you're young like "oh you're just getting laughs because you're a little kid and you're cute". They weren't trying to encourage me at all or tell me to keep pursuing this.
[Making people laugh] was a secret dream I kept and I didn't tell anybody about it until I was about 18.
I think the furthest I ever got was Guitar Hero. If I could start a band like that, I think I could do it.
You know what I learned about Hawaiians? They're just blown up Mexicans!
With all the classes they offer at school, how come they don't have one for common sense?
I'm a big boy, but I can get jiggy with it. Ladies, I will go to dance clubs, and I will tear it up hardcore for a good 30 seconds.
I like to tell old jokes on stage after about an hour, or an hour and a half. I'll bring those old ones back because the fans love them.
When you hear "Seinfield," no one says, "the Jewish comic." You talk about Cedric the Entertainer, you don't say, "African American comedian Cedric the Entertainer." Even Margaret Cho - who's like one of three Korean performers out there - no one refers to her like that. They say, "It's Margaret Cho."
When you have nothing but big friends, you never get into arguments - except one. And that is, who is the biggest? I'll let you know right now, there's only one way to settle this. We all get in a bus and we go to Disney and we get on a roller coaster - whoever gets the least amount of clicks on the safety bar is the big one.
Anyone who's seen my specials knows I don't put out the same stuff twice.
Originally the big argument was that they wanted to call it "raw and uncut" and I told them I had a problem with that. When you say "raw" it implies that my show is dirty and that's not the case.
The best advice bro: is think big, as big as you can possibly think, and shoot for that. The bigger you aim for, the bigger you're going to be. Set the standards for yourself as high as you possibly can and also surround yourself with people who have the same visions you have.
I'm not on a diet. And it's funny cause people go 'Well, then why do you drink diet soda?' So I can eat regular cake.
I was not the popular kid in school.
That was the challenge. How can you tell the story here and make sure it goes the same way on the other side of the world?
With this show [Stand-Up Revolution ], I loved the idea that I would be picking the talent that goes on, not the network. It was me handpicking people who might not have gotten the chance to be on TV. So, I thought it was real cool that I was putting people up there.
I don't want to die tomorrow knowing I could've had a piece of cake tonight.
Best advice, bro: Think big. Don't think small. If you think small, then you're going to stay small. Think (about) the broad scope.
I started talking about things that everybody could relate to. And that's not to say I deserted my roots, I just found a way to talk about things in a broad way.
I'm all about showing people that I'm a little messed up, I have a lot of the same problems you have. By exposing myself and putting myself out there, people can relate to me and my act won't grow stale. I mean, nobody wants to hear a comedian say, 'Life is great.'
Sometimes [high school speech team] was funny, other times it was just talking, but it gave me the confidence to speak in front of people after doing that for a whole year.
You know, a lot of people think that just 'cause you work out, lift weights, eat right, and do what people tell you to do that you'll live a long live, maybe you will. But, why do people measure life by the years instead about how good the years were.
Jeff Foxworthy had that whole "You might be a redneck" thing; Larry the Cable Guy had "Git-R-Done." Some comics have that hook. Dane Cook had that super finger. So I just caught on early on. I ran with "Fluffy."
Understand that you don't know it all. You don't know anything yet. What you've been taught is great, but always go with common sense. And don't marry your first love.
If you aim to be big, you will be big. And that's not a pun about my size.
We can choose our family. We can't choose our relatives.
Home in bed listening to the rain getting ready to order a pizza. Sounds like a song til the last part.
I was very dirty; I was a very dirty comic. There was no way I would have gotten on TV with the act I had when I first started.
I wanted to be a comedian, and this is what I'm doing. If I can keep this going, I'm happy.
And I don't want you thinking that my girlfriend is a bad person. She is an amazing woman, the fact that I only have seven stories about her in eight years, says a lot. You know, don't get me wrong, five of them happened this year, but that's still way below the bar, you know what I am saying.
I just recently crossed over into Europe. They're showing my special Hot and Fluffy in Europe and selling the DVD there too. And they're doing the same thing in Australia and Canada. And I think the biggest part was I did the special in a predominantly Latino area, but I kept the show mainstream and across the board.
I'm a big fan of Kiss. Gene Simmons, he's all into marketing and branding. You name it, there's some type of product with Kiss' name on it. Studying people like that, you see guys have hooks and there are reasons people are successful.
I don't have to worry about writing jokes. I just tell stories about things that have happened to me. As long as I'm alive and I'm living and I'm experiencing different things every day, the show will always change.
The first time I got on stage I was 10 years old and I did impressions. I did cartoon characters and I really got the bug for this life when I saw that people were laughing and saw the attention I was getting.
I bought a Hummer before I bought a house, and then I bought a house. Every year, everything doubled. The work was doubling. The money was doubling. The popularity was doubling.
People see a big dude and they hear that high pitched voice or "Eglasias with an 'I'" and love it because they can relate and go "I know that person!".
Now I understand why people do drugs, why people drink, and why people go crazy. As the success level goes up and up and up, the further detached I get from everybody else. Luckily, with my girlfriend, everything is gravy because I brought her into it. I brought her in and she's very hands on with my career.
I remember seeing Eddie Murphy RAW and seeing people laughing and having a good time and that was the same response I was getting so I thought I was on to something.
When you go to Hawaii, it's all about "Aloha." It means hello, goodbye and I love you.
I love Australia. First of all, everyone is so nice. The people are down to Earth, and they like having fun with you.
Why do people measure life by the years instead of how good the years were?
Kids, man, they're way too honest. They're like mini-alcoholics.
I was a big fan of Rodney Dangerfield. He had this HBO Young Comedians Special and he'd always bring up new talent, and I loved that!
My girlfriend knows that if I'm acting weird at home to go to one of my shows to see what's on my mind.
I just like The Little Mermaid cartoon. Say what you want. I have a fish tank, it's a long story. I have a fascination with the ocean, and you put a hot chick in there, it just adds more to it! I liked The Little Mermaid. It's a cool movie. It's one of those I watch over and over again.
A lot of the comedians nowadays just do comedy as a stepping stone. Take for example Dane Cook. The guy is huge. The main reason he got into it is to do what he is doing now: film and television work.
