Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias and the Art of Mentoring | What Now? with Trevor Noah Podcast

Trevor Noah 0:00 [sighs]

Gabriel Iglesias 0:01 Are you living out here now or...?

Trevor Noah 0:02 No, I'm living nowhere. I'm living nowhere. I'm a nomad, Gab.

Gabriel Iglesias 0:06 You know what's funny is I sold my house. I don't have an actual residence right now.

Trevor Noah 0:09 Oh, really?

Gabriel Iglesias 0:10 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 0:11 Wow.

Gabriel Iglesias 0:11 I sold it bec- they broke into it, and I don't, I didn't spend enough time in it.

Trevor Noah 0:13 Ah.

Gabriel Iglesias 0:13 So I was like, you know what? I, I don't need it.

Trevor Noah 0:15 Is there anything they didn't, didn't take that you'd hoped they would take?

Gabriel Iglesias 0:19 Oh, for the sake of, uh [laughs]

Trevor Noah 0:20 [laughs] No, like, for me, I remember when I, I used to have Crocs, like, back in the day, but then my house got robbed.

Gabriel Iglesias 0:27 Oh [laughs]

Trevor Noah 0:27 They, they stole everything. All my clothes, all my shoes, everything. And then my friends, we were all then, we were like, "Oh, the house got robbed, the house got robbed." We go into everyone's room, 'cause I lived with my friends, and then my friend was like, "Oh, they left your Crocs. Well, at least we know they had taste." And I was not-

Gabriel Iglesias 0:40 Ouch.

Trevor Noah 0:41 Yeah. Insult to injury.

Gabriel Iglesias 0:43 Ouch. [upbeat music]

Trevor Noah 0:46 This is What Now? With Trevor Noah. [upbeat music] Welcome to the podcast.

Gabriel Iglesias 0:48 Thank you.

Trevor Noah 0:48 Gabriel Iglesias. Every time I, I, I'm gonna have a conversation with somebody I know personally and intimately, I have to think about how I would introduce that person to my audience.

Gabriel Iglesias 0:48 I think you just did it.

Trevor Noah 0:48 Yeah, but I think there's-

Gabriel Iglesias 0:48 Pretty good

Trevor Noah 0:48 ... I think there's two things that I, that I honed in on that I'd, I'd love to talk about in this conversation particularly. Obviously, the comedy and the life and the stories we share, and just, you know, you know how much of an amazing person you are. But, but there's two big things that I haven't heard many people speak to you about. One is mentorship, and the other one is business acumen. And I mean raw business acumen. But maybe I'll give a bit of, I'll, I'll give a bit of backstory, and you're gonna have to fill in some of the backstory, by the way-

Gabriel Iglesias 0:48 Absolutely

Trevor Noah 0:48 ... for how we met.

Gabriel Iglesias 0:48 Fir- first of all, you know I have a high school education, so what the hell is acumen? [laughs]

Trevor Noah 0:48 [laughs] Acumen.

Gabriel Iglesias 0:48 This guy.

Trevor Noah 0:48 Acumen.

Gabriel Iglesias 0:48 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 0:48 Acumen. Hey, man, ...</indistinct ] It almost sounds like Spanish.

Gabriel Iglesias 0:48 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 0:48 I, I have an idea of what it means. [laughs]

Gabriel Iglesias 0:48 [laughs] "...

Trevor Noah 0:48 This is What Now? With Trevor Noah. [upbeat music] Welcome to the podcast.

Gabriel Iglesias 1:01 Thank you.

Trevor Noah 1:02 Gabriel Iglesias. Every time I, I, I'm gonna have a conversation with somebody I know personally and intimately, I have to think about how I would introduce that person to my audience.

Gabriel Iglesias 1:15 I think you just did it.

Trevor Noah 1:16 Yeah, but I think there's-

Gabriel Iglesias 1:16 Pretty good

Trevor Noah 1:17 ... I think there's two things that I, that I honed in on that I'd, I'd love to talk about in this conversation particularly. Obviously, the comedy and the life and the stories we share, and just, you know, you know how much of an amazing person you are. But, but there's two big things that I haven't heard many people speak to you about. One is mentorship, and the other one is business acumen. And I mean raw business acumen. But maybe I'll give a bit of, I'll, I'll give a bit of backstory, and you're gonna have to fill in some of the backstory, by the way-

Gabriel Iglesias 1:46 Absolutely

Trevor Noah 1:47 ... for how we met.

Gabriel Iglesias 1:47 Fir- first of all, you know I have a high school education, so what the hell is acumen? [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:52 [laughs] Acumen.

Gabriel Iglesias 1:55 This guy.

Trevor Noah 1:55 Acumen.

Gabriel Iglesias 1:56 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:58 Acumen. Hey, man, ..." [indistinct] It almost sounds like Spanish.

Gabriel Iglesias 2:00 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 2:01 I, I have an idea of what it means. [laughs]

Gabriel Iglesias 2:03 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 2:04 "...

Gabriel Iglesias 2:05 Acumen.

Trevor Noah 2:05 Acumen.

Gabriel Iglesias 2:06 Acumen.

Trevor Noah 2:06 Acumen.

Gabriel Iglesias 2:07 [laughs] You have, you have a knack. Come on, man.

Trevor Noah 2:11 How, like, how did we meet? C- I actually don't know the full story of this. How, how did we meet?

Gabriel Iglesias 2:15 Well, I was in Bakersfield doing a show. I remember vividly. I was in Bakersfield doing a show.

Trevor Noah 2:20 Yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 2:20 And at the end of the night, I was in my hotel room, and I'm flipping through, uh, flipping through, you know, the channels, and I came across The Tonight Show.

Trevor Noah 2:26 Okay.

Gabriel Iglesias 2:26 And I saw Jay, and Jay was introducing the, "Uh, very funny comedian from South Africa," you know, and in, in intro-

Trevor Noah 2:31 That's, that's my boy, Jay. I like him

Gabriel Iglesias 2:32 ... duce. You came out there. You, you came out there and, and I was like, "Who is this person? They are freaking amazing." You were so talented. Your, your charisma, your energy, the way that you presented yourself, I'm like, "This dude is hysterical."

Trevor Noah 2:45 Oh, wow. Thank you.

Gabriel Iglesias 2:45 And I'm like, clearly he is way too comfortable, way too confident, way too smiley. I'm like, "No, this dude is-"

Trevor Noah 2:51 [laughs] Way too smiley.

Gabriel Iglesias 2:52 He's already... Way too smiley. Yeah, yeah.

Trevor Noah 2:54 [laughs]

Gabriel Iglesias 2:54 Like, it, it caught my attention right away-

Trevor Noah 2:56 Yeah

Gabriel Iglesias 2:56 ... how, uh, the level that you were already at. And so I went online to see where you were gonna be performing, and I saw that you were gonna be at the, uh, Improv in Irvine. And I'm like, "Oh my God." You know, uh, I was ... You know, I live, I lived by there.

Trevor Noah 3:10 Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Gabriel Iglesias 3:10 And so I said, "I'm, I'ma go check him out." And so then I went out there to go see your show, and I'm in line with all these South Africans and all these girls, these white girls with South Africa flags.

Trevor Noah 3:19 [laughs]

Gabriel Iglesias 3:19 And they're like, "We're here for Trevor." And I'm like, "This dude already has a following. Of course he's famous."

Trevor Noah 3:23 [laughs]

Gabriel Iglesias 3:24 I knew it. This guy wasn't just some nobody. He showed up there, and he already had a following. And so I saw your show, the full hour, not five minutes. And so afterwards, that's when I walked up to you, and you had your, you had your little, uh, South African posse right there in the corner-

Trevor Noah 3:37 Yeah, yeah, yeah

Gabriel Iglesias 3:37 ... of comics and stuff. And I just walked up, and you recognized me. And you're like, "Oh my God, hey." And I'm like, "Hey." And I said, "Extra funny comedian."

Trevor Noah 3:42 So I'll tell the, I'll tell the story from this point.

Gabriel Iglesias 3:44 Okay.

Trevor Noah 3:44 So I'll, so from my perspective, this, this, this is how it happened. By the way, your whole story is e- the exact same story as many of my stalkers, by the way, which I love.

Gabriel Iglesias 3:52 Nice. [laughs]

Trevor Noah 3:53 It's amazing how the intention changes.

Gabriel Iglesias 3:54 We saw you on television-

Trevor Noah 3:55 Yes

Gabriel Iglesias 3:56 ... and then we waited outside.

Trevor Noah 3:57 I saw you on, on, and I was like, "He smiles so much." And then I researched you online, and I was like, "This is where he will be." And I came there, and I waited.

Gabriel Iglesias 4:05 Oh my God.

Trevor Noah 4:06 I waited for you.

Gabriel Iglesias 4:06 I sound like a stalker. [laughs]

Trevor Noah 4:07 And I waited for you after the show, Trevor.

Gabriel Iglesias 4:08 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 4:09 And there you were. There you were. Um, [laughs] but I... So from my perspective, first of all, I didn't know you were there. I was on stage. I do the show as normal. This is Irvine, California. It's one of the few places where I was able to get people to buy enough tickets to fill out a club, right? Nobody knew me in America. Nobody. And, and so I do the show, and at the end they go, "Hey, um, there's a comedian here, Gabriel Iglesias, he wants to chat to you." And I'm like, "Gabriel Iglesias?" I'm like, "Isn't that the singer?"

Gabriel Iglesias 4:39 Ah. [laughs]

Trevor Noah 4:40 They're like, "No, that's Julio Iglesias." I'm like, "Oh, shit. Okay. Wait, Gabriel?" I'm like, "Who's Gabriel?" 'Cause I'm terrible with names. And as soon as I see you, I'm like, "Oh, shit. The guy, the guy, the..." And you must remember, for me, it's so weird because I, obviously I c- I come from South Africa. We don't bump into people who you've seen on TV, who you've seen on, like, any competition shows or any big shows or any... I knew you. I was like, "This is the, the, the, the guy." So I come over to you. And it's funny you say I was with my South African posse because you were f- with, like, it seemed like, like a little, it was sort of like a little Mexican mafia vibe.

Gabriel Iglesias 5:14 Nice.

Trevor Noah 5:14 'Cause you give off, like, Godfather vibes. I'm not sure-

Gabriel Iglesias 5:16 Really? [laughs]

Trevor Noah 5:16 I don't know if you've ever noticed this about you. You have, like, a... But it's like a kind, you have, like, a kind vibe.

Gabriel Iglesias 5:22 Nobody gets whacked. [laughs]

Trevor Noah 5:23 No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Nobody gets whacked. But it's because there's an understanding, you know what I mean? It's an understanding. It's like, "Yo, you know, you don't wanna get Fluffy angry." You've got, like, this... And it's a r- and everyone around you has, like, a really peaceful but protective demeanor, you know? And so, um, you waited for me afterwards. And it's just a small little crew, and you're like, "Hey, how you doing, man?" And I, I remember how kind you were. And I was just like, "Oh, this is great. I can't believe..." You know, I think every comic has this. Every comedian is deeply grateful and feels seen when another comedian watches their full set. I remember I was shocked. I was like, "Why are you here?" And you're like, "I came to the show." You didn't, like, ask me for tickets. I didn't know you. And then you said the sweetest thing a human being has ever said to me. You said, "Hey, man, I know that you're a big deal where you're from, but I wanted to n- I wanted to offer you an opportunity. I want you to come on the road with me." And you said, and you said, "Please don't be offended. I'm not saying you should be my opening act. I'm not sa- I'm not saying any of that. I know you're big in South Africa, but I really think it would be good for you to come out on the road with me because I could expose you to audiences who you would've otherwise never gotten to and w- who I think will love you. You're like, I think a lot of people in my audience would love you." And I remember thinking to myself, I was like, "Who is this person?" Do you know what I mean? Who is this Hispanic Santa Claus?

Gabriel Iglesias 6:46 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 6:49 I said yes to you. I didn't know what I was getting into. I came on the road with you, and I was like, "I've never seen that many, like..." But l- when I say fans, I don't mean s- I don't mean people who have come to the show. I don't mean people who are watching you. I mean fans. And that's maybe, you know, my first question about, like, your business acumen. What do you think you did right to build an environment where you don't, you don't just have, you don't just have people who, like, like your comedy. You have people who buy your face, you know, on those little, those little dolls that have the, the bobblehead things, and you, you have people who buy, like, plushies of you, and you, you have people who buy your T-shirts. But I, I wanna know if you intended that from the beginning, and then also how did you even begin that journey with people? Because there was some point when nobody knew your comedy, and now when you're filling up, like, a Dodger Stadium, w- what, what happened in between? Where did this, where did this begin?

Gabriel Iglesias 7:46 I think it was, you know ... To say that I had a plan to design this almost sounds, like, maniacal and evil, like it was my plan all along.

Trevor Noah 7:57 [laughs]

Gabriel Iglesias 7:57 No. I, it was one of those things where I was just grateful that people would come to the shows.

Trevor Noah 8:02 Yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 8:02 And I would always thank them, and I would always say, "Hey, if you like the show, tell somebody about it," you know? And, and, you know, that's ... The word of mouth is the best thing. You guys, if you enjoy what I, what I'm, what I'm doing, please share, please talk about it. And then after the shows, I would just go outside and if anybody wants to come by and say hi, you know? I, I, I made it so that people knew that I was somebody they could come up to.

Trevor Noah 8:22 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 8:22 I wasn't putting this divide in between where it's like, "No, my show's over. Now you go home, I take a check, and I go buy a car."

Trevor Noah 8:29 Yeah, yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 8:29 By not making people ever feel like I was above them or better than them, it's just I'm this lucky kid from the same area that they're, they're driving from. I'm like, "Hey, I'll see you guys on the 405."

Trevor Noah 8:40 [laughs]

Gabriel Iglesias 8:40 You know, I'm that guy where I'm like, "Hey, if you see me in, in line at, at Jack in the Box and you like my show, let me cut." And they're like, "Ah, okay, go ahead."

Trevor Noah 8:47 [laughs]

Gabriel Iglesias 8:47 You know? So I'm somebody you can run into by the bathrooms, and I get people always asking, "Can I hug you?" Or, "Can I feed you?" And I'm like, yeah, this is not the norm, you know? So, uh, to say it was a plan, I, I ... It was not a plan. It was just, it was just me, uh, welcoming the audience and, and trying to be cool with everybody. And it wasn't until years later where it just got so out of control where you had to start putting things in place-

Trevor Noah 9:10 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Gabriel Iglesias 9:10 ... so that you didn't find yourself ... 'Cause I came really close to getting kidnapped a couple times. And I know. Save the jokes. Uh, but yeah, people would just try to- [laughs]

Trevor Noah 9:18 See, I didn't have a joke.

Gabriel Iglesias 9:19 And I, I know there's something in there.

Trevor Noah 9:20 And then you said, "Save the jokes."

Gabriel Iglesias 9:20 And people are like, "Really?"

Trevor Noah 9:21 Man.

Gabriel Iglesias 9:22 Kidnapped. Yeah.

Trevor Noah 9:22 Come on.

Gabriel Iglesias 9:23 They ... [laughs] But, uh, yeah, it w- it wasn't a plan. It was just, uh, you know, let me just, let me just treat my audience-

Trevor Noah 9:29 Mm-hmm

Gabriel Iglesias 9:29 ... the way I feel like I would wanna be treated. Like, when I go to a concert, I look to see how the artist welcomes their audience. There's some, like, singers that will just start singing.

Trevor Noah 9:39 Yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 9:39 And they won't even say-

Trevor Noah 9:40 One, two, three, go.

Gabriel Iglesias 9:41 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 9:41 Ram, ram, ram, ram, ram, ram, ram, ram, ram.

Gabriel Iglesias 9:42 There's no, "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the show. Thank you for being here. We're gonna have a fun time."

Trevor Noah 9:47 Yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 9:47 "It's great. I got so-and-so working on sax. I got so-and-so on drums. We were talking about being here tonight." Little things like that go so far and, and people don't wanna break that wall. They're afraid of engaging for some reason, and I think that's a mistake. I think a lot of artists would go so much further by bringing audiences in.

Trevor Noah 10:05 Uh-huh.

Gabriel Iglesias 10:05 All it takes is looking at someone.

Trevor Noah 10:07 Uh-huh.

Gabriel Iglesias 10:07 Smiling. Even if they're smiling too much. [laughs] I do it, too. [laughs] R- smiley recognize smiley. Uh ... [laughs]

Trevor Noah 10:14 But you, but you know what I think it is, actually.

Gabriel Iglesias 10:15 It doesn't take much.

Trevor Noah 10:16 I, I think it's what you just said. You know, it, it, it's, it's a fear, and not, not necessarily a bad fear. I, I don't take for granted that there are two types of performers. I think there are performers who are trying to get into themselves and there are performers who are trying to get out of themselves. Do you know what I mean?

Gabriel Iglesias 10:31 Okay.

Trevor Noah 10:32 I've seen this with comedians as well. So there are some performers who get on stage, and in order for them to hit the marks that they need to hit on that stage, they can't be themselves. They can't be Gabriel. They can't be Trevor, and they don't want to be that person, so they've gotta transform into this other being. Like, I, I'm sure you've met tons of comedians who can't go on stage sober. You know?

Gabriel Iglesias 10:52 Have to get in the zone.

Trevor Noah 10:53 Yeah, yeah. They-

Gabriel Iglesias 10:54 I need to get in my space.

Trevor Noah 10:55 Yeah. They, they-

Gabriel Iglesias 10:56 I gotta.

Trevor Noah 10:56 You know? But I think it's a, I think it's a protection thing where they go, "If you don't laugh at this joke that Gabriel has told, then Gabriel has failed." But if it's, like, El Matador who told the joke, and then the joke doesn't land, well, what would El Matador do? Do you know what I mean? It's like, it's, it's just this-

Gabriel Iglesias 11:14 It's the protection.

Trevor Noah 11:15 Yeah. It is.

Gabriel Iglesias 11:16 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 11:16 It is. Completely. And you, you have a vulnerability to you that, that, that really is unique, honestly. Like,

Trevor Noah 11:22 where do you, where do you think you got that from? Like, w- what were your first experiences in life that allowed you to, like, open yourself up in that way?

Gabriel Iglesias 11:30 I think the fact that I've always wanted acceptance, and I've been used to not being accepted, it's just been one of those, like, you know. I was very much the, uh, the kid that didn't have very many friends.

Trevor Noah 11:40 Yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 11:40 I was always overweight. I always ... I had really bad teeth. I had acne. And for somebody who was not accepted, I was never picked in sports. I was always ... You know, any time people would get together for groups, I wouldn't even get picked for groups. So it's like, really? I can't even ... You know, this has nothing to do with phys- you know, being physical, and I can't even get picked for the science team or get picked for this or that. So it's like I did not fit the entertainer's mold.

Trevor Noah 12:01 Mm-hmm.

Gabriel Iglesias 12:02 Um, but I was drawn to comedy. I loved watching Eddie Murphy. I loved watching Saturday Night Live. I loved hearing the laughter because to me the laughter was acceptance.

Trevor Noah 12:12 Yeah. The one thing I, I've realized as I've become an adult is I was, I was, like, awkward 'cause I was always just observing people. And I, I don't ... Like, you seem very affable. No, you are very affable now. Were, were you like that as a kid as well?

Gabriel Iglesias 12:27 Uh, I, I feel like I was very much the same as now where, well, you, you, you've seen me off stage. It's like I'm, uh, I am not the loudest person in the room.

Trevor Noah 12:35 No, you're not.

Gabriel Iglesias 12:35 Nor, nor am I trying to be the loudest person in the room. So as a kid, I think that I just didn't get the opportunity to connect with people.

Trevor Noah 12:43 Okay.

Gabriel Iglesias 12:43 And I'm not-

Trevor Noah 12:43 That makes sense

Gabriel Iglesias 12:44 ... I'm not someone who goes out of their way to try to insert themselves. I would rather just see that there's an organic opportunity to join a, a conversation or to, uh, to get to talk to, to people.

Trevor Noah 12:55 Mm-hmm.

Gabriel Iglesias 12:55 I'm, but I'm not trying to go out of my way. So if that was awkward, maybe, 'cause I was quiet.

Trevor Noah 13:00 Yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 13:00 I wasn't outspoken. But, uh, as far as socially, like, once someone starts talking to me, it's like, "All right, let's go." You know what I mean? And so I still have a couple of friends from my childhood that remember me from back then, and I, I, I value and I cherish them just because-

Trevor Noah 13:14 Yeah

Gabriel Iglesias 13:14 ... it's like, man, that's my only g- like, grounding to before all this happened.

Trevor Noah 13:18 Yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 13:18 You know what I mean? And so any time I have a question about, "Hey, man, am I, am I acting a certain way? Am I doing something different? Am I, i- i- i- is my view on this m- messed up?" 'Cause they'll be real with me, and they're not afraid to tell me exactly what they see.

Trevor Noah 13:32 Huh.

Gabriel Iglesias 13:32 And I think it's important, too, to have a connection to the past like that.

Trevor Noah 13:36 Okay, but then what do you, what do you wanna lose of the past? You know, I think it's important for us to-

Gabriel Iglesias 13:40 Poverty, man [laughs] .

Trevor Noah 13:42 [laughs]

Gabriel Iglesias 13:44 Sharing a bathroom, man, fuck that.

Trevor Noah 13:46 [laughs]

Gabriel Iglesias 13:48 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 13:49 Um, yeah, but, but do you know what I mean? The, the, there are some things we hold from the past that are ... You know, so like I'm always careful. People will say, "You're just the way you've always been" or, "You've changed." And I always go, "What, what is the way I've always been that you're holding onto, or what is the change that you wish I had maintained?" Some things are good to hold onto, and some things are good to change. Are there things that you don't do that you used to do when you were younger that you're glad you let go of?

Gabriel Iglesias 14:14 I don't think that I've changed too much. Things from the past that I, I definitely would want to let go is the small thinking, the small like, oh, i- it's, it's the, you know, the, the thing is only this big-

Trevor Noah 14:26 Mm-hmm

Gabriel Iglesias 14:26 ... versus thinking globally.

Trevor Noah 14:27 Right.

Gabriel Iglesias 14:28 So I was very much only thinking this much back then, and I didn't have the ability to see outside of that when I was younger, whereas now it's like e- it's endless. You know, you can make it as big as you want or keep it as small as you want. But the problem is the bigger something gets, the, the more difficult it is to manage. And having control over yourself and your career and your surroundings, it is really hard when the circle gets really big.

Trevor Noah 14:53 Yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 14:54 And unfortunately for me, that circle did get too big at one point where I did start to lose control, and I couldn't see, and, and the, the wheels were turning, and I would, I didn't know who was making them turn.

Trevor Noah 15:05 Right.

Gabriel Iglesias 15:05 And so it's kinda like, all right, you know, you say you want the, the big pie. Well, when you get it, see what happens. Or-

Trevor Noah 15:11 You, you really made it a big pie, man. You, you, like, there, there are few people I know of in the world who have the footprint that, that you have with your, with your comedy, with your, with the way you've made people feel, which is, I think, crucial. So I've been lucky enough to travel all over the world for comedy and otherwise, and I am always, always, always, always impressed at how many places I go to where they, they know you. What's interesting is what they feel about you and how they feel it.

Trevor Noah 15:44 I wanna know when you decided, and if it was an active choice, to take many of the things that ostracized you at a young age and turn them into the tool that made you bring people to you and bring people together. You know, like, so many people grew up being teased about their face, their weight, their vibe, their, their voice, their everything. Very few people have taken that coal, crushed it into a diamond, and shared it with everybody around the world. Was there, like, a conscious moment where you did that, and how did you ensure that the audience was laughing with you and not at you?

Gabriel Iglesias 16:21 Not at you. I wanna say about four years into it, uh, 'cause my whole act in the beginning when I first started doing standup was I was just doing characters and impressions, and everything was a situation with cartoons or, or this character. So it's like i- it was nothing to do with me.

Trevor Noah 16:38 Mm-hmm.

Gabriel Iglesias 16:38 It was like, he's entertaining. He can do all these characters' voices and sound effects, and he's, and he's painting pictures. But it's, you don't really know anything about the guy.

Trevor Noah 16:46 Yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 16:47 And I remember I did a Comedy Central, uh, show called Premium Blend, and I did a bit about being at a nightclub and how I only wanted to dance with big girls. Because if I'm dancing with a big girl, then we would get tired at the same time.

Trevor Noah 17:01 [laughs]

Gabriel Iglesias 17:02 And I remember it was the first bit that I put out there like that where it's like, wow, that was actually personal.

Trevor Noah 17:07 Yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 17:08 You know? And for some reason, like, it just, it started with that one bit, and then it just started expanding from there. But, you know, of course there's, there's, there's self-deprecating, and then there's just like, "Hey, man, look, this is just me, and either, you know, you're cool with it or you're not cool with it. I'm gonna be good either way."

Trevor Noah 17:25 Yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 17:26 You know? And so, I don't know. I think it was just that whole, "I don't care. Call me whatever you want," you know? I've already gone through years of this as a kid.

Trevor Noah 17:34 Okay, that's interesting.

Gabriel Iglesias 17:34 You can't phase me now, so it's like whatever. And then the more, uh, the more shows I would do and the more laughter, and afterwards it's like, okay, well, if, if I'm this big joke and people just wanna make fun or laugh at me, why would you wanna talk to me after the show? Why would you wanna get in line for a photo?

Trevor Noah 17:49 Mm.

Gabriel Iglesias 17:49 You know? I ... Look, I'm wearing freaking New Balance with a stain on it right now. I got a, a hoodie that I'm wearing. It's not fashionable, but it keeps me warm. It fits. You know, by, by maintaining certain things and not letting the business turn me into something else. That I think I did have to work on, because you can get consumed really quick. I wish I could make everybody happy, but you can't. Uh, but I just think it's one of those people understand and they relate to, to people who have flaws, someone who's not trying to pretend to be perfect.

Trevor Noah 18:19 Yeah. We're gonna continue this conversation right after this short break. [upbeat music] What did the business want to turn you into in the beginning?

Gabriel Iglesias 18:33 Oh, dude, man, well, when the money starts coming in, all right, everybody who goes from having a certain amount to all of a sudden, vroom, overnight the money quadruples, and you, you're like, "What the...?" So of course, for me, uh, [laughs] out the gate, man, I bought two Hummers. I went from liv- and I was still living in an apartment. So yeah, uh, the money will mess with you.

Trevor Noah 18:55 [laughs]

Gabriel Iglesias 18:56 Yes, I had two Hummers while living-

Trevor Noah 18:58 Same color or different colors?

Gabriel Iglesias 18:58 Different colors.

Trevor Noah 18:59 Okay, good. All right.

Gabriel Iglesias 18:59 Yeah, different colors. But I was living in an apartment.

Trevor Noah 19:01 I mean, you're not that crazy.

Gabriel Iglesias 19:02 Oh, man, I, yeah, so I just started doing stuff like that, putting TVs and PlayStations in the car. And I'm like, "What the hell am I doing?" But at the time I'm like, "How cool is this?"

Trevor Noah 19:10 Yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 19:11 I was just so excited. I'd never seen money like that before, and so yeah, I did a lot of, a lot of stuff. And it's interesting-

Trevor Noah 19:16 But you, but you know what I lo- but you know what I loved about y- your vibe? So, so there were two things that I found impressive, is that, like, one, just personally, on the bus, what I loved about rolling with you on your tour bus was how diverse the people were, the s- like, the, the schools of thought were. I mean, I would be having fights about Republican politics, Democratic politics. I remember your bus was the first time I realized that this was even, like, a thing, was... You know what I mean? 'Cause where I come from, there is no just, like, strict delineation. It isn't you're Republican, you're Democrat. We don't have that. And I always say to people, this is my opinion, I always say to people, "I think one of the worst things that's happened in America is that it's become Democrat, Republican, blue, red," because it makes it that people have chosen a side or a thing before they engage in the topic, whereas in South Africa and in many other places, y- we just fight about each topic. And you find, like, people agree on different things, and people disagree on different things, but you find coalitions and moments that connect you. And I loved that on your bus, for instance. We used to have arguments for days. You would just sit in the corner laughing, by the way, which I loved.

Gabriel Iglesias 20:19 Yeah. [laughs]

Trevor Noah 20:19 You were the best audience member. And you would just, like, ask, like, a really, like, it wasn't incendiary, but you'd ask a question. You'd be like, "But Trevor, what about this?" Or you'd be like, "But Rick, what about that?" And it, it would spark a whole conversation. But I do love that your environment encouraged that. And what I found particularly interesting was you, as Gabriel have said, "I don't engage in politics," et cetera, but you not once, not once said to me, "Hey, Trevor, don't talk about certain things on stage." Not even w- and I mean, there's not even one time when you came to me and said, "Hey, man, please don't say... Hey, that, that thing you said about slavery," or, "Hey, that..." No. You gave me the full leeway. You gave me... And, and maybe that goes into, into, like, the mentorship of it all. Anybody who asks me, and thousands of peop- anybody, they go like, "Oh, who, who made your career? Who?" And I go, "Guys, I couldn't have gotten..." You see me on The Daily Show and stuff, I'm like, none of that would have happened without Gabriel Iglesias.

Gabriel Iglesias 21:13 Oh, come on, dude.

Trevor Noah 21:14 No, no, no, I'm telling you. You know why? Because you genuinely, one of the greatest gifts you gave me was you put me in front of audiences that I never otherwise would have been put in front of. And there's still comedians today who I know of who don't go to the markets you took me to, places where people exist in America, but I learned, thanks to you, they feel like they don't exist. Do you know what I'm saying?

Gabriel Iglesias 21:36 Mm-hmm.

Trevor Noah 21:37 Nobody comes and does a show. Nobody even considers them politically, uh, because they don't really shift a needle in, in either direction. They're just, like, these forgotten places in, in America, and you, you put me there. So let's talk a little bit about, about mentorship in that way. You were mentoring me. You were teaching me about merchandise. You were teaching me about comedy, about sets, about, um... In fact, here, here's a story. The only time-

Gabriel Iglesias 22:01 Mexican food. [laughs]

Trevor Noah 22:03 Man, man, food. Oh, we're gonna talk about food.

Gabriel Iglesias 22:05 Tacos. [laughs]

Trevor Noah 22:06 Oh, oh my God. [laughs] The, the, the only time you, you told me something instructive, where you said, "Don't do that" or "Do that" was, I was doing a set and, um, we, you know, you're on stage. You're on, you're going from one show to the next, and I have a whole host of mate- I have a bunch of material. But I've been doing the same set with you on the road. I've been doing... And so at some point I was like, "Man, let me switch it up. I've been doing the same jokes. Let me, let me switch this thing up." And I had a great set, and I walk offstage, and Fluffy's standing there almost like a, not angry, but let's just, like, a disappointed father or uncle, you know?

Gabriel Iglesias 22:48 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 22:49 And you were just like, you're like, "Hey." You're like, "Yo, what, what happened to the joke?" And I'm like, "What joke?" And you're like, "You didn't do 'Na Mean.'" And I had this joke, you know, "Na Mean", and was, you know, I did it, like, on, on Leno, and I, it was a great joke, and I loved it. But I was like, "Yeah," I was like, "I, I don't need to do it." And you're like, "No, these people haven't seen that joke." And I was like, "Yeah, but it, it's fine." You're like, "No, you, you need to let these people see that joke." And I was like, "No, it d-" I was like, "The time," and, and you're like, "Hey." And you looked at me. I'll never... It was like a coach in a basketball movie.

Gabriel Iglesias 23:17 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 23:18 And you looked at me. You were like Denzel or somebody, one of those motivational.

Gabriel Iglesias 23:21 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 23:21 And you looked at me and you were like, "Hey, you remember something. These people weren't with us yesterday, and they weren't with us the night before, and they won't be with us tomorrow. You might be getting sick of these jokes, but they're not sick of them. You go out there and you do it like it's the first time ever." And you said, "Those people deserve 'Na Mean.' You go out there and you give them 'Na Mean.'"

Gabriel Iglesias 23:41 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 23:41 And I was like, "I can't go back out there. I'm gonna look like an idiot. I've just got offstage. I'll do it tomorrow." And you're like, "No." They're like, "Yo, man, he forgot to tell you a joke, so he's gonna come back on stage." And I'm like, "I can't come back. What is going on right now? I can't come back out." And you were like, "You go out there and you show them what you're made of. You give them their joke." And then I came back on stage like, this is the most awkward experience I've ever had in my life. No opening act has ever had an encore. I'm willing to bet money.

Gabriel Iglesias 24:04 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 24:06 No opening act. And I went out, and I did the joke.

Gabriel Iglesias 24:10 Ah.

Trevor Noah 24:10 And it got a standing ovation.

Gabriel Iglesias 24:11 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 24:12 And I came back, and you just hugged me. And you were like, "That's what I'm talking about." [laughs] So, like, talk, talk me through this. Why do you have comedians on your show Who don't perform your style of comedy, who may not even, like, complement your style of comedy and could at times, like, you know, surprise your audience. Why would you do that?

Gabriel Iglesias 24:32 I thought you were funny. I thought you were very funny, and, and the show, you, you added more to the show. You were so different. You were so unique. Whenever I put on shows, I look at the entire show as a whole. I don't just look at my performance. I look at what's the fan experience. Are people gonna enjoy it from beginning, middle, end? Are they just sitting there waiting? You know? So I, I did have a lot of comics on the show. I mean, at the time I think with you it was, uh, you, uh, Rick Gutierrez, Alfred Robles-

Trevor Noah 25:01 Mm-hmm

Gabriel Iglesias 25:01 ... Martine, Sean Latham.

Trevor Noah 25:03 Sean Latham, yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 25:03 Yeah. And, and then of course, you know, these people who'd rotate in between.

Trevor Noah 25:06 And then there were switch, rotate in. Yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 25:07 Yeah. So I was already ... Most comics only have one guy.

Trevor Noah 25:10 Yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 25:10 You know, maybe two. The only other person that I know that, that had more people on their show was Kevin Hart, and I know this 'cause I went to a show one time.

Trevor Noah 25:16 [laughs]

Gabriel Iglesias 25:16 I'm like, I'm like, "Wow." [laughs]

Trevor Noah 25:20 [laughs]

Gabriel Iglesias 25:21 There's a l- there's a lotta people on the show. But, uh, yeah, no, I, I, I enjoyed what you did. And, you know, it's funny that you brought up the na mean bit because we l- we love that joke so much that your nickname-

Trevor Noah 25:32 My nickname became na mean

Gabriel Iglesias 25:33 ... it became na mean.

Trevor Noah 25:34 Yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 25:34 So Martine, when he told me today, 'cause I was gonna bring him with me, he goes, "Hey, man, give, give na mean a big hug for me."

Trevor Noah 25:39 [laughs]

Gabriel Iglesias 25:39 So even years later, that still, that stands as, as na- na mean.

Trevor Noah 25:44 Yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 25:44 You know? That-

Trevor Noah 25:44 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 25:45 So m- m- maybe the reason I'm asking this question is because I, I feel like we live in a country and in a world where people are less likely to engage in ideas and other human beings who aren't completely aligned with them. And here you have this person who has done really well building an audience that has an idea of them, but then every time you are risking the association with another human being, and you are risking the audience that you've built for that human being who doesn't have much. Like, what, like, why, why are you doing this? Why take the risk?

Gabriel Iglesias 26:18 I don't, I don't feel like it's as much a risk. Don't get me wrong. There was a couple times when I would get emails and they're like, "Hey, listen, we really like what you do, but we didn't like what your, one of your other comics-

Trevor Noah 26:29 That's what I mean

Gabriel Iglesias 26:30 ... said."

Trevor Noah 26:30 Yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 26:31 And it's like, okay. Um, I, I can see that. Uh, but for some reason, I don't know, man, it's just ... The only time I acted on it, and when I did I felt terrible for it, and I still haven't fully, you know, recovered from it, and that was with Martine. Martine's been on the road with me forever.

Trevor Noah 26:52 Yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 26:53 But I do remember that there was a year where we started getting a lot of complaints about certain top- 'Cause Mar- I tell Martine, "Just go out there, be you."

Trevor Noah 27:01 Yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 27:01 I had gotten a, a few emails and, you know, talking to management, talking to all the people around me, they're like, "Hey, man, look, this isn't a good thing for you." And, uh, you know, I had, I had a whole break in the, in the tour, and Martine went off to do his own thing for, for a while. And I missed him. I missed him, and I felt like it was a breakup, but I'm like this is still my friend.

Trevor Noah 27:20 Mm.

Gabriel Iglesias 27:20 But it, the way that things went down, it just-

Trevor Noah 27:22 Yeah

Gabriel Iglesias 27:22 ... it didn't sit well with me. And, um, I felt, I felt terrible for it, and I'm like h- I should've just had a conversation with him versus just letting all the powers that be dictate that. But, uh, it was one of those things where I like to support and make sure that everybody around me does whatever they do, and if, if they have a different idea or a different opinion, that just, you know ... I don't want everybody to think the same way as me.

Trevor Noah 27:43 Yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 27:44 That's boring. You know? I want people to go up there and shake the room up a little bit, have me ... Say something that's so crazy I can make a callback on it-

Trevor Noah 27:50 Yeah, yeah

Gabriel Iglesias 27:51 ... or say something that's like, whoa. You know? I like that. 'Cause I remember one time I had Rick Gutierrez on the road with me, and, uh, I told him, "Hey, dude, what the hell?" I s- "I just saw your set. Why did ... You know, y- you didn't do this, you didn't do this, you didn't do this." I'll call people out when they don't do the stuff they're supposed to do.

Trevor Noah 28:06 Yeah, yeah, you always do.

Gabriel Iglesias 28:06 Clearly. And he goes, "Oh, man, I was just, you know ... Uh, I, I, I didn't want you to have to follow the, the thing, the this and this and this." I go, "Rick, I'm a headliner, too. If I can't follow you, I shouldn't be closing the show."

Trevor Noah 28:18 Oh, damn.

Gabriel Iglesias 28:18 "You go out there tomorrow and you put your stamp on that stage, all right? And, and w- let me worry about following you. You putting on a kick-ass show will make me work that much harder. I don't wanna be lazy and complacent. You going out there and killing that stage elevates my game-"

Trevor Noah 28:34 Uh-huh.

Gabriel Iglesias 28:34 "... because now I have to perform better than I'm u- you know, used to performing."

Trevor Noah 28:38 Right.

Gabriel Iglesias 28:38 Because it just, it makes you a better comic.

Trevor Noah 28:40 Right.

Gabriel Iglesias 28:41 It makes you better.

Trevor Noah 28:42 It's a,

Trevor Noah 28:42 it inspired me. I mean, it's the reason I do my tours the way I do now. You know, I, I, I was thinking about how some of my favorite memories, genuinely, whenever people ask me about America and they go like, "What are your favorite memories in America?"

Gabriel Iglesias 28:54 Food.

Trevor Noah 28:55 I wanna say, I wanna say eight out of 10-

Gabriel Iglesias 28:56 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 28:56 ... of those memories involve you or where you took me. I, like, like, there are places I remember, a- and I've told jokes about some of these things, but, like, the woman in Lexington, Kentucky, who came up to us after the show.

Gabriel Iglesias 29:08 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 29:08 And she was so sweet. And she was like, she's like, "I, I just wanna let you know, you're by far the funniest and handsomest [beep] I done ever seen." And I remember every ... But I'd never experienced this firsthand. You know, you see America on TV, you see ... And here she was, and I know it's a strange thing to say, but it's like seeing somebody who is not trying to be racist nor even thinks they're saying a thing that ... She was just like, "What, what? I, I ..." And what, the, the best ... You know, and I do t- I did tell the joke, but it was all true.

Gabriel Iglesias 29:35 Oh, my God.

Trevor Noah 29:35 It was delivered to me. Was my favorite was when Alfred and the gang said to her, they said, "Yo, you can't say that. You can't say that." And then she's like, "What? I can't say he's the funniest? I didn't mean to offend y'all." And we were like, "No, that's, that's not the part of the sentence-"

Gabriel Iglesias 29:49 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 29:49 "... that was a problem." But I think of the, the memories I've had, and one of my favorite memories on the road with you, so there were a few. So this was in El Paso, Texas.

Gabriel Iglesias 30:00 Okay.

Trevor Noah 30:00 You were the person who took me to El Paso. I'm new in America. I'm on the tour bus with, with Fluffy. And we get to this town, and El Paso at that time was, like, was this really interesting place where you were in America, but it really felt like you were experiencing a city in Mexico. Do you know what I mean? It had, like, a, had an interesting feel to it.

Gabriel Iglesias 30:21 It is, it is a border town.

Trevor Noah 30:22 Yeah, yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 30:22 It is, it is neighboring to, to Mexico.

Trevor Noah 30:24 Right. On, on this day, I, um, I remember I was trying to look for a, I was searching for a Footlocker. This was, this was years ago. We are talking, yeah, 2012. Yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 30:34 Wow.

Trevor Noah 30:34 So like, yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 30:34 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 30:34 This was 2012. So I remember I'm using Google Maps. Google Maps wasn't as sharp as it is today. So I'm using Google Maps, and I go, "Foot Locker," 'cause I'm like, "That's where people buy their shoes in America." I'm like, "All right, Foot Locker." And Google Maps shows me a place. Without even thinking, I leave the tour bus that we're sleeping on, and I, I just start walking, and I just follow Google Maps, follow Google Maps, follow Google Maps. The more I'm walking, I'm like, "Wow, the people are getting more and more brown. People are getting more and more brown as we walk here."

Gabriel Iglesias 31:02 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 31:02 I'm like, "All right. People are getting more and more brown." And then Google tells me to, like, walk up onto some, like, embankment, and next thing I know... But now there's this, there's this weird part where I'm essentially walking upstairs, and it looks like I'm going into a mall, I guess. But I'm walking upstairs, but very quickly the stairs are enclosed in, like, a, there's, like, a cage. You know what I mean? So you, you couldn't, like, hop off the stairs on either side. Does this make sense?

Gabriel Iglesias 31:25 Okay.

Trevor Noah 31:25 Okay. So I'm walking, and now there's a lot of people coming towards us, and a lot of people going where we're going. So now you... It, it's the inertia of the crowd, and you're walking. Then you're on a bridge, and I'm walking, I'm walking, I'm walking on a bridge. And then I'm like, "Is that a river? What, what is happening right now? What... Like, where is this mall?"

Gabriel Iglesias 31:39 Oh my God.

Trevor Noah 31:40 And then as I walk down the bridge, I see a sign, and it says, "Welcome to Mexico." Now, my, in my ignorant brain, I didn't know, 'cause I've never walked across a border in my life. To me, borders happen at, like, ports and at airports. And I'm just like, "Wait, what is it? Bine- bienvenidos a Mexico." I'm like, "What?" So now I'm walking. I'm like, "Oh, shit, no, no, no, no, no. This is wrong. This is clearly wrong" So I turn around. Now, I'm causing so much commotion in the flow that the border agents are, like, there now. And then he's like, "Hey, come on." He's like, "Come on, vamanos, vamanos, vamanos." So I'm like, "No, no, no, I'm sorry. I'm going to... I'm sorry, I'm... It's the wrong-"

Gabriel Iglesias 32:19 Going to Foot Locker.

Trevor Noah 32:20 But I can't... Yeah, I can't hop to the other side. I'm like, "Oh, I'm go- I'm trying to go to Foot Locker." And now they're pushing me. The crowd's p- everyone's pissed off at me, understandably. I'm, like, trying to get to the other, I can't get to the... And finally, I, like, get down to where he is, and he's like, "Hey." And he's like, "Andale, andale, ..." And I'm like, "No, no, sorry, sir, I don't speak Spanish. Hey, man, I'm, I'm, I was trying to get to Foot Locker." And he's like, "What?" He's like, "No, no, keep going. Keep going." So I'm like, "No, no, no. Keep going where? I can't go..."

Gabriel Iglesias 32:40 To Foot Locker.

Trevor Noah 32:40 I'm like, "I can't go to Mexico. I can't go to Mexico. I'm Gabriel Iglesias. I can't go to Mexico." And then he's like, "What? Come on." Then he, then he's like, "Where's your passport?" Then I was like, "I don't, I don't have a passport." Then he's like, "What?" Then I'm like, "No, not like that. Not like that. I just don't have my passport with me. I didn't think..." Then he's like, "Why don't you have your passport?" Then I'm like, "W- I don't travel with my passport when I go to Foot Locker. This is not a thing that I do."

Gabriel Iglesias 32:59 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 32:59 Yo, we stood there for 15 minutes. I sat there begging this man not to deport me to not my country.

Gabriel Iglesias 33:05 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 33:07 'Cause it's one thing to get deported to your country.

Gabriel Iglesias 33:08 Country.

Trevor Noah 33:09 It's one thing to get de- deported to a not your country. And, and then-

Gabriel Iglesias 33:13 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 33:13 ... I, I'd never done this before, and I have never done it since.

Gabriel Iglesias 33:16 Oh.

Trevor Noah 33:16 I pulled out my phone, and I said, "Wait, wait, wait. Let me Google me." And now I'm typing my name into Google, and I'm praying to God. I'm like, "Google, you better, man, you better not mess with me on this one." I'm like, "Trevor Noah," and I, like, hit it. And then my face comes up, and then The Tonight Show, and then, like, us, like, on t- like, all k- And I was like, "See? You see?" And he looks at it and he's like, "Huh." He's like, "Oh." He's like, "Oh, shit, you with Fluffy."

Gabriel Iglesias 33:41 Oh my God.

Trevor Noah 33:41 He's like, "Oh, yeah. Oh, man. Oh, you d- you guys doing a show." I'm like, "Yeah, yeah. You know Fluffy?" He's like, "Yeah, man, of course I know Fluffy." Then he's like, "Yeah, man, I l- I love Fluffy." He's like, "I see, yeah, yeah. I get to know the..."

Gabriel Iglesias 33:51 Oh my God.

Trevor Noah 33:51 He's like, he's like, "Oh, Fluffy Ma-" And this guy, I will never for- Yo, I walked, then he jumped me over to the other side. He's like, "Yeah." He's like, "You shouldn't walk across a border without a passport." I was like, "So I was going to Foot Locker. I did not know that I was going to a border." And he let me come back to you. And I remember I was telling Alfred and the guys that [laughs] that day... And Al- you know Alfred, clas- classically, he's like, "Yo, nah mean?" He's like, "I told you, man." He's like, "You Dominican, bro. I told you, man."

Gabriel Iglesias 34:16 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 34:16 "They can see it. You might not see it, but they can see it, man. You Dominican, bro."

Gabriel Iglesias 34:19 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 34:20 And I was like, "Yo." That, that was the day I was like, "Screw you, Google, and thank God for Fluffy." [upbeat music] Don't go anywhere, 'cause we got more What Now? after this. [upbeat music]

Trevor Noah 34:36 Easily, easily the best experience you and I shared for me was your fans, you would talk about something on stage, and if you made the mistake of mentioning something, your fans would start to bring it to the show.

Gabriel Iglesias 34:49 Yes.

Trevor Noah 34:50 You know? And one of the things you talked about was loving cake. And so at all your shows, Gabe, it was... Like, I close my eyes n- right now and I can picture it. Backstage would every cake you can imagine would be waiting backstage. Like, every cake. And I remember I joined the tour. I felt like the African who had just come into this world-

Gabriel Iglesias 35:13 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 35:14 ... where it was like, I was like, "There's just cakes all the time?" 'Cause I'm not even lying, when I grew up, cake was a thing that would happen on occasion. I think it still is. Cake is not, you don't just bump into cakes all the time in South Africa. Every day we were on tour, there was a minimum of 12 to 14 cakes, maximum of, like-

Gabriel Iglesias 35:30 We had a, we had a cake table backstage-

Trevor Noah 35:33 Yo

Gabriel Iglesias 35:33 ... at the shows, 'cause people would constantly bring chocolate cakes, or, "You gotta try my, my cousin's cake"-

Trevor Noah 35:38 Yo

Gabriel Iglesias 35:38 ... "or you gotta try this cake."

Trevor Noah 35:39 Do you remember the penis cake?

Gabriel Iglesias 35:40 And so, yeah, it was... Uh, I've gotten a lot of penis cakes. I'm sorry. [laughs]

Trevor Noah 35:43 That, yo, that penis cake was one of the best cakes I've ever eaten in my life. I remember nobody wanted to eat it.

Gabriel Iglesias 35:47 It was a cake in the shape of a penis.

Trevor Noah 35:49 Yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 35:49 It wasn't like-

Trevor Noah 35:50 Oh, it wasn't a cake made of penises.

Gabriel Iglesias 35:51 Yeah. No, it's a, "Here"-

Trevor Noah 35:51 Come on. Get your head out the gutter

Gabriel Iglesias 35:52 ... "Here, have this dick cake. Here you go." [laughs]

Trevor Noah 35:53 No. Can't make a cake out of dicks. Come on. That doesn't, doesn't hold. The, the, the eggs don't blend with it well. Um, [laughs] no.

Gabriel Iglesias 36:00 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 36:01 Someone brought a cake that was a, a massive penis, giant, giant penis, right? And I remember nobody wanted to touch the cake, and I had become the de facto cake taster.

Gabriel Iglesias 36:11 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 36:11 Nine out of 10 cakes weren't worth tasting or eating. And then that, that dick cake came.

Gabriel Iglesias 36:16 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 36:18 And it was weird. You know how there's that thing, that sh-

Gabriel Iglesias 36:20 And no matter what angle, which, which side-

Trevor Noah 36:21 Oh, no, no, no, no, no

Gabriel Iglesias 36:22 ... you decided to try to cut a piece-

Trevor Noah 36:23 No. No, no, no. You were getting the balls on one side.

Gabriel Iglesias 36:24 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 36:25 You're getting the shaft on the other. You're getting the head on the other.

Gabriel Iglesias 36:27 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 36:27 And I remember, I remember everyone standing there- And you, you know the show, um, Is It Cake?

Gabriel Iglesias 36:32 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 36:33 This was the opposite. It was almost like, is it dick?

Gabriel Iglesias 36:35 Is it dick? [laughs]

Trevor Noah 36:35 [laughs] 'Cause it's like they didn't believe it was a cake. I was like, "Guys, it's a cake." They're like, "I don't know, man." I don't- I'm like, "It's a cake. We can eat it. It doesn't matter what it looks like." They're like, "I don't know, man. I don't, I don't wanna eat dick." I was like, "Guys, you're not eating dick, you're eating cake."

Gabriel Iglesias 36:46 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 36:47 "You can't eat dick with a spoon." And they were like, "I don't know, man. I don't know if I can" ... And so I was like, "Well, I'm going in." And they're like, "You're gonna eat the dick now, man?"

Gabriel Iglesias 36:53 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 36:54 I was like, "I'm gonna eat the cake. I'm gonna eat the cake." They're like, "Yo, now me eating the dick."

Gabriel Iglesias 36:57 Now me eating the dick. [laughs]

Trevor Noah 36:58 Now me eating the dick. And I was like, "Man, you know what? You guys ..." And I ate it, and I turned to everyone and I was like, "Yo, you guys gotta get some of this dick."

Gabriel Iglesias 37:04 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 37:06 And everyone was like, "Nah, you're lying. You just wanna ... You wanna ..." And I was like, "Everybody ..." And I'll never forget, there was a moment where we were all gathered around this giant penis on a table, and we were just all like, "Man, this is amazing. This is some good-ass dick. This is the best dick we've ever ... [laughs]

Gabriel Iglesias 37:22 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 37:23 Easily some of my favorite memories. But what, but what it, but what it also triggered in me-

Gabriel Iglesias 37:27 And what everybody wants to know is which ... Hey, where did you start? Did you start on the head, the shaft, or the balls?

Trevor Noah 37:31 I don't even know where I ... I just went in.

Gabriel Iglesias 37:33 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 37:34 I'm ... I still try and find that ... I, I don't know where the bakery is.

Gabriel Iglesias 37:36 Oh, my God.

Trevor Noah 37:36 I'll try and find it.

Trevor Noah 37:38 But, but this triggered a random memory of mine that I've always wondered about sort of what you said about receiving emails. I, I, I always wanted to know, like, how you dealt with this and how you moved through this. There, there was a time when, you know, you went to the doctor's and they were like, "Hey, man, Gabriel, you can't be eating as much as you're eating. You know, like, we're worried about your health, you know, your, your heart, everything." You told, you told the audience these stories. You're like, "Yeah, I gotta cut down" and everything. And you started boxing, you started losing weight. And I'll never forget this, 'cause this really, like, threw me off as a human being and, and as a performer. There were some fans of yours who were angry that you were losing weight.

Gabriel Iglesias 38:17 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 38:17 They were like, "I'm not ..." The ... More than any political thing.

Gabriel Iglesias 38:19 You're not gonna be fluffy anymore. Yeah.

Trevor Noah 38:21 Yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 38:21 It's like, "Hey, I'm gonna live longer maybe?"

Trevor Noah 38:23 [laughs]

Gabriel Iglesias 38:24 I don't know. Uh, yeah, but I did have some people that were getting upset 'cause it's, it was going against the, the fluffy thing, you know?

Trevor Noah 38:31 It-

Gabriel Iglesias 38:31 And it's like, but come on, man, it's like why is this even a, a, a concern?

Trevor Noah 38:35 That is ... You should be celebrating-

Gabriel Iglesias 38:37 You should celebrating the fact that I'm trying to make my life better, but yeah, some people did not receive it that way.

Trevor Noah 38:41 But I think it's, it's a, it's a valuable conversation to have in society. We take for granted how much the way we are makes people comfortable, and if we dare to change that, it changes how they feel in relation to us. Do you know what I mean?

Gabriel Iglesias 38:58 Mm.

Trevor Noah 38:58 I always felt like that, that illuminated something quite powerful that we're still dealing with today in society, and it's like what do you think you've learned? 'Cause you have ... You actual- you have real conversations with the people, wh- which is why I ask you, is like what did you learn about how people see you, and then how you have to balance that with how you wish to be while still maintaining relationships with them?

Gabriel Iglesias 39:20 I value people's opinions, especially the people that are willing to come out and support and, and make this, this work. I listen to people. I, I, I value their opinions. It's, it's not a matter of opinion. I'm, I'm no longer young. I'm no longer a 20-year-old kid that can-

Trevor Noah 39:37 Mm-hmm

Gabriel Iglesias 39:38 ... be 440 pounds. I'm, I'm almost 50, and if, if I wanna continue that, the ... We already know what's gonna happen.

Trevor Noah 39:46 Yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 39:46 So in that situation where I have people that voice their opinion, "Well, you're not gonna be fluffy no more, I can't support you," those are the people who, whose opinion is not something that's gonna work well with what I'm trying to do.

Trevor Noah 39:59 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 40:00 And again, if fans aren't willing to see the bigger picture and understand that I'm trying to do something to make myself better physically, not let me do something that's like, oh, all of a sudden he's political. No.

Trevor Noah 40:11 Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Gabriel Iglesias 40:11 I'm doing something where I'm trying to improve my quality of life-

Trevor Noah 40:15 Mm

Gabriel Iglesias 40:16 ... because I wanna be around. If they don't agree with that, then I don't, I don't want them. I don't need them. And I have to be willing to accept the fact that, all right, I'm gonna lose those fans, I'm sorry.

Trevor Noah 40:27 Is, is that hard for you?

Gabriel Iglesias 40:28 It is, because you always wanna make everybody happy, but I'm literally trying to make people happy by killing myself. So if me killing myself is gonna make someone happy, then maybe I don't wanna make those people happy, and maybe I'm, I need to let those people go. And that is hard, but I know for the greater good, I gotta just be willing to say sorry, you know? I'm not gonna be fluffy. Maybe I'll just be Tuffy. Maybe I'll be Buffy. Maybe I'll be, you know, Scruffy. I'll, I'll be something with a Y at the end of it, but, uh, I, I need to, I need to be around.

Trevor Noah 40:56 I ... Man, that's why I say you, you continuously ... Like, you, you always inspire me, man, because I think this is something that many performers ... And again, I go to like I'm sure people deal with it in their lives, but when you're a performer, it's amplified. Many people deal with this and aren't able to articulate it and don't deal with it publicly, but there's, there's an idea. For instance, on comedy, I'll deal with it the opposite way to you. If I do a show where I don't say anything political, sometimes people are like, "What the, what the hell are you doing? With everything that's happening in the world, you're just gonna come out and make jokes?" And I go, "Yeah, because that's what I do. I ... Sometimes I'm just making jokes." "Did you see what happened on the news today?" I'm like, "No, I don't watch the news every day anymore." And they'll go like, "Oh, w- why not?" Then I go, "Because for my mental health, it's not great. I don't think for your mental health it's great. I don't think you should be watching the news every day. It's not good for you." "I don't know. I just feel like you ... This is not-"

Gabriel Iglesias 41:50 You've changed. It's not what-

Trevor Noah 41:51 Yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 41:51 Yeah. It's not what we signed up for.

Trevor Noah 41:52 I, I don't ... Exa- It's not what we signed up for. And I'm, I'm constantly and continuously thinking about how you find a balance in life between accommodating how people have seen you and how you wish to see yourself.

Gabriel Iglesias 42:05 Mm-hmm.

Trevor Noah 42:05 You know? How, how wish ... How you wish to grow.

Trevor Noah 42:07 What, what do you make of the conversations about weight and weight loss today? Like, with Ozempic and everything. Like, now when people talk about losing weight and Ozempic and all these things, do, do you ever think about it? Do you have an opinion on it in that world?

Gabriel Iglesias 42:18 As somebody who's, uh, used Ozempic ... And by the way, Ozempic approached me, uh, years ago before it really became popular.

Trevor Noah 42:24 Oh, wow.

Gabriel Iglesias 42:24 And they wanted me to be the spokesperson for Ozempic. They wanted me to be the, the, "Oh, oh, oh ..." You know? They, they wanted me-

Trevor Noah 42:31 Yeah, yeah

Gabriel Iglesias 42:31 ... to be the guy in all the commercials, the, the modern-day Wilford Brimley. You know, "Me and my diabetes." [laughs]

Trevor Noah 42:37 [laughs]

Gabriel Iglesias 42:38 "My diabetes. When I'm dealing with my diabetes" So they, they approached me to, uh, to be the spokesperson, but, uh, you know, the, the powers that be said, "Hey, for what they want from you, your time commitment and, and what they're expecting-

Trevor Noah 42:50 Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah

Gabriel Iglesias 42:50 ... they're not willing to play."

Trevor Noah 42:52 Right.

Gabriel Iglesias 42:52 And I was like, "Okay." But in hindsight, I would've gotten free Ozempic, and that's, that stuff goes for, like, thousands on the black market.

Trevor Noah 42:58 I mean, yeah, it's, it's thousands. Yeah

Gabriel Iglesias 42:58 I probably could've came up, but I, I, uh, passed. But I, I've used it. I used, uh, Ozempic for a while. And they're right. Even with me, out the gate, first two weeks, I dropped 15 pounds. I didn't change anything. And so I can see why that would be addicting.

Trevor Noah 43:11 Uh-huh.

Gabriel Iglesias 43:11 Because it ... You do. It'll, it'll kick in right away. Now I'm taking a, a something called Mounjaro.

Trevor Noah 43:17 Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 43:17 So it's like, that's-

Trevor Noah 43:17 That's, that's from Eli Lilly

Gabriel Iglesias 43:18 ... yeah, it's the other one.

Trevor Noah 43:19 Yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 43:19 But you will plateau, 'cause, uh, the ... Yeah. You lose so mu-

Trevor Noah 43:22 Oh, interesting. Okay

Gabriel Iglesias 43:22 ... so much weight. It does ... It's not like you just keep losing weight. No, no, no. You plateau, but it does regulate my sugar. So for example, I wear a monitor. You can't see it right now, but there's, uh, the, uh-

Trevor Noah 43:30 The, one of those on the arm? What, what color is it? What, do you have, like, a, what is it, like a next ... Is it the one that does continuous glucose monitoring?

Gabriel Iglesias 43:36 Yeah, continuous glucose-

Trevor Noah 43:36 Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah

Gabriel Iglesias 43:37 ... monitoring.

Trevor Noah 43:40 Oh, yeah?

Gabriel Iglesias 43:40 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 43:40 I like that.

Gabriel Iglesias 43:40 So every two weeks I change it out, and of course you scan it, like when you're at the supermarket and go, "Beep."

Trevor Noah 43:44 [laughs]

Gabriel Iglesias 43:44 And then you kinda read, "All right, that's what I'm worth today."

Trevor Noah 43:46 [laughs] Beep.

Gabriel Iglesias 43:48 And, you know, that's been super helpful along with, you know, just trying to be somewhat active.

Trevor Noah 43:53 Yeah.

Gabriel Iglesias 43:53 I'm not as active as I would like to be. I don't do the boxing thing anymore, but, uh, you know, I'm, I'm still, I'm still moving.

Trevor Noah 43:59 Yeah, man. You have had some of the more honest conversations about f- food and the emotional connection it gives us and the support and the ... You know? Like, I know for a fact the reason I love food the way I do is because it reminds me of moments in my life when things were okay. Do you know what I mean? Man, there was never a moment in my life where we were broke and we had good food. And so food has this, has this interesting connection to my brain that makes me feel safe. It makes me feel seen.

Gabriel Iglesias 44:31 Absolutely.

Trevor Noah 44:31 It makes me feel welcome. It makes me feel ... You know? And I wondered, like, if over the years, you know, 'cause we, we haven't spoken about it in such a long time, but if over the years you've tapped into that connection with food. 'Cause I know you, you, you, you and I, we, we'd literally talk about it while eating, like Arby's or whatever. It would just be like, "Ah, the way-

Gabriel Iglesias 44:47 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 44:48 ... remember how food makes ..." And no, and I, I just wondered if you, if you've had ... Like, if you've worked on that more, if you, you know, with therapy or whatever. Just, like, have you delved more into that space of what food means to you as a person?

Gabriel Iglesias 44:59 Food for me has always been an, uh, like, comfort food. It, it, if I'm dealing with something, when, when you eat, you have that moment where you're just like, "Mm." Like, everything makes sense. Like, for example, my favorite, favorite thing to eat in the world is just a plain cheese quesadilla. Plain cheese quesadilla. And people go, "Really? That's what you like? You could eat anywhere you want, but you want a plain cheese quesadilla?"

Trevor Noah 45:21 There's few things that beat a quesadilla.

Gabriel Iglesias 45:21 I go, "You know what? Plain cheese quesadilla makes me think of my childhood."

Trevor Noah 45:24 Oh, man.

Gabriel Iglesias 45:24 My mom would make me a quesadilla, you know, and that was just it. That's all I needed. I just needed a piece of cheese and some, a tortilla folded up. My mom would, you know, g- make it on the stove and, and I was, I was a happy camper. And so any time I have a quesadilla, it's very much comforting to me. It feels safe. It feels ... It takes me back to a, a time when I had my mom.

Trevor Noah 45:43 Mm-hmm.

Gabriel Iglesias 45:43 And so-

Trevor Noah 45:43 And you were close to your mom.

Gabriel Iglesias 45:44 Very close.

Trevor Noah 45:45 Hey, man, I'm ... As I say, you and I were brothers on that trip, like f- like figuratively and literally in, in the food. And, um, yeah, I, I, I don't know. To see how much self-worth and, and how much value you gave to overweight people all, all over America, where you, you didn't allow them to be defined as being lazy, as being slobs, as, like ... You, you, you gave people just, like, a feeling of being seen, you know? I remember when you said to me with my merchandise, I was making T-shirts and you had helped me make them, and I didn't even know merch was a thing. And, and then you said, like, "Get your sizes and split them out," and what. And I was like, "All right. I'm gonna need small, medium, large." And then you were like, "Yo, no. I mean," you're like, "Where's the, where's the double XL?"

Gabriel Iglesias 46:27 Mm-hmm.

Trevor Noah 46:27 "Where's the triple XL?" And I was like, "You're joking, right?" And you're like, "No, I'm not joking. You gotta think about everybody." And I was like, where I'm from, there isn't a 4X. I, I wasn't even joke- ... And it was a, it was a learning, but, but to see the people's faces when you would have their size. And, and it's this weird, complicated thing, where I think in society, we, we, we like, we like to impose a singular idea. So you wanna go, "Well, if you're, if you're fat, then no T-shirt for you." But you taught me that's humanity in such a beautiful way. You made those people feel seen. You taught me to always try and see people as much as you can. Just see them, meet them where they are, and then hopefully by holding their hand, you both embark on a journey that takes you in the right direction. And so I guess that takes me to the question, you know, that, that I ask everybody at, at the end of every episode, and that is, like, you know, what now? You know, Gabriel Iglesias has, in many ways, done everything. At the ... There are few, maybe none, no comedians, who are gonna sell out stadiums. Like, Dodger Stadium is not a joke. Like, you know what I mean? I, I'm still fighting with selling, like as soon as an arena gets to, like, 15,000, it's like, "Oh, clench your butt cheeks, boys. Here we go. Ooh, ooh, ooh."

Gabriel Iglesias 47:40 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 47:41 And you've done it. No, it's true. You've done it. You've toured the world. And so I, I would love to know, like, you know, for Gabriel Iglesias, like, what now? What, what do you, what do you hope to sell- see yourself doing in the next few years? And don't limit it to career, by the way. I wanna know, like, as a human being, what now for you?

Gabriel Iglesias 47:58 Honestly, uh, I think that it's, it's time that I, uh, I'm, I take care of this weight situation. I've managed to be able to, uh, achieve every goal I have ever set for myself in my career. I've, I've done everything I've wanted to do. And I think personally, I have failed myself by not, uh, working better on relationships, working better on maintaining a, a certain level of just health.

Trevor Noah 48:25 Mm-hmm.

Gabriel Iglesias 48:25 I've, I've allowed myself to ... You know, I've made excuses for years, and I think that now it's, it's okay to, to get off the road for a little while. It's okay to take a little break and, and start working on myself. You know, during COVID, I was, I was so depressed because I couldn't get on stage for almost a year. But during that time, I actually started working out and seeing a, a, a diabetes specialist and started getting healthier because I was actually able to get on a schedule-

Trevor Noah 48:54 Yeah

Gabriel Iglesias 48:54 ... and a routine. And I lost about 75 pounds in that year. And then as soon as I-

Trevor Noah 49:00 Wow

Gabriel Iglesias 49:00 ... went back on tour, I gained back 50 of it. And I'm like, "Wow, if I would've just kept this up for, like, another year, I could've," you know?

Trevor Noah 49:08 Mm-hmm.

Gabriel Iglesias 49:08 But I got back into my old habits, and I was ... I, I got used to being comfortable.

Trevor Noah 49:13 Mm-hmm.

Gabriel Iglesias 49:13 And I, I, I think that by saying it out loud and by saying this in front of people, and I, I'm trying to make myself accountable.

Trevor Noah 49:21 Mm-hmm.

Gabriel Iglesias 49:21 Because I hate letting people down. And if, I think that if people know that this is the goal, they'll be supportive of it. And again, if some people don't wanna support me [laughs] making myself better, then maybe those people I don't need in my life anymore.

Trevor Noah 49:34 Yeah, man.

Gabriel Iglesias 49:35 So.

Trevor Noah 49:35 I, I, I think they'll be with you. I think through COVID, everyone has appreciated life in a very different way. And I, I think they'll be with you. You know, they'll be with you as Fluffy. They'll be with you as Buffy, as Tuffy, as Scruffy.

Gabriel Iglesias 49:46 Scruffy.

Trevor Noah 49:46 Yeah. And I hope you know-

Gabriel Iglesias 49:47 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 49:47 ... on a personal level, no matter what you do or don't do, you will always be Enuffy.

Gabriel Iglesias 49:52 Thank you. [laughs]

Trevor Noah 49:53 Thank you, my brother. For real, man.

Gabriel Iglesias 49:54 Love you, Trevor.

Trevor Noah 49:55 You're always great, Gabe. Thanks for coming on.

Gabriel Iglesias 49:56 Thank you, man. [upbeat music]