It’s safe to say that in the mix of an hour and a bit, comedian Gabriel Iglesias, known as Fluffy to his fans, was able to impress his audience and rid them of their Monday blues with his fuller-than-life personality, killer impersonations and off the cuff jokes.
From start to finish, fans were kept in stitches of laughter last night (June 6) when Iglesias took to the stage for a one-night-only performance which almost fully sold out at The Star Theatre.
The last time Iglesias held a show in Singapore was in 2012.
This time round on his Fluffy Breaks Even tour, Iglesias managed to pack a much tighter punch than shows from his early days in stand-up comedy.
In the past, his comedic routine was made up of amateur vocal sound effects and tales of his adventures (or much rather misadventures) with fellow comedians, fans and friends, which he then attempted to turn into jokes that unfortunately lacked a punchline.
But now, Iglesias has managed to successfully weave his jokes into fresh, entertaining stories by latching on to a conversational method of delivery. The new style has given him a more believable voice and that has in turn given depth to his whole persona.
After fellow comedians and friends, Martin Moreno and Alfred Robles opened the show, it was Iglesias’ time to get on stage.
Fans were first regaled with a story of Iglesias’ time at Changi Airport when he landed in Singapore and came across a strict Indian customs officer.
While telling the story, Iglesias bounced back and forth between his Californian accent and a thick Indian accent – which he managed so effortlessly, it sounded as if an Indian man was on stage to tell the story with him.
That was of course the beginning of many colourful impressions witnessed during the show – proving to fans that his material on impersonations is truly Iglesias’ best work.
His recount of the time he met his rolemodel Arnold Schwarzenegger left many with belly aches as he described how the star was forced to go through a super quick series of handshakes at a red carpet premiere because his handler manipulated him into doing so.
“Hello, you’re handsome. You look very nice. You pump iron? Nice to meet you. This is a great event,” Iglesias rattled off in a stiff Austrian accent that was meant to mimic Schwarzenegger.
His impersonation was spot-on and the audience of course erupted with wolf whistles and claps.
My main caveat with Iglesias’ performance last night is that at times he easily lost the flow of the performance – even forgetting a couple of jokes at the end, which he happily revealed to the audience.
He got distracted so easily during the set that whenever someone heckled him he would pause and lose his train of thought, sometimes even stopping midway to converse with the audience member.
One in particular stood out from the night – a man in the front row right who just couldn’t seem to stop heckling Iglesias about his weight and love for chocolate cake and muffins.
Being Type 2 diabetic, Iglesias was quick to address how he’s over his love for chocolate cake and is now working out often with Moreno.
“Yo, what do you want? I have a show for you but you keep interrupting me. What do you want, Muffins?” Iglesias questioned, nicknaming the heckler who was a local fan.
“Now I can’t remember what I was saying.”
But with all that said, Iglesias has definitely upped his game and proved to us why he is the most watched comedian on YouTube to date. He just needs to hold back on revealing his misdemeanours and be more confident about his material.
By the end of the night, fans were torn between deciding to cheer or jeer because his performance was so good, they didn’t want it to end.
These were some of the comments fans made from last night:
mldas@sph.com.sg
