Balancing Act

For comedians, life on the road means long hours on a tour bus, late-night gigs and even later meet-and-greets — fueled by stops at fast-food chains and local greasy spoons.

And so it goes for stand-up Gabriel Iglesias, known to his fans as Fluffy, a nickname derived from his line, “I’m not fat, I’m fluffy.”

Now the comic has created a docu-series based on the bad eating habits that come with being a road warrior — and the extreme exercise needed to balance the scales. In Fluffy Breaks Even!, debuting October 1 on Fuse, Iglesias, his tour mates and fellow comedians Martin Moreno and Rick Gutierrez travel from city to city, indulging in what are often multi-thousand caloric meals.

Iglesias involves his fans across the six episodes by soliciting their restaurant recommendations, “Especially when we’re new to a city and have limited time, let’s just cut to the chase,” he says. “Where’s the best place to eat, what’s the cool thing to do, where’s the good club, the good bar? We always go to the fans through social media. It’s like grass-roots digital marketing.”

Iglesias is equally enthusiastic about the variety of exercise classes he took, from pole-dancing to MMA fighting. “We worked out with MMA fighter Chuck Liddell,” he raves. “He took us into the UFC gym and put us through a real training session. In the end we sparred with actual UFC fighters in an octagon, which was painful, but fun. My knee is still hurting, but that was my fault for trying to act like Ronda Rousey.”

So, does Fluffy break even? “There’s definitely an element of balance. You’ve got to pay to play.”