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You Have to Grow Up, It’s That Simple

“Parents are the ultimate role models for children. Every word, movement, and action has

an effect. No other person or outside force has a greater influence on a child than the parent.”

This quote is by American television producer and actor, Bob Keeshan. Gabriel Iglesias, better

known as Fluffy, has become one of the best-known comedians not just in the United States, but

the world. His story and his family have become very well-known too, especially his stepson

Frankie, whom he mentions all the time in his specials. This quote is an inordinate opening to

this paper because Gabriel is quite wealthy and has been able to provide for his family and

stepson wholesomely, which is all parents ever want to do for their kids is give them the best life

possible, but it has also caused problems. Frankie has approached the age where it is time for

him to get a job, but he is lazy and it is beginning to upset Gabriel that Frankie is taking no

initiative for his own life and is relying on him, his success, and his money, for everything. He

realizes Frankie is getting a false sense of the reality of life, and you have to struggle and fight to

become successful, something Gabriel knows all too well. This is the theme of Gabriel’s bit

entitled “Frankie and Red Lobster,” from his 2019 stand-up special, “One Show Fits All.”

The bit starts off mellow by Gabriel just giving an update that Frankie is now 19 years

old and just graduated high school, which should make him happy, but this leads into the point of

where he talks about how Frankie is being lazy and won’t get a job to make his living and live a

life of his own. Gabriel’s frustration grows as he talks about how Frankie only sits around and

watches YouTube videos all day, and then it grows, even more, when he talks about how people

keep giving Frankie job opportunities just because of who his dad is and Frankie keeps turning

them down. The frustration grows even more when Frankie tells his dad he believes he has “too
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many options.” Gabriel’s frustration finally comes to its peak and we reach the height of the bit

when Gabriel takes Frankie and his mom to Red Lobster for dinner one night. The manager

approached their table and Gabriel told him that Frankie had just graduated high school and is

looking for a job. The manager then hands Frankie a card about applying for a job as a host, that

he will personally make sure Frankie gets an interview, and he can use his dad as a reference.

Gabriel throws comedy in there by talking about how excited he is that he is going to get an

unlimited amount of Red Lobster’s famous cheddar biscuits, but just like all of his other job

opportunities, Frankie turns this one down. Gabriel gets even more frustrated, as this is another

chance that Frankie is wasting, and asks him, “what’s your plan?” Frankie replies to this, “I don’t

know,” and this where we see the height of the bit occurs when Gabriel’s had enough of this

exclaims back at him, “well, you better start thinking!” This leads the audience to fall silent,

creating tension in the arena (Iglesias 2:58-4:02).

Today, Gabriel is a multi-millionaire who has more than enough money to provide for

himself and his family. To say his early life was a struggle, though, would be an understatement,

and he had to fight and claw his way for every dollar that he earned. Gabriel Jesus Iglesias was

born on July 15, 1976, to his mother, Esther Mendez, and father, Jesus Iglesias. Gabriel had a

tough life growing up, as he was constantly moving from one poor neighborhood to the next

until he moved to Long Beach, California, where he spent most of his youth in Section 8,

low-income housing. Why was this the case for Gabriel? Before he was born, his father left,

leaving his mother to raise Gabriel and his five siblings all by herself, so Gabriel grew up with a

poor life, and it didn’t stop once he got older. This is where we find our first concept, being that

growing up in a home with just one parent and a lot of siblings can lead to a tough life.
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From a young age, he knew that stand-up comedy was what he wanted to do full-time,

and when he began he was making so little money that it resulted in him having his car

repossessed and being evicted from his home. He worked as a telephone operator until his

comedy career finally started to take-off and he began to make enough money for it to be

considered living. He went from being evicted from his home to performing in bars and

restaurants, to top comedy clubs, to competing on “Next Top Comic,” to having minor roles on

television shows such as “My Wife and Kids” and “Family Guy,” to have stand-up comedy

specials on Comedy Central and Netflix, to now he performs in sold-out arenas all over the

world (“Gabriel Iglesias”). Gabriel went from having to work as a telephone operator and living

in his car, to now he works as a full-time stand-up comedian, makes around $20 million a year,

and has a net worth of $40 million (“Gabriel Iglesias Net Worth”). Gabriel was also listed in the

Hollywood Reporters ​“Top 40 Comedy Players,” he has over 500 million views on YouTube and

over 19 million followers on Social Media. He was also the first stand-up comedian to receive

his own Funko Pop figure (TeamFluffy).

It is very evident why this bother’s Gabriel so much that Frankie is acting this way, and

it’s not just because of him being lazy, but it’s because Frankie thinks that this is how the real

world works, where opportunities just get handed to you if you have successful parents, but we

are all aware that this is far from the case. To be successful in life, you need to work, you need to

struggle, because life is a struggle, and Frankie not getting that bothers Gabriel so much because

that is exactly what Gabriel had to do to get where he is today, but we also see Gabriel take part

of the blame because he partially to blame he feels for allowing Frankie to develop that false

sense of security (Iglesias 1:45-2:03).

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As the bit goes on, we see Gabriel’s frustration continue to grow until he finally snaps,

and this is where we see heightening to help get the comedic effect across for this bit. And the

tension experienced at the height of the bit plays into the release-and-relief theory, which says

there must be relief in all humor that causes the release of tension that the build in a joke can

cause (Rappoport 19). When Gabriel snaps at Frankie, the audience is not sure what to think, as

the arena falls silent, because it’s clear to everybody Gabriel has had enough with Frankie

throwing away job opportunities, and the tension is created by everybody wondering how did

Frankie react? Did Frankie cry, snap back at this dad, leave the table, or anything worse? Plus,

when there is a fight between a child and a parent it just naturally adds tension to the air. Gabriel

creates release-and-relief, though, by telling a joke. His mom tells Gabriel not to talk to Frankie

like that, where the tension was created, and he tells his mom, “look biscuit blocker,” which

references the fact that Gabriel loves Red Lobster’s biscuits and he was very excited about

getting them for free. This causes the audience to laugh and releases the tension that was created

by him snapping at Frankie (Iglesias 4:03-4:10).

It is not uncommon to see Gabriel Iglesias talk about his family during his stand-up

comedy specials, as Gabriel’s fans feel like they know his son, girlfriend, and mom as well as he

does. His stepson, Frankie, is now 20 years old and Fluffy has been his dad for 12 years now, so

we have gotten to hear the stories about Frankie growing up and going through each stage of life.

Gabriel filled us in on that, at the time, Frankie had just turned 19 years old, graduated from high

school, and is unmotivated to get a job and live his own life because he has “too many options”

right now. He just sits around all day on his cell phone, watching videos of people playing video

games on YouTube. Here, Gabriel uses the comedic tool of hyperbole, or exaggeration, as he
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says to Frankie that he should put a bunch of different jobs on a wheel, spin it each day, and

whatever it lands on is what his job is for that day. This is an exaggeration for many reasons:

one, nobody has that many options, two, nobody acquires the skills to perform that many

different jobs on the fly, and three, just the idea of spinning a “job wheel” itself every day to pick

out a job with a heavy exaggeration. Gabriel uses this though because he just wants Frankie to do

something (Iglesias 0:00-1:43). Here is where we also get a full understanding of what Gabriel’s

point-of-view is for this bit. He is a frustrated father who is exhausted from his son being

unmotivated and freeloading of his success. Frankie has developed a false sense of security about

the world because of who his dad is. This also allows us to see Gabriel’s target, with it being his

stepson Frankie and his false sense of reality.

We also see Gabriel use repetition in this piece to get his comedic effect across. Frankie

hates when Gabriel talks about him during his specials, so Gabriel tells him that he does it,

“because he won’t leave.” He then explains that his fans ask him all the time why does he talk

about Frankie so much and he tells them, “because he won’t leave,” and they ask him if Frankie

likes it when he talks about him and he tells them no he hates it and they ask why does he do it

then and he tells them, “because he won’t leave.” So, we see the use of repetition with the phrase

“because he won’t leave” to help get his comedic message across (Iglesias 0:18-0:30). Another

way we could see repetition with Gabriel, though, is some may think this could be a very serious

topic to talk about in a stand-up comedy special, but Gabriel always, at least once, talks about a

serious topic during his stand-up specials and finds a way to put a comedic spin on it. He has

talked about how he was able to take his mom to see her favorite singer, Vicente Fernandez,

before she died, how he came close to dying because of his weight, and how he handles people
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who mistreat him. So, Gabriel talking about something serious is a repetitious routine for his

stand-up specials.

Now one can understand why Gabriel is so frustrated about Frankie having a false sense

of reality about how the world works and not understanding about working hard to make it in

life. This is where we find the notion that you have to fight and claw to be successful in life.

Gabriel is the definition of this and the American dream. He came from nothing, worked his

heart out to achieve his dream, trusted the process and was patient, struggled, and finally

achieved his dream and became a successful man who makes more than enough money. Not in

any way does he want Frankie to have the tough life he had, he just wants Frankie to understand

that you have to work to be successful in life and once you hit a certain age you can’t rely on

your parents anymore. We saw Gabriel partially blame himself because he grew up without a

dad, so he wanted to be the best one possible for Frankie, give him a better life than he ever

dreamed of, but it caused Frankie to develop a false reality as he got older. This leads to the next

concept, that kids who have rich parents sometimes develop a false sense of reality because they

just expect that money and their social status will take care of all their problems in life.

We enter this world and we enter our parents’ arms, who are here to take care of us and

help us grow until we get older and can do it for ourselves. For some people, this is a concept

that comes easy, for some it is difficult, and then some choose to ignore it altogether and

continue to rely on their parents. Just because one’s parents are successful and rich, that doesn’t

mean you have unlimited opportunities and can put off growing up until you feel ready to. This

was the case for Gabriel Iglesias and his stepson, Frankie. Gabriel turns this into a comedy bit

where we see him use the comedic tools of heightening, exaggeration, and repetition to get his
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point-of-view across and emphasize the comedy. Growing up and being successful in life is

about clawing your way there, overcoming obstacles, and any adversity that comes your way.

This is something Gabriel knows because he has lived it, and now he is trying to get Frankie to

understand that. Whether we like it or not, we all have to grow up, it is that simple.
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Works Cited

“Gabriel Iglesias.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Sept. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Gabriel_Iglesias.

“Gabriel Iglesias Net Worth.” Celebrity Net Worth, 15 May 2020, www.celebritynetworth.com

/richest-celebrities/richest-comedians/gabriel-iglesias-net-worth/.

Iglesias, Gabriel. “Frankie & Red Lobster | Gabriel Iglesias.” YouTube, uploaded by Gabriel

Iglesias, 27 Jan. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpBt__zOd8E.

Rappoport, Leon. “What Makes Us Laugh.” Act: What Takes Place When We Laugh?, 13-24.

TeamFluffy. “About.” Fluffyguy.com, Fluffyguy.com, 8 May 2020, fluffyguy.com/bio/.

Link to Video – ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpBt__zOd8E