Following “Byron Allen’s Comedy & Music SuperFest,” Allen Media Group’s John Kelley discussed the event, and much more with Gabriel Iglesias joining him after his performance. The variety show event, which was filmed in February, airs on theGrio Cable on May 29 at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT.
John Kelley [00:00:00] Give people a slice of your journey because you’ve done so many things and you’re still relevant and just killing it.
Gabriel Iglesias [00:00:15] *Inaudible* What happened to that guy? You know, it’s the fact that I’ve still been able to keep myself working for. This is year twenty-six now.
Kelley [00:00:20] Twenty-six!
Iglesias [00:00:21] Yeah. Look, when I first started, I had hair, hope, happiness, a house, all the H’s. I had ’em all. Yeah. So I’m just I’m happy to still be working now.
Kelley [00:00:28] Bigger and better though, man. I mean, I see the evolution. I watch what you do. What do you think the key is? Why does so many people gravitate towards what you do?
Iglesias [00:00:35] I think it’s because I’m not trying to tell people what to do. You know, I’m not here trying to tell you who to vote for, who not to vote for, what shot to take, what baby to get rid of.
I’m just trying to, you know, Hey, just tell some stories. I want to go get something to eat. And, you know, it’s I just keep the show friendly. I’m not here to to change the world. I’m just here to make the world laugh.
Kelley [00:00:53] And you do that a lot for you. What’s the best part of it? What’s your takeaway–.
Iglesias [00:00:57] Cash. All the cash. At the end of the night big bills.
Kelley [00:01:02] You live large. You got it.
Iglesias [00:01:03] You know, at the end of the night, it’s that acceptance, that acceptance that you get from a crowd that is–just it’s powerful. Because growing up, I was always, you know, the kid that never got picked for sports or or the last pick for anything.
And so with comedy, the first for everyone, I think is like, wow, incredible. So I respect that. And so every night when I was at the stage cheering, that’s that for me is like the biggest just I would do it for free.
Kelley [00:01:27] What’s the evolution been like from when you first took stage and went up? What’s it like then versus now?
Iglesias [00:01:33] It was a lot less scary as far as what you could say on stage. You were able to take more chances in order to be creative. Now I think you have to really be extra mindful, like just really, really hyper focus on making sure that the wrong thing doesn’t come out.
Kelley [00:01:48] What do you remember most about some of those big performances? You know, tonight’s kind of special with different things. Are there certain moments or stages that you’ve been on that’s resonate with you?
Iglesias [00:01:56] Sydney Opera House, Madison Square Garden, You know, just pretty much anywhere there’s NHL or NBA. So that’s that’s been pretty cool for me. I’ve collected a basketball jersey or a hockey jersey from every single arena. I’ve performed that and I’ve ran out of wall space.
Kelley [00:02:12] Is that right?
Iglesias [00:02:12] So that’s pretty cool. That’s how I document. And then I look at the year because the number I always pick the year. And so it’s been awesome that like, wow, you know, I’ve never been able to play in sports, but yet I have a jersey from almost every major sporting team that plays in arenas, which I think is awesome.
Kelley [00:02:26] And you lived the dream not playing sports. You’ve been in these arenas, packing houses. So you get to be your own star in a different way.
Iglesias [00:02:31] Mhm. Yeah. And I got to hang out in those dressing rooms and I’m not missing nothing, So yeah.
Kelley [00:02:37] I appreciate you, man. Thank you so much, brother.
“Byron Allen Presents The Comedy & Music SuperFest” is currently streaming on Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Roku and other platforms.
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