Comedian Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias still can’t believe he’ll be headlining two evenings at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
While musical giants like the Beatles, Elton John and Michael Jackson have had memorable performances at the ballpark, Iglesias will be the first comedian ever to headline Dodger Stadium on May 6-7. His shows are part of the massive Netflix is a Joke: The Festival, which features more than 250 performances in 33 venues scattered throughout Los Angeles April 27-May 8.
“It still really hasn’t registered,” the Southern California native said during a phone interview about his full stadium show on May 7, and the newly added more intimate field seating event on May 6.
“It’s so not real yet. I’ve been to that stadium a million times, and I recently went to do the walk-through to see where the stage would be and go over all the technical stuff but it still hasn’t hit me. I wish I could say, ‘Oh my God, it’s so crazy,’ but it’s still too surreal that I don’t know if I’ll get excited the night of or just go up and do my thing. It’s probably just going to be a delayed reaction.”
When it came time to talk to Netflix about filming his third comedy special for the streaming platform, Iglesias said that both he and Netflix’s director of stand-up and comedy formats, Robbie Praw, were thinking big. Iglesias was looking to top his 2019 milestone of selling out Staples Center (now Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles and Honda Center in Anaheim back-to-back. Dodger Stadium seemed like the next logical step.
“Netflix said they’d support it 100% and I know L.A. is my strongest market, so if we were ever gonna try something that big and that crazy, this would be the place to do it,” Iglesias said.
“This is more than a show, it’s more than just something we’re filming for Netflix and it’s more than a special … it’s the biggest comedy special that Netflix has ever shot,” Praw said during a separate interview. “We’re just so proud of the guy and he’s also a guy who’s gonna deliver the goods. These are going to be incredible shows and we are so happy for Gabe and nobody deserves it more.”
Before the shows were announced, Iglesias said he’d told a few people in his inner circle, but no one believed him.
“They were like ‘Oh, so you’re gonna sing the national anthem or throw out the first pitch or something?’” he said with a laugh. “I would say, ‘No, I’m going to be performing.’ And they’d say, ‘Oh, like is there a smaller room? What do you mean performing?’ I get it, it does sound outrageous.”
Iglesias is a lifelong Los Angeles Dodgers fan and his all-time favorite player is pitcher Fernando Valenzuela. He even got to throw out the ceremonial pitch back in 2019 and he said he thought he did all right.
“I’m not 50 Cent; I can make it and I can nail that,” Iglesias said, joking at the rapper’s wide throw during his ceremonial pitch at Citi Field in New York in 2014. “I wasn’t trying to prove a point or try out for the Dodgers. I know I’m not a baseball player, so I lobbed it over and made sure it just got from point A to point B.”
Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias
When: 7 p.m. May 6
Where: Dodger Stadium, 1000 Elysian Park Ave., Los Angeles
Tickets: $99.50-$149.50 at Ticketmaster.com
Also: 8 p.m. May 7 at Dodger Stadium. Tickets start at $29.50 at Ticketmaster.com.
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