Stand-up comic Gabriel Iglesias said he faced his own mortality in July when a private plane he was on slid off the runway at Western Carolina Regional Airport about 130 miles northeast of Atlanta.
“When we got off the plane, it felt like the set of ‘Lost’,” Iglesias told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in advance of his show at State Farm Arena on Thursday, Oct. 19. (Tickets on sale at Ticketmaster starting at $49.50.) “We were lucky we came out of it alive. Then I had a show that night. We also had to get on a jet just like it the next morning.”
Credit: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP
Credit: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP
But Iglesias, a lifelong Californian who has leveraged his childhood nickname “Fluffy” into an enduring brand name, said he rationalized how to move forward. “I’m a man of odds,” he said. “I play Vegas. I know the statistics. The chances of another issue on a similar plane happening a day later is very slim. So I was good.”
Iglesias, who has a residency at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas involving multiple visits a year, said the Vegas crowd used to be less than ideal but his success has made the audience much more amenable.
“I used to hate the Vegas crowds because it consisted of people who had just lost a ton of money and are there to be cheered up,” he said. “But Vegas is now a destination place and my shows there are like those anywhere else. People pay to come. These aren’t comped tickets.”
His current tour, dubbed “Don’t Worry, Be Fluffy,” is themed around the concept of being happy to be alive, he said.
“I talk about the flight and my perspective on life after it,” he said. “I’ve always been very positive and optimistic about life in general. Now that I’m closer to 50, I’ve had more things happen to me like the plane incident. I also had my house broken into. Those are not happy moments but moments in life I want to share. I try to find a positive spin on it all and find humor in messed up situations.”
He has benefited quite a bit from his stand-up specials on Netflix, which also gave him two seasons of a scripted comedy series “Mr. Iglesias.” The current SAG-AFTRA strike prevents Iglesias from talking about that show or any possible future scripted projects with Netflix, which is often the focal point of ire as streaming has negatively impacted how actors get paid.
“I’m sleeping with the enemy, that’s for sure,” Iglesias said. “They are one of my favorites even though I see the evil in their ways.”
Netflix taped his massive stand-up show last year at Dodger Stadium, which drew a whopping 90,000 people. “No comic had ever done something like that before there,” he said. “And this is my hometown. I kept saying if it goes well, that’s awesome but if it goes bad, at least it was a short drive.”
Credit: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
Credit: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
Iglesias has quirky tastes. He has a deep abiding love for Volkswagens and has collected 35 vintage vehicles. He has also gone all in on Funko collectibles. Funko versions of himself sell like hot cakes at his concerts. “It’s the modern version of Beanie Babies,” he said.
He was able to convince Funko to create a stand-up comedian line of Funkos, following the path of actors and athletes. “Jo Koy has one. Jeff Dunham, too. Tom Segura is working on one. Chelsea Handler is in the wings. I was doing this more than anybody else in the beginning and people are jumping aboard. They sell mine at Comic-Con and other collectible shows. Those suckers have made me a couple of million dollars.”
Credit: FUNKO
Credit: FUNKO
Iglesias has been doing stand-up for more than a quarter century and used to headline the Punchline Comedy Club in Atlanta three times a year in its old space in Sandy Springs. Now he has a cavalcade of tour buses and semitrucks that bring a huge production to places like State Farm Arena.
He said the current show heralds the 1990s with a giant TV in the back with a fake VCR/CD combo machine. He plays all ‘90s music with artwork and video from the era. And he took the prep work seriously, renting an arena for two days to ensure the entire show worked, even sitting in different parts of the arena to make sure the sound is good for everybody.
“I try to make it like WWE meets the Food Network,” he said. “I pride myself in making this comedy show as rock and roll as possible. I have three gigantic screens. I have videos that play special intros. I bring in featured comics, special guests. I make it an experience. The show is so big, we have an intermission. At the same time, I make the shows very personal, very emotional. I put a lot of heart and soul up there.”
IF YOU GO
Gabriel Iglesias
8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 19 $49.50-$89.50. State Farm Arena, 1 State Farm Drive, Atlanta. ticketmaster.com.
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