Welcome to South Beach sessions. A pleasure to be joined here by one of the most beloved funny men you will find anywhere in comedy or around laughter. Appreciate the time. Gabriel, Iglesias thank you for joining us.

Thank you. Dan.

Want to talk to you a little bit about your journey here, because I think it's an interesting and unusual path. But what do you think? What would you say are the most interesting parts of your story of your climb to selling out stadiums?

The interesting parts? There are so many. It's a career that's been over 20 years. Actually, we're coming up on 26, seven. I don't count 2020 just because it's kind of like the asterisk I had just home. But, yeah, it's been a long time and there's a lot of different things that have happened over the years that stand out, but there's not one particular thing that I could tell you offhand.

Well, I'll ask you about all of them because I think there are a number of them with your story. At one point, you were working with cell phones, right? You were in the cell phone business and your family was. How supportive of your choice? Because this is a very difficult way to make a living. How supportive was your family of your choice? I'm going to chase the burden of I'm going to be alone with my talent in front of a microphone and the expectation of funny, and I'm going to succeed on just the vulnerability and the talent of that.

Well, everybody had their opinions in the beginning. And at the time when I was selling cell phones, it was great. There was only two cell phone companies at the time in Los Angeles. It was La Cellular and a company called Air Touch. And I was not selling an iPhone or an Android, I was selling a Motorola PC 550 flip phone, the Brick. It was one of those phones that it was indestructible and when you'd talk on it, as soon as you're done talking, your head, you could feel the tumor growing. You know what I mean? It was like wearing a microwave. And so back then, selling a phone, it was very challenging and people had to leave deposits if their credit wasn't in order and the minutes were so expensive. So because of that, because I was selling cell phones, I was making a really good living. It was the first time I had benefits. I just bought a car. I went to Wilson's House of Suede and bought myself a new leather jacket. I was all excited and happy. I had money. I was doing very well for myself. So when I told my family that I wanted to pursue this career of being a comedian and leave behind a secure job that paid me very well, there was some pushback on that.

It's one thing to say, I have a dream and I want to grow out and do this or that. And everybody's like, yeah, chase your dreams. You could do it, but then when you start attempting and they see what you're giving up to pursue it, that's when everybody's red flags are up and people start trying to pull you aside and, hey, man, you're really going to quit that job to pursue this? Because it was rough. I had to quit in order to chase this. I couldn't do the two at the same time. There was no way.

And success didn't come immediately after that?

No, I'm sorry. I got evicted from my apartment. I went to go live at my brother's house for a little bit and then my sister took me in. So it was one of those where and everybody kept saying, go back and get your job. Go back and get your job. And I'm like, I already cut the cord. If I go back, I'm not going to chase this dream.

Where did it get scariest? Right? Because you also had your car repossessed, right?

They tried. They came looking for it, but fortunately, I know a lot of tricks. The whole car swapping with friends and stuff like that. And they always say, oh, the first place they check is around the corner. But I had good resources back then. But they did, they tried to look for the car, but evicted? Yes, I did get evicted. I got kicked out of my apartment. And yeah, the scariest was definitely in the beginning because you don't know what's going to happen, you're taking chances. And this was before the Internet blew up. I didn't have a phone. I couldn't Google things. There was none of that. You had to actually pick up a phone, make a phone call, talk to people, make connections, try to just grow yourself and put yourself out there. And that was definitely the scariest. All of it in the beginning where you didn't know what was going to happen. Now, if I went flat broke tomorrow, okay, you start me at zero. I think I could get back to this point in about two years.

Really? Because you've learned so much.

Because I've learned what do I need to do in order to work? I have an understanding. I know exactly how to line everything up. Okay, we make this calls and all right, we'll start from scratch, but we can do it.

You come from very little though, right? You were not necessarily used to your eviction or car.

No, not at all. I mean, don't get me wrong, I grew up, it was just my mom and I. I have four sisters, one brother. They're all much older than me. They don't like it when I say that they're much older than me. But yeah, my mom and I, we were on welfare, section eight. My mom did what she could, and I never starved. I never starved. My mom took really good care of me. And when there's love and there's food on the table, and you're being supported. You don't know you're in a rough situation. I never felt like I was like, oh, we're struggling. Because, again, I didn't sleep outside. I slept inside. I always had a bed. I always had food on the table. My mom always made it happen.

How Latin was your upbringing?

Well, I'd wake up every morning to my mom putting in a cassette of all her favorite groups from back in the day, whether it Solis or Vicente Fernandez or any of these group Los Cadetes. So I woke up every morning to Spanish music, and I hated it with a passion. Hated it. All I wanted to hear was Paula Abdul or MC Hammer, and it was torture. And of course, my mom would make me Mexican breakfast, man, whatever we had, that's what she put together. So, yeah, the culture was there. I just wasn't a big fan of it at the time. Now it's very different. I hear all this music, and it's very nostalgic. It makes me think of my childhood and my mom waking me up and making me breakfast and taking me to school. So it's a different feeling now.

What did discipline look like?

There wasn't a whole lot of discipline because I wasn't a bad kid. I came from a time where you don't talk back to your parents, be respectful, respect your elders. And with my mom, she wasn't the type to just I don't want to say it was a different time where, oh, yeah, you just beat your kids, and it was okay. No. My mom was super kind and very loving, and if I was getting out of line in any way, she would just give me a look or let me think that she was going to do something, and that's all I really needed. There was a couple of good talking to, but overall, I don't think I ever had any discipline. That was traumatic, where it's like, oh, my God.

What are the roots of your funny? Like, where does it come from?

I don't know. I just know that when I was a kid, I was ten years old, I remember watching Eddie Murphy Raw on VHS. That was my babysitter one night that's early. That's very ten years old. Ten years old watching that type of material. I challenge anybody to go out there and Google Eddie Murphy Raw and just watch two minutes and picture a ten year old watching that. Yeah. I focused on the funny, not the swearing. I focused on the characters, not the topics. But I liked it. It was that and pro wrestling. Both. I loved both because it was entertaining. There's people holding microphones. There were characters. It was larger than life, and I was drawn to it. And so I said, I want to do one of the two. I either want to be a pro wrestler or a comedian. And I realized early on, I did not like pain. And so comedy was the route that I took. Still a big fan of pro wrestling, by the way.

Take me back, though, to the hypnotized feeling of watching Eddie Murphy prowl that stage in leather. Like, what do you it wasn't the.

Leather that hypnotized me or made me want to do it. He was just funny. He was funny. He was so funny. The characters were funny, the stories, the sounds. I was very drawn to that. So, for example, early on, someone like George Carlin wasn't necessarily my cup of tea because it was like a monolog and him talking. And you had to have had certain experiences in life to truly understand and appreciate someone like a George Carlin, whereas with Eddie Murphy, it was silly. It was know, it was know voices and characters and silly. Robin Williams. Another one, too. It wasn't serious. It wasn't know words. And so because of that, I was drawn to that. That's what made me laugh.

You were being transported because it felt lighter to you. It didn't feel heavy.

Well, remember when I first heard it, I was ten years old. I wouldn't know what that was. I just knew that people talking on TV was like, whatever, boring. And this guy's, like, making noises and sound effects and characters and just like, that was cool to me.

How do you go from there? Like, what needs to happen to go from there to selling out Dodger Stadium twice? Selling out Dodger Stadium twice?

So a lot of years of just grinding it out, waking up early, getting on them planes, going to them clubs, doing gigs that you don't want to do more than anything. A lot of sacrifice, a lot of giving up things, a lot of giving up time, a lot of giving up of relationships that might not be beneficial to your dream, to your quest in the beginning. There's a lot of people that will support you verbally, like, yeah, I got your back. But when they start seeing what you're attempting to do, you can either try to get them on board, and if they're not going to be on board, then they're going to slow you down. They're going to slow you down with their pessimism, they're going to slow you down with trying to make you doubt yourself. And you have to let those people go. You can't let those people weigh you down. And unfortunately, even if you have great relationships, if you have a greater goal, those people are not going to be beneficial to your life. And the sacrifice of having to let go of certain people is a big thing. And I think a lot of people don't understand.

Everybody thinks, oh, you just got to work on your material and do your craft, and that's it. It's what are you willing to give up to get to where you want to be? That is the biggest thing, is sacrifice.

What were you willing to give up.

Everything, whatever it is? I had a quest, I had a dream. And whatever I had to do to make that happen, whether it meant quitting the day job, which was huge, because that was my security blanket, man. I had dental. I never had dental. I had braces. When I quit my job, I still had the braces. I still needed two years of dental work and I quit. And I'm like, all right, I'll figure this out. Something's going to happen.

And what was it? Was it an intuition, a calling? Something like, what is it? That because that takes bravery.

It's definitely the bravest thing or something that I just a leap of faith. I just knew how it made me feel. It just made all the sense in the world, I have to do this. I need to do this. This is what I'm meant to do. I don't know how I'm going to get there, but I just know it has to happen.

How did it make you feel, though? Like, what is it? Is it chasing the laughter when you're talking about this felt correct to me. What is the feeling you're talking about?

It was that feeling of acceptance, man. It was that feeling of like, wow, growing up, I was always a big kid. I was always chubby, always getting picked on. I was always like, he's got freaking pimples. Look at his teeth. This and that. When I'm on stage, the feeling of it's like the entire room is trying to hug me. It's the safest place in the world. Being up on that stage feels better than any alcohol or any drug, anything. It's so warm. If I could live there, I would. So the fact that I get to enjoy that for an hour or two a night, man, it's the best feeling in the world. When I did Dodger Stadium and I walked out on stage, people say, were you nervous to be in front of that many people? I was at first, but, man, that crowd let me know in seconds, we're here to support you and we want this for you as much as you want it. And I started crying on my own special in the first 30 seconds, and that's ultimately what I was chasing, that feeling of acceptance and love that just came from being up there.

And so, yeah, I was willing to give up everything to get that, and it felt great.

I don't know if I felt a lot of things better than gratitude. That brings me to tears that I am so moved by something. And you're saying you walk out into Dodger Stadium. That is a largely Mexican crowd. Or is it?

We didn't ask, but it's La, so it's a mixture of everybody. I don't want to assume that. Of course, you could say all the core, but I mean, that night there's 50,000 people there. I ventured to say there might have been a couple of white people, a couple of black people, a couple of Asian people. So, yeah, everybody that came out was very much supportive and ready to watch this happen.

Have you had a better feeling than that one? I mean, you've sold out Madison Square Garden. You've sold out the Sydney Opera House. But La.

The best part about it and the reason why it was such a big deal was it's the biggest thing I've ever done, and it was at home. The hardest place to get acceptance is at home. You will always find more success away from home, and the hardest place is always getting it at home. So the fact that the biggest and best thing I ever did, the greatest feeling I ever had, was in my own backyard. That's it right there. I could have retired that night and been okay and been like, you know what? This is the way it should have been.

Can you take me back there to the specifics of weeping before you even start?

Oh, man. Yes. All these years of working to do something like that, it's not supposed to happen. None of that is supposed to happen. All these shows, the success, the touring, the specials, none of it is supposed to happen. I do not fit the mold of somebody that should be in show business in Hollywood, a Mexican kid growing up in the hood. I'm telling you, all the things that happened the Section Eight, the welfare, a broken home none of it was supposed to work out this way, and it did. And the fact that I think everybody knows my story walking out there, and a lot of people saw themselves in that moment, like, wow. And I reminded people at the end of my special, I said, Listen, this is something that I've been working for my whole life, and it feels great. And I want everyone to know that if I can do this, you can do this. There's no reason that don't make excuses. Oh, I don't fit a certain mold. I don't follow certain rules. If you want something bad enough, you can make it happen, because I did.

What are the details of the grind that you remember of the grind of trying to build a career?

The ones that are noteworthy, not saying no. I said yes to everything. I said yes to everything. If there was work available, I'm there. I am there. This is an opportunity. A lot of times, I think that that's why there's that big friction nowadays, is that recognizing opportunity, it's huge if someone gives you a chance to do something. When I started doing nobody was giving me a chance to do this. I had to create my own opportunities. Whenever I tried to do something, it was like, if you hear no, all right, well, what do you got to do to hear yes? That's the part you got to work on.

What are the smallest things you were saying yes to? Like, what are the landmarks, man?

I was performing in swimming pools. I was performing in swimming pools. I was performing on the back of pickup trucks. I was performing in living rooms. I was performing out in front yards. I was doing weddings. It didn't matter if there was an audience, if there was people willing to sit in front of me, I was there. Was it for $5, $50? $100? No, dollars. If there was a chance for me to get up in front of people and get one day better, I was going to do it.

Swimming pools?

Yes. It was an empty swimming pool, kind of like the movie Bloodsport. When they went in there and they duked it out, it wasn't like I was floating in there trying to hold a mic and not shock myself. No, it was an empty swimming pool.

And trucks on the back of a.

Pickup truck with the truck bed down, and I stood on the back of the truck bed.

And these are opportunities to sculpt a craft. But some of these things don't even pay, right?

Some of these things don't even pay. And now there's no freaking way you're going to get me on the back of a pickup truck to do that. But you know what? The fact that I did it gives me that feeling of like, you know what? My foundation is strong. My foundation is strong because I know what it's like to struggle. I know what it's like to do those gigs that you don't want to do. So I appreciate where I'm at now. And so because of that, it's like the biggest thing was just saying I have to work on saying no now. That's the thing I got to work on now, because now it's like it's opportunity times 100, because I have built it to be where it's at now. And I'm very fortunate that I'm in a position now where I actually have to say no. But in the beginning, it was pedal to the metal. Let's go. They want me to do a show in Fargo, North Dakota. All right. What time?

If I make you pick one, though, you gave a lot of good examples, but I make you pick one that you would say, here was the unlikeliest place that I performed, or the smallest crowd, or a place that might have created doubt if I wasn't obsessed with opportunity. You can only pick one, which is the one that you would pick?

The swimming pool.

Take me through the details. How do you end up playing in an empty swimming pool?

The person who hired me to do the swimming pool. And what's sad is I've done a couple of swimming pool gigs. You probably find them online. I've done a couple of swimming pool gigs. The guy who asked me to do the backyard function, whatever, he didn't have a sound system. So his bright idea was if you get in the pool and perform at the deep end of the pool, the acoustics from the swimming pool will amplify, and it'll be like, what did he say? Like a Roman Coliseum type of I was 2021 at the time. Stupid. I didn't care. I'm like, okay, all right. And then afterwards, you go make yourself a plate. That was like, all right. That sounded like a great deal. Okay.

How much doubt is there after you leave the cell phone job and you're living on couches? How much doubt was there for you? And you're eliminating people who are echoing doubt in your ear. How prevalent was doubt?

The elimination part didn't start happening until years in. That's why I'm saying you don't know that this is not beneficial to what you're trying to do. So you're spending a lot of time and a lot of energy trying to convince people that you have this passion and this dream and this drive. And that's what I mean about you have to sometimes cut those people loose because you're not focusing that time and that energy on the goal, on the prize. You're spending it trying to get people on board with you, people that are just going to weigh you down. And so early on, it was scary because I didn't know, but it was also a lot of fun. It was so much fun because I didn't know what was going to happen the next day, and there's something exciting about that. And then when someone call you and go, yeah, man, so and so wants to hire you to come out for $30 or whatever and do a thing, man, are you kidding? I was making a killing selling cell phones. A killing for somebody my age at the time. It's just are you kidding? And the benefits and driving the new car and the leather jackets.

But I got more excited when I got a $30 phone call to go perform some quintignetta or some random gig, some little hole in the wall, because I got to do what I love to do. And anytime you can do something that you love to do, man, you can't put a price tag on that. You really can't. That feeling is just incredible.

When you say you have to give up everything in pursuit of that relationships, were you totally imbalanced? Like, I don't know that you could be that kind of obsessed, that kind of interested in one thing and have real balance, can you?

Well, you know what? And when I say giving up relationships and stuff like that, it wasn't like I was a dick about anything. You meet people along the way. I'm sure there's people that you started off with in your career that are no longer part of your circle, and then there's people that you meet later on. It's all about timing is everything. No pun intended. I did want a relationship. I did want to have certain things in my life, and there was a challenge of finding that balance, and I'm still working on trying to find that balance. I haven't mastered it. The only thing I've been able to secure and feel 100% confident about is what I do on that stage. That is the only thing I know for a fact I nail every single time for me, okay, but everything else I've been in multiple relationships, and I've had family members that were in and family members that were out, and it's just one of those things.

Do you ever feel like you sacrifice too much?

I often thought about that. I often thought about, man, I should have spent more time, I should have done this, I should have done that. And I think back on it, and I see where I'm at now, and I see where those people are now, and I think that I did regret, you can't change anything. And I feel like things needed to happen. And for example, the relationship with my ex girlfriend when we were going through our thing, I was very much like, I should have done this, I should have done this, I could have done. And I think back on it, and I remember how driven I was to continue to grow what it is that I do. And as much as she loves me, it pains me that I felt like she was holding me back in certain ways. And at the same time, I felt like I was holding her back because there were certain things that she wanted to do, but she was waiting for me, and vice versa. And so, yeah, those sacrifices, it sucks. And you think about it and you're like, Man, I shouldn't have. But the beauty of it is, like, for right now, I could still reach out to her.

And we both feel that we've grown so much. And we both agree that, yeah, we weren't being the best person for each other during those times because we both had things that we wanted to do. And fortunately, we were both able to grow and evolve and get to a place where we could have those conversations, where we realized, you know, what things needed to happen. And so to look back on it and go, maybe I shouldn't have sacrificed this or sacrificed that, it's because I'm willing to make those sacrifices, that I am where I am.

But love gets lost, right? By being too driven.

Love can get lost, but at the same time, it's like, if people understand what it is that you're doing. I remember saying every year, because I was in a relationship for over ten years, and I would say in the beginning, because we met at a show, and so I would tell her, if this is just going to get crazier and crazier, and I'm going to work more and more. So I was very upfront about all of this. It wasn't like I was a plumber and then all of a sudden, one day I was a comic. Yeah, love does get it does get tricky. It does get tricky because you love what you do, your passion, but then you also companionship and having somebody who wants to go on that ride with you and you can't have it all.

I imagine that success can be lonely if it's not shared.

Success is very lonely if it's not shared. Because then you're just sitting there like, oh, look at all this cool shit that nobody else is enjoying but me. I bought a house after my breakup because I felt like, you know what? I need to start over. I need to start over. And this house that I bought was a big, beautiful house. Big, beautiful house. I mean, you couldn't ask for anything else in this. I mean, it's beautiful. It's a beautiful home, but it's empty because it's just me. Me and my dogs. And I spend more time at the office or I spend more time on the road or spend more time just trying to hang out with people than be at that house. Because as beautiful as that house is, when I'm there by myself, it is a lonely place. And no matter what kind of cool shit I have around me, whether it's stereos or, oh, look at that car in the garage, or look at the cool toys, it means nothing if you don't have someone there with you. So this past month, I sold the house and everything in it because I don't need it.

I would rather spend time building relationships and going out and hanging out and having fun than sitting in that house.

I believe it sounds like it's a bit of a mausoleum to your success, right? Like, it feels a little bit like something gets lost in the sacrifices that need to be made in order. It doesn't sound like you would necessarily make changes because you got to the things that you wanted. But Tyson Fury, heavyweight champion of the world, descends from a whole bunch of street fighting in the family, gets to the heavyweight championship. It doesn't look like what he thought it was going to look like. Immediately spirals into 100 pounds of weight gain and cocaine addiction, because what he thought he was arriving at didn't quite feel the way he thought it would feel. There's not really a question there. But it sounds like if you're selling your home and you're being reminded at every turn that the echoes of what your success costs is, well, you're going to be alone with it. It sounds like the house is haunted.

Yeah, it feels like it. And I realize I don't need all those things. What I need is to continue to be around people and build relationships. I don't need things. I need experiences. I don't need cool stuff or more cars. I need more destinations. So I'm working on that.

What led you to therapy?

That's a great question. I can go into, like, 20 different directions right there. Feeling unsure of the decision making at the time. When you go through a breakup or something traumatic happens, you are confused. You're like, all right, am I doing the right thing? Should I continue to do this? So you want to hear that the decisions that you're making are the right ones, or at least feeling like you're asking yourself the right questions in order to get the outcome that you want. And so after the breakup, I went and I did therapy for a couple of years. I did. And in that time, I stopped drinking completely. Not like I'm an everyday type of guy, but I needed to make sure that any decisions I made were my decisions, not nothing that was influenced because of alcohol. So two years, no drinking, two years therapy. And it was just a lot of learning to listen and learning to listen to things that I was saying, learning to listen to people around me and just trying to question anything and everything. And the hard part is certain things in therapy you can learn, but one thing you can't is trust.

Trust is a difficult thing because once you start getting to a certain place and there's money and things and an environment that's very much an attractive environment, an environment that people want to be part of, trusting the right people to have around you, it's so hard. It's so hard. And therapy was not one of those things that teaches you how to you could ask questions all day long, but it's not until time goes by that you realize who wants what and who does what and who's safe and who's not. But therapy definitely helped me to learn to listen and learn to ask myself questions.

Did you have issues with trust before you arrived at fame and success?

I didn't have issues with trust until I had money in the bank. One thing I miss and this is going to sound crazy one thing I miss about being broke and not having anything is that I never had to question who was my friend. I never had to question who's real, who really cares about me. Because when you have nothing, all they can focus on is the person. And I feel like that's one thing I wish I could that feeling of that confidence, of knowing that this person is 100. And now it's very scary. It's very scary because it's just like, also the same thing with dating and stuff like that. It's like, what do they want? Are they really trying to get to.

Know me without being too invasive? Do you have in your mind the places where you got hurt the most or if you were naive about what would come with success? If you say you were trusting until you weren't trusting, where are the points that you're looking at and saying, there's where I got hurt. There's where I got hurt, there's where I got hurt.

There's a few points like that. There really is. And it's always a discovery thing where you hear something and you're like, nah, God, that doesn't sound right. No, couldn't be. And little by little, people will eventually. A friend of mine, G, he's a very wise man, very funny guy, he told me, he goes, you know what? You give a person enough time, they'll eventually introduce themselves to you. It just takes time. And the people that I think hurt me the most are the ones that were the closest to me and the ones that I gave the most time to. Because if I barely know you, there's no way you can hurt me. It's once I've given you not my money, but once I've given you my time and my trust and my heart, those are the ones. And it sucks because some people are better at hiding it than others.

What came with success other than that that you weren't expecting?

Of course, I think more opportunities to do things. My ultimate goal was I just wanted to be a comic. I wanted to go up on stage, I wanted to tell jokes and just do that. I wanted to sleep in the mornings, and I just wanted to go out at night and have fun and hang out with other comics and talk comedy and wind up at a Denny's. That's all I wanted. And the fact that it grew into this is like, oh, my God. It's like I never thought I'd be doing a TV show or be asked to be in films or be asked to be at all these radio stations and so many other things that I never expected. So, I mean, with the success of comedy came opportunities for other types of projects. And even though they're cool, it's not my passion. Stand up is. But being able to do other things came along with the success. And also I've met a lot of people, both good and bad, and some people that I was inspired by and some people that I'm like, oh, yeah, I should just keep my distance.

The breakup was a fairly seismic thing, it sounds like. I don't want to be flimsy about, glossing over it. Did you feel like you had to make a choice between you and her?

There was a lot of times when there was a lot of push. I remember it's like, again, you want someone to support you and be on this ride with you because you both understand how unique the situation is, how many people can do this and how special it is. And I remember there was one time when I had gotten offered a television show and I called her and she goes, well, I'm happy for you, but I'm not happy for us because this is just one more thing that's going to take you away from me. And I remember feeling bad. I felt so bad and so guilty, but I'm like, why do I I should be feeling happy? I work my ass off to get this kind of an opportunity, and I feel bad. I go, this is not good. And so you multiply that over course of time. Yeah.

Arriving at your dreams is supposed to feel good.

It's supposed to feel like I'm doing the right thing. Yeah. Unfortunately, the relationship didn't work, even though I can honestly say that the love was there because what she loved was the person she didn't love. Everything else around me, well, everything else.

Seems to get in the way, apparently, what she could have a relationship with, that's what I was asking you, because when I'm saying what came with success that you weren't expecting? I would think that you would expect opportunities to arrive with success. I don't know what else came with success that you're like, wait a minute, I thought success was going to feel differently than this. I thought it was going to be 100% a joyride on a rainbow.

Right.

I would think that some things came with it that you're like, well, how did that get here? Including, as you said, like, all of a sudden you're losing friends because people are introducing themselves to you over time. What else are you thinking of there? When you say therapy, I could take that therapy question in 20 different directions. What else are you thinking of there.

Also, too, I mean, at the time, touring on the road, I said, I stopped drinking for two years because I was drinking. I was drinking every weekend. And sometimes you get drunk, you send a text message. Sometimes you drunk and you take the wrong kind of selfie. You want to enjoy what you do, but sometimes you forget that you have other responsibilities, obligations and things that you should be a little bit more responsible about. And I was trying to have fun.

Were you drinking just to have fun, or were you medicating to hide some things you didn't want to look, in.

The beginning, it was to have fun, and then eventually it turned into, this is what I need to go to sleep. I wasn't trying to knock out, I was trying to pass out. I just want to go to bed. And then dealing with certain things, and you're trying to keep everything cool at home, and then you're trying to make this thing work on the road, and then you have good people around you and you have bad people around you, and so you're trying to control this whole world plus everything at home. And pressure is a bitch. Trying to control and trying to keep tabs on everything. So, yeah, there was sometimes I'm like, I just don't want to deal.

There was more pressure with success than absolutely with Section eight housing.

Oh, man. Yeah, rapper once said, more money, more problems. Yes, there's a lot of pressure. And so that's why I think one of the things with getting rid of the house, I didn't need all the headaches of it. I'm not there, but I'm always keeping tabs on it. And then recently, they broke into it and I'm like, Are you kidding me?

Did you think success was going to be happier? Because there was a great deal of happiness that came with success, right?

Absolutely. And I wouldn't trade it for the world. But, yeah, sometimes success looks and feels different. It's not all rainbows and unicorns.

What would you tell me are the details from your upbringing that have imprinted you the most? Whether you're thinking about Long Beach at that time, or Mexican upbringing or the love of your mother, what are the touchstones that you look at and say, these are the things that shaped me the most as I sit in front of you as a 47 year old man?

Well, the love for my mom, I mean, she was my world. My mom raised me. I didn't grow up with a father. It was just know that my mom was the one that taught know, you don't have to. And this is a crazy one right here, because my mom was super religious and my siblings all went to Catholic school in Mexico. But with me, I was the only child that she had who she didn't take to church or have read the Bible or talk to about anything. With me, she tried a different approach, and she just said, Be good, and good things will happen. Be respectful to people unless they give you a reason to not be respectful. And that was pretty much know. It wasn't until years later that I questioned why she has all these different things around the house. The Virgin Marys and the crucifixes. I never know. Went to church and I never questioned it because I figured, well, this is just the way it's supposed to be.

Did laughter get you out of the bullying?

Laughter did get me out of the bullying because it took all those negatives that people were doing back then. And I found a way to take it, flip it and throw it back at people. And it felt good. It felt good to just let me just laugh it off. It doesn't affect me the way you wanted it to affect me anymore. I don't care what you say. Watch this. Oh, look, there's money coming because of that. Oh, look, this is happening because of that. So that felt good. That definitely felt good.

What do you regard as your most confident time in your life? Is it sitting in front of me now?

My most confident time in life has to be Dodger Stadium, because I knew that everything I had worked for was for that one moment. And like I said, if I would have retired that night, I would have been okay.

I mean, you couldn't have imagined that. In your wildest dreams, what did your wildest dreams look like?

There wasn't wildest dreams like that. Performing in an arena wasn't supposed to happen. My only goal was I just wanted to be a stand up comic. I wanted to wake up and be a comic. And whether that meant at a club or doing some private gigs or whatever, I was good with that. The fact that it got to where it is now, yeah. I didn't plan for this.

Forgive my ignorance here, but there haven't been many comics who have played to 50,000 people. Right? I know Kevin Hart famously sold out football stadium, but that is not you.

Could probably there is a handful, literally, of comics that have done it. And so, yeah, it's pretty awesome.

And you go from weeping a little bit nervous to odd because this is not an intimate setting. Right. Like, it's cavernous. That's a different thing than anything anybody's ever done.

But the fact that it was at home and everyone knew the story, there were people at that show that have been following my career and have been part of the ride for so many years. I run into people and they'll tell me, I was there that night. And it's one of those even though it was so big, it was really intimate because of the history and because of all the years of support. And just like, we want this guy to succeed. He's one of us. He's from here. As big as it was, it was actually very intimate. As soon as the show was over and the cameras went off, I pulled out a bottle of tequila and started doing shots on stage with a budy of mine, and we just started sharing stories about the years of struggling to get to that point. And, man, let me just tell you that it felt so good. I've never enjoyed a hangover more than I did the next day when I'm like, I can't believe we did that. I got to die now. I have to they got to make the movie.

What is the connection, though? How does that happen? Where are you connecting with people? Like, it's not just laughter. It has to be a little bit of every man.

I see my story in your struggle. It's this kid that grew up with just his mom. It's a broken home. It wasn't the best of neighborhoods. I grew up struggling, and so people respect and feel connected to somebody who's given up everything to get to this place again that night, it was the stamp that man, be grateful because every decision you've made, good or bad, has led to this moment. So no regrets, no going back and saying, woulda, shoulda, coulda, because woulda, shoulda, coulda, could have changed the outcome of that night.

What do you know about your.

I had dinner with him and my sisters from him. December, I went to Mexico and did my first show in Mexico, and I had a reunion. I hadn't seen him in 15 years, and we had dinner, and it was actually very pleasant. It was very pleasant. He was a musician. He was an entertainer himself. And so the conversations were mostly about being entertainers, and so we were able to connect and relate because I didn't grow up with him, because I didn't have him in my life. The relationship is very different, so it's not like I missed him and, oh, it's good to see you. It's just like, all right, cool. But it's really hard to get excited or emotional about having him or seeing him. He's 80 years old now, and he was super emotional, because I'm sure there's a lot of things he's dealing with in life not being part of mine, because it wasn't like I said, you can't be part of it. He made those choices, and for whatever reason, he wasn't part of it. But I can't get mad because I turned out okay.

Were you ever have you forgiven him?

There was nothing to forgive. I mean, when I've spoken to him about in the past, like 15 years ago, that's when we actually he came out to one of my shows, and I remember the manager of the club, he goes, Gabe, there's a guy in the back of the club, and he says, he's your dad. Heck the hell out of here. Since I was a kid? No way. And I was doing a meet and greet outside, and people were coming up to me asking me to sign their DVD. That should tell you the time I was signing DVDs out in front of the comedy club, and my manager at the time comes up to me and says, there's a guy in the back of the line, and he's claimed to be your father. And, Gabe, I got to be honest with you. He has your eyes, and he has your eyebrows. I see it. And I did one of these, and I saw him. And even though I only had photos of him, it was instant. I looked at no immediately, and I freaked out. And so I told my manager, I says, hey, please ask him to not do this.

This is not the right time. I'm not trying to have a reunion on the sidewalk in front of my fans after a show. I says, get his information. We'll reach out to him, and the next night, the manager of the Comedy Magic Club, that's where it happened. Richard, he goes, hey, man, I'll set up a little area here if you want to come and do this and have a sit down. And so, yeah, I did. I had a sit down with my dad, and we talked, and I think that I was mature enough to listen to what he had to say and understand that you don't know what was going on at the time, because as a kid, I'd always say I hate him because he wasn't there. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. And anytime somebody would ask me something about him, I'd say, if I saw him, I'd punch him. If he was here, it was always something like but it wasn't until I started becoming a comic and doing my own thing, and like, all right, with years, you grow, and you start to understand yourself, and you start to think, well, shoot.

Well, what happened? And so when I actually spoke to him, there was no anger. I was cool, and I just wanted to hear what he had to say. And then I told my mom, and then I had to see how there's two sides to every story, and as much as I love my mom, yeah, there might have been a little cray there, and so I can't blame my dad for dodging a bullet. So just catching up on things and just letting him know I was cool, but after we had a reunion, I didn't stay in touch with them. I'm like, you know what? You can't miss what you never had. I'm good. I'm not mad. I don't hate you, but you're a stranger to me, and I barely have time for the family that I have here. I'm not going to try to do this whole career and then still try to get into something I can't finish, and I don't want to open a door that I can't. You know what I mean?

It sounds like you got to a healthy place with it, right? It could have been awkward, the anger thawed maybe it was a little awkward, but you placed the correct boundaries around it so that you could have the relationship with him that you want.

And then, of course, 15 years later, I get ready to go do a show in Mexico. Word gets out in Mexico that I'm coming, and that's when I reunited. And then I got to meet my sisters. But at this point, he's 80, and he doesn't have my number. I don't have his. We talk through other people, and it's just kind of like, well, I don't want to start something I can't finish. But it was nice to catch up with him, and it was important for me to let him know that I don't hate him.

Why was that important for you?

Because I could tell that still weighed on him. I could tell that the man has a lot of hurt and a lot of regret, and I can see it in his eyes and the way he would speak, and he was just very not just because he's old, but you could just feel this sense of there's some shame. There's some defeat. It just felt like he's trying to make up for something. And I'm like, Dude, you're good. I don't hate you. I might not call you on Father's Day. But don't worry, there's no hatred for you. There used to be when I was a kid, but I'm an adult now and I understand that there's two sides to every story. And I turned out really good. Thank you. And that was it.

What was it like for you to play in Mexico?

I was nervous. Oh, my God. I performed in swimming pools and all around the world. Nothing freaked me out more than performing in Mexico because there's added pressure. Of course I am Mexican. But I'm not Mexican. Born in Mexico. I'm Mexican born in the United States. And there is a difference. Not saying like, oh, I'm better, but I'm saying there's a difference because when you are born here and you attempt to take your talent back home, you are seen as an outsider. And so you better bring it. You better have your A game ready because they're looking for any reasons to poke holes in what you're doing. And so I needed to feel confident about going over there. And of course, Mexican press messed with me because the show was in English and they thought the show should be in Spanish. And I'm like you don't understand. My shows have always been in English. I might throw a Spanish word or two in there, but it's always in English. And then they're like, well, do you speak Spanish? And I'm like, well, I can order food. But comic in Spanish is a different thing.

Oh, totally different. You have to have a facility with a language in order to be funny in that language. I have a hard time. I'm fluent in Spanish and I have a hard time with funny in Spanish.

Yeah, you lose a lot in the translation. And so once I did the show, everybody that was there, bilingual, of course, otherwise it would have been really awkward. But the show went over very well, and now we're talking about going back again. But for me, I just needed that one. I just needed that one. I plant the flag. And I thought it was really cool because first time in Mexico, and then it was also a reunion with my dad. And then my dad and my sisters came to the show, and it was kind of cool. My dad shared a story with me about how when he was singing, he had always wanted to play that venue that I was performing at, and he never got the chance to. And it was just kind of like, wow, how crazy is it that his kid shows up 40 some OD years later and is basically doing the gig he wanted to do? You know what I mean? So it was kind of like chills.

Yeah, that's pretty cool. And you were as nervous as you've ever been. You've never been that nervous before.

I've been more nervous, especially early on, but I was nervous because it's Mexico. I don't know how it's going to go. Plus, I have my dad, who I haven't seen in 15 years, in the crowd with my sisters who I just met. So there was that added like so there was a lot of pressure right there. Honestly, I get super nervous whenever I do talk shows because with talk shows, it's not my audience, it's the audience of the show. And you are limited on your time. And I tend to get a little long winded sometimes with my material. And so it's really hard for me to just do a condensed four minute set and then go sit on the couch or whatever because my stories are really long. So I get nervous that I'm going to go over. And even though I time it, you never know how the television audiences are going to perform. Sometimes they clap a lot. Sometimes it's a quick laugh. So it's hard to gage. And you could go over a minute under a minute. And that could be the difference between you getting to talk and promote your project on the couch or all right, we'll be right back with more.

So I do get nervous on talk shows.

What is the opposite of most nervous? You've been the most confident that you have been rolling into a place because you know you have this there's not going to be any performance anxiety.

That last special at Dodger Stadium, if anything, I was more nervous and concerned about production. I know I got my set down, but are all these lights going to work right? Is the sound system going to work good? Are the people running the cameras and the equipment to make this happen, to document this the right way?

Is that things out of your control?

Things that are out of control or out of my control? Exactly. And so that's what I was like. And so you're hoping that you put the right people in place to execute. Unfortunately, that's why you do rehearsals, run throughs and do multiple nights so that you can make sure you cover everything.

Fluffyguide.com is where they go for tour dates. But what do you want them to know about the Netflix special that you have out now?

Well, it's the biggest thing that I've ever done. It's a comedy special. It's the most intimate stadium comedy special you will ever see. Intimate because intimate because you can see the love and the appreciation and the joy.

It's a pretty cool thing. It's a rare thing to have that kind of connection with your audience, is it not? A lot of comics have fans I don't know that a lot of comics have fans because they know the story, because maybe they see some of themselves in the comic. There are different connection points for a variety of different comics. But it seems like your popularity with your audience comes from a connected place.

Yeah, there's a lot of relating. Again, dude, I look like a lot of My fans. There's nothing crazy about me. I Mean, I dress The Same way I do now that I did 20 years ago, and I still hit a Jack in the box drive through. You'll still catch me at the mall. You'll still see me. You know, people go, Is that you? Yeah, it is. It is me.

Gabriel thank you. I appreciate the vulnerability. I appreciate the time.

Thank you, Dad.