“It finally happened – Comedy Central messed up and gave me a show.”
I have to admit that I had not heard about Gabriel Iglesias before I saw a recent Blu-ray concert film. Gabriel is a rather rotund comic. For him, it’s not a liability at all. Honestly, he’s turned it into a cash cow, of sorts. It’s a huge, pun intended, part of his routine. In fact, to understand his nickname “Fluffy” you have to be clued into one of his signature routines. He identifies six levels of obesity. They range from Big, Healthy, Husky, Fluffy, Damn, and the latest level, Hell No. As you might guess, Gabriel considers himself in the Fluffy category. Still, for all of his pounds he has quite a bit of energy, and he moves along the stage quite well for his weight. His body and child-like face make him disarming and more than a little bit charming on stage.
Gabriel has a pretty solid repertoire of routines. Each show actually starts off with a short routine from Fluffy. While his bits often cover a lot of the familiar stand-up fodder, he tends to be cleaner than most comedians. He does resort to the occasional toilet joke but doesn’t appear to be stuck there. His best material is when he’s delivering short rapid-fire bits. When he slows down for a longer story, the funny factor drops considerably. The best tool he has is his ability to do sound effects and voices. These “voices” routines are by far his strongest material and get the most generous applause from the fans.
After he delivers his own bits he introduces up to three other stand-up acts. Most of them he informs us are old friends. You can expect more than a few Mexican names in the bunch.
The show is filmed live at a club in Phoenix, where Fluffy takes grand advantage of the immigration law controversy. There’s a house band: Ozomatli. They even wrote an original song. You can check out the video on the first episode. The music tends to be a bit repetitious, particularly if you watch several episodes back to back.
The final episode is an “after-hours” affair that features some rather risqué material that couldn’t be included during the normal show’s running time.
Video
The comedy series is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1. It’s a solid presentation. Colors are natural. The black levels work well for the audience shots. The contrast levels allow you to appreciate the subtle light effects going on on the stage. It’s all just about as good as this kind of release gets.
Audio
The Dolby Digital 2.0 track delivers the routine. If you’re looking for anything more, you’re in the wrong review.
Special Features
Outtakes: (9:44)
Final Thoughts:
Comedy is such a personal thing that it is absolutely one of the hardest things to review. Tastes vary to such a degree that what one person finds completely unfunny leaves another person in stitches on the ground. But there are those routines and comedians that have appeared to find some universal appeal. People like Bill Cosby or George Carlin might not be your favorites, but I’ve yet to find someone who thought they sucked. I’m not saying that Gabriel Iglesias belongs anywhere near that category. He doesn’t. He is creative and manages to do better with less. His gallery of friends, however, are far more uneven. There are a few bright spots, to be sure. Most of the time they pale in comparison to Fluffy himself. I think I’d rather stick to his individual concerts. “He didn’t just say that.”
11/21/2011 @ 9:26 am
Same here….I’ve seen his individual concerts and they are actually quite funny. But I watched a couple of episodes of this show and was not impressed very much.