Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Gabriel Iglesias: Stadium Fluffy’ On Netflix, Swinging For The Fences At Dodger Stadium

Fluffy’s third solo Netflix comedy special was the marquee event this May for the streaming giant’s inaugural Netflix Is A Joke: The Festival in Los Angeles, putting the spotlight on the SoCal native on his biggest stage yet: Dodger Stadium. There’s sadly no more October baseball there this year, so Gabriel Iglesias may have been the biggest event for Los Dodgers in 2022, too.

GABRIEL IGLESIAS: STADIUM FLUFFY: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Iglesias, a native of Long Beach, became the first comedian to headline Dodger Stadium this May. It’s his sixth solo stand-up special, and third for Netflix, where he also starred in his own sitcom for two seasons, Mr. Iglesias.
And it’s a super-sized special, not only because of the sold-out crowd filling the baseball stadium and the field, but also because Iglesias performed for almost two hours. The actual taping in May also boasted several opening acts and features, making for an almost all-night affair. By the end of it, Iglesias had declared the experience the most memorable of his entire life. “This is like a birthday and Christmas and the Super Bowl and the World Series and losing my virginity all at the same time,” he said at one point. Over the course of his two hours, Fluffy joked about the Netflix special he attempted to film last year in San Antonio, taking on the voice of Speedy Gonzales for Space Jam: A New Legacy, the time someone tried to threaten him through extortion, and a few of the things from his past he would and would not apologize for now. Including his stories about his stepson, Frankie.

What Comedy Specials Will It Remind You Of?: Iglesias references Kevin Hart’s 2016 concert film, What Now? which took place in front of 53,000+ fans at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field where the NFL’s Eagles play. And six years before Hart, Larry the Cable Guy released a Comedy Central special filmed in front of more than 50,000 fans at the University of Nebraska stadium in Lincoln.
Memorable Jokes: It’s 2022, so you know we’re still in for more jokes reflecting on the past two years of the COVID pandemic, particularly from Iglesias, who copped to coping with “85 percent of the underlying conditions” for the disease, and who eventually did test positive for the disease just a few days before he was scheduled to film a Netflix special in Texas.

He jokes about making headlines and prompting Zoom calls with the Space Jam producers over this Tweet announcing he’d voice Speedy Gonzales.

And later, he jokes about how a seemingly innocuous Tweet about taking his chihuahuas to Chick-fil-A put him in hot water.

Fluffy also wants to fill us in on the time he allegedly almost got to host the Academy Awards, the professional fighter he offended, the time he accidentally got completely naked onstage, some of the first stories he’d never told about Frankie, and why he’s done telling those stories now.
Our Take: For someone who prides himself on not being divisive, Fluffy sure seems preoccupied with cancel culture. I’m quoting Fluffy here:

“I pride myself in the fact that I’m not a comedian who’s divisive. That’s why I don’t talk about politics, religion or sports, ok? Because all three will divide people,” he says a little more than a half-hour into his set. “Food brings people together…unless you’re vegan.”

Yet take a look at that Chick-fil-A Tweet again. Iglesias explains to us that he considers himself an ally and supporter of the LGBTQ+ community, but he had to slow down to make sure he said the letters correctly, and he somehow, after years of joking about food, had no idea that the owners of that chicken franchise were anti-gay? It’s a weird non-flex, because as one of the biggest comedians around, he’s packing stadiums based on his ability to make astute and amusing observations about what’s happening, while also wanting us to believe he doesn’t really pay attention. “It’s impossible to keep up with everyone’s struggles,” while in the same breath admitting that he’s just trying to stay filthy rich by “trying to get free shit” from corporations.
He also defends Hart for not apologizing for his past homophobia to secure the Oscars hosting gig, because “we can’t give them more,” and by them, he explicitly said “cancel culture.” So Iglesias also won’t apologize for his previous comedy specials, even though he would definitely say certain things differently now. “It was perfectly acceptable at the time,” Iglesias says of his old jokes.

That said, Fluffy wanted to cherish the momentous occasion that brought him to Dodger Stadium. Which meant stopping to take a video with his phone of the crowd (which Netflix edited into the special), because, as only few could ever say onstage: “I have never been distracted by a blimp with my face on it.”
And he knew that he couldn’t have gotten to this moment without his chihuahuas (and country music?) to provide him comfort during the pandemic. And for recognizing how much Frankie had grown since their first Halloween together, 15 years ago, and how much Fluffy still wanted Frankie in his life even after he’d broken up with Frankie’s mother. Turns out when Fluffy had to cancel a past tour for unspecified reasons, it wasn’t substance abuse but heartbreak. “How was I supposed to be on effective comedian when I couldn’t stop crying?” 
By the end of this special, he’s crying once more. But these are very happy tears.

Our Call: STREAM IT. How often do you get a chance to see a stand-up comedian headline for a stadium-sized crowd?

Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat for his own digital newspaper, The Comic’s Comic; before that, for actual newspapers. Based in NYC but will travel anywhere for the scoop: Ice cream or news. He also tweets @thecomicscomic and podcasts half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories: The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First.