Gabriel Iglesias is huge (or rather, fluffy) in the world of stand-up comedy. He cemented his place in the comedy history books when he sold out Dodger Stadium for his newest Netflix special, Stadium Fluffy. This is something that had never been done before, at any baseball stadium, and it led to what he calls “the greatest night of my life.” Although it was rewarding, Iglesias claims that a show on such a massive scale is something he’d never want to do again.
I recently caught up with the comic to discuss all things Stadium Fluffy, and while he said he’s ridden with gratitude, he was also drained by the amount of work that was involved, saying:
It was just like problem after problem after problem. You know, we were trying to do a big show and we were trying to film it for Netflix. So trying to get the live part on board with the production part, trying to get the two together. And then you add the Dodgers thing in there and then, you know, you add the amount of time you're allowed to be there. And it was just a mess and a half. And it was one of those things where I'm glad we did it, but I don't think I ever want to try to do that again. So, you know, learning from that.
The amount of moving parts that are involved in such an endeavour must be rather overwhelming. After all it is groundbreaking, and Gabriel Iglesias himself suggests that the only way to outdo himself after this would be to go to space. He was inspired to play Dodger Stadium, a place he looked at as unattainable growing up in Southern California, after he saw Kevin Hart play Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field. It truly is an amazing accomplishment, and the fact that Iglesias sees it as too much to ever take on again really emphasizes that point.
He was actually meant to do the show earlier and at a different venue, but due to the pandemic he had to adjust. In the end it was a blessing, because it led to Stadium Fluffy, the biggest show of his life. Iglesias went on to say this about how overcoming such hurdles can be a humbling experience to learn from:
But I feel that any time you face a wall, it only makes you better because then you learn how to handle the loss or the failure, and then you got to learn to just come back and, ‘all right, how do I adjust.’ I actually contemplated sabotaging my career just to see if I could bring the career back, because that would be a challenge, you know? But it all depends on how badly you sabotage it, because there's certain things you can't go back from.
Our conversation was pretty delightful, and covered hard-hitting news topics like Saturday Night Live’s future cancellation and the hottest guy in Magic Mike. If you haven’t yet, it’s time to go watch Stadium Fluffy on Netflix! If that kind of thing isn’t your jam, there are plenty of other new Netflix movies and Netflix TV releases to check out.
