A laser lights show and LMFAO’s “Sexy and I Know It” introduced the fluffiest man in show business: the 5-foot-10-inch, 250-pound Gabriel Iglesias.
On Friday, Feb. 17, Iglesias came to the Peabody Opera House, along with a few of his comedian buddies, to bring a stand-up revolution of sorts. Iglesias had a two-and-a-half hour set— running more than an hour over his allotted stage time— and offered St. Louisans a show that was funny and, of course, fluffy.
“When I first got to St. Louis, I saw the arch and I said, ‘I want to go to that McDonalds,’” Iglesias said.
Roughly half of Iglesias’ performance consisted of new material, which included tales of meeting some gay fans who described themselves as “bears” in a California comedy club, describing how he stripped naked during a show eight years ago after having 19 shots of Jägermeister, his son’s experiences during puberty and getting people drunk to be honest about their relationship history.
After that time, Iglesias began to take questions from audience about the various people in his stories. The iconic funnyman became particularly sensitive when one audience member asked about his mother. Iglesias said that he had a “falling out” with his mother after she suffered a stroke last year, and then moved in with him and his girlfriend. Iglesias’ mother began to dislike his girlfriend and their relationship became strained.
After that awkward moment, Iglesias asked the audience if they wanted to hear some of his old comedy routines. Iglesias’ request invoked a very positive audience response. Some of the audience members began to ask Iglesias to do some of his old bits from previous televised specials. Iglesias did five or six of these bits. Two notable mentions were “The Fat and the Furious” and “Chocolate Cake Made Me Late.”
“The Fat and the Furious” is a story about an instance when Iglesias bought a Volkswagen Beetle, drove to his friend Martin’s house and screamed out “Martinnn!” At the house across the street, where two “gangsters” lived, they would make fun of Iglesias because of his small car. When Iglesias decided to put a new engine in his car, on a subsequent visit, one of the neighbors said, “Hey, look, it’s ‘the fat and furious.’”
“Chocolate Cake Made Me Late” is a tale about how Iglesias let his son eat an entire small chocolate cake, which caused him to be ill the following morning. Iglesias drove him to school, and they were 45 minutes late. Iglesias decided to drop his son off at the front door of the school, but he was not supposed to do that. Just as Iglesias’ son begins to step out of the car, he begins to “freak out.” According to Iglesias, the principal approached the car to tell Iglesias that he could not drop off his son at the front door. Iglesias decided to act dumb, and spoke Spanish to the principal, saying that he did not understand. The principal responded to Iglesias in Spanish, saying “I’m not stupid.”
Three of Iglesias’ comedian friends opened for him: Sean Lathum, Alfred Robles and Rick Gutierrez. Lathum’s set included stories about his experiences at fast food restaurants and playing on Xbox Live. Robles focused his set on religious humor, mainly focusing on the Catholic Church, and Gutierrez focused his set on the ways in which kids can “ruin” people’s lives.
Lathum and Robles had very strong sets. Both of them had excellent timing, and execution of their jokes and punch lines. Gutierrez mainly relied on anger for his humor, which was good for the first part of his set, but the lack of variation made his routine seem stale.
Iglesias had a great set. He was very lively and happy and had the audience laughing all night. He really blended his humor and storytelling into a very special night for the audience. His new material was a refreshing break from previous material, which had consisted mostly of him making fun of his eating habits and his own self-deprecation.
The show was one of the best comedy shows I had seen in a long time, and Iglesias certainly knows how to make an audience happy— and a little fluffier.
