Gabriel Iglesias Opens Up About MENTAL HEALTH, Moving On From RELATIONSHIPS, & Why He Almost RETIRED

In this episode of The School of Greatness, Lewis is joined by comedian Gabriel 'Fluffy' Iglesias, who shares his journey from humble beginnings to selling out arenas. Gabriel opens up about the importance of understanding peace through experiencing misery, the significance of having the right people in your corner, and the art of captivating an audience with silence. He also delves into the value of hard work and the lessons learned through adversity. Listeners will gain insights into Gabriel's approach to fame, the power of self-love, and the balance between his stage persona 'Fluffy' and his true self. In this episode you will learnHow Fluffy navigates fame and happiness. The impact of having supportive people in your life. How to become more magnetic in your communication style. The value of hard work and earning your achievements. The difference between Gabriel's stage persona and his true self. For more information go to www.lewishowes.com/1592For more Greatness text PODCAST to +1 (614) 350-3960More SOG episodes we think you’ll love:Eckhart Tolle – https://link.chtbl.com/1463-podRhonda Byrne – https://link.chtbl.com/1525-podJohn Maxwell – https://link.chtbl.com/1501-pod Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Lewis Howes?

  Welcome to the School of Greatness. I am your host, Lewis Howes, and today we have a very special guest joining us. He's known for his larger-than-life personality and his ability to make people laugh all around the world. From sold-out arenas to viral YouTube videos, he's a comedy powerhouse with a heart of gold. Please welcome the one and only Gabriel Iglesias.

• 0:22Gabriel Iglesias?

  I just shared a lot with you, and you don't realize how much I've shared. Being vulnerable is hard to do, and it's scary.

• 0:30Speaker 02

  The first comedian to sell out Dodger Stadium. One of the world's most successful and popular stand-up comedians, Gabriel Iglesias, who is known as Fluffy.

• 0:41Gabriel Iglesias?

  I got to a place where you want to talk about not feeling good. I talked about retiring, especially right after Dodger Stadium, because that put me in a different place mentally, because it's not every day you can say that you saw your peak.

• 0:56Gabriel Iglesias?

  We allow certain behavior to continue because we're trying to keep certain people in our lives. And unfortunately, some people should not be in our lives. I took on the pain and the frustration and the issues because I didn't want to be the bad person who said, "Let me hit the stop button." All that stuff I just shared with you about struggles and the relationships and stuff like that, I haven't talked about that on stage yet.

• 1:19Lewis Howes?

  Who is Fluffy versus who is Gabriel, in your mind?

• 1:23Gabriel Iglesias?

  Gabriel does have bad days.

• 1:24Lewis Howes?

  Really? Fluffy can't have bad days.

• 1:27Gabriel Iglesias?

  He's not supposed to. And...

• 1:31Lewis Howes?

  Welcome back, everyone, to the School of Greatness. Very excited about our guest. We have the inspiring Gabriel Iglesias in the house. Good to see you, sir. Thank you so much for being here.

• 1:39Gabriel Iglesias?

  Hola, señor.

• 1:39Lewis Howes?

  Hola, mucho gusto. ¿Cómo estás?

• 1:42Gabriel Iglesias?

  Mexicans hate it when white people try to speak Spanish to them, out the gate, just so you know.

• 1:47Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, especially when they're not fluent. Yeah, exactly.

• 1:51Lewis Howes?

  So good to connect with you and congrats on everything, man. It's been inspiring to see the journey and to um and the thing that I really appreciate about you is how vulnerable and honest you are with your message, with your work and with the interactions you have. Obviously, you're extremely funny and you've amassed this massive audience of 25 million people globally that are consistently consuming or watching you, but I love how real and authentic you are with your comedy. And so I just wanted to acknowledge you for the journey you've been on, the impact you've made, and the joy you bring to so many people in the world.

• 2:30Gabriel Iglesias?

  Thank you.

• 2:30Lewis Howes?

  And I'm curious, as someone at your level, who is always on the road, with a lot of success over the last, you know, 15 plus, 18 plus years now, how do you manage fame, success, while also being happy and finding inner peace?

• 2:52Gabriel Iglesias?

  I think you gotta go through all the same issues that normal people go through, you know? You gotta go through the moments of heartache, uh, you know? I cry, I have my good days, my bad days. I have my days where I just wanna scream into a pillow, uh, wanna throw something, you know? But, you know, you find a way to get through it. Uh, I'm very fortunate that I get to air out a lot of my issues on stage, because I do. I will take things that bother me and I will go onstage and I will vent about them. And I find that by doing that, um, people can relate. People can relate to when you're frustrated. People can relate to when you're not having the best of days and you share a moment. You know, whether it's like me dealing with issues as a parent or me dealing with issues as, you know,

• 3:35Gabriel Iglesias?

  "Oh man, something happened today where, you know, I, you know, I hit my knee." Or "I'm dealing with a friend that's just bugging the hell out of me because they keep this, they have a certain way of thinking and I'm trying to explain something." Or just dealing with, you know, trying to get through the day. Everybody has problems and when you can relate to people's problems, for some reason, it helps me.

• 3:59Gabriel Iglesias?

  You know, I went to therapy for two years after my last breakup, trying to figure out what I did wrong. And I realized, you know what? It wasn't all me. Uh, cause in the beginning I thought it was and uh going, you know, doing that actually helped out a lot. It it taught me how to listen. It taught me how to ask myself questions and have a better understanding and I think that uh for many years, I I I thought I knew it all and clearly I didn't and that's one thing I appreciate about the fact that as I'm getting older, I'm realizing, alright, now we're finally getting into a good groove. We're finally understanding and things are starting to make sense. Inner peace, first of all, you gotta know what not having peace is to really understand peace.

• 4:44Gabriel Iglesias?

  So, uh unfortunately, I've I have had some some rough moments where I'm like, I am miserable. I am freaking miserable and not because of my work. I love what I do. It is the greatest feeling in the world. But there are things in life, not just your career. There's, you know, regular everyday life, the people that you engage with and uh yeah, there have been serious moments where I'm like, I am so unhappy right now. So, once those things are taken care of or they're gone, when you talk about having peace and feeling good, knowing what true misery is helps you really understand what peace is.

• 5:27Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 5:28Gabriel Iglesias?

  And I don't think you can have one without the other. And so you gotta, you gotta know, you gotta, you gotta be able to bleed to know what it's like to feel good.

• 5:37Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 5:38Gabriel Iglesias?

  And I think that uh starting off this year, uh twenty twenty four, I feel so good. And I haven't said that in so long. I feel really, really good and I feel happy and I feel like um I'm I'm in a good direction and I'm in a good place in life right now.

• 5:52Lewis Howes?

  Congrats, man. What's the, what do you think has been the darkest or most miserable moments you've had?

• 5:58Gabriel Iglesias?

  Um, you know, I think that Feeling confused is is something that it definitely is is is painful. Not knowing, uh, living in a in a gray area of confusion, not being able to have clarity and understanding. Um, especially in relationships, not knowing where you stand. And and a lot of times, I I think we're the the ones responsible for that because we allow certain behavior to continue because we're trying to keep certain people in our lives. And unfortunately, some people should not be in our lives.

• 6:37Gabriel Iglesias?

  And uh, that is a hard pill to swallow as well because as much as whether it's friends, family, or business acquaintances. Some people do not belong in your life.

• 6:48Lewis Howes?

  Oh.

• 6:49Gabriel Iglesias?

  And the sooner you can get them out, the better you're gonna be. And unfortunately, there was times when I didn't just have days or months or a year. I've I've allowed uh, situations to go on for a very long time because I didn't want to be the bad guy to pull the plug.

• 7:07Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 7:07Gabriel Iglesias?

  And so I I took on the pain and the frustration and the issues because I didn't want to be the bad person who who said, let me hit the stop button.

• 7:16Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 7:17Gabriel Iglesias?

  Because I didn't want to be that person.

• 7:19Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 7:19Gabriel Iglesias?

  But at the same time, I wasn't doing myself any favors by not stopping or correcting certain things that were happening.

• 7:26Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, I can relate to that because I've been in. I I'm I'm a slow learner sometimes and I have to go through a lot of pain in order to learn lessons and I had many long-term relationships. Intimate relationships that I should have been out of much years before I got out of them. And dealt with a lot of pain by trying to people please, by trying to change myself to keep someone happy that was just never gonna be happy with me.

• 7:50Gabriel Iglesias?

  Hmm.

• 7:51Lewis Howes?

  And uh, so I can relate to that feeling. When when did you feel like you learned that lesson or what? What shifted inside of you that allowed you to say, okay, I can no longer be this way anymore with this person or these people in my life?

• 8:06Gabriel Iglesias?

  I'm still learning and it's it's one of those things where. Maybe this period of time was was good and helpful and it and it allowed growth and joy and happiness, but then maybe, you know, uh, letting it go this long, just kinda like, ah, like it it's now it's going down and now it's going in the opposite direction, so. I'm still learning and I'm still adjusting and uh, the people that I've started with are not the people that are, you know, always the ones, the ones you start with are not always the ones you end with and fortunately, there have been uh, many people that are still in my life that that I've been on this quest with for so many years. For example, like my my team,

• 8:47Gabriel Iglesias?

  the team of people that I have, I I still have the the the same manager and agent that I've had for, god, like twenty years now. You know, and it's it's awesome and and the fact that we've all grown together has has been all the same promoter as well. Wow. So I've I've been very in in a business of show business, eh eh, you're always jumping around, it's always go go in this way, this way, whatever works and and you know, it's very cutthroat. So the fact that I've been able to maintain and have this same group of people, it's it's huge because the trust is there. And going back to that whole thing of having the wrong person in place, I had people in place that was that were making me question, are these the best people for me? Interesting.

• 9:32Gabriel Iglesias?

  And I feel like loyalty is one of the strongest, biggest things that people take for granted because they're thinking about the money, they're thinking about this or that, but loyalty is so huge, being able to trust someone is so huge and I think that eh eh, a lot of people just kinda go eh, you know, whatever. And like, oh, and that and that's why for me to let people go is really, really hard because I'm like, am I gonna make a mistake? Am I gonna regret this? You know, what's gonna happen? And so sometimes I will overthink. But being able to trust somebody and being able to have the right people in your corner is is really huge and it is a big key to happiness and joy and peace. Wow.

• 10:15Lewis Howes?

  That's powerful, man. I love that you talked about therapy and I know you've talked about this in different interviews. I speak about it a lot on this show. Just my journey of healing and therapy and lessons I've learned and mistakes I've made. And I feel like it's been so beneficial to creating more clarity and peace inside of me. By having a place to talk about challenges, pains, frustrations, upsets, things like that. Well, would you say the three most powerful things you've learned through the therapy that you've done?

• 10:44Gabriel Iglesias?

  Again, being able to question myself.

• 10:49Gabriel Iglesias?

  I know I'm not always right and I will never claim to always be right. And that's one thing that I had to learn. By going that, you know what?

• 10:59Gabriel Iglesias?

  Just because you're, you're popular, just because people like you, doesn't mean you're always right. And I was writing that for a minute and I had to come with the reality that, you know what dude? No, you're not. You're not always right. And you know, that's a, that's a tough one to swallow right there.

• 11:16Lewis Howes?

  Especially when you're selling out arenas and people are laughing at everything you say.

• 11:19Gabriel Iglesias?

  It's hard to, yeah, it's hard to admit that, yeah, because when you're doing all these great things. Like, are you kidding? You're in magazines, you're in the top Forbes, you know, maker of the year type of thing. You're, you're, you're selling out stadiums, you're doing all kinds of crazy, you know, you got a freaking car collection that, you know, that Jay Leno's like, wow. Like, you're doing all these amazing things. So to be able to, to feel like, really? I'm wrong? You know, that's, it's hard. It, it took me a minute to really, to get that. But, um, yeah. I admit it all the time now, man, that was stupid. I shouldn't have done that. So, uh, yeah, I, I definitely feel like that. That was huge, being able to learn that. Cause I feel like I did need to learn.

• 12:04Gabriel Iglesias?

  And nobody would tell me.

• 12:05Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 12:06Gabriel Iglesias?

  That's another thing. Once you're at a certain place where the wheels are moving really well and money is, is good at keeping people, eh, let's keep this going here, you know, don't nobody tell them anything. Don't, don't ruffle feathers, don't upset them because if we, we mess this up. You know, so who's gonna tell me I'm wrong? And that's a tough one. I had to figure that one out. Nobody said you're wrong. Because they're not, none of this, we're not gonna mess any of this up.

• 12:34Lewis Howes?

  Right. We don't wanna stop the money machine coming in right now.

• 12:37Gabriel Iglesias?

  And everything that's happening, so, yeah, but uh, I can be wrong in business, I can be wrong in relationships and, and I've been wrong in both.

• 12:45Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 12:45Gabriel Iglesias?

  I've made decisions where I'm like, oh, okay, that maybe that didn't work out right.

• 12:50Lewis Howes?

  Right, right. So when you're going on a, you know, if it's not a special, but you're just going out to a local comedy club to work out some, some material. Are you going on stage thinking about, okay, I had this thing that happened last week that I wanna vent.

• 13:04Gabriel Iglesias?

  Yeah.

• 13:04Lewis Howes?

  That I wanna talk about. Have you already pre-planned the interpretation of it? Or is it more, I'm just gonna wing it out there and see what comes up for me in the flow?

• 13:14Gabriel Iglesias?

  I have the idea of what I wanna talk about, but I don't know the verbiage yet.

• 13:17Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 13:18Gabriel Iglesias?

  I don't know the, you know, I'm just gonna go and, and every single bit starts off with me just literally freestyling it. Let's see how it goes. And then, huh, go back and you listen. And you're like, okay, that doesn't sound right. Maybe we, you know, I should, and so the first time is just, here's what we got. And then you go back and then you start shaving off this or adding that and moving stuff around. But everything just starts off with the first, let's just throw it at the wall, see what happens. Okay.

• 13:45Lewis Howes?

  What if people don't laugh?

• 13:47Gabriel Iglesias?

  Then I make fun of the fact that they didn't laugh.

• 13:49Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 13:50Gabriel Iglesias?

  I'm in a very good place now because of so many years of doing stand-up. The trust is there. The trust is there from the crowd. So if I say something that's not the, the funniest. Or it just, it doesn't get the, I, I, I feel pretty confident. So if something doesn't get a laugh. I'm gonna find something to make, I'm gonna find something to make fun of. You know, or, you know, hey, you guys, they, they, they all can't be funny. Or if I'm at, if I'm at a club. If I'm at a club and I just popped in and people are like, oh my god, you know, like, you know, if I get a reaction when I walk in the room. And I do a bit that doesn't fly. And, and I just look around and go, yeah, see, that's what happens when you don't pay for the show.

• 14:35Gabriel Iglesias?

  This is what you get for free, people.

• 14:37Lewis Howes?

  Right. You've got so much years of experience with this. You know how to, you know how to spin something.

• 14:42Gabriel Iglesias?

  And I'm not uncomfortable. If they don't laugh, they don't laugh.

• 14:44Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 14:45Gabriel Iglesias?

  You know, if they're, if they're quiet. I always say this, if the audience is dead quiet and you can hear a pin drop. That's a good thing because that means they're listening.

• 14:54Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 14:56Gabriel Iglesias?

  A lot of people are afraid of silence and I'm not. I'm more afraid of heckling and and distractions in the room. So whether there's a ceiling fan on or the air conditioner is making a weird sound. Or you hear glasses and clinking of, you know, you're trying to talk and you hear little noises in the room.

• 15:16Speaker 03

  That'll be four fifty. Hey, you got a disc? You got a credit card?

• 15:21Gabriel Iglesias?

  You know, sometimes I'll have servers that right in the front row, like a big old plate with eight burgers on it. And here you go. And I'm like, you couldn't do this half hour ago with the opening acts with anybody? If you had to put like eight burgers and bring them right here in the front. You know, the kitchen's backed up. I'm like, oh, my God. All right. And that's funny to people to see me in that situation. I'm like, you want me to perform and you got all this food right here in the front? All right. You wonder why bears attack, you know, the circus. So.

• 15:51Lewis Howes?

  Sure. That's funny, man. Do you ever feel insecure on stage?

• 15:55Gabriel Iglesias?

  I'm always insecure.

• 15:56Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 15:57Gabriel Iglesias?

  Yeah. I'm always insecure, like, ah, man, how's it gonna go? Like, oh, did that like that? You know, was it okay? Was it funny enough? Are they gonna come back? Are they gonna tell their friends? You know, that's always in in my head. I feel confident going up on stage every time, but the insecurities are always there. That's part of it. Um, I think that if the insecurities go away, it's gonna keep me from working hard to make people laugh.

• 16:24Gabriel Iglesias?

  They always say, once you think you're the, that's when you become.

• 16:27Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 16:29Gabriel Iglesias?

  So, you know, I embrace the insecurities. I embrace the fact that, you know, it's you're working without a net. You know, when you go up on stage, you are the writer, the producer, the director, you are the everything. And so it's, you know, it all falls on you.

• 16:44Lewis Howes?

  Wow, man, this is crazy. So you have confidence, but you also have a sense of insecurity or uncertainty?

• 16:50Gabriel Iglesias?

  I know that stand up is the thing that I do better than than that's the best thing I can do. That's that's what I'm I'm good at. Um, you know, I'm not, I'm not a good hiker. Uh, I'm not a good.

• 17:03Gabriel Iglesias?

  You know, I I I don't know how to, I don't know how to code. I don't know, there's a lot of things I don't know how to do. But I feel very confident when I, when I'm going, when I'm going on stage. I know that I'm, I'm doing something that I love to do and I know how to do it well. But that doesn't mean that I can't have a bad moment or I can't have something that's not gonna go the way it should.

• 17:24Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 17:24Gabriel Iglesias?

  Remember earlier, you know, just because I'm doing, like, he's doing all this. I can have a bad time on stage, you know, I can, I can be wrong. You know, an idea just, ah, might not fly.

• 17:36Lewis Howes?

  Right. How do you separate your intimate, personal breakdowns in life that you might be having or from the past? If maybe a relationship isn't working the way you want to that day or that week, or you're going through some challenges with a friend or someone in your personal life? How do you disassociate that by going on stage and bringing this joy and passion and creativity? While not letting that affect you emotionally? While also you might be talking about some of those things as well? From your personal life, how do you manage that to still?

• 18:14Gabriel Iglesias?

  I incorporate it. I have to put it in the set somehow. I have to, I have to decompress a little bit by, by putting it in there. And, uh, you know, so whether it's me venting about it for a couple of seconds, just maybe a little blip? Or, um, maybe it's something on social media. And, uh, I, and I, and that's a dangerous one too, because that's, that's out there forever.

• 18:39Gabriel Iglesias?

  Either, ah, it's, it's, it's a hard one because.

• 18:42Lewis Howes?

  Like if you're not feeling good about.

• 18:43Gabriel Iglesias?

  If I'm not feeling good, it's really hard to share that with, with, uh, you know, I have a very small circle, so it's like. It's hard to share because as much as, you know, you, you wanna trust that people are gonna keep things to themselves, sometimes they don't. And then it's like, ah, then that, that becomes, the problem becomes worse. And so sometimes I do find myself, you know, talking to strangers. About certain things and a, a lot of people say, really? With strangers? Yeah, yeah, I, I'm good at talking to strangers, you know, no problem. Especially because they, they don't know all the inner workings, they just see me as this. Which is why sometimes when I'm having a drink, you know, like, yeah, you know, you just, oh, yeah, yeah.

• 19:26Gabriel Iglesias?

  You know, I can't do that all the time and it's hard for me to go places, but every now and then just, you know. Shooting with somebody. This is cool.

• 19:35Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 19:35Gabriel Iglesias?

  Because you don't know everything about my inner workings and I just shared a lot with you.

• 19:39Lewis Howes?

  Mm hmm.

• 19:39Gabriel Iglesias?

  And you don't realize how much I've shared.

• 19:44Gabriel Iglesias?

  But I feel good doing it. I was like, yeah. You know, like that whole talk about the whole inner peace thing. I'm like, wow, look at me saying stuff out loud. Conversations like that are very helpful.

• 19:54Lewis Howes?

  They are.

• 19:55Gabriel Iglesias?

  Um, and again, being able to talk to people that are not gonna flip it on you and use it against you. Being vulnerable is hard to do and it's scary. You know, when you, when you show weakness, man, you know, people can just take that. And, and you know, mess up your day. And so sometimes you want to just keep it to yourself. But if you keep it to yourself, then you get, get to a point where you might, you might explode and that's not gonna be good either.

• 20:23Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. I ask this question to a lot of people and I'm curious your, your answer on this. It's a, it's a self-assessment. On a scale of one to 10, I call it the self-love scale. The inner peace and self-love scale. Where would you say that you're currently at, you know, this season of life? From us, from one being you have zero self-love and zero inner peace. To 10 being a lot of self-love and all peace inside of you. Where would you say you're currently on that scale, one to 10?

• 20:55Gabriel Iglesias?

  One to 10, I'm probably at a six, five, maybe close to a seven.

• 20:59Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 20:59Gabriel Iglesias?

  Um, I feel good, but I know that there are so many things that I could do to improve my quality of life. So many things that I could be doing to make myself happier. So many things I could be doing to just give myself a, a, a better, a better place, if that makes sense, like, you know. I know that if I was to wake up every morning and go just go take a walk, that would improve my health. I know that if I didn't drink, that could help, you know, certain things with like, you know, uh, making organs feel better or maybe the skin of you, you know, I know that if I made certain choices, it would improve. And so it's, you know, as far as self-love, like, I feel pretty good right now.

• 21:44Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 21:44Gabriel Iglesias?

  Um, but you know, the, the weak is young.

• 21:48Lewis Howes?

  When do you feel like, when do you feel like you've been on the lowest on that scale? If you can reflect back?

• 21:53Gabriel Iglesias?

  Lowest on that scale is when I was trying to make people happy that weren't gonna, that weren't gonna be happy and definitely weren't gonna be making me happy.

• 22:03Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 22:05Gabriel Iglesias?

  Killing yourself trying to please others is one of those things that I'm guilty of doing so many times. And I've given so many of the wrong people my time, energy and love, when I should have been giving that to myself. And so I'm guilty of giving till it hurts and giving till I hurt myself. And I definitely would like to, because I'm not gonna get that time and that, all that back. And so the, the, the goal is to try to turn all of that and start doing more for me.

• 22:35Lewis Howes?

  Wow, that's beautiful, man. I can relate to that so much because growing up, I just-

• 22:40Gabriel Iglesias?

  Don't cry, bro. I know, I felt it, man. I felt it.

• 22:43Lewis Howes?

  But I, I mean, shoot, I cry a lot out here, man. But I relate to that just because growing up, I felt very alone. I felt very alone, I felt very abandoned and abused. Now, that doesn't mean that's the total truth, but there were certain moments and memories that caused me to feel not enough, often. I was sexually abused when I was five by a man that I don't know. I've talked about this openly many times here. My brother was in prison when I was eight years old for four and a half years. So I wasn't allowed to have friends in the neighborhood because my older brother was bad and wrong and therefore, parents would have let their kids hang out with me. I was in special needs classes. It was really hard for me to read and write and just remember what I was learning in school.

• 23:29Lewis Howes?

  So I was in those special classes with like three or four kids, getting made fun of, getting picked on. And, you know, I just never felt enough. I never felt like I was good enough. And so that, I guess, those memories, that, that, those experiences, those wounds caused me to people please a lot in my twenties and early thirties. Until it felt like it was gonna kill me. Until I had heart palpitations, pain in my chest. I was making a lot of money to prove people wrong and succeeding externally, but feeling very insignificant, lonely and sad internally. And it wasn't until I started to wake, really break down, get some support, go to therapy, start to transform, heal,

• 24:14Lewis Howes?

  that's when I started to have more clarity and more peace.

• 24:18Lewis Howes?

  Do you feel like you know where a lot of that people pleasing came from for you?

• 24:24Gabriel Iglesias?

  Uh, first of all, I'm sorry for for what you went through and I I relate a lot to what you just said. Especially the, you know, the people pleasing and just trying to, you know, you you you figure if you're if you're making people happy, then then hopefully you'll feel happy and maybe they'll make you happy. And that's a that's a tough one. It really is. I don't know where that came from, uh, because I do feel like, you know, even though I didn't grow up with both parents, I had my mom, um, who was an incredible person. I I miss her very much. She gave me everything I I needed in life to, you know, to to be okay, you know, I I didn't have

• 25:06Gabriel Iglesias?

  all the toys, but you know, my Christmases were not horrible, you know, and um, even though we lived in a rough area, she still protected me and and kept me from becoming the environment. So I don't know where uh, that comes from. I mean, I I basically grew up an only child because my sister and my sisters and my brother were all much older. You know, there's like fourteen years between my sister and I, I want to say thirteen, about roughly, yeah. So by the time I showed up, everybody was already gone. They're all out of the house. So it's like it was just my mom and I, so. You know, I I don't know where this comes from.

• 25:43Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, but it sounds like you've realized this was something you were doing. You've stopped doing it and now you're starting to give back to you.

• 25:50Gabriel Iglesias?

  And this is very recent because I mean, I'm still guilty of it and I still unfortunately, I still allow certain people to have behaviors that are not not good for them and definitely not good for me.

• 26:02Lewis Howes?

  Why do you think you allow that still?

• 26:04Gabriel Iglesias?

  Uh, because I love them, because I don't want to hurt their feelings. I don't want to, uh, I don't want to feel bad for making them feel bad, even though I know that this is not not not benefiting either one. I I don't, I don't like the idea of knowing that what I'm about to do is going to cause ripples of unhappiness, even though it's it's.

• 26:31Gabriel Iglesias?

  Sometimes necessary to correct what's going on. And, and that's why it's like, ah, you know. It's almost like, alright, maybe, and you always wanna hope. That they see it, they get it, they understand it, they'll change on their own.

• 26:47Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, right.

• 26:47Gabriel Iglesias?

  And, man, some people just.

• 26:51Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, man.

• 26:52Gabriel Iglesias?

  And, uh, yeah, so because of how close they are and how long. They've, you know, they've been part of everything. It's, it's really hard, it's really hard. And so that's why I haven't, I haven't, you know. Because this year started off so good.

• 27:08Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 27:08Gabriel Iglesias?

  You know, I'm like, man, I should have done that last year. That's the way I wouldn't have carried over, but no.

• 27:13Lewis Howes?

  Now you have the opportunity. I'm curious. You know, on this show, I really love to. Talk about. Living our best lives and what's, what's possible for us. The things that we can have control over, the things that we can learn and can develop. And, and sharing that with anyone watching or listening around the world.

• 27:33Lewis Howes?

  I'm curious, you said, you know, five, six, six and a half, maybe seven at this point. On the self-love and inner peace scale, what do you think it would take from you to get to eight, nine, or maybe 10 sometimes? I'm not saying you have to be perfect all the time, but. What would it take to, from you to be a little bit higher consistently on that scale?

• 27:52Gabriel Iglesias?

  A little bit higher consistently? Definitely on the physical side, uh. You know, um, I think that, you know, again, limiting. And, uh, the, the drinking, limiting the, you know, cause I, I, I, I will binge eat if I'm not feeling good and I'll just. You know. Not, I'm not like my 600 pound life or anything, but I might have more than one burger, you know? And so I think that, uh, if I changed some of my, um. Habits, I think that would, that would definitely help. Um, but I use these habits as crutches too, whenever I'm dealing. You know, sometimes it's easier to just drink and fall asleep than freaking having to. You know, get into a situation that's very uncomfortable. And, and I'm, I'm guilty of doing that. So I think that if I were to.

• 28:37Gabriel Iglesias?

  I know, and I know that if I did certain things, I would be in a better place.

• 28:41Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 28:42Gabriel Iglesias?

  Um, I'm very comfortable and that's, that's a problem too. I don't like feeling uncomfortable and by changing certain. You know, ways that you do things, it's like, uh. And developing new habits is really hard.

• 28:57Gabriel Iglesias?

  So I know that, but I do know that it would be beneficial. I know that every day I walk by a gym that I have at home. I have a home gym, nice one, a really nice one.

• 29:06Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 29:07Gabriel Iglesias?

  Oh, nice one.

• 29:08Lewis Howes?

  Expensive one.

• 29:09Gabriel Iglesias?

  Yes.

• 29:10Lewis Howes?

  How often do you use it?

• 29:11Gabriel Iglesias?

  I don't. I haven't used it in a long time. Um, and that's something that I'm like, every time I walk by, I'm like, ah, God, it's still there. It's still, I should freaking go lift something.

• 29:21Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 29:22Gabriel Iglesias?

  And I, I do feel guilty for not doing it. And then what I wind up doing, I wind up eating. I'm like, I'm doing the complete opposite. What am I, and now I'm laying there, I'm full, I feel good, but then I feel guilty and I'm like, ah. So as far as the self-love, it feels like love at the moment and I, but I'm hurting myself.

• 29:39Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 29:39Gabriel Iglesias?

  So I, I know that there's a lot of things that I could be doing. Also, uh, limiting the amount of time that I give to people that, that don't make me feel good, I think is, is a tough one. Uh, you know, back to that. That would, that would improve the, the self-love.

• 29:56Lewis Howes?

  Sure. I'm curious about identity. Um, you know, I used to use a lot of words growing up about myself, to myself and to others. I would say, I'm an idiot, I'm stupid, I'll never learn these things, I'm not smart. I was in the bottom of my class, bottom of four in my class. They used to grade us or rank us in our, on our, uh, classes where I was in school. So I could always see that was in the bottom four consistently all through middle school and high school. So just always, I was just like, I'm never gonna be good enough. I'm never gonna learn like you guys. I would say these words and built an identity about me to self that would limit me and to others that would limit me. How much does the identity you've built for yourself? Empower you or hold you back, would you say?

• 30:42Gabriel Iglesias?

  I know that, um, you know, when people see me on the streets, uh, I'm fluffy. Hey fluffy, you know, it's very rare that I'll get, you know, uh, Gabriel.

• 30:55Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 30:55Gabriel Iglesias?

  They'll say fluffy and then like, who is it? It's Gabriel Iglesias, you know what I mean? It's all tied together, but it's so much easier to call somebody by the nickname. It's, it's an easy nickname. And it's not like it's a different person. It's just, it's a nickname that's, you know, it's me. But, um. I am seen a certain way because of the shows and the consistency that, oh, you know, he's the guy that talks about his son, he's the guy that talks about his friend, he's the guy that, so, I'm limited in the sense that if I was to all of a sudden start talking about politics or become, you know, start venting and being very vulgar, being, you know, that, you know, and there are times when I do wanna vent

• 31:36Gabriel Iglesias?

  and I can't on stage because it's not something that goes with, with what I've created and, and it's not gonna be well received by everyone. I might hit a few. There might be some people that will relate to what I'm saying, but I'm gonna ruffle a lot of feathers in the process and so I have to remind myself, this is not the place to do that.

• 31:57Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 31:57Gabriel Iglesias?

  So, by, because of what I built there, I can't, you know, I can't be one hundred right here. This is not gonna go well.

• 32:06Lewis Howes?

  But what about the identity, what about the identity with Fluffy?

• 32:10Gabriel Iglesias?

  The identity with Fluffy? No. Always happy, and that's not always the case. You know, uh, always happy, always in a good mood. I'm not always in a good mood. And I, every time I go out in public, I always, I'm afraid that people are gonna... Like, I don't wanna meet somebody, run into somebody if I'm not having the best of days. So I try not to, not to put myself in environments where I'm gonna run into people. Um, I'm not one who's gonna be like, no, I don't wanna take a picture. I'm not gonna snap on somebody. And, and photos is, is, it's part of the deal.

• 32:47Lewis Howes?

  Uh huh.

• 32:48Gabriel Iglesias?

  Uh, if I can do it and there's time for it, absolutely no problem. Uh, but there are times when I'm dealing with issues, problems, and I'm just like, oh, I just wanna go to the drive-thru, get something to eat and just go back home. But, you know, uh, because of the fact that I'm seen a certain way, it's like, you gotta always be smiling, you gotta always be happy, you gotta always be that, and, and that, that is hard. Because sometimes you just wanna be a normal person.

• 33:13Lewis Howes?

  I understand that, yeah.

• 33:14Gabriel Iglesias?

  You know, you're just, you're like, how's he doing? Ah, he's, he's...

• 33:17Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, don't talk to him right now, yeah.

• 33:19Gabriel Iglesias?

  He's in one of them moments.

• 33:21Lewis Howes?

  I'm, I'm a big believer that our, that our habits and our identity will shape our, our lives. And our goals and the way we feel about ourselves will naturally take care of themselves based on the consistency of our habits and on the identity that we give ourselves. And so I guess I just wanted to ask about the identity of Fluffy. You mentioned this, how you know, people call you Fluffy. Do you think that supports your success but holds you back in other ways? Or do you feel like that is an empowering thing for you with your identity and where you want to be?

• 33:58Gabriel Iglesias?

  There are so many more pros than there are cons. The cons are very small. They're very small. No, man, let me tell you. When people, when you get recognized, you know, I have other friends that are, you know, other comics, and I know a lot of people that are famous. And I don't know, man, I get, I don't want to say that mine is better, but for some reason, when I get recognized, it's, I'm not seen like, like, oh, it's taking a swit kind of a thing, you know? The recognition I get from people, the, the, the look is almost like, hey, man, this guy's like, like, it's like seeing a family member you haven't seen in a long time.

• 34:42Gabriel Iglesias?

  And I feel, I feel that from people when I, when I get recognized. It's not, it's very different. I see how other people get recognized and I'm like, wow, okay. With, with me, it's a lot, it's a lot different. I get people right away that are like, like the glow and the energy is very, it's like, it feels like family. It like, like a moment, like a real sweet, sweet thing. And I love that. It's, it's, it tells me that what I'm doing is making a difference, what I'm doing. Cause I get a lot of people also that will open up, you know? Hey, man, I was going through this and I was watching and hey, man, just so you know, you, I've heard, you've helped me get through. So many times and it's that's an incredible feeling and that's a game changer. So when I hear something like that.

• 35:28Gabriel Iglesias?

  It changes the whatever mood I'm in it it corrects it. I'm like, you know what? So stop. That stop thinking like that, you know, you're you're whatever you're dealing with is nothing. This dude is like you you just, you know, put things into perspective.

• 35:40Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 35:40Gabriel Iglesias?

  So. Being fluffy is is very much a uh it's a good thing.

• 35:47Lewis Howes?

  A lot of pros to it, yeah.

• 35:48Gabriel Iglesias?

  A lot of pros. Do I wish I could vent about certain things? Of course I do. But I think that it's it's part of the deal. You have to sacrifice. This is part of the sacrifice to be where I'm at.

• 35:59Lewis Howes?

  You mentioned some people will just say, hey fluffy on the streets or whatever and they'll be like, oh, it's Gabriel Iglesias. You know. Who is fluffy versus who is Gabriel? In your mind?

• 36:09Gabriel Iglesias?

  They're they're they're pretty much like this. But, you know, Gabriel does have bad days.

• 36:14Lewis Howes?

  Really? Fluffy can't have bad days.

• 36:17Gabriel Iglesias?

  He's not supposed to. And if I do. I try to find a way to push it into the show like, for example. In my in my show right now, without giving too much away, because I have a new special coming out. One of the things I'm talking about is I'm I'm talking about things that happened to me. That weren't great, weren't fun, weren't awesome. I'm starting to incorporate more of. You know, after so many years and now I'm almost I'm coming up on 50 pretty soon.

• 36:42Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 36:43Gabriel Iglesias?

  You know, there's more things that have happened. For example, I'm talking about the fact that I almost died in a plane crash that made the news.

• 36:48Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 36:49Gabriel Iglesias?

  I'm talking about the fact that um they broke into my house, you know, someone broke into my house and went through my things and just. You know, a bad situation. I'm talking about that. I I reunited with my father, who I haven't seen in 15 years and how awkward. That was. And so there's there's now moments where I'm like, okay. You know, so it's not all like, hey, rainbows and unicorns type of thing. It's like, okay, you know, so the challenge now is making those situations. Funny, near death, how can you make that funny? That's. You know, that's a challenge.

• 37:19Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 37:20Gabriel Iglesias?

  But I am I am talking more about things that aren't. As fun and pleasant.

• 37:25Lewis Howes?

  It seems like there's so many people. You mentioned this earlier about how people think that it's overnight. The success that you've had, or they might say that. But you've been doing it for 25 plus years now. And it seems like the younger generation wants this type of success very fast. They want to be able to sell out arenas. They want to be able to have 25 million followers on social media like you overnight. They want people to walk around the streets and call out their name.

• 37:53Lewis Howes?

  What is the dark side to all of this? What's the dark side of being famous and successful, of having these arenas sold out? To, you know, all these different things that are happening in a good way. What's the challenge for people wanting that? Maybe for the wrong reasons.

• 38:09Gabriel Iglesias?

  I think that now, anytime, like, new comedians

• 38:16Gabriel Iglesias?

  definitely don't have patience. I think that one thing that's missing is struggle. Nobody wants to struggle. Nobody wants to take the time. Everybody does want everything right now. And I appreciate the fact that when I first started doing this, there was no social media. The internet was brand new. You know, you didn't even know what to do with it back then. I feel very fortunate that I know that life without it, and I know the life with it. And I know all the years that it took to get to this point. So it's, it's one of those things where I, you know, when, when new comics say, hey, what advice do you have?

• 38:56Gabriel Iglesias?

  I said, I wish I could give you advice that would benefit you in these times. I go, but my advice is old advice for, you know, a kid that started in 1997, not someone who's starting right now. And I don't want to sound like, you know, back in my day, you know, this is how you gotta do it. And these kids don't know. I don't want to be that guy. So I just say, well, you just have as much fun as you can. I go, do you want to do comedy as a hobby? Do you want to do it as a business? Uh, what, what is, what is the reason you wanna do this? Is it cuz you wanna be popular? You want people to like you? What is it you want?

• 39:36Gabriel Iglesias?

  And I go, if you wanna, uh, if you wanna make it a business, then treat it like a business, respect it like a business. Understand that there's things that need to happen in order for this to, to work. If you wanna just do it as a hobby, hey, then, you know, go to the Comedy Store on a Sunday night, get in the potluck, sign up, whatever, just go and have fun and do your thing and just, just enjoy it is what it is and then you're back to work on Monday.

• 40:00Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 40:00Gabriel Iglesias?

  Yeah, and if you wanna be popular and, you know, then that's a different thing. You wanna go jump on TikTok? I am pretty savvy with social media, but I also know that there's certain things I don't know. And there's, there's, you know, people out there now that can sell out clubs and theaters and, and, and do shows because of what they did on social media. And it did take much less than my journey, but when they do their show, you can see in the performance that uh, this is not somebody who's been doing it for a long time.

• 40:32Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 40:32Gabriel Iglesias?

  So you might be able to sell that ticket one time, but can you sell it again?

• 40:38Lewis Howes?

  Consistency is key.

• 40:39Gabriel Iglesias?

  So, uh, it's, it's different, man. I, I, you know, again, I, I appreciate the fact that I, I know the struggle. So because I know the struggle, I respect what I do more. You know, and it wasn't handed to me. It wasn't like, oh, he just jumped in. It's, this took a long time.

• 40:56Lewis Howes?

  You were in an industry plant?

• 40:58Gabriel Iglesias?

  Yeah, no, I know, right? I'm glad, I'm glad I'm on Cat Williams' good side. We're, we're friends. We're, we're cool. We're cool.

• 41:06Lewis Howes?

  If you could go back, I guess, twenty-five, thirty years ago, before you started to take off, before this journey really began for you, what three pieces of advice would you give that younger version of you, right before you're about to take off? On the business of comedy, on your personal life, on everything? What three things would you say to your younger self?

• 41:28Gabriel Iglesias?

  It's funny because I've had this thought a million times. And, uh, as much as I would love to tell the younger version of me, hey, don't eat all of it. All right? Uh, hey, you know what?

• 41:43Gabriel Iglesias?

  You know, don't, don't trust everyone. Um, you know, and, and, and don't date her.

• 41:52Gabriel Iglesias?

  I, I, I can't because everything that has happened uh from day one, it, it all has to happen in order for me to be here right now. Any little change would send me in a completely different direction. And you know, that's me watching Back to the Future way too many times.

• 42:11Gabriel Iglesias?

  Now, things that I do wish I would have done, not advice as far as career, but things I wish I would have done more of.

• 42:21Gabriel Iglesias?

  Back then is I, I wish I would have spent more time with my mom. I wish I would have asked her, her for more life advice. And just, just had more, more conversations about things, uh, but back then. And I was a kid, I thought I knew everything. And so a- as an adult, I'm like, man, I didn't know. And uh, again, because I miss her so much, I just wish I would have spent more time with her. My siblings got to have my mom way longer than me and uh, so it was one of those, that's, that's definitely one thing.

• 42:56Gabriel Iglesias?

  I had a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun uh, early on in my career and.

• 43:04Gabriel Iglesias?

  I um.

• 43:07Gabriel Iglesias?

  I learned the business, you know, trial and error, you know, whether it's with management or with, you know, uh. You know, doing this show versus doing that show, um, you know, how you got booked, well, things you decided to do, things I decided not to do. Um, so I, I mean, you know, there's, there's a lot of, a lot, lot.

• 43:29Gabriel Iglesias?

  I wanna, I wanna say that I, I, I, I could have made better decisions. But again, things, things worked out pretty good.

• 43:38Lewis Howes?

  You're in a good spot.

• 43:39Gabriel Iglesias?

  I do wish I could get some of that time back from, from those people, but I do think also. I appreciate and I respect the amount of pain I was put through. Because I am enjoying the peace I have right now.

• 43:54Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, that's beautiful.

• 43:55Gabriel Iglesias?

  I, I feel really good right now. Like my head is so clear and it, it just, it feels, it feels good.

• 44:02Lewis Howes?

  You made a reference of uh, Back to the Future and I'm gonna try to connect the dots here for, for what I was thinking.

• 44:08Gabriel Iglesias?

  The space-time continuum.

• 44:12Lewis Howes?

  I've had a number of different, I guess, inner painful challenges in my life, especially in my twenties and thirties, from previous relationships I was in that were not in the right alignment. Nothing wrong with them. I choose poorly and I stayed in those things too long, right? And I remember just feeling a lot of pain and sadness when I was in those relationships. And the aftermath of the breakup and the pain and sadness there, all that different stuff. And I remember I was going through a breakup one time about, I don't know, five years ago. And I was feeling one of those painful moments and I had a guest on who I was telling him about what I was going through. And he told me, "A bad day for the ego is a great day for the soul."

• 44:56Lewis Howes?

  And he said, "Think about all the past experiences you've had where you've had pain. And maybe you wouldn't wish that anyone would go through them and you didn't wish you had to go through them, but you also know you wouldn't take those things back because of what you learned through them." You just mentioned this, right? The lesson that it gave you, peace, you have clarity now. It's like feeling that misery, now you can have peace because you know what that felt like. And so I started to travel in time in the future, since that moment about five years ago, when I've gone through challenging moments to think, "How is this happening in my benefit for my future self? How is this painful moment, this season of life, going to benefit me in the future?"

• 45:38Lewis Howes?

  And that's really helped me navigate these kind of painful moments easier, knowing that everything in the past that I've been through, although it was hard and I didn't like it, I'm using it for my benefit now today. And it makes these other moments of beauty that much more beautiful. So it sounds like you've been doing that also, which is really cool to see. If you could go into the future and see yourself thirty, forty years in the future.

• 46:09Lewis Howes?

  What advice would you give yourself now? If you are in that future, thirty, forty years ahead, and you're reflecting back on everything you've created now,

• 46:21Lewis Howes?

  and you can speak to your current self, what would you say?

• 46:24Gabriel Iglesias?

  Stop drinking, start eating better, start working out, and start enjoying the fruits of your labor.

• 46:33Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 46:33Gabriel Iglesias?

  Stop saving all that money for who? Start enjoying life. Start taking some, some breaks. Start taking some trips. Start having some fun.

• 46:43Lewis Howes?

  What's it gonna take for you to, to do those things?

• 46:47Lewis Howes?

  Like, what's, what's it actually gonna take for you to do that, though? And not just, you know, another year go by?

• 46:53Gabriel Iglesias?

  Yeah.

• 46:54Lewis Howes?

  Well, I should start doing more of these things that my future self is telling me. What, what do you think it's gonna take?

• 46:58Gabriel Iglesias?

  What's it gonna take? I, I don't know what it's gonna take, but I'm saying it out loud, and that's not something I've done before.

• 47:03Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 47:04Gabriel Iglesias?

  You know, I've not said this out loud, back to back to back. So, you know, if it does happen, then consider this the first step. The saying it out loud.

• 47:15Lewis Howes?

  That's great.

• 47:16Gabriel Iglesias?

  You know, because I've acknowledged publicly, this is the issue.

• 47:19Lewis Howes?

  That's great, man. I, I wanna see you follow through on all of what your future self tells you to do. I think that'd be inspiring to watch. I got a few final questions for you. This has been really, really inspiring, Gabriel. I appreciate it. How can people best support and serve you? You give so much to the world. You give so much to your team, to your friends, to your community. How can people best support and serve you?

• 47:46Gabriel Iglesias?

  If, if they like what I do and, and I, I bring joy to their lives, tell somebody. You know, let people know, hey, you know, I'm only doing this because people still come to the shows. If people stop coming, then I stop doing this.

• 48:01Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 48:01Gabriel Iglesias?

  So as long as people come out to the shows, and that's, that's gonna keep me going.

• 48:07Gabriel Iglesias?

  I got to a place where you wanna talk about feeling, not feeling good, not feeling, uh...

• 48:14Gabriel Iglesias?

  Positive about what I was doing.

• 48:18Gabriel Iglesias?

  I talked about retiring. I talked about retiring because I wasn't sure that this was giving me what I needed. You know, I didn't, I wasn't feeling good. And it wasn't, it wasn't the stage that was hurting me. It was how I was feeling in just my everyday life. And I felt like a lot of it was coming from that. And it wasn't, it was just me not dealing with certain issues in my life. And I'm like, you know, uh, what am I doing this for? I'm still on the road. It's been so many years. And I was reminded by my publicist yesterday goes, you know what? You, you kind of brought up the retirement thing. Couple of times I go, yeah, you're right. I did, I did, I did. I said that.

• 49:00Gabriel Iglesias?

  Um, cause you know, at this point, I'm like, what am I supposed to do? But I think that I'm clearly missing the fact that I do have a, uh, more of an impact than I thought I did. On people's lives and, and it helps more than it hurts. And I should continue to do this as long as I can.

• 49:19Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 49:21Gabriel Iglesias?

  I mean, so the best way people could support me, just keep coming out.

• 49:24Lewis Howes?

  There you go.

• 49:25Gabriel Iglesias?

  Like your prices are too expensive. Everybody else got more expensive tickets. Look online.

• 49:30Lewis Howes?

  Exactly.

• 49:31Gabriel Iglesias?

  Look, look online.

• 49:33Lewis Howes?

  Why do you think, so you mentioned you wanted to retire a multiple times? Is that, was that a season of life?

• 49:38Gabriel Iglesias?

  Yeah, well, um, especially right after Dodger Stadium, because that put me in a different place mentally. Because it's not every day you can say that you saw your peak.

• 49:51Gabriel Iglesias?

  You know, and it's hard to argue that one because it's like, uh, okay, this is the biggest. It's the biggest show that's ever happened in, in, on the west coast that I know of.

• 50:01Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 50:01Gabriel Iglesias?

  I don't know of any other show that's been that big for comedy.

• 50:04Lewis Howes?

  How many people were there?

• 50:05Gabriel Iglesias?

  Uh, almost 50,000.

• 50:07Lewis Howes?

  Holy cow.

• 50:08Gabriel Iglesias?

  Yeah. So, you know, uh, so how do you set a new goal?

• 50:12Lewis Howes?

  Interesting.

• 50:13Gabriel Iglesias?

  You know what I mean? It's like, okay, what am I supposed to do now? You're on the other side of that. And it's like, oh, you know, you freaking jumped, jumped the shark, man. You're, you're, you know? So like, in a perfect world, like if it was a movie, I, I looked at it like a movie, like the best way would be to, to finish that night and thank you. Here's the end of the career.

• 50:31Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 50:32Gabriel Iglesias?

  You know, and it was literally, I want to say. Like three weeks uh after my twenty fifth anniversary of being a comic.

• 50:41Lewis Howes?

  Holy cow.

• 50:42Gabriel Iglesias?

  So I like numbers like that. Oh, after twenty five years, like this is how biggest show ever done, but I still love it. But at the same time, again, you know, dealing, having certain situations in life and then trying to do this. That night, everything just fell into place. It felt so good. Best night of my life. Hands down. Best night of my life. But then the next day, it's like, all right, now we're back to reality.

• 51:06Lewis Howes?

  Really? Did you gotta have like a hangover, emotional hangover?

• 51:10Gabriel Iglesias?

  I had an emotional and a physical one because I drank on stage that night. So I killed a bottle in front of, and what I thought was really cool is that everybody, well, I didn't see anybody leave, but it felt like. Even after my show was over, I stayed on stage and I just started telling random stories. I brought my friends out on stage and. We're drinking and they're playing music. We had them playing Vicente Fernandez over and over and we're taking shots and just drinking and. Oh, God, I want to say that it was uh almost. Two hundred thousand dollars for the fine. For going over.

• 51:43Lewis Howes?

  Oh.

• 51:44Gabriel Iglesias?

  Yeah, when you rent out a stadium.

• 51:45Lewis Howes?

  You gotta be out.

• 51:46Gabriel Iglesias?

  Yeah, you gotta, there's a cutoff time. We went way past that. And so, yeah, I got fined. Best fine I've ever paid.

• 51:54Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, well, you're willing to pay it.

• 51:55Gabriel Iglesias?

  Again, uh, you know, it's not every day you can say that this was hands down, no question. Best night of my life, but then, you know, all right, now what?

• 52:04Lewis Howes?

  If you were to take a year off, let's say, not completely off, but maybe you pulled back on touring, maybe you weren't doing a special, maybe, you know. And I don't think anyone in your team wants me to even say this, but if you were just to pull back.

• 52:18Lewis Howes?

  What would you do with your time to take care of you?

• 52:20Gabriel Iglesias?

  That's an easy one. Uh, COVID. COVID kept me home for a year and in that time that I was home for a year. I started eating better. I didn't drink as much.

• 52:30Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 52:30Gabriel Iglesias?

  I probably didn't drink at all. And I started working out. So I probably lost seventy pounds that year.

• 52:36Lewis Howes?

  Come on.

• 52:37Gabriel Iglesias?

  Yeah.

• 52:37Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 52:37Gabriel Iglesias?

  Because I was able to be consistent. I wasn't on the road, so I was home. I was able to get into a a routine.

• 52:42Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 52:42Gabriel Iglesias?

  You know, my friend, personal trainer, we were hanging out all the time. So we were just like, we would hang out and work out.

• 52:48Lewis Howes?

  We would walk and working out.

• 52:49Gabriel Iglesias?

  Yeah, so it was just, you know, that whole year I dropped, I dropped seventy pounds.

• 52:53Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 52:54Gabriel Iglesias?

  Wow. And then as soon as we went back to work, gained back about forty of that. So fortunately, I still kept a little bit of that, you know, progress off. But yeah, I'm not where I was in twenty twenty. Twenty twenty, when everybody was kinda, yeah, getting sick, I actually got, I actually got better.

• 53:10Lewis Howes?

  Interesting. Man, well, I know you've.

• 53:12Gabriel Iglesias?

  So if I was to take a year off, and that's another reason too, I says, well, you know, if I keep grinding it out there, all I'm doing on the road is making bad decisions. I'm drinking, I'm eating, I'm just, I'm not sleeping the way I should. I'm just, I'm, it's, it's taxing. You know, it's go, go, go, travel, travel, travel. You're just, it's, you're all over the place and I'm not doing myself any good. And so that's another reason where I was like, oh, this isn't, you know, I should probably go away from this. And so that was one of the things about the retirement and then everything else that was happening.

• 53:47Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, I mean, I mean, I'm not saying retire because you bring so much joy to the world, but you could do stuff at home. You could work at home. You could, you know, do TV shows, you could do other things. With a routine in your bed, you know, in your space with the right support around you. And still work, maybe just a little less.

• 54:04Gabriel Iglesias?

  Oh, I know I could.

• 54:06Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 54:06Gabriel Iglesias?

  And it's so much easier to make excuses.

• 54:08Lewis Howes?

  Uh huh.

• 54:09Gabriel Iglesias?

  And the problem I have is I'm really, really good at making excuses.

• 54:14Lewis Howes?

  Hmm. Oh, I have to go do this tour or they need me or.

• 54:17Gabriel Iglesias?

  Oh, I wish I could, but you know. Uh. Yeah. And, and the problem is that I believe my own excuses.

• 54:25Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 54:26Gabriel Iglesias?

  You know, and that's a tough one, man. I know that half the time I'm pulling. Like, come on, man, really? You know?

• 54:32Lewis Howes?

  I mean, I know we just met each other and I know we're having, you know, this type of conversation here, but how could I support you in stopping the excuses for yourself?

• 54:41Gabriel Iglesias?

  Oh, well, again, having the conversation. I don't have these conversations. People in my circle aren't gonna pull me aside and go, you know, you really should stop eating so much and drinking so much and, you know, it wouldn't kill you to lift a freaking weight. Uh, you know, you wanna go for a walk? Uh.

• 54:57Gabriel Iglesias?

  It is an uncomfortable conversation because I'm being very vulnerable about the fact that this is a problem I have that I haven't addressed and I don't, I can make a million, I can make a million excuses, but in reality, it's, it's just, it's just me.

• 55:12Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 55:13Gabriel Iglesias?

  You know?

• 55:13Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 55:14Gabriel Iglesias?

  So the best way to support me is the fact that we're having this conversation.

• 55:17Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, and I'm not trying to, you know, get you upset at me if we just met each other.

• 55:21Gabriel Iglesias?

  Oh, I'm not mad.

• 55:23Lewis Howes?

  But my, my, my thing is, from an outside perspective, I see the talent that you have. I see the success you have. I see the career you've made that what people would dream of having, right? Other comics are like, look at you as this, the career is like a dream career, right? But I think about your 80-year-old self and what he wants for you. That's what I, what I think about, is what is your 80-year-old you want for, for you at 80, at 50, at 60, at 70, you know? And he wants you happy, he wants you healthy, and he wants you feeling good. That's what I think from an outside perspective. So I, I have this conversation with you because

• 56:04Lewis Howes?

  I, I want to see you continue to bring joy to so many people in the world for a long time. And I want to see you bring joy to yourself for a long time. So that's why I have the uncomfortable conversation with you, risking you getting frustrated at me. But I want to see, I want to see how I can support. So I'm going to follow up with you afterwards, man, and see how I can support you eliminate these excuses, because it's not easy. You know, I have excuses for myself with different things as well that I need coaching, I need accountability, I need to, you know.

• 56:33Gabriel Iglesias?

  Oh, yeah. Those are, those are tough words. I had to learn a lot of those words in therapy. Accountability. Yeah, that's a big one right there.

• 56:41Lewis Howes?

  Oh, man.

• 56:42Gabriel Iglesias?

  Yeah, no one wants to be responsible and accountable. That's a tough one right there.

• 56:46Lewis Howes?

  It's not, especially when you've created so much for yourself. You worked so hard. You worked your butt, your butt for so long. And you want to enjoy some of it too. So I get it. I get it, man. I'll stop with the uncomfortable conversations. I wanted to ask you a question. This is what I ask everyone at the end of our conversations. This is called the three truths.

• 57:07Gabriel Iglesias?

  The three truths?

• 57:08Lewis Howes?

  Three truths. So it's a hypothetical scenario.

• 57:12Lewis Howes?

  But I do want you to think about you going to the very end of your life. And you get to live as long as you want, live as long as you want. But eventually it's the last day for you. And you get to create, accomplish, experience all the things you want for the rest of your life. From this moment until then. Friends, love, success, whatever it might be, you create. But for whatever reason, on this final day, you have to take all of your work with you. This interview is gone, all your specials, everything you create from here, moving forward. We don't have access to it in this world anymore. You gotta take it with you somewhere. But you get to leave behind three things you know to be true. And this is all we would have to remember you by.

• 57:56Lewis Howes?

  These three truths or your top three lessons. What would you say would be those three truths for you?

• 58:03Gabriel Iglesias?

  The three things to leave behind. But you said, you just said right now that. Three truths, three truths as far as just.

• 58:11Lewis Howes?

  Your life lessons. This is all you'd want people to have access to are these three things. Because everything would be taken with you. All your content, jokes, this interview, anything you create.

• 58:22Gabriel Iglesias?

  But if I get to leave three things behind, couldn't I leave behind my content?

• 58:25Lewis Howes?

  If you wanted to, I mean, three, three lessons that you could share, that's it.

• 58:29Gabriel Iglesias?

  Oh, man, three lessons.

• 58:31Lewis Howes?

  Hypothetical scenario.

• 58:32Gabriel Iglesias?

  Definitely, uh, the one about struggle, you know, uh, cause I don't think that. You can't appreciate things until you know what it's like to have to work for them, to earn them, to, to have to, to get some sweat on your brow, to get some dirt under your fingernails. So respecting and understanding struggle, I, I, I don't think that there's enough of that. You know? Uh, that's definitely one, cause to appreciate something, you have to know what it's like to not have it and what it takes to get to that. You know, and I, that's why, you know, when, when people have certain things handed to them, it's like, oh, man, you're not. Ah, it's cool.

• 59:18Gabriel Iglesias?

  What do you mean it's cool? I was like, oh, my God, so.

• 59:21Lewis Howes?

  That's number one.

• 59:21Gabriel Iglesias?

  Okay, one. Two, uh, I guess patience.

• 59:29Gabriel Iglesias?

  You know, uh, not, nothing comes quick in life that that's worth anything.

• 59:35Gabriel Iglesias?

  This is a tough one because I want to just say, I want people to remember the content because I feel like, you know. Uh, so three truths, patience and um. I don't know. That's a, that's a good one. What have people said in the past? Just so I have an, an, uh, uh, an idea of the, uh.

• 59:53Lewis Howes?

  I mean, my, mine have shifted over time, but currently they would be to live in gratitude.

• 1:00:00Gabriel Iglesias?

  Okay.

• 1:00:01Lewis Howes?

  Because I feel like when we live in gratitude, it's hard to be angry, resentful, frustrated, resent, uh, you know.

• 1:00:10Lewis Howes?

  Pissed off is all these other different challenging things that we might have. And when we live in gratitude, we can appreciate the things we do have and as opposed to the things we're lacking. The second one for me would be to honor your health because I, and that's spiritual, physical, emotional health. Because um, when we don't honor it, it's going to cause more pain on us. And it's going to create more sadness and suffering. We, you know, we could be completely physically fit, but mentally. In a horrible place with ourselves and still be suffering, but look fit, but, but emotionally, mentally or spiritually lacking. So we've got to focus on all those aspects of health. The third truth for me would be to live in service.

• 1:00:54Lewis Howes?

  Something I think you do really well. You get up on stage and you serve people with your talents and your gifts. And when we learn what our talents and gifts are by developing them, by trying things. By trying to master them and then using them in the service of helping others in whatever way that is, I feel like that's a great life. So, living in gratitude. Really protecting and honoring our health and living in service would be my three truths.

• 1:01:22Gabriel Iglesias?

  That's pretty awesome. I don't know. I feel like for saying, yeah, leave behind my DVD collection.

• 1:01:28Gabriel Iglesias?

  He'll come watch my collection.

• 1:01:29Lewis Howes?

  No, but I think your, your first two, your first two about, you know, kind of honoring the struggle, not having everything handed to you. Living with patience, all great things come in times of patience. Uh, what would you say would be the third one that speaks to you?

• 1:01:45Gabriel Iglesias?

  And I wish I could do this myself. Uh, don't overthink. It's not worth it.

• 1:01:51Gabriel Iglesias?

  You know, but I'm guilty of it myself. So it's a kind of a hypocritical one.

• 1:01:55Lewis Howes?

  We all say the last thing we usually need the most, you know, and hopefully we can learn that on our journey. So I think you'll be able to get there. Uh, Gabriel, I'm really grateful for you. Again, I want to acknowledge you for the consistency you've done in your life to serve people with your talent and your gifts. To bring joy, humor, you bring families together, you bring people together, you allow people to relax, reflect, release, you know, have fun and be themselves. You're, you are able to share your life stories so people can relate and know that they're not alone. So I really want to acknowledge you for the talent, the gifts that you've had.

• 1:02:37Gabriel Iglesias?

  Thank you.

• 1:02:37Lewis Howes?

  For the last 25 plus years and I'm sure for many more years to come.

• 1:02:43Lewis Howes?

  And I have two final questions really quickly because I have a hard out and I think your team is probably telling me I gotta get, wrap this up. What is the thing that you are most proud of that most people don't know about you? Maybe that's not really out there publicly or things that they don't see. What's the thing you're most proud of that most people don't know about?

• 1:03:06Gabriel Iglesias?

  I, uh,

• 1:03:09Gabriel Iglesias?

  I have, uh, given two little dogs an incredible life. That, and I, I've, uh, I've gone to the ends of the earth to try to make these two little dogs the happiest dogs. Like, I really love my, my dogs. They've, uh, I've done, I've worked really hard to make it so that I can take them, have them around me at all times because they bring me so much joy. And so I, I'm a big, you know, I love, I love dogs. And I'm, I feel good for all the time. I don't ever regret any time that I've spent with them. Or just, you know, whatever it is to, to try to make them happy. And I love doing things for them.

• 1:03:54Lewis Howes?

  That's beautiful.

• 1:03:55Gabriel Iglesias?

  And, um, my pets, you know, my babies.

• 1:03:58Lewis Howes?

  That's cool, man. Yeah.

• 1:03:58Gabriel Iglesias?

  And so I, I enjoy, yeah, I enjoy the the fact that I do that. And people find out, oh, you got your, and I'm, I'm one of those at the airport, hey, look at this, my dog. Show me your dog.

• 1:04:09Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah, and your screensaver. Yeah, yeah.

• 1:04:12Gabriel Iglesias?

  You know, loving, loving animals, loving, you know, it's one of those things where it's, it's.

• 1:04:18Gabriel Iglesias?

  You know, dogs don't care what's in the bank. They don't care what you drive. They don't care what you do. You know, they just care that you love them, that you, you know, you're around them and that's, that's so pure. It's just like, man, look. Just, you know, so I, I love that. I love that.

• 1:04:32Lewis Howes?

  That's beautiful. Final question for you, Gabrielle. What's your definition of greatness?

• 1:04:37Gabriel Iglesias?

  Ooh. Um, I guess it all depends on what the, what we're describing. It's the, is it the greatest table, the greatest coffee mug, the greatest, you know, singer, dancer, songwriter, you know? Um, when you. The definition of greatness is when it's far surpasses the expectation.

• 1:05:05Gabriel Iglesias?

  You know, something that just is like, are you kidding me? You know, so we're like the greatest coffee mug, like, oh, so you touch it, it plays music, lights come out of it, it pours itself. You know what I mean? Like this is the greatest coffee, you know? Everything could be like, because I just expect this to hold whatever liquid is in it and the handle to work. But if there's, you know, whatever it is, is more, way more than what you hoped for, that I think is, is what greatness is. So whether it's, you know, you just hope that this person was decent.

• 1:05:39Gabriel Iglesias?

  And then you found out, not only are they a decent person, man, but this person just goes above and beyond to try to make others happy. They, they, they give their time, they, they donate, they, they, you know, uh, they help. Uh, you know what I mean? It's like there's, there's expectations and then there's, you know, things that supersede that. And that's, I think, what greatness is.

• 1:06:00Lewis Howes?

  Gabrielle, thanks for coming on, man. Appreciate you.

• 1:06:02Gabriel Iglesias?

  Thank you.

• 1:06:02Lewis Howes?

  I hope you enjoyed today's episode and it inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's episode with all the important links. And if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me personally, as well as ad-free listening, then make sure to subscribe to our Greatness Plus channel exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Share this with a friend on social media and live. Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts as well. Let me know what you enjoyed about this episode in that review. I really love hearing feedback from you and it helps us figure out how we can support and serve you moving forward. And I want to remind you, if no one has told you lately, that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter.

• 1:06:44Lewis Howes?

  And now it's time to go out there and do something great.