Gabriel Iglesias - Television Tropes & Idioms

The last thing a (piece of) chocolate cake will ever see.

"Like Julio, but bigger. Way... bigger."

— Fluffy, about himself, on =3

Gabriel Iglesias is a stand-up comic known for his funny impersonations, crazy sound effects and obnoxious Hawaiian shirts. He started his career on All That, and ended up getting specials on Comedy Central. He's also known for his good-natured Self-Deprecation and bright attitude about being what he calls "fluffy".

All of the hilarious stories he tells have basis in truth. He happens to live a quite crazy life and draws from these experiences. He also likes chocolate cake and is delighted and surprised when fans bring it to him.

Has a website

Has a show called Gabriel Iglesias' Stand-Up Revolution

Tropes related to Gabriel Iglesias:

Ass Shove: One of his routines relates his trip to the doctor with a complaint of "I can't fart." The doctor examines him, described only as "I'm not gonna tell you what he did, but you know what he did" and diagnoses him with a blockage, easily remedied with an enema.
Big Fun - See his list of the levels of fatness at Fat Bastard below.
Bilingual Backfire: At one point when Franky was late for school, Gabriel tried to drop him off in the front of the school only for the principal to show up and tell him it wasn't the designated area. In response to this, Gabriel began talking to her in very fast Spanish. Only for the principal not only to understand this, but give him very clear instructions of how this wasn't the designated drop off area, where the correct area was, followed up by telling him (in Spanish) that she was not stupid.
Bilingual Bonus: Moves seamlessly between English and Spanish in his shows.
Brick Joke: "But it was funny, huh?" To wit: Cop pulls over Gabe, his friends, and Felipe, whose purpose in life is to get Gabe in humungous trouble - he does so by antagonizing the cop. Gabe tells a joke, leading to the first "But it was funny, huh". After the situation's defused and he gets away scott-free for making the cop laugh, the friend jokes about pot in his pocket. The cop PULLS OUT HIS PIECE AND POINTS IT AT HIS FRIEND, screaming that just because Gabe got off lightly doesn't mean he isn't... and the friend promptly cries if he's going to jail. "Nope! But it was funny, huh?"
- In the Left the Background Music On example below, the cop in question mentions that the only story he ever heard that was funnier than this one was the time some fat Mexican offered one of his colleagues some donuts (see Donut Mess with a Cop, below).
- Earlier his girlfriend begins to freak out when Franky starts to experience signs puberty is setting its course and he tells her "Don't worry, I'll be the man, I'll take care of it" to calm her down. This comes back later to bite him in the ass when Franky asks what a hooker is and his girlfriend echoes his promise word for word. He gets his revenge though, by telling him "You wanna know what a hooker is? Those are your mom's friends.", causing Franky to chime "hookers are here!" every time they visit them.
- It's become a Brick Joke, but it was actually explained in one of his much earlier appearances. After enduring too many of his friend's 'but it was funny, huh?' comments after doing something dumb and attracting the attention of the police at a border checkpoint, Gabriel and another friend traveling with him decide they're going to get one back on him - and while his friend is sleeping in his hotel room, continually call his room pretending to be the front desk ordering him to keep the noise down and that other guests are complaining. After one of these calls (Gabriel using his great voice repertoire) a 'Damn Mexicans' is added, which sets off his buddy. Who promptly charges downstairs and in the middle of the lobby starts shouting about how this hotel is full of racists - a rant that ends with Gabriel revealing the identity of the caller, delivering a "Hello, sir?" in the same nasal voice. Cue a well-deserved and triumphant 'But it was funny, huh?' from Gabriel.
- Wit' an "I"?! But you said "Eeeeeeeeeee-Glasias", You d'n't say "I-Glasias" You said "Eeeeeeeee-Glasias"!" Then "I speak Spanish, too, Mother F@$%er!*
  She spoke with him again when his car was stolen and he called On-Star, chiming in first with a "Do you spell that wit' an "I"? He hung up and redialed the Spanish line instead of the English line hoping she won't catch on, leading to this.
  "
Crosses the Line Twice: The Racist Gift Basket routine. Several times. It's even lampshaded by the target of the joke. invoked
Donut Mess with a Cop: Twice. He's had many encounters with the police, but on one occasion made an illegal turn out of a Krispy Kreme and got caught. The policeman pulled him over and asked the obligatory, "You know why I pulled you over?" His response (while holding a fresh batch of Krispy Kreme donuts in his lap): "Cuz you could smell it!"
Epic Meal Time: Fast Food Fluffy Cake
Fat Bastard: Noted here:
I used to say that there were five levels of fatness — the original five are 'big', 'healthy', 'husky', 'fluffy', and 'Daaayum!'". People asked, what could be bigger than 'Daaayum!'? The new level is called 'Aw, HELL naw!'
- Compared to "Daayum", in which people mistook you for an amusement park ride, "Aw, HELL naw!" comes with Godzilla sounds. Gabe was damn sure the elevator he was in would collapse if they let him in.
Faux Yay: In his special "I'm Not Fat... I'm Fluffy", he talked about getting drunk in El Paso and ending up at a gay club. When he realized where he was and realized that guys were checking him out, he embraced it, putting his hands on his hips and going "Shoot..." in fairly camp manner. He even went so far as to call his girlfriend to say, "You better not mess up, because I have options."
- In "Hot and Fluffy", he's said he's turned gay for five seconds after having a plane drop during a lightning storm. Oh, and brought up the aforementioned accidental Gay Bar incident.
- He tends to scream like a woman a lot during his routines.
Fetish Fuel: For him, it's all about food. "Chooooooocolate.... caaaaaaaaake....." invoked
For the Lulz: Gabriel's friend Felipe frequently pulls off really dickish pranks that (either almost or actually) get the whole bunch of them in serious trouble. His justification when they bitch him out later? "But it was funny, huh?" It later bites him in the ass.
The Friend Nobody Likes: Gabriel's stories tend to paint Felipe as this, given how much trouble he gets everyone into.
Fun with Foreign Languages: Gabriel recounts a trip to the Arizona Mall, which greets its visitors:
(group of white shoppers enters) *chime* "Welcome to the Arizona Mall."
(Gabe and his friends enter) *chime* "Bienvenido al Centro Comercial de Arizona."
(group of black men enter) *chime* Yo dawg, welcome to the mall!"
- He recounts calling up Gatorland in Florida, where the Spanish hotline consisted of "I don't speak Spanish, but I'm sure you'll love this park."
Hula and Luaus/Aloha Hawaii: He recounts being mistaken for Hawaiian constantly (due to his Hawaiian shirt and size). He was perplexed and annoyed by people asking this... until he actually went to Hawai'i and found out why (they all, quote, "look like swollen Mexicans" and are fluffy like him!)
Gallows Humor: A variation, he says that you can get out of trouble with a cop if you can make them laugh. So he once had "Bad Boys" blaring over his speakers when a cop pulled him over for speeding. The cop couldn't stop laughing so he sent him on his way.
Gangbangers: His routine sketch involves an anecdote when he used to drive a tiny Volkswagen Beetle, and getting made fun of by some Mexican gangbangers for somehow fitting in a Beetle. It's been modified - he's still made fun of despite being in a bigger car.
- Eyyyyyy! How you get in there, Ese!
I Am Big Boned/Insistent Terminology: He's not fat, he's fluffy! Subverted in other jokes, in which he mocks his own weight.
- Also with Insistent Terminology: "I AM NOT A STRIPPER, OK?!?! I'm... An entertainer."
  Gabriel: Noooooooo, I'm an entertainer. And you're nasty.
Mama Bear: Gabriel's girlfriend reacts this way at Gabriel one time when he gets upset and yells at her son.
Man of a Thousand Voices: Okay, not a thousand voices, but he certainly can do a couple dozen. Each and every one is made according to the Rule of Funny.
Momma's Boy: In two of his specials he takes time out of the act to draw attention to his mother in the audience, and speaks lovingly about her. He says he owes a lot to her in other specials, because he feels she's the reason why he's successful - if he can't make his mom laugh with a joke, the joke isn't funny.
Mood Whiplash: When telling the "excessive speeding" story; he has the California Highway Patrolman grooving to the theme to COPS, even walking to the beat of the song, but when he returns to Gabriel's car, he snaps right back into serious mode, shouting, "SHUT IT OFF!" at Gabriel.
- Later, he lets them go, only for Gabe's friend to run his mouth. Cop yanks out his piece.
Retroactive Wish: In one of his first routines, Gabriel talked about how much he loved chocolate cake; since then, people have brought him chocolate cake when they go to his shows. This caused one of his friends to ask, "Why didn't you do a joke about hookers?" and his girlfriend's son to say, "You should say you love Transformers."
Sassy Black Woman - During the racist gift basket portion - complete with "You need Jesus". And she shows up again when Gabe tries to call OnStar.
Screams Like a Little Girl: A sudden loss of altitude in a plane tends to do that to you. In fact, Gabriel loves to pulls off the excited scream in his shows, usually during impersonations.
Left the Background Music On: In another instance with a policeman, he was pulled over for speeding. The policeman walked over, and since he usually gets off easy if he can make a cop laugh, he turned on his Bad Boys II CD and blared the COPS theme song. The policeman "damn near pissed himself".
Spell My Name with an S: One routine revolved around an especially sassy black woman working at a hotel front desk—whose Spanish was lacking, apparently—miffed about his name being spelled "Iglesias" despite having a long "E" sound in English.
- Also, his legal name is Gabriel Iglecias. Professionally, he spells it with two s's for simplicity's sake.
Truth in Television - In Hot and Fluffy, he recites being told about a Floridian theme park revolving around gators, called Gatorland, in which pressing the option for Spanish when calling the theme park results in a "I don't speak Spanish, but I'm sure you'll love this park." Turns out... it does say that. Well, did. (The park and its telephone number still exist, by the way, just not the "Spanish" option.)
Violation of Common Sense: During the traffic stop story, Gabriel and his buddies manage to get off scot-free after doing over 100 on the freeway by making the cop laugh... which should have gotten them tossed in jail. He even says, "I don't know what possessed me to look at [the California highway patrolman] and ask, 'Why?'"
Vocal Dissonance: One routine relates how Gabe once toyed with a fast food drive-through by ordering in a voice that sounded more like a perky white girl than a large male Latino, and then pulled up with a tough-looking "gangsta" face to receive his food. Upon being offered a condiment, he flipped back to the perky female voice with, "OMIGAWD, yes!"
- Subverted at all the fast food drive-thrus near his house. He does the perky white girl voice and they say "Okay, Gabriel, pull up."
Worth It: "But it was funny, huh?"