Gabriel Iglesias seems to be everywhere these days: playing Channing Tatum's DJ and hype man in “Magic Mike” and the forthcoming “Magic Mike XXL”; crushing on Cristela Alonzo on her new sitcom, “Cristela”; bringing talking critters to life in big-budget animated films.
On Friday, Feb. 6, the man known as Fluffy was here, in the flesh, taking over the Tacoma Dome with his high-profile Unity Through Laughter Tour. Alfred Robles, Rick Gutierrez and longtime sidekick Martin Moreno provided support, all of them veterans of his show on Comedy Central, “Gabriel Iglesias Presents Stand-up Revolution.” And though the tour's name is also the subtitle of last year's “The Fluffy Movie,” Iglesias kicked his set off with a fresh batch of material, including a bit about being “haunted” by old jokes. (Those chocolate cakes are still showing up backstage, more than a decade and a half after the punchline that first inspired them.)
Iglesias finished with a few of his greatest hits, including stories that were familiar to fans of his 2007 comedy special, “Hot & Fluffy.” The rafters rumbled as fans stomped in approval; and, by the time he got to his story of getting booted from a bar on St. Patrick's Day, they were shouting out punchlines with the same gusto as McCartney fans singing along to “Hey Jude.”
“Who knew I'd be at the Tacoma Dome with it rumbling, playing comedy karaoke?” he said, seeming genuinely taken aback by the response. “The Seahawks are lucky to have fans like you.”
Ernest Jasmin, Tacoma Weekly