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Hard work pays off for comedian Gabriel Iglesias

SINGAPORE — First things first: Gabriel Iglesias is not related to veteran crooner Julio Iglesias — nor his pop star son, Enrique.

Gabriel Iglesias has gone from performing in biker bars to arenas around the world.

Gabriel Iglesias has gone from performing in biker bars to arenas around the world.

SINGAPORE — First things first: Gabriel Iglesias is not related to veteran crooner Julio Iglesias — nor his pop star son, Enrique.

Iglesias — who is nicknamed Fluffy — is one of America’s most successful stand-up comedians and performs sold-out gigs around the world. He brought the house down at the Kallang Theatre the last time he was here and he is bringing his most recent outing, Fluffy Breaks Even, to our shores on June 6.

“It will be a completely different show. It’s been more than three years since I have been to Singapore, so I have all new material,” he said in an email interview about his upcoming gig. “(It will be) more about my friends and family and hopefully things that the audience in Singapore can relate to.

“I have great memories of Singapore. It is a beautiful and clean city, the people are friendly and kind. I truly loved the Singapore Zoo and can’t wait to visit again.”

One of the big changes that audiences here might notice about Iglesias is how much smaller his is. The comedian worked hard to lose about 100 pounds (about 45kg) in the last two years (“I stopped eating bread,” he said in another interview). That resilience also helped him get to where is in the first place.

Born in Chula Vista in California, Iglesias is the youngest of six children, and developed his sense of humour to deal with the obstacles he faced growing up. He embarked on a career in comedy in 1997 by performing stand-up comedy in just about anywhere he could find an audience — including biker and dive bars.

“I don’t think there is a secret to such success ... work hard and follow your instincts,” he said. “Hard work pays off! If you want to be a stand-up comedian you need to perform as much as possible, in as many places as possible.”

Since his humble beginnings, he has racked up a sizeable resume, going from playing “Mexican #5” in the adaptation of Family Guy to voicing characters such as Ned and Zed in Planes, to roles in Magic Mike.

He now has a TV series, Fluffy Breaks Even, non-scripted comedic docu-series where Fluffy and gang eat on the road, add up the calories and then try to burn it off and “break even” with a different extreme workout.

But one key element in his success, of course, is his fan base. Iglesias said he appreciates the support that they give and is more than happy to give back.

“Anytime I hear that my comedy gets a fan through a rough time, it makes me appreciate what I do and be thankful that I get to perform around the world,” he said, although he added that he didn’t have hordes of people mobbing him in the streets.

“I’m not quite at a level that I am followed all the time. I didn’t get a lot of attention when I was a kid, so now I say to attention, ‘Bring it on’,” he said. “I don’t mind meeting fans and I encourage them to ask me to take a photo, I will often take their camera phones and put it in ‘selfie’ mode and take the picture myself!”

Gabriel Iglesias’ Fluffy Breaks Even is on June 6, 8pm at the The Star Theatre, The Star Performing Arts Centre. Tickets from SISTIC. Rated R18.

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