Stadium Fluffy, Gabriel Iglesias’ latest Netflix special, is one of the greatest accomplishments in the history of stand-up comedy. A sold-out Dodger’s Stadium erupts with energy, frequently chanting “Fluffy, Fluffy!” over the special’s near two-hour runtime. While two hours may be a good chunk of funny, it’s only a fraction of what was actually performed, as the comic ran the clock in order to remain in this pivotal moment for as long as possible. Keeping the event going past his contractual obligation cost Iglesias a pretty penny, but if he had to, he would do it all over again.
I recently caught up with Iglesias to talk all-things Stadium Fluffy, and he told me this about what he called "the greatest night of my life":
What you're going to see on Netflix is not everything that happened that night. We had to edit it down because I was on that stage for almost 3 hours. And there's no way Netflix is going to greenlight that. So two and a half of it was performance, and then the other half hour was me having drinks and just taking it all in because nobody wanted to leave. It's the biggest fine I've ever had to pay because we did go overtime and the union was very happy about that. It cost me an arm and a leg to pay that and I'd do it all over again because it was the greatest night of my life.
While Gabriel Iglesias didn’t provide specific details as far as exactly how much money came out of his own pocket, one can imagine that it was a substantial chunk of change. Keeping the camera crew, stadium crew and electronics operating after the allotted time that was identified in his Netflix contract would be rather pricy. At one point during the special, he states that Netflix is letting him know that his time is up, and asks the audience if they’d like him to proceed. Of course, the “Fluffy” chants persisted, and what followed was more of a “hang out” for Iglesias than a performance.
If you’re not familiar with Iglesias’ past work, he’s one of the biggest stand-up comedians in the world, having performed to massive audiences all over the globe. He’s known for including a fair amount of Spanish in his sets, striving for proper representation without alienating anyone. He’s also known for his voice acting, having most recently appeared in Paws Of Fury: The Legend Of Hank alongside a star-studded cast. He had a sitcom, Mr. Iglesias, which ran for three seasons on Netflix before being abruptly cancelled despite his plans for the future of the show.
There seems to be no bad blood between him and the streamer, however, as you can watch Stadium Fluffy over on Netflix right now! If stand-up comedy isn’t what you’re into, not to worry, as plenty of new Netflix movies and new Netflix TV shows are left to be released this year.
