Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias Is A Huge WWE Fan! Drinking With Stone Cold, The Rock, DDP, WrestleMania

Gabriel Iglesias (@fluffyguy), also known as Fluffy, is a comedian and actor. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet to discuss his lifelong love of WWE, finally getting to meet The Rock, appearing in multiple WWE segments, the similarities between stand-up comedy and pro wrestling, working out with DDP, drinking with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, performing at a sold-out Dodger Stadium and the fine he paid for going over time, why his shows are family friendly and more!

Quote I'm thinking about: "Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway." – Earl Nightingale

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On his love for the VW bus:

"It was my first car, and that's where the love for Volkswagen came. A few years back, I got my ex-girlfriend her first car back and I said, That's kind of cool. I got her first car back, not the actual one, but one that was way better. So I say it'd be kind of cool to get my first car back. A friend of mine now, Steve Reich. Him and Steve Hoffman, they’re Jay Leno's guys. They went out and found me a Volkswagen bus. And they said hey, if there's anything else you want let me know. And I said, Well if you come across another one of these, let me know. And we played that game for about two years, and it filled up the building, man."

On finally meeting The Rock:

"I hadn't met him. He was the elusive one. He was the chase figure, if you will, in the collectible section. I met him at WrestleMania. He was leaving the ring, he was doing the rehearsal, I was going out to the ring to do mine and we just crossed paths. I had a buddy of mine who had a big old camera, huge lens, very impressive. Not all lenses are created equal by the way. So he stopped The Rock. He goes, 'Rock, quick pick with Fluffy?' And The Rock was kind of thrown off by this big old camera. He looked at me and when he looked at me he went, 'Oh, hey.' When he went 'Oh hey', I said oh it's on, recognition. And so he took the picture, and he's like, What are you doing here? I’m like man, I'm loving this, this is cool. So the picture that you see of me cheesing is as real as it gets. That smile, I mean, I was so excited to meet him, because I had been trying the whole weekend to meet The Rock, and I came really close a couple times at other events that weekend, but right there at WrestleMania."

On where his love of wrestling began:

"WrestleMania III. It's 1987 I just remember my sister had magazines. Remember WWF Magazine. Yeah, back then wrestling was on Saturdays at 12 o'clock in the afternoon, and that's where it started. I mean, I fell in love with it immediately. And after WrestleMania III it was on. Any chance I could get to participate or just watch something I was there."

Who were your guys growing up? 

"Growing up, it was always Hulk Hogan in the beginning. And it's not till later on in life you realize, oh, man, look at all these great [wrestlers]. Now when I watch WrestleMania III, my favorite match is definitely Ricky Steamboat vs. Macho Man. That was such a great match. And then when you hear the stories about the amount of time it took to get it that good because Macho Man was so anal with his wrestling, and so he wanted to know every single thing step by step. So you could tell it was a badass match."

On the similarities between comedy and wrestling:

"I want to say it's exactly the same minus the bumps, exactly the same. You’re always promoting. You're promoting the shows. You got to get to the venue by a certain time, there's a sound check, you're dealing with promoters. It's very much the same, same thing. I think that's why it's like oh man, this would be cool. I did want to get into wrestling when I was younger, but I realized that I'm a pussy for pain, so I can't handle it."

On not getting involved in wrestling:

"I just gotta pass the physical, and that's probably the main reason why I haven't asked to participate in the ring, is I'm pushing 50. I got in the ring one time and it was scary. It was scary. You could feel the intensity. People say, Oh man, it's fake. No. Maybe it's predetermined but I felt the hits in the ring, and I wasn't even the one getting hit and so, yeah, I'm good. I'd rather be on the outside watching."

On his favourite moments working with WWE:

"Getting to host WWE Rivals was so much fun because I'm at a table with nothing but Superstars, and all we're doing is talking wrestling. All we're doing is talking about all these great matches from the past, and I just feel not worthy to be there, but at the same time I knew what I was talking about so I was like yeah, I can do this. So for me, that was super cool and to have these superstars talk to me like I wasn't somebody down here. We were talking like equals, which I thought was great. And I had JBL, who I was totally afraid of when I first walked in, because I never met him, and JBL and I clicked so well and I could not believe it. I'm like this dude is hysterical. He was cracking so many jokes and he's just such a fun person to be around. So after that, every time I see him, I’m like, there he is. I would just come up and say hi and that for me, was really cool. It was with Natalya, with Cody, X-Pac, I see X-Pac all the time. I saw him the other day. We're always talking, he has a huge love for dogs, and so do I and so we're always talking wrestling."

On his segment with The New Day:

"They're so quick, so it's like you can literally knock it out in one take with them. There's such pros, but they kept making us do it over and over and over to get the timing just right. So we shot our little vignette right there and then after everything was said and done, we're walking towards the elevator and I go, Hey guys, would you mind doing one quick one with me? Yeah, let's do it. What do you want to do? We just did one take, and then jumped in the elevator and I posted that later. But they've always been cool. I always run into them at Comic Con. They're huge nerds when it comes to collectibles and stuff like that. So I'll see them in San Diego." 

On a possible WWE angle:

"I hurt my hip getting out of bed this morning. It's not a matter of time. What’s Cena saying, 'Your time is up, my time is now?' That's where I'm at. I got a sciatica that would disagree."

On previously doing DDPY:

"The DDPY, that's a whole other thing too, man. You don't realize that when you buy into that program that he actually calls you to check on you, to remind you you need to do it. Like if Richard Simmons back in the day was calling people up to tell him, hey, I can see you, I know where you're at, get out of that drive-through. He would call me, it's like he knew I was in a drive-through eating stuff I probably shouldn't have been eating. I'd see my phone. I'm like, Oh my God, he's got eyes. I answer, DDP is like, what are you doing, bro? I'm like, getting another drive-through. He goes I knew it. I'm like, Yeah, you did."

Didn't he chase you down one time when you were ordering pancakes? 

"So this motherf*cker, I was taping a TV show called Fluffy Breaks Even. And the concept was fun, good idea, but it just didn't really work out that way. The idea was to go out and eat whatever you want, and then you had to show what type of workout it would take to burn off all the calories you just consumed. We were in Atlanta, and yes that's where he lives, and he always tells me, you let me know when you're in town, brother. So I didn't, and I had done a Facebook Live of me eating these crazy pancakes at this place, massive pancakes. It's just more for show. But I went live on one of my social medias, and he was watching, and man it was like one of those Dog the Bounty Hunter type episodes where they're like, Get in the car, and they recorded themselves getting in the car and going to the restaurant, which was only a few blocks away from his house. It was like an episode of Cheaters for food. He showed up there, and he caught me with pancakes. 'What are you doing?' I'm like, 'Oh, she meant nothing to me.' It was so embarrassing. He arrived with an apple. I'm like, Oh my God. So yeah, some fun moments. But he's one of those people who has a huge heart, huge heart. He really cares, and the proof is in the pudding. There's a reason why he's helped so many people. It's not like he's making a ton of money off of that. He genuinely cares about people, so I do appreciate that."

On his first big break in comedy:

"My first big break, I gotta honestly say that it was the first time I got up on stage. That's probably the biggest break I ever got. Because if I don't get to go up on stage in front of those 12-13, people, we're not having this conversation. Day one for me was my biggest break. But as far as other opportunities that came across, Comedy Central was huge. I got to do a show called Premium Blend years ago. Tommy Davidson was the host of the show, and I had four of the best minutes of comedy in my career, and that opened up a door to a half-hour special, which then opened up a door to a one-hour special. Performing on its show time at the Apollo was huge for me as well. Harlem, New York, first time in New York, and that's a hell of a stage to touch for the first time is the one in Harlem New York, called the Apollo Theater. The guy that went on before me got booed. He got booed so freaking bad, and then Steve Harvey, who was the host at the time, we both had hair then, I thought that was kind of funny we both had hair at the time. He looked at me and goes, you next. I'm like, You are evil, dude, really. And so I went up there, and again, I thought I was gonna fail, and I had four of the best minutes of my life on TV, and that opened up more doors, because that was on NBC."

On whether Fluffy is Gabriel Iglesias’ alter ego:

"No, it's more of a nickname. It's not a gimmick where it's like, now I gotta be a totally different person. Fluffy and Gabriel wear the same clothes. We have the same diet. But no, there's not really [a difference]. On stage you see the performance, and that's what I'm there to do, and I perform. And yeah, that's what it is. But if you see me in the street and you're like, I had a guy who came up to me, I was sitting there eating and he goes, You don't look happy. I go, What do you mean? He goes, Yeah, your face, you look very serious, Are you okay? I go, Yeah, I'm eating. I'm fine. I'm good, yeah. He goes, You look very serious. I heard it enough times where I'm like, someone showed me a picture of me, and that's why I make it a point to always smile in pictures and make big eyes and be very expressive, because apparently when I'm not doing that, I have really bad resting bitch face. So that's why every picture is a 'Hey!"

On sacrifices made for comedy:

"A lot of relationships, a lot of situations where I wasn't comfortable. I had to give up sleep, time, and energy to other things. I gave up a lot of fun, a lot of moments, they’re like, hey, go with us over here. We're gonna go do this. No, I got a long drive. I gotta drive to freaking Bakersfield to go do this show. I gotta sleep. People say, Oh really? But stuff like that, it all adds up. I have a lot of friends that had all kinds of fun back then and I look at their lives now, and I'm like, Yeah, I think I made the right choice by staying home that day."

On selling out Dodgers Stadium:

"The biggest thing I've ever done in my life, and it's in my hometown. Honestly, I thought about retiring that night. Because I said, How am I supposed to top this? What's the next goal? How do you set a goal? Dodgers Stadium wasn't even a goal. It was so unrealistic. It's like, I didn't find out I was going to attempt to do Dodgers Stadium until a little bit more than a year before I did it. So it was just like, wow, to be in front of that many people. A lot of people that were at that show had been following my career forever and had been to shows locally at dive bars. Because when at the end of the night I started mentioning all the places that I would perform around LA I'd hear people cheering like, oh, shoot, you were there. You were at that. So to have that moment in front of all those people and have Netflix recording it and basically archiving it as the biggest thing I've ever done. It's just like, Are you kidding me? I cried. As soon as I walked down the stage I cried. I was on stage performing for about three hours. Netflix only used two. And then I called my friends to come out on stage with me, and then we started drinking, and we stayed on stage, I don't know how much longer, but it was a few hours. The fine was insane. There was a curfew, and we went way past that."

On finding out about the fine:

"No, no one pulled me aside and said, By the way… Because in the past that's been the case, especially in New York. New York is one of those cities where you don't want to mess with the union. Once you hit midnight, man, they start tacking. Because I remember I did a show at one of those venues, and they told me if you hit midnight it's $25,000, boom, right there. You gotta be off the stage by midnight. I remember my tour manager at the time, he yelled out when I was in the middle of a bit, you're about to hit over time, they're gonna charge you $25,000. The whole crowd heard him, because he shouted it to me. I said, thank you good night and he goes, run your ass. I ran off the stage and I barely cleared it. Dodger Stadium was way more than that. [How much?] Quarter million. I tell people I'm the reason they could afford [Shohei] Ohtani. Because yeah, I didn't leave Dodgers Stadium till four o'clock in the morning, and I was drunk. I had the best hangover of my life because I'm just laying in bed and I'm smiling. I'm like, can't believe that just happened."

On being in Magic Mike:

"I don't love it. I mean, for me, it was a great opportunity. The fact that I didn't have to audition for it. Channing was a fan and made me part of the movie. Out the gate, man, I'm working with Steven Soderbergh, incredible director. I'm working with Matthew McConaughey, are you shitt*ng me? Then I’m a huge wrestling fan and Kevin Nash, is in there. So the first person I gravitated to was Kevin, and he's just massive, you see him on TV it is one thing that was the first time I met him, and he's just so freaking tall. He's really, really nice, and we clicked so well in that movie. But it was fun to do. I didn't have the diet they had. Those guys had to stick to a strict diet of just protein, no carbs, bunch of celery. I'm watching all the food that they're being given, it's all measured and I'm like no, go ahead, have fun." 

On putting on family-friendly shows:

"It’s what's best for business. Sorry, I've always wanted to say that directly into camera. It's what's best for business. If you have a show that's open to everyone, that's more people that want to come out and see you. People say, Oh, dude, what really? You're going to do a kid show? What's wrong with doing a kid show? That's still butts in seats, that's still people coming out, they're going to grow up eventually, and I'm going to be attached to their childhood. Why wouldn't you want to perform to as many people as possible? So if that means you got to take out a couple F bombs, or you got to make sure that you don't do certain types of material in order to pull that off, why wouldn't you? Then people say, well, that's not pure, that's not that's not edgy, that's not this, that's not that. Well, where am I and where are you?"

What is Gabriel Iglesias grateful for?

"That I have real people in my life who care about me, health and that I have my passion."