Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias Is A Huge WWE Fan! Drinking With Stone Cold, The Rock, DDP, WrestleMania

Episode Date: April 8, 2025

https://cvvtix.com - Get your tickets for INSIGHT LIVE in NYC & Las Vegas with VIP Meet & Greet! 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 NightingalePlease support our sponsors!   PURE PLANK: The future of core fitness! Use the code CVV to save 10% on Pure Plank designed by Adam Copeland & Christian: https://gopureplank.com/?ref=tibcloux  SEAT GEEK: Get 10% off your next SeatGeek order*: https://seatgeek.onelink.me/RrnK/CVV Sponsored by SeatGeek. *Restrictions apply. Max $20 discount   TIMELINE: Go to https://timeline.com/insightto get 10% off your order of Mitopure!  STASH: Go to https://get.stash.com/INSIGHTto see how you can receive $25 towards your first stock purchase and to view important disclosures   MAGIC SPOON: Get $5 off your next order at https://magicspoon.com/cvv   VUORI: Get 20% off your first purchase! Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet at https://vuori.com/cvv  FABRIC: Join the thousands of parents who trust Fabric to help protect their family. Apply today in just minutes at https://meetfabric.com/CVV   ROCKET MONEY: Join Rocket Money today and experience financial freedom: https://rocketmoney.com/cvv  HUEL: Get 15% off plus a FREE Gift for NEW customers with the code INSIGHT at https://huel.comMIRACLE MADE: Upgrade your sleep with Miracle Made! Go to https://trymiracle.com/CVV and use the code CVV to claim your FREE 3 PIECE TOWEL SET and SAVE over 40% OFF   ZOCDOC: Instantly book a top-rated doctor today at https://zocdoc.com/insight   BONCHARGE: Use the code CVV to save 15% off your infrared sauna blanket at https://boncharge.com/cvv   BLUECHEW: Get your first month of BlueChew for FREE at https://bluechew.com   PLUNGE: Get $150 off your Plunge with the coupon code CVV150 at https://plunge.com   For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you have ever enjoyed any of these episodes, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast or Spotify? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.    Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Fleet. Ah, yes, welcome back to another audio adventure here on Insight. I'm CVV, Chris Van Fleet. Thank you for being with us on this episode. And thank you for making Insight the number one wrestling podcast on the planet. Slap the leg and hit a super kick on that follow button wherever you're listening right now. If it happens to be Spotify, could you take an extra three? seconds to leave a rating on there. That's it. It takes like three seconds, but it helps the show

so, so much. So I will thank you in advance for that. Man, WrestleMania is officially next week. I'm going to be in Vegas for WrestleMania 41. And if you're there, I will see you there because we are doing Insight Live on Thursday, April 17th at Circa Resort and Casino. Grab your tickets at CVVTX.com. CvVTIX.com. Circa is also a great place. place to watch WrestleMania on both night one and night two. They're doing a watch party at Stadium Swim. It's a 143 foot screen in front of a pool. That's like the most Las Vegas thing ever. Giant screen, the pool, the cabana's there. Doesn't get much better than that. When you click through on CVVTix.com, you'll go into Circamania and you'll be able to grab your tickets for that one

as well. I know my guest today is going to be in Vegas next week. Actually, he has a show. during Mania Week, I'm so pumped to have the hilarious Gabriel Iglesias as a guest today. Yeah, you know him better as Fluffy. He is a massive WWE fan. Like I know a lot of celebrities say they like wrestling or when it's in town. You see that shot of them on camera on Raw or Smackdown, but like Fluffy is a diehard fan. We talk about how his love for wrestling began when he was a kid watching WrestleMania 3. like WrestleMania 3 is iconic.

We also talk about how there's a lot of similarities between breaking into wrestling and breaking into comedy. And it's just fascinating here in the parallels. Fluffy's one of the world's most successful stand-up comics, and according to Billboard, he was the third highest grossing comedian of last year. And he's one hell of a nice guy. He invited us to his compound in Long Beach, California,

to record this. He calls it a compound, but it's more like a job. giant man cave. We recorded this in front of the 20 classic VW buses that he owns. He also has a DeLorean, which was just off camera, which I'm super jealous of. Very envious of that. That is my, you know, you know, Back to the Future is my favorite movie of all time. That is my dream car. Yes, of all the cars on the planet, I want a DeLorean. And it's something I've thought about for a long, long time. So to be able to sit in his DeLorean, start it up, like I said, just a giant man cave. There was a lot of really cool stuff there. And if you watch this interview on YouTube, you'll see

exactly what I'm talking about. But there's just a lot to take away from this story, not just about wrestling. We chatted a lot about wrestling, but his story is one of perseverance and believing in yourself. And I know that a lot of what he talks about here is going to connect with you. So snap a screenshot. Let us know you're listening and tag us. He's at a lot. that fluffy guy on social media, I'm at Chris Van Fleet. And Fluffy's new special called The Legend of Fluffy is available right now on Netflix. It's amazing, hilarious. You got to go check it out.

Here we go. Let's dive into this. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Gabriel Aglacius. Thank you so much for having us out here. What a spot you have. It's, you know, it's not bad. Not bad. These are just for decoration, though, right?

Modest here. It's okay. It's just, you know. How many buses are in here? A lot. Volkswagen buses. Volkswagen buses on any given day, probably about 20. Jeez. What is it about the Volkswagen bus? It was my first car. 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. The actual one? Not the actual one, but one that was way better. So I say it would be kind of cool to get my first car back. Yeah. And a friend of mine, now a friend, Steve Reich, him and Hoffman, Steve Hoffman, they, 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, and it's not just Volkswagen buses in here. That's all we see in the background, but you've got everything in here. Yeah, that's what I'm most known for is the Volkswagen buses. Like this one in particular got turned into a hot wheels this past year. So I know, random, right? I didn't even plan it that way. They just set up the cameras here and I'm like, it just so happens.

Fun fact. But when you're driving a Volkswagen bus, it's hard for people to be mad at you. Like if you get cut off by a Volkswagen bus, you're just going to be like, eh, it's cool. And if you're stuck behind one, you understand. You're like, they're not supposed to go fast. You know, it is what it is. It's just a cool, classic, fun car. You have my dream car just off camera, which is a DeLorean, because back to the future is my favorite movie of all time.

Mine too. Dude, I could go toe to toe with anybody on quotes and just the scenes from the movie. So it's one of those. It doesn't matter when the movie's on. If I'm flipping through the channels and it happens to be on, I'll just leave it. What happens when that car goes 88 miles an hour? I don't even know if it could go 88 miles an hour. I think the speedometer stops at 85, honestly.

I think you're right. I think it stops at 85 and then for the movie they had to make one that showed that it hit 90. Yeah. It's, uh, that movie just means so much to me just because of the idea and this actually speaks a lot to your life and your career that if certain things don't happen at that exact moment, then the other things can't happen, which then lead to all of these other people. Butterfly effect, man. Yes.

You know, I tell people all the time, they're like, you know, is there any regrets or anything you wish you could have done different? I'm like, of course for that moment, for that time, yes, but I know that everything that has happened in my life has led to me being where I'm at right now. Yeah, and it's all the things that feel like mistakes in the moment that you realize a year or two or ten later, you're like, it wasn't for that thing. Then this thing wouldn't have, yeah, yeah. Don't, don't get me wrong. I wish I could have erased a couple of relationships. But they had to happen in order for me to learn and to get to that next place. So, oh my goodness, we both love back to the future and we both love

pro wrestling. We're going to be here all day. Yes, all day. All day. I love it, man. Dude, I'm jealous. You've interviewed some impressive people. I'm like, wow, I've gotten a chance to say hi or maybe take a photo backstage. But like, you've had full-blown conversations. And I'm like, wow, very impressed. Well, thanks, man. You finally did meet The Rock, though, right? Yes. He hadn't met him. I hadn't met him. He was the elusive one. He was the chase figure, I guess, if you will, in the collectible section. I met him at WrestleMania.

He was leaving the ring. He was doing the rehearsal. And I was going out to the ring to do mine. And we just crossed paths. And 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. looked at me and when he looked at me he went oh hey when he went oh hey i said oh it's on it is on recognition and so he took the picture and he's like what are you doing you're like oh just man i'm loving this and this is cool and so the picture that you see of me cheesing is as as real as it gets that 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. I love that. Where does your love for wrestling go back to? Where did it begin? I'll tell you, WrestleMania 3. I was, God, how old was I at the time? It was 1987.

I just remember my sister had magazines. Remember WWF magazines? Of course. And 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 3, it was on. And any chance I could, you know, get to participate or just watch something. I was there. Who were your guys growing up? Growing up, it was always Hulk Hogan, man, in the beginning. And it's not till later on in life, you realize, oh, man, look at all these great, like, now when I watch WrestleMania 3, my favorite match is definitely the Ricky Steenboat Macho Man match.

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, you know, because Macho Man was so anal with his wrestling. And so he wanted to know every single thing step by step. And so, you can tell it was a badass match. With the amount of stuff you've done with WWE, I feel like you're pretty much under contract at this point. I feel like I am. It's not, you know what the thing is, though?

I'm such a huge fan of it. I'm afraid of getting too close because once you're inside of that circle, it's a different level of appreciation. Now you're part of it versus admiring it. You still admire it, but you're like, Ah, man, I feel, you know, like with comedy, I feel like that's the case now where I can't enjoy comedy as much as I used to when I was just a fan. Because now I'm very analytical and I break it down from the business standpoint.

I'll watch a comic and I won't fully enjoy their act. I'll try to figure out where are they going. Let me see the timing on this. What did they do right? What could they have done better? Instead of shut that off and just enjoy it. Is it the idea with wrestling that if you've seen how the sausage is made, maybe you don't like eating sausages anymore?

I think that that is exactly what it is. And fortunately, that's not the case. I just have a different level of respect for it and a different level of understanding. There is something cool, though, that when you're in the arena before the doors have opened and you see someone going through a spot and then later that night, you see the spot like come to life and you're like, oh, wow. I saw them trying this and boom, they nailed it in the match. There's something really special about that. And I feel like that happens in all of us.

art, right? It happens with movies. It happens with comedy. It happens in wrestling. And it's kind of like the idea of like, I saw where they were going. And then I saw them pull it off in front of 15,000 or 60,000 people or whatever. There's something cool about it. Again, different kind of appreciation for it. Yeah, yeah. There seems to be a lot of parallels between comedy and wrestling, especially when you're coming up. Like, you're on the road. You're just trying to make the towns. You're maybe doing it for free. You're saying yes to whatever opportunities you can get. I want to say it's exactly the same minus the bumps, exactly the same. You know, you're always promoting, you're promoting the shows.

You got to get to the venue. You know, you got to get there by a certain time. There's a sound check. There's, you know, you're dealing with promoters. It's very much the 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 realize that I'm a pussy for pain. So I can't handle it.

Can I say that? You say whatever you want. You wanted to be a wrestler? I wanted to be a wrestler. And I got into one fight and I'm like, you know what? No, I'm just going to tell jokes and keep myself safe. Look, you already have so much going for you. Like you have a persona, you have a gimmick, you have a nickname.

You're already. It's already. You're already there. You're already three quarters of the way there. I just got to 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. And, man, you know, I got in the ring one time.

and it was scary. It was scary. No, you could feel the intensity. You can, look, people say, oh, man, it's fake. No, a man, 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. With the amount of things you've done with WWE, I feel like you are one move away. You're taking one move away from going to the WWE Hall of Fame. Like if someone were to give you their finish, I feel like you'd instantly be a Hall of Famer. Oh, man. Thank you.

I still think there's a lot more that I'd like to do. But who knows what that finish would be? Yeah, which one would you like it to be? I don't know. You know what I really liked was when WrestleMania was here in L.A. And Shane McMahon busted his legs or whatever he did. And then Snoop just stepped in and, you know, did the people's elbow. And like, wow, he was so quick.

And in the moment, I felt like something like that would have been really cool. I feel like you'd take a great stunner. I think I would. Yeah, that'd be good. I think I would. And I'll tell you a fun story. You know, I've worked with Steve a few times. He's super, super nice.

No nonsense. No nonsense. You're going to have a conversation with him. Make sure you have something to say. He doesn't want to waste time or mince words. So we're hanging out. And I would get drunk on the road. I'd drink and I'd text them.

And of all the people to take drunk texts, I remember drunk text in him talking about, man, I think we can get CM Punk to come back. And the two of you, and I started trying to write out a thing for him. And he's like, look, man, I got to go to bed. And the next day, I'm like, oh, my God, I can't believe I said. Is this before Punk had returned? Yes. Oh, this was years ago.

And I'm over there sending all these drunk text messages. And so I think after the third one, he kind of like, you know, he slowed down on the replies. When I did Dodger Stadium, I hit him up and I said, hey, man, I think it would be cool if after I did my show, you were to come out at the end and drop a stunner on me because W.W. had just given me a belt. They gave me a belt to say congratulations on selling out Dodger Stadium. They put my logo in the plates. And I said, it would be great, man, if I come out and I'm like the comedy champion and then you come out and you hit me with a stunner and then, you know, drink some beers and your music. It would be you ending the night. I'm like, I'm like the comedy champion. And then you come out and you hit me with a stunner and then, you know, it'll be you ending the night. night and he didn't reply on that one. I'm like, okay, I guess that was a stupid idea. But, you know, I would have taken it. I would have taken it. He's my favorite wrestler of all time.

And I think that that's one of those, I would have geeked out. What's your favorite stone cold match of all time? Got so many good ones. I mean, of course, you know, the one with Brett Hart where he's just bleeding, where he became Stone Cold after that. I think I've watched too many matches where everything blends in. and I'm always I'm always replaying

the king of the ring when you first cut that promo Yeah But I mean, God Talk about your songs Yeah, yeah Talk about Jean 316 Everybody knows the rest from there

Yeah, he's not a big fan of Of doing the impression in front of them I can do the impression in front of everybody else You can do it in front of us Listen man You come out here He's gonna watch this and text me like That's exactly why I didn't go to Dodger Stadium

That's why I didn't go to Dodger Stadium That's why I didn't go to Dodger Stadium trying to pull their ship, Fluffy. I can say that I got a manicure, a pedicure with Stone Cold. That's my little random factor. I got a pedicure with Stone Cold Steve Austin. What's the story behind that? He asked me to be on his show.

He had a show on the USA Network called something with Steve Austin. Well, that Stone Cold Takes America, that one? He had two versions. Yeah. But it came on right after Raw. Yeah. And so he asked me to be on it. And we were racing Camaro.

because I had just got a Camaro and I sent him a message. I got, check out this Camaro. He's badass. I got me one. And so we decided to race them. And then we shot crossbows. Real macho, manly stuff, right? And then at the end, we're getting pedicures to kind of make fun of everything.

So that's how that happened. Yeah, Fluffy. Your car's not as fast as my car. Yeah, oh, totally. And he knows how to drive, by the way, because my car should have beat him, but he's a little bit heavier on the gas pedal than I am. I think I was trying to protect my car. He was driving his car like, it wasn't his. You know, and I'm like, I got to drive this later.

I came in this car, you know? I was like, I got to leave in it. Yeah, I arrived in this. I need to also, it needs to be good enough for me to be able to drive out of here. What are some of your favorite moments you've done with WWE? Because there's been a lot of them. Getting to host, excuse me, getting to host WWV 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 like not worthy to be there, but at the same time, I knew what I was talking about. So I was like, yeah, yeah, I can do this. So like for me, that was super cool. And to have these superstars talk to me like I wasn't somebody down here. Like 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, such a fun person to be around. And so after that, you know, every time I see him, I go like, there he is, there he is. And we just come up and say hi. And that for me was really cool. You know, it was with Natalia or with Cody. I mean, you know, Xbox who I see Xbox all the time. That's on the other day. You know, we're always, we're always talking. He has a huge love for dogs and so do I. And so we're always talking dogs. That guy has

a heart going. He does. You were just in the ring with Cody Rhodes and Jay Uso. That was fun. So I was going to get to that one, by the way. Yeah. It was in Texas. We were at, I want to say, it was a Smackdown? No, it's not SmackDown. It was Saturday night's main event in San Antonio.

And after the cameras and everything went away, Cody and Jay were in the ring. And they're like, yeah, you know, they were like, they do this thing after the shows where they'll stay in the ring and just kind of, more so for the fans that are there. Yeah. And they called me into the ring. And I didn't know that was going to happen because I think I would have worn something a little more stretchy on the clothing.

I jumped the wall, which, you know, it looks like it's easy to get over. But it's, yeah, this Mexican cannot climb a fence that easy. I struggled. I struggled. But I got over it and then I jumped in the ring and we just played. It was so much fun. And I'm in there taking selfies. And it was so freaking cool.

And both of those guys are so over. They're so over right now. Yeah, two of the biggest stars in the company. Yeah. And I just thought it was such an honor that they would call me into the ring and let me play with them and just have fun. Yeah. And I think that came from me working with Cody on rivals because we clicked so well right there too. It's a new year and we're all about setting goals and actually hitting them.

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so you can focus on what really matters. I saw you at the first raw on Netflix. What a night that was in L.A. Yes. Into it. Yeah. And what a... That venue is very...

I wasn't sure how I was going to like it because all I kept hearing was horror stories about people trying to check in with their phones because it's a hashless building. It recognizes your face when you walk in. That's scary. Yes. That is scary. But you had a segment there with the new day.

Yes, we were hanging out backstage. They're not very nice. Wow. You're not, you know, are we going to cave it or what are we going to do, bro? When the cameras are. What do you want to know? We don't like them. No, those guys are great.

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

So I'll see them in San Diego. Like, hey! You've had so many fun moments with WWW. You did a stage thing with with the miss too miss i don't think it's enough credit he is so good uh not only is he an amazing wrestler in my opinion um but just really good on the mic and when you have somebody that represents the company he goes out there and he's a professional on every level you need him to be mean he'll be me he'll be good he'll be good fast in out he is so talented and it was it was a pleasure to work with him And finally after more than 20 years, he's finally getting his flowers. Like he's so good.

And like you said, you can put him in any situation and he's going to make whoever he's working with look like a million bucks. Yes, he is. Because he made me look like a million bucks that day. It was a tribute to the troops. And again, that was one of those, do we get fluffy in the ring or do we just have them play? And I'm like, luckily, they just had me play. But Ms. was awesome to work with. I think you getting in the ring is, it's just a matter of time.

dude i hurt my hip getting out of bed this morning it's not a matter of time what is what is jose what's the new saying now my time is up your time is now yeah yeah that's that's that's where i'm at that's where i'm at no i think you guys i got a sciatica that would disagree bro you were doing the ddp y for a while i was doing the ddp y oh that's a whole 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 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. You know, get out of that drive-thru. He would call me. Like, it's like he knew I was in a

drive-thru eating eating eating stuff I probably shouldn't have been eating. And I'd see my phone. I'm like, oh, my God, he's got eyes. There's something. And I'd answer. He goes, what do you, you know, like, what, uh, DDP's like, what are you doing, bro? I'm like, uh, getting, I'm not a drive-through. I knew it. I'm like, yeah, you did. Didn't he chase you down one time when you were ordering pancakes? So this, mother. This motherfucker, right? This motherfucker. I was taping a TV show called Fluffy Breaks Even. And the concept was fun, a good idea, but it just, it 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 would take to burn off all the calories you just consumed. Okay. And we were in Atlanta and yes, that's where he lives. And he always tells me, you let you let me know when you're in town, brother. And so I didn't. And I had done a Facebook live of me eating like these crazy pancakes at this place.

He 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. And he straight up, it was like an episode of cheaters for food. And 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 came with an apple. He arrived with an apple.

Yeah, he had me eating. I'm like, oh, my God. So, yeah, some, some fun moments. But I, you know, he's one of those people who has a huge heart, huge heart. He really cares. And, uh, the proof is in the pudding. There's a reason why he's helped so many people. He doesn't, you know, it's not like he's making a ton of money off of that. He genuinely cares about people.

Yeah. And so I do appreciate that. He genuinely just wants to help people because he wants to see them do better. It doesn't feel like it when he's helping you because he's very loud and painful. I always give him a hard time because he likes to do that thing where they,

wrestlers have this thing where they pop each other in the chest. I don't know if you've seen that. They're just, hey, what's up? And they'll do the palm you. And I'm like, loves doing that and he's got these huge hands and i could take one man but like when he's on the third or fourth because he likes a drink too i yelled at him one time i'm like dude i'm not i'm not a wrestler i'm like my chest hurts stop hitting me what other wrestler impressions do you have you pulled out

a few of them here oh man everybody has a macho man i feel like i think that macho man is a staple um i you know of course my favorite's always been the stone cold one just because uh yeah uh i'm such a huge fan of his. I think it also depends on where, like, because you can hear my voice. I just woke up. I'm not sick or nothing. I'm like, yeah, there we go.

There. All better. Dial up a macho man for us. Well, there comes a time. Yeah. That's pretty good. You know who does the best macho man, I think is Will Sassel.

He was just on the show. Oh, my God, he's so good. And the thing is, he'll just go off on a tangent. The thing is, yeah. He was talking about like the macho man selling like life insurance or something. And I'm like, I don't know how you came up with that. That's why he was so good on Mad TV, man.

He could just go from one to another to another to another. And I'm like, oh, all right. At some, at a certain point, you're like, I like his, uh, Jesse Ventura. He does a great Jesse Ventura. He did Jesse Ventura for like 15 minutes. And he goes into like, he starts the head shaking. The Baja. Like I got, I got to sit behind, uh, Jesse at Saturday.

night's main event and it was like this, I was this close. And I'm just listening to him. I'm like, oh my God, this is so nostalgic. You know, I just wanted to hear him say, you know what, McMahon. He always said, oh, Vince, look here, McMahon. But if you've been a wrestling fan your whole life, it must be so surreal to be right there and in it. Yes. And it's like, I get to relive my childhood because like now I have access to what I wanted as a kid, which I think is why I did this with the cars, you know, always wanted all this. And so it's like, I tried to get everything I ever had as a kid that I wanted. So like anything G.I. Joe related, anything transformer related, anything having to do with like hot wheels and cars and stuff like that, wrestling. Like, I'm doing

it now as an adult, but the kid part is still there. Well, nostalgia is a hell of a drug. And you've got a corner over here with all your wrestling memorabilia, all the people you've met and all the autographs. There's something about looking at that, that brings you right back to that place and that time. Absolutely. I love the fact that they're all, they're not just headshots. It's pictures of, of wrestlers, you know, and myself and on like certain moments. Yeah. And I've had wrestlers here and they've, they've tripped out on that hallway. Oh, I was tripping out in that hallway. Yeah. And that's why it's all the way in the corner because if you're a wrestling fan, you're going to appreciate it. But if you don't like wrestling, then it's out of the way and you

won't see it. So, you know. With the parallels between wrestling and comedy, you need that first big break in wrestling to get noticed to take you to that next level. What was the first big break for you in your career? My first big break. I got to honestly say that it was the first time I got up on stage. That's probably that that's 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. Day one was my biggest break. But as far as like 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 on, you know, 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 showtime 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. And 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.

I thought that was kind of funny. We both had hair at the time. He looked at me. He goes, you next. And I'm like, you are evil, dude. Really? And so I went up there. And again, I thought I was going to 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. What made you think you could even do this? Like, did you grow up as the class clown and, like, just trying to make people laugh all the time as a kid? Not at all. If anything, I'm actually very quiet offstage. When I was in school, I remember being a big fan of Saturday Night Live, and I'd stay up and I'd watch the sketches and stuff. And I tried doing that in school.

There was a school town show. And I had a friend of mine, and we were going to go do these sketches. And when the curtain opened for us to do the audition, he ran. And I'm like, dude. And so the lady who was putting on the thing, she goes, well, is there anything? you can do, well, you know, on your own. And I said, well, I do voices. He's like, well, what do you mean?

And then I just started doing an impression. So imagine this 10-year-old kid doing impressions of like Yogi Bear, Mickey Mouse, Ronald Reagan, who was president at the time. That's how far back that goes. I just remember doing these impressions. And I wasn't even saying anything funny, but the fact that I was nailing these impressions at 10, they were just like, you know, they were all quiet. And I'm like, this is not good.

So they're like, yeah, you're on the show. and they had me close the show, you know, for the talent show that weekend. And I thought like, wow, okay, come on to something. Because as soon as I did the show, people were applauding and everybody was coming up to me and they're like, you got a gift. And I'm a kid. I didn't know. I just wanted to, you know, go up and be silly. But I never was the loud person in class.

I was never the person trying to get attention in the lunchroom. I was just, you know, very observant. and when given that opportunity, that's when I would do it. So is Gabriel one person and Fluffy another? Like, is that almost like an alter ego? No, that sounds, yeah, it's more of a, Fluffy's a nickname. Sure.

It's not a, you know, gimmick where it's like, now I've got to be a totally different person. Fluffy and Gabriel, we're the same clothes. We have the same diet. But, no, there's not really, on stage you see the performance, and that's what I'm there to do, and I perform. And yeah, that's, that's, That's what it is.

But if you see me in the street and you're like, I had a guy go, he came up to me and I was, 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're very, you look very serious. He goes, are you okay? I go, yeah, dude, I'm eating. I'm fine. I'm good.

Yeah. He goes, you look very serious. And I heard it enough times where I'm like, someone showed me a picture of me and I look, you know, 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.

So like turn off the smile for a second. Let's, oh my gosh. Yeah, right? Me and I's cute. Me and I's cute, dude. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and then I'm bald, so it's kind of a little bit more like,

what are they? But when you wear an Aloha shirt, like you can never be in a bad mood. Make it fun. Make it fun. But I'm the same person. So it's not like, it's just, you know, Fluffy's unplugged right now and he's eating. He's refueling.

He's recharging. How do you work on a bit? What does that look like? How do I work on a bit? I got to be going through something. So whatever it is, it's bothering me. That's usually the way I decide this is going to go on stage. Something is affecting me in a certain way where I feel like when I'm venting about frustration, people can relate to that.

People can relate to feeling out of control, out of place, out of touch. People can totally relate to that. So I focus on moments like that to take up on stage. No one wants to hear about the amazing day I had or assigning bonus that I got or, you know, ooh, a new car that I bought. Nobody wants to hear about good stuff. They want to hear about what's hurting you. What's making your life challenging?

And what's relatable too? And what's relatable? Because isn't there a thing in comedy that when you do start touring, your whole life is like cabs and airplanes and airports, which is not relatable to most people, right? So a lot of comics have to find the common ground of like, all right, even though I'm on the road a lot,

what are the things that I'm experiencing that the audience can relate to? People can relate to being a fish out of water, being somewhere that's new, being somewhere that they don't understand what's really going on. And so when you're telling a story of being this, like, oh, and I was put in this thing, and I wasn't sure how I was going to react to it.

People can put themselves in that position of knowing like, oh, man, that's weird. I don't know how I would react to it. So you got to make them feel like they're in that moment with you. So do you have like a note section on your iPhone where you're just like constantly like, well, this could work and then you're adding to the joke? So fun fact, I've never put in pen to paper and written out bits. I don't write things down on paper. I can't do it because it's not that I don't have the intelligence for it or that I'm

illiterate. I just, that feels like work. So it's all just up here? It's all up here. I forget where my keys are. I forget my birthday. I forget all kinds of things, but I don't forget my set. That's where all the juices right here goes up on stage.

I will have bullet points because there's certain things that I'd like to structure in a certain order, but that's the extent of it. Do you remember all of your sets? Like if we went back to a special. No, no, I'm not. I'm not. I'm not on the. You're not rain man. Yeah, I was going to say, yeah.

What's the politically correct? correct way to say it that's a good one i can't do that once i retire the material i just dump really yeah so if we were to watch a special from 10 years ago you'd probably remember it as we're watching it as i'm watching i'd watch it and i go okay wait wait where am i going where am i going with this i look at it like an old man like yeah i remember there was a thing and yeah yeah the the beautiful thing about both wrestling and comedy is it's storytelling it is and if you got a good story you to tell, man, you're just, you're off to the races. You know, you want to, you want to be able to get people not to just watch one time. You want them to want to come back and see it again.

And we'll see, see what the, the new version is. What's the update? What's, what's going on now? That's why I tell people, like, all my specials are connected. Like, every single special, it's just a continuation of where I was before. What's something that you wish somebody told you about comedy when you were starting out that you know very well now? save your money save your money as we sit in a warehouse with cars this took a minute but let me tell you man

I was yeah I came out the gate and I made a lot of really bad financial mistakes early on bad ones both in the way that I spent the money and who I had responsible for it and so I wish I could go back and

fix that but again you live you learn now I have someone who I trust with everything and now my decisions are, you know, yeah, these are classic cars, but I mean, they're not losing value. Everything I buy now has a certain value and it holds it. What about in terms of the craft? What do you wish that somebody told you about comedy? Okay.

So that was the business. As far as the craft itself, it's hard because I think with comedy, you know, what works for one doesn't work for another. Some people are ventriloquist. Some people are guitar acts. Some people are, you know, a straight monologue. Some people are serious. Some people are over the top. And what worked for me was just doing voices and characters.

It took me time to get comfortable enough to share personal stories. I don't think that any advice was going to work for me because I had to figure that one out for myself. I think that if I could go back in time, we've already had this conversation. I don't know that I'm going to be here where I'm at with this success. I think I needed to go through the struggle. I needed to feel what it was like to fail. You got to go through the failures. You got to know what it's like to freaking hit hit the bottom.

Do you feel like you failed? I feel like I failed a lot. I failed a lot. And it only made me stronger. You need failure to find out if you really love something or not. You need to hear no to find out, okay, all right. If you hear no enough times, some people go, well, maybe it's just not for me. Or maybe you hear it and you're like, no, I'm still going for it because this is what I love.

I love comedy more than anything. When you talk about failure, is that bombing on stage? Bombing on stage or just not making the right sacrifices to get to where I wanted to be. A lot of times, I put certain things over comedy. And I'm like, no, no, no, I can't do that. I got to go do this. I got to go to this. I got to be at this family function or I got to be at this thing.

And I feel like that for me was failing. Personally, it felt like, no, no, this comes first. you know and and that wasn't that wasn't what was going to get me to where I needed to be and that's why I say that sacrifice a lot of people don't understand how much sacrifice goes into this not just the ability to go up on stage and make people laugh but the things that you're willing to give up in order to get to where you want to be how bad do you want it what are the biggest sacrifices you've had to make a lot of relationships a lot of situations where you know I wasn't comfortable I had to give up sleep

time, energy to other things. I gave up a lot of fun, a lot of moments. You're like, hey, go with us over here. We're going to go do this. We're going to. No, no, I got to, you know, I got a long drive. I got to drive to freaking, Bakersfield to go do this show. I got to sleep, you know, stuff.

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. staying home that day. But there's a lot of people that will look at what you do and go, come on, Fluffy, that's not work? Yeah, they can look at that and say that, but, you know,

there's that one guy on the internet, he goes, he goes, but where am I and where are you? He almost sounds like Razor Remote, but, uh, say hello. Yeah, I've had, I've had friends and family both say that what I do is easy. Yeah. And you can say it's easy because I make it look easy. I make it look easy.

I make it look fun because it is. And if it's that easy, and why don't you do it? I heard a great quote, I believe it was from Dick Clark, and he said, if you think that my job is so easy, then I'm doing something right.

And it's so true, right? If you're up on stage with a mic, effortlessly allowing the crowd to do exactly what you want them to do, you're doing it right. Like, if it looks easy, then you are a master at your craft. And I don't think people understand that.

Yeah. No, some people say it, you know, oh, I could do it. That's easy, you know, but also too, I mean, there's some people that flat out won't like what you do or they'll say, he's not funny. Okay, I don't think he's funny. And that's your opinion and that's cool. Yeah. But clearly enough people think that I am.

And so, you know, to those people that don't think I'm funny, that's fine. But ask yourself, why do other people think I am? What is it about other people that find me interesting or funny? And why don't they? It's probably relatability. Yeah. You're on the road a lot. Yeah.

Is it 49 weekends a year? So I slowed down considerably, but at one point it was pretty much every weekend. It was almost the entire year on the road. What weekends would you take off? I wouldn't. I work Christmas Day. I've worked Christmas Day every year for the last, what, 15 years? Who's going to a comedy show on Christmas Day?

You'd be amazed how many people want to get the fuck away from their family. Oh my God. Every show was sold out. Not an issue. I was probably one of the first comics to do a Christmas show because clubs never wanted to do it because they got to pay their staff more. And also, who wants to work on Christmas? And I got one club to try it and it was a success.

We actually added a second show. And so every year, the clubs would be like, hey, do you want to do the show? Do you want to do the show? And then also I would do a thing where I'd get tips and stuff. And so I tip out the staff extra for that day and be like, thanks for working on Christmas. But a lot of people want to get out. There's a reason why movie theaters are packed on Christmas. True.

And that's where I got the idea. Every time we go to the movies, like, these theaters are packed. People want to get out. And so I said, let me try a show. And so once we realized it worked, you know, was off to the races. I heard you would tour every weekend except for the Super Bowl, WrestleMania and Comic-Con. Uh, WrestleMania and Super Bowl, definitely Comic Con recently. Comic Con in the last three years.

I said, this is too much fun. I got to make this a part of my life. And so, yeah, so now, WrestleMania weekend. And what's funny is I'm still going to do a show. I'm still going to do a show. So my show will be Thursday, and I'm inviting all bunch of wrestlers to come out and hang. Your show is at the exact same time as my show. Oh, how funny.

Well, no one's going to be going to be going to my show now because they're going to go see you. Where are you doing your show? I'm doing it at Circa. So I'm downtown. Okay. And you're doing yours at Cosmo. Cosmo. Yeah.

So April 17th, 8 p.m. Exact same time. Hey, man. Just two different sides of town. I'll text you. I saw that on your website. I'm like, well, I guess no one's coming to my show. Please buy tickets.

CVVTix.com. Please buy them. There's a fluffy guy. Yeah, there we go. We'll do the bug. But even though I'm taking that weekend off, supposedly, I'm still doing a show. So even when I'm not working, I'm still working. And you'll be at WrestleMania, I'm sure.

Yes. I'm trying to figure out whether I should go to Smackdown or the Hall of Fame. Why not both? Well, usually it's in the same venue. Yeah, this is the first time they split it up. Different spots, yeah. I just want to make sure that there's enough time to get over there. I believe there is.

I don't think the Hall of Fame starts until 10. Oh, they're going late. Yeah. They're going late this year. And Hall of Fame always runs long anyway. So it's going to be late. I mean, it's Vegas. You're probably still going to go out after.

It's Vegas. You know what's crazy too, man? It's like, yeah, that used to be the case, but I'll still do shows in Vegas. And I'm like, yeah, I just want to go to bed. I'll go to my room, order room service, and then call it a night. Like, you went to bed at one? It's Vegas. I go, yeah, one is still.

What did selling out Dodger Stadium mean to you, being an L.A. guy? Oh, man. Vegas thing I've ever done in my life and it's in my hometown. It's, I couldn't ask for, honestly, I thought about retiring that night. because I said, how am I supposed to top this? How am I supposed, what's the next goal? How do you set a goal? Dodger 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 Dodger Stadium until a year, a little bit more than a year before I did it. And so it was just like, wow, to be in front of that many people. And a lot of people that were at that show had been following my career forever and had been to shows locally at dive bars. And, you know, because at the end of the night, when I started mentioning all the places that I would perform around L.A., I'd hear people cheering like, oh, shoot, you were there. You were at that. And 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 is just like, are you kidding me? I cried. As soon as I walked down on stage, I cried. And I was on stage performing for about three hours. Netflix only used two. And then I, I 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 curfew. At what point did you realize you were past curfew and you were going to have to pay a fine? Oh, I think I knew from the get. I just didn't care. Did they tell you, like, hey, if you go past this time, it's this amount of dollars.

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.

If you hit midnight, you got to be off the stage by midnight. And 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 overtime. They're going to charge you 20. $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. And I ran off the stage. And I barely cleared it. Dodger Stadium was way more than that. What was your fine? Oh, God, quarter million. A quarter million fine.

I tell people, I'm the reason they could afford Otani. Because, man, yeah. I didn't leave Dodger Stadium until 4 o'clock in the morning. And I was drunk. I was so I've never. What were you drinking? Patron. I had the best hangover of my life because I'm just laying in bed and I'm like, and I'm like smiling. I'm like, I can't believe that just happened. At what point do they go,

so Gabe, the fine is $250,000. I don't think they knew it was going to be that much. They're just, you know, there's somebody right there with a calculator and a pin and they're writing stuff down. Every 15 minutes, like there's another one. Yeah, I had talked to people after the fact and I said, yeah, the fire marshal was there. They were like, how do we, get them off stage. And they're like, you don't want to cut them off because he's going to make a scene. And it's going to look like it's going to turn into something. So just let them, just let them go. So what do they do when the Dodgers going to Extra Innings? I don't think they find the Dodgers. They can't. Yeah. They'll just find you. But if another artist goes over, I'm sure the same thing happens.

Like if Elton John wants to play until 2 o'clock in the morning, he's just going to do it. He just knows he's going to have to pay that fine. But it's Elton John money, not fluffy money. So, you know, I don't think he cares. How do you come down off of that high? You get back to the bus or you get back here. How do you come down off of that? It, you know what? It was really, it was one of the happiest moments and also very scary because, again, I'm excited. I can't believe that happened, but I'm like, all I'm thinking about is, what am I supposed to do now?

And so coming down from that was more fear than anything because I'm like, what am I supposed to do? was I supposed to retire? Was I supposed to walk away? Because it's exactly 25 years. So in my head, I'm like, 25 years, that's the cycle. That's what you got to do. And then call it a day and get your freaking free gold watch and walk off into the sunset. But I'm still young enough to compete in this at a high level.

So maybe it's not a Dodger Stadium that I'm going to do next. Maybe I just got to find something else that hasn't been done yet. So far stadium? It's a possibility. or maybe another stadium or maybe it's not me performing at another venue. Maybe it's just accomplishing something different than another comedian hasn't. Where do your accomplishments with acting fall into all of this? Acting is fun to say that you're doing, but when you're actually doing it, it's a lot of work.

A lot of work, a lot of showing up on time, a lot of memorizing scripts. And like I said, that's why I don't like writing stuff down because it becomes, work. Acting is work. It's cool to see your face on a poster, walk into a movie theater, and hey, I'm on that. But man, the work that goes into it, that's why I love stand-up. I show up. There's no rehearsal for it. The mic good? I have my audio guy's clutch, so I don't even do a sound check. I show up there, and I just know that it's going to go well. Hey, it's Sam Roberts. I hope you're enjoying another great episode. Look, when this is all done, If you're looking for startlingly accurate and amazing analysis from the world of professional

wrestling, breaking down everything on this road to WrestleMania look no further than not Sam Wrestling. Wherever you got this podcast, just type it in. Even on YouTube, not Sam Wrestling by yours truly. The last professional broadcaster, Sam Roberts, we are breaking everything down and sticking to the three rules. watch the product, speculate wildly, and everything counts. Give it a chance.

I promise you love it after you're done listening to this show. Go download and subscribe to Not Sam Wrestling. We did our first interview. You will not remember this. 2011, I did the junket for planes. Oh, God. Was that with Carlos Seles Rocky? It was just you alone.

It was at an airport, right? The Santa Monica, or sorry, the, yeah, Santa Monica Airport, right? Yeah, it was outside. Dane Cook was there. Oh, wow. So way back. I had hair, hope and happiness, house, all the ages. But you had this huge energy.

And I just remember walking away from that going, that is one of the nicest people I've ever met. Thank you. Yeah. And thank you. That was a lot of fun to be able to do that with you. And now you've done so much other acting stuff. You've done stuff with John Cena, too, right?

Yes, I did a movie called, oh, God, what can I think about? Ferdinand, where he played a bull, and I played a hedgehog. So that's where we're at in life. Now, voiceovers, voiceovers I can do all day, every day. Voiceovers are fun. So for me, it's comedy, voiceovers, and then the acting would come in. But, you know, because I cannot knock out a movie in two days. How often do you pull out your girl voice in real life?

Not a lot. it a lot in the beginning, but then people could hear it and they're like, oh, that's Gabriel Igles is doing his girl voice. I don't know. It sounds pretty great. So I mean, every now and then, I'll, you know, I'll do a variation of it. But in public, and there's no reason to do it in public. You can do it like a drive, drive-in or drive-thru. They know me already. They know my ass. And now they have cameras at the drive-thru, which is like, oh. I've ruined the whole thing. So when I go to Starbucks, man, it's just like, you know, hey, Fluffy. Hey. Sometimes I'll overshunds, shoot it just so the camera's back here and then see if they'll still pick up on it.

They recognize my voice too. Can you give us a little girl voice? Oh my God. Seriously. There you go. That was a little girl voice. I love that you were in Magic, Mike. I don't.

Well, 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. And out the gate, man, I'm working with Steven Soderberg, incredible director. I'm working with Matthew McConaughey. Like, are you shitting me? You know, and then I'm a huge wrestling fan.

Kevin Nash is in there. So the first person I gravitated to was Kevin. And he's just massive. Like, you see him on TV's one thing. That was the first time I met him. And he's just so freaking tall. And he's jacked. Yeah.

He's really, really nice. And we clicked so well in that movie. But it was fun to do. And I didn't have the diet they had. Those guys had to stick to a strict diet of just, you know, protein, no carbs. bunch of celery and just, you know, I'm watching all the food that they're being given. It's all measured. And I'm like, oh, yeah, no, go ahead.

Go ahead. Have fun. Do you remember what the description was for that character? For my character? Yeah. My character, a drug dealing DJ. It's a drug dealing DJ. And, you know, that's pretty much it right there.

Drug dealing DJ. And so, yeah, it was basically all my scenes were I either had a turntable. or I had a baggie. And it was funny because in the first one, I wound up screwing over everybody and then part two, I guess all was forgiven because now I'm driving everybody around. And that was fun too. I got to crash a car.

I thought that your tough enough audition was just brilliant. Probably the funniest tough enough audition ever. Oh, the one with some mojo? No, there was that one too. But the one where you have the dude on your shoulders and you're squatting him. Oh, yeah, yeah. I did that right over here in the gym area. Wow.

Yeah, I forgot about that. I forgot about that. That's a good one. You did one with Samoa Joe, too? Yeah, it was, was it tough enough? It was that show on Fox. I think it was. No, no, no, not tough enough.

It was, it's the show where CM Punk came back for the first time. Yeah, WWWB backstage. And so I did a face-to-face with Samojo and we were cutting promos on each other. I told him he smelled like spam. And he kind of like, like, I almost made him break on that one. You smell like spam. all the comments on YouTube for your tough enough audition are like man this guy's actually like this would be a great character they'd make everyone laugh you know that could work i always thought that if i was gonna be a wrestler my buddy juan goes he goes he goes i got a good gimmick for you on let's hear it he goes fluffy could be you'd be the landlord i go the landlord he goes yeah he goes everybody hates the landlord and you know the catchphrase could be like rents do landlords here and then your finishing move would be like the freaking the eviction you know like like dude i love love it, you know. So if I was a heel, I'd be great. You're onto something. I'm the landlord.

But dude, how... Rants do. How are we going to boo you, though? I think that's more reason to boo because I, it's almost like a Sina Hogan turn where it's like, he's so nice and good. And I think for me to, I always tell people, too, like if I ever feel like my comedy is getting stale and I get to a certain point where even I don't like it, I think there's a heel turn in there because I always keep the show friendly. I keep it fun. I keep it to where I'm not ruffling feathers. I'm not offending anybody. But I know how to do it. I know I know how to voice an opinion that's going to divide the room, which is why I don't do it. So it's almost like, you know, Mr. Miyagi and karate, you know, learn karate so you don't have to fight. So yeah, I learned how to offend, so I don't.

What made you decide to have a clean show? 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. That's why people say, oh, dude, 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've 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? And then people say, well, that's not pure. That's not, that's not, that's not edgy, that's not this, that's not that. Well, where am I? Where are you? When did all of this become the business that it is? When did it go from a guy on stage with a

microphone to this enterprise you have now? I'd say 2006. 2006, I made a conscious decision like, okay, this is the type of comic we're going to be. This is what we're going to do. We're going to go out there and we're going to put on shows that are fun and friendly and inviting and inclusive. So that's when I started doing that. And what allowed you to have the vision for that? And what did the vision look like in 2006?

So believe it or not, a lot of it had to do with wrestling. I'd see how wrestling was marketed. Wrestling's marketed to everyone. And so, you know, big shows, lights, cameras, loud clothing, Hawaiian shirts, having a different look, having a gimmick,

all those different things I got from wrestling. And so I applied that to my comedy, including the merchandise. You see my merch? My merch is tight. So yeah, it's one of those things

where I made that decision back then. I was involved in all of the marketing of it. So anything with designs, I'd always make sure, like I'm the one overseeing everything. I'm not just letting somebody do something. I'm watching everything and I'm involved in everything that's going on.

Was there something that wanted, like that made you want to level up? I think once I realized that I was funnier than most, once I realized that, okay, I, you know, every night doing these shows, people are like, oh, I don't want to follow Gabe. I'm like, what's wrong with following me? And they're like, I'd have comics, say, man, you're making me work. I'm like, oh, what does that mean? They're like, yeah, you're, you're, you're, you're, you put in the heat and I'm like, what do you mean the heat? All these different terms that I had no idea what it meant. I just want to go up and be funny.

I didn't realize, oh, shoot, I'm delivering a really good show. And so once I realized, okay, I'm on to something here, I could probably make a good living at this. Because in the beginning, it was all about just having fun. That's all I wanted to do. And I think it showed, which is why I got better quicker because I was only focusing on the fun. What were you doing before comedy? Selling cell phones.

So we're talking like late 90s? 1990, 1995 and 6, I was working for a company called L.A. Cellular. And it eventually became AT&T wireless. But I was selling phones.

I was making a killing. I was working off commission. Dude, I was making bank. That's going to be, that's going to be tough to walk away from. I had health care. My mom was pissed.

She was like, Micho, you made it. You have insurance. I go, mom, I'm 20. When you're 20 years old, you give a shit about insurance? Yeah.

Everything works. It's not totally like like 45, 46, you're like, oh, my satica. Oh, yeah. I got, what do they call it? Deviated septum. Oh, oh, my eyes. I think we might need to get LASIC.

It's not until you get older that insurance means something to you. But I was doing really, really well for myself selling phones. And I started doing comedy and I was burning the candle at both ends. And eventually, you know, I'd get home at five in the morning and I had to be at work at eight. And I got caught at work sleeping. And yeah, they made it clear if that happened again, I was out. And so I said, you know what? I'm going to give this comedy thing a try.

That's why I say sacrifice. I was willing to walk away from a very, very good job. Very good job. And so when I quit, money ran out really fast. Oh, there's my ride. Money ran out really fast. And everybody kept saying, did you leave on good terms with your job? I go, yeah, I did.

They're like, well, why don't you get your job back? I go, I've already quit. I go, I got to make this work. And so eventually I did get evicted. The repo man was looking for my car. I had to go live at my brother's house for a little bit. And then I wound up living with my sister, who took care of me for about a year until I started making enough money to pay rent.

Wow. But, you know, are you willing to get uncomfortable? That's why I say, like, if you're, if you feel good and every day, oh, yeah, rents paid lights are on everything's fine and dandy some people don't want to give up that and chase something bigger you've got a lot of great quotes around the compound here is there one that really speaks to you uh well the one that's me the most there's probably one off there it's it's it's not my quote it's a quote that i saw but it it resonated with me uh it's it's actually there's a picture of Rick Flair in it.

It just says, life is all about the woo. And I think that if you're wooing in life, if you're just excited and you're coming out, you're just happy, that's what life is really about. Are you doing things to make yourself feel that good? It's like leaning into the things that, like, juice you up.

And that's what it really sounds like. When you had a great job, you had health insurance. But it wasn't what I loved. It wasn't my passion. And my mom goes, my mom goes, your passion is stupid. Do what makes money. I'm like, oh, my God, mom.

You know, the idea of chasing a dream was not something that my mom was very supportive of. Because she didn't see the dreams as being realistic. She saw them as dreams. What was realistic to her was that her son, without a college degree, was making the kind of money he was making selling phones. And believe me in the beginning, man, you could. make money selling phones. Before iPhones, I was selling a thing called

a Motorola PC 550 flip phone, which is basically cancer in a can. Because you'd talk on the phone, you could feel the tumor growing in your head. I tell people it was like, we're in a microwave. You'd end your call and you're like, it was like a cheap high.

You're like, oh, wow, everything's blurry, you know? And so I sold those. I sold those phones for a living, and I did very well for myself. But you're doing it. You are doing it now. You're an inspiration to everybody.

and thank you for this. It's been, you've been an interview I've wanted to do for a long time to talk about wrestling, but also just talk about the amazing career path that you've had because you inspire a lot of people. And I want to thank you for this and thank you for inviting us to your beautiful spot here. I'm going to ask you the question I ask everybody at the end of every interview. I'm Mexican. Gratitude is such a big part of my life. And I wake up every day.

I say out loud three things I'm grateful for because it just kind of centers you. when you can focus on the things you have instead of the things you don't have. And before I go to bed, I'm like, man, I was grateful for these three things today. This will be one of them. What are three things in your life you're grateful for right now? I'm grateful for the fact that I have some real people in my life who genuinely care about me, not just about this. I'm grateful for the fact that I'm still able to, I still have a certain level of health.

And I know people are like, well, this big guy, really? He's bragging about his health. Yeah, bitches. get up, walk around, I can tour, I can act, I can walk, I can talk, everything works. So I'm happy for that. I'm very grateful that I do have that. And I guess the third thing is I have my passion, I have my stage, I have my outlet, I have the thing that makes me feel the best, which is my comedy, my career. Well, thank you again. And congrats on everything. And I can't wait to see what that next thing is. If Dodger Stadium was the pinnacle, you're going to top it somehow.

Well, we'll find a way. And if not, it'll be fun trying. And I think that's what a lot of people forget. Sometimes it's not about getting there. Sometimes it's like, what do you, what does it take to attempt? Like, what are the, what's, what's going to happen? What's the story? It's the journey.

There you go. What a great guy. And what a story about chasing after your dreams and believing in yourself and making sure you do whatever you can to make sure it happens. Fluffy's new special called The Legend of Fluffy's, is available right now on Netflix. And like we said, he's going to be in Vegas. I have my show at the exact same time.

So it's up to you. I'm not going to tell you what you should do on Thursday, April 17th at 8 p.m. But I hope to see you at Circa for Insight Live. We should be announcing the guest very, very soon. I'm just waiting on the final confirmation on that one. But I hope you enjoyed this conversation. Snap a screenshot and tag us online.

He's that fluffy guy on social media. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. And we'll wrap it up with this quote from Earl Nightingale. Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway. Be great. Be grateful, my friends. We'll see you on the next one for some more insight.

We've got Kevin Owens joining us on Thursday. We'll see you right back here for that one. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do. With rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air.

It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it. Get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.