With the clock ticking, counting the minutes Gabriel Iglesias has been on the stage at the Don Haskins Center for his Unity through Laughter World Tour. Iglesias looks down picks up the clock and tells the audience that he was supposed to be done with his 48 minnute set a long time ago.
With the chanting fans screaming “Fluffy, Fluffy, Fluffy,” Iglesias gave a generous 3 encores, consisting of some of his classic jokes.
The boisterous full house was enjoying every minute of the show and didn’t think twice about the time.
The night started out great, with the energy on high and a laid back atmosphere. This led to a comfortable and almost familial like feeling throughout the Don Haskins Center.
On stage at the beginning of the show were some familiar voices DJ’s Mike Dee, Patti Diaz, and Monica Castillo from radio station, Power 102.1. They spoke about Iglesias and his bond with the station and the city of El Paso.
Iglesias is an avid supporter of Mike Dee’s Big Adventure a local non-profit organization which helps children with special needs.
The Master of Ceremonies as well as the first comedian to grace the stage was Martin Moreno, a close friend of Iglesias and a regular on his tours.
Moreno started off the night with a bit of crude humor joking about sex, weed, and relationships. Moreno who made it clear that he was 60 days sober, told the crowd that he is known as “the crazy uncle that comes drunk to the birthday party”.
Although Moreno did get the crowd laughing with some witty comparisons and the celebration of alcohol and weed, it did seem to stray away from the relatively clean act that Iglesias likes to put on for his fans, both young and old.
Crude but relatable and laughable humor continued with the other opening acts.
Alfred Robles a regular on Comedy Central and more specifically on the show Gabriel Iglesias Presents Stand-Up Revolution was next on stage.
Robles by far was one of the highlights of the night, with his jokes hitting close to home, given that he grew up in East Los Angeles, the crowd couldn’t stop cheering.
By far the crowds favorite moment of Robles’ set was when he spoke about his young relative being confused about which shirt to wear on Presidents Day that would represent a President that looked like him, since one friend was going to wear an Obama shirt and the other a Kennedy shirt.
Robles went on the tell the crowd that he got him a shirt with the words “coming soon”, with this the Don Haskins was engulfed in cheers.
Saving the loudest and most blunt for last, Rick Gutierrez took the stage with a vengeance who right away calling out a couple who walked in front of the stage and a young 16-year-old audience member.
The 16- year-old was then made the butt of the joke for almost half of his segment. Gutierrez spoke sourly about the generation of kids in their teen years today.
This led to many in agreement and some on the edge of their seats looking to see what he would say next.
Once the Gutierrez told his last joke, the lights went up and the audience was given a 25 minute intermission.
Before Fluffy got on stage, a contest was held to see who would win size 5XL world tour t-shirt. One lucky audience member won the shirt because of the loud cheers he received from the crowd, fluffiness was taken into consideration.
After the interlude it was time for the main event, a voice read aloud the rules of the show, the rules being that no photography or video was to be taken.
This was because Iglesias is in the stages of setting up another television special. He said El Paso is where he wanted to test out some new material that may be used.
The honorary El Pasoan took pride in saying that El Paso is where he got his start almost 18 years ago.
He asked the audience, “How do you know I love El Paso?”
He answered explaining that people often think he is from El Paso because of his constant mentioning of the Sun City.
Iglesias showcased a plethora of new material ranging from his parenting styles when raising his 17-year-old son to making fun of his recent experience in platforms for the movie Magic Mike 2.
The El Paso Chihuahuas also got a shout out from Fluffy himself, he said that he has been invited by the team to throw out the first pitch, saying, “I can’t wait till I can make that happen.”
With his impersonations and self performed sound effects Iglesias was able to provide the meat behind the structure of his comedy.
After his new material was laid out, Iglesias as promised began performing some of his classic jokes.
Some of the jokes that made it in the encore mix were, the St.Patricks day Jager shot story and the school drop off story.
Overall the show made for a fun Friday night filled with laughter and good old-fashioned humor.
Gabriel Iglesias put on an amazing show that left the audience with a pain in their stomachs and tears in their eyes and not because it was horrible but because it was so good that you laughed until you cried and the pain of the constant strain of laughter was too much to bare.
*5 Picks out of 5 for the Gabriel Iglesias Unity Through Laughter World Tour.
Amanda Guillen may be reached at [email protected]
