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Show:		8.0
Picture:		7.0
Sound:		8.0
Extras:		7.0
Score:		7.0

Director(s):	Gabriel Iglesias
Writer(s):	Gabriel Iglesias
Starring:	Gabriel Iglesias
Genre:	Comedy
Website:	http://www.latinostandup.com/pages/gabe.html
Release Date:	November 10, 2009

List Price:	DVD - $11.99
Amazon:

Back in the day, the average “Comedy Central presents” routine lasted about 20 minutes and made for superb listening. The key factor there was that they never lasted longer than 20 minutes so the comedians never had to stretch their material too far. Ever since they began giving comedians full-length time slots the selection of great Comedy Central stand-up DVDs has dropped noticeably. With that said, comedians like Gabriel Iglesias remind us exactly why Comedy Central decided to extend that average runtime to over an hour. Here we have a routine that’s fully fleshed out and never relies too heavily on frat-boy humor or multiple takes on the same joke over and over. Like the best comedians out there, Iglesias takes not just humorous observations from life but the stories themselves and lays them out for the audience to see, funny and unfunny parts alike.

Getting his start as one of the talented humorous youths on Nickelodeon’s All That in 2000, Gabriel has since had many small roles here and there, but the majority of his following stems from his shows. And, if I’m Not Fat…I’m Fluffy is any indication, the fame is well deserved.

As a bigger man, or as he calls it “fluffy”, Iglesias obviously has a few fat jokes in his repertoire and he uses them to great effect. He doesn’t dwell and he never once makes his weight the focus of the routine. Instead, the issue becomes just another chapter in his comedic little novella about his girlfriend, her son, his life on the road and his love for certain kinds of food. Plus, the man has a remarkable skill when it comes to voices. His act was humming along, I was laughing steadily – and then he whipped out his Bill Clinton voice. Now, yes, it seems like a very 90s reference and an outdated voice in terms of prime comedy real estate – but it’s so surprising and good. Checking my e-mail midway through the routine my head whipped up when he unleashed that voice. The man’s got talent.

Iglesias never once fails to endear himself to the crowd gathered before him in El Paso, Texas. He has the audience hanging on every word and similarly the casual DVD viewer will find the act translates well in a recorded setting. The power of Iglesias’s act comes from his fast-talking and boundless enthusiasm which flows into each joke and joins them. However, if one bad thing could be said about the act it’s the blatant disconnect which hangs between each segment. I always cite Eddie Izzard as model against which I judge all other comics, and in this case the example holds well. Whereas Izzard’s acts use jokes which tie directly into those following, they’re also incredibly recursive and make reference to jokes told in the first half. He’s not only funny but he’s economical. Iglesias does this too but without the same level of fluidity to connect them all. He’ll occasionally stop, remind himself what his last joke was and then just scurry off in another direction. Luckily each direction he takes is funny, but it doesn’t stop audiences from pausing and thinking “Wait, weren’t you just talking about how fat guys smell like the food they eat? How’d you get on the subject of your phone lying about you going to a Cinnabon?”

He’s easily one of the more talented up and coming comedians I’ve seen in the last few years and I’m Not Fat…I’m Fluffy will go a long way towards converting newcomers to his fanbase.

DVD Bonus Features

The Comedy Central tradition of including a healthy bevy of extras continues and we get an impressive and equally funny extra twenty minutes of stand-up footage from Iglesias as well as the intro acts of Martin Moreno (mentioned in Gabriel’s stories) and Noe Gonzalez. The disc closes with a Q&A session between Iglesias and his fans and then even more extra footage relating the time he went to his high school reunion with a friend and got a little too sloshed beforehand.

It’s a solid disc, if you like stand up and are looking for a new act then Gabriel Iglesias might just be your man.