Can funny foodies maintain their weight with exciting workouts while still enjoying scrumptious meals as they tour the U.S.? Find out on the new reality show “Fluffy Breaks Even” — starring top comedian Gabriel Iglesias (aka Fluffy) and his friends Martin Moreno, Rick Gutierrez, G Reilly and Alfred Robles — airing on Fuse Thursdays at 10 p.m. EDT.
Produced by Iglesias, each half-hour episode features the comics dining decadently at a local restaurant (with tips as to where to go provided by fans who used the hashtag #FeedFluffy) and then finding a way to break even via a unique form of exercise (suggestions provided via the hashtag #FluffyFitness). Silly facts and useful tips pop up on-screen throughout the show.
One of the program’s highlights is the antics of stand-up comic Gutierrez. The 52-year-old is a longtime friend of Iglesias, and has toured with him many times over the years. Originally from San Antonio, he made waves after more than two decades in the business with the 2014 comedy special “I’m Not Mad, I’m Just a Parent.”
Pumped to talk about “Fluffy Breaks Even,” Gutierrez exclusively chatted with Headlines & Global News. Throughout the interview, he had us laughing hysterically — and it was hard to tell what was a joke and what was the truth.
“Let’s do this!” exclaimed Gutierrez. And then the interview began…
Tell everyone about “Fluffy Breaks Even.”
The show is amazing! We just hang out, eat and go work out. The point is, you can eat whatever you want as long as you go work out. Don’t be a couch potato — I think that’s what we’re trying to get across. With all of the cool stuff we did, picking unorthodox ways to lose weight, we’re just trying to give you a variety of choices instead of going to the gym. There are other adventurous things you can do. That was the fun part — going to all of these places. We had a great time filming this and, hopefully, we’ll get to do another few episodes. I’m very proud of this kind of work.
In the first episode, you guys tried pole dancing.
It was horrible! I think I bent the pole! I don’t think they expected that at all, man! I have a different respect for strippers now, I really do. I don’t give them dollars any more; I give them fives and tens! That’s a lot of work they’re doing. It was fun!
How do you describe your comedy style?
I’m just about everything. My show is called “I’m Not Mad, I’m Just A Parent.” I’m old school. I don’t believe in all this “Talk to the children.” No, tell them: “Shut up! Stop it!” That’s how I grew up, and they need that. We kind of coddle them too much. And I talk about racism in a very intelligent way, and I talk about things that mean something to somebody. Even now with my new show that I’m putting together, it’s about racism and relationships and how we go through life trying… There’s no commitment anymore. “We’re just friends.” Everybody’s “just friends.” I’d like to see nine months later, “Hey, your friend got you pregnant?” I just don’t understand the whole idea where kids are right now. They’ve got the most information ever, but they’re also not as smart as they should be with all this information because they spend too much time on Google. That pisses me off more than anything else — Google doesn’t allow people to think. I’m 52. We had a thing called books. Remember that? We didn’t have a place to plug them in, the pages turned and they never turned off. We had to go look for books at libraries — it was like a like treasure hunt; we had to search and go find. Kids nowadays just click and paste, and I don’t think they use their brains as much as they should. And video games — don’t get me started on that s--t! My comedy, it’s not anger, it’s frustration. I think that’s what my show is based on: being frustrated with the idea of us going through everyday life and missing it. Our kids are obese because they don’t go outside. When I was growing up, that’s all we did. Nobody stayed inside; that’s when your mom cleaned. Your ass went outside for the whole day because you couldn’t get in because everything smelled like pine oil or Clorox. Those things frustrate me, and I try to point it out, and even though it’s a new generation of kids, I always explain to them that the way we grew up was so much more fun and you learned so much more and did so much more. [Kids don’t have] imagination any more because we have computers now. Imagination is taken up with video games, apps and all these other things. I think I grew up in a generation of thinkers and people that figured things out on their own.
In the comedy world, it seems like there are many little posses where there is a major comedian who brings along his friends to tour with him or do shows and movies with.
Well, the posses go because, at some point, your fame becomes a gilded cage. You can’t go somewhere to eat without someone wanting to take a picture or a hundred people trying to talk to you. So you have the close people around you and they keep you grounded. They’re your friends and people you can talk to and have fun with still. Fans are the most endearing part of what we do and they make us who we are, but they also become somewhat intrusive at times — like when you’re with your family. Gabriel actually has some bits that he’s written about that. People come by and take pictures while he’s eating and it looks like he’s having a heart attack. All these things are the reason why posses are created. They’re the closest people to you and they’re people you can have fun with without them holding you to a standard. He’s just Gabriel to me, my friend. I just happen to work with my friend, and it’s always fun.
As a Latino, what are your thoughts on Donald Trump?
Good luck building that wall! And good luck getting Mexico to pay for it! I’ve never heard a man talk more gibberish of nothingness in my whole life. Is nobody going to punch him in the face? It irks me because the Republican party is falling apart as we’re watching this whole thing go down. I’m very much not a political comic; I stay with the baseline where people can understand me. Once you get into politics, especially in this day and age, it’s so difficult, because people are so separated and the parties are no longer working for the people, they’re working for themselves. I vote for the best man. I voted for Ross Perot because I thought that crazy bastard had a lot of good ideas and, to me, those are the kinds of people who are going to make the changes. I just look at politics as a way to separate the country now, so I stay away from it. Trump, good luck. I don’t think he’s going to make it.
For more on Rick Gutierrez, follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
