These last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind for me. I went to Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle a couple weeks a go and on March 22 I was able to be a part of a great birthday surprise for my best friend Courtney! Oh and a wonderful surprise it was!
Courtney and have been friends for about 18 years. We’ve been through high school, college, marriage and a baby together. Ok, her marriage and her baby but whose counting. LOL. Her mom texted me a couple weeks before her birthday and hatched a plan that even had me taken aback.
Surprise her with tickets to one of her favorite comedians, Gabriel Iglesias, and take her to dinner.
Now the tickets to see Fluffy on their own would have had her jumping for joy, but her mom took it a step further. Ok like a million long jumps further and made reservations at the Oregon Electric Station. OES is a local fine dining establishment that has been in Eugene for years. It has changed hands a couple times but has always been the place for fine and dare I say wealthy citizens to enjoy steaks, lamb, and seafood in a wonderful atmosphere.
The Secret Plan
Phase 1 – Dinner
We worked out that I would pick up the tickets and meet Courtney and her husband, Joseph, at the restaurant as a sort of surprise. This worked out well since I work so close to the restaurant I just walked there after work. We had an amazing dinner which comprised of oysters on the half shell, rack of lamb, steaks, and of course desert. All of which were amazing. I’m still dreaming of that tender, moist, and flavorful New York Steak 2 weeks later. *drool*
Phase 2 – The Big Reveal
After that we walked off our fine dining experience, all of us were pretty full, and made out way to the Hult Center, where Gabriel Iglesias AKA Fluffy was performing his Beyond the Fluffy World Tour.
Courtney kept looking back at me like, “are we seeing Fluffy?” and I was like “I dunno.” Finally we got there and she was so excited. TBH, I was excited too! I love Fluffy! He’s hilarious! He’s not overly crude, although my sense of humor can be a bit dirty, but his comedy is super relatable.
We took our seats in the lower balcony, not great seats really but you could see the stage no problem, and I was there so that’s what mattered to me. THANK YOU COURTNEY’S MOM!
Our view from the Lower Balcony! Not too bad!
The set was amazing! It was super colorful and had two pagodas, sugar skull and chihuahas animations, and even 2 big screen TV’s that showed trivia before the show. Once the show started there were two opening acts, Alfred Robles and Gina Brillon, who were both amazing!
“Cats are like Mexicans. There are a lot of them and you have to hide them when the landlord comes over.” – Alfred Robles
I really did find both of the opening acts really funny. Gina spoke about being a woman of color and being married to a white guy. Evidently her husband while they were dating told her he wanted to learn Spanish. She was like “why?” “So I can ask your dad for your hand in marriage.” The audience started to go “awwww” when she said “THEY SPEAK ENGLISH YOU DUMMY!” LMAO. I about died.
Before intermission Alfredo came out with a 5x t-shirt that he wanted to give to someone in the audience, but there was a catch. He wanted to make sure whoever got the shirt could really fill it up. He wanted a BIG guy, or gal. So guys started to come up to the stage and people in the upper seats stood up. There was a man right in front of us who stood up. He was a big guy and could totally fill up that shirt, but he quickly realized that being in the balcony seating put him at a disadvantage. So he started dancing, rubbing his belly and eventually unbuttoning his shirt provocatively to illicit a response from the audience. The audience loved it. I have never screamed and clapped so much in my life to try and get someone ELSE to win a prize. Did he win? Yes, yes he did. He deserved it too!
At the end Alfredo said “just take it off you’re already halfway there” and HE DID! Just pulled off his shirt to expose a, very very hairy, back and big buddah belly. The audience went wild! It was amazing.
After intermission we finally got to see Fluffy, but not before Alfredo made a few very serious announcements.
no photos or videos during the show – AT ALL
no heckling – or you will be THROWN OUT
no coming up to the stage with gifts – please give gifts to security
I suppose these are standard no-no’s at a comedy show now, but they were the first I’d heard. I didn’t have these rules when I went and saw Bill Engvall last year at the Lane County Fair, but that was at a fair which probably has more relaxed rules.
Anywhooo….
Fluffy came out and he was just as funny in person as on his comedy specials. He was just so relateable! He talked about how he asked someone at his hotel where the nearest Starbucks was but was quickly told “no, Dutch brothers.” Dutch Bros is our main coffee stand in Oregon and it’s quickly spreading to the surrounding states. It has a cult following and most of the people in Eugene prefer it to Starbucks. He talked about how he went there and was blown away by the sugar free options because he’s diabetic. Some lady in the orchestra section whooped at that and he was like “wait are you wooing because I have diabetes? I hope your foot falls off too!” I almost peed my pants.
He talked and talked for the longest time and then started taking questions from the audience. This is where I got a little annoyed at the drunkards in the audience because instead of yelling out questions they would just yell out lines from his shows or “WE LOVE YOU FLUFFY.” Now I get it, I love Fluffy too, but there is a time and a place for that. It even got to a point where Gabriel started quacking at the people who were interrupting him, that was hilarious actually.
He went over show time by a full HOUR! You could tell he was having just as much fun as we were because he just kept going and going. He finally picked up the digital clock on stage and said “well I think we have to be done because we broke the clock” and he held it up to display that indeed the clock at stopped at 54 min 59 seconds.
It was an amazing show! I haven’t laughed that much in so long. I’m so grateful that Courtney’s mom invited me on this great birthday surprise! It was one of the best nights out I’ve had in a long time.
If Fluffy is coming to your town anytime soon run down walk to get your tickets. Our venue was sold out and he was well worth it! You definitely get your money’s worth. I want to go again next year.
Happy Birthday Courtney! I hope that you had a great Birthday!
Live long and nerd my friends!
Sara
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