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All Music Guide:
A dry and clever standup comedian who's hateful toward Hot Pockets and proud to be pale, Jim Gaffigan is a regular on the late-night talk show circuit and an in-demand actor as well. After his first appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, Letterman himself asked Gaffigan to develop a show for Letterman's production company, World Wide Pants. Although the show, Welcome to New York, didn't work out, Gaffigan's talent was recognized and soon he was making appearances on The Ellen Show, Ed, Law and Order, Sex and the City, and That '70s Show. During this time, Gaffigan released four CDs of his standup on his own label and worked in films, with small roles in Three Kings, Road Trip, and Igby Goes Down. In 2004 he signed a deal with Comedy Central that would include a successful television special and his CD debut for the label, Doin' My Time. The CD included Gaffigan's soon to be famous routine on the dangers of eating Hot Pockets. MP3s of the routine would be attached to numerous emails and traded on the Internet before Gaffigan would return in 2006 with his Beyond the Pale CD, DVD, and television special. Bowling, bacon, and the Waffle House chain of restaurants were some of the topics covered on his 2009 release, King Baby. Returning to this theme, his 2012 effort Mr. Universe included the track titles "McDonalds," "Subway," and "Dominos."
Wikipedia:
James Christopher "Jim" Gaffigan (born July 7, 1966) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and author. His memoir, Dad Is Fat, was published in 2013, by Crown Publishers.
Personal background[edit]
Jim Gaffigan was born on July 7, 1966 in Elgin, Illinois and was raised in Chesterton, Indiana. He attended La Lumiere School in La Porte, Indiana. He is the youngest of six children and often jokes about growing up in a large family. He attended Purdue University for one year, where he was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity. He graduated from Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business in 1988. Gaffigan wrestled in high school and played Division 3 football while in college.
He is married to Jeannie Noth, with whom he has two daughters, Marre and Katie Louise, and three sons, Jack, Michael, and Patrick. Gaffigan has stated on stage, and elsewhere, that he is a Catholic.Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist}} template (see the help page).
Contents
Professional background1.1 Comedy1.2 Acting1.3 WritingProfessional background[edit]
Comedy[edit]
Gaffigan's comedy routines often include humorous, high-pitched "asides" representing commentary on his performance from a hypothetical naive and easily offended audience member. These were inspired by his sister.
Gaffigan is also known for routines or skits relating to being lazy and eating food, especially popular routines regarding Hot Pockets, cake, and bacon. In 2004 Gaffigan's stand up material was featured in Comedy Central's animated series Shorties Watchin' Shorties. His 2006 album, Beyond the Pale, consisted primarily of material regarding food and American eating habits. The album was accompanied by an hour-long special on Comedy Central of the same name, which was released on DVD. His 2009 album, King Baby, was also a television special filmed in Austin, Texas at the end of his "The Sexy Tour". Comedy Central released King Baby on DVD. In a March 2009 interview on Anytime with Bob Kushell, Gaffigan defended his naming of the tour, stating that he thought it would be funny that parents would be unsure about whether to bring their teenage children to the show.
For Easter 2010, Gaffigan traveled to Israel and had two performances. One was at a theater in Tel Aviv and the second was at Israel's only English-speaking comedy club in Jerusalem.
On February 25, 2012, Gaffigan taped a one-hour stand-up special Mr. Universe at the Warner Theater in Washington, D.C. He announced that, based on the business model used by Louis C.K.'s Live at the Beacon Theater, the stand-up would be available online through his website for $5, with $1 of the proceeds going to the Bob Woodruff Foundation.
Acting[edit]
Gaffigan is also recognizable for having performed in several comedic commercials for Sierra Mist alongside fellow comedian Michael Ian Black. He appeared in two movies chosen for the 2001 Sundance Film Festival: Super Troopers and 30 Years to Life. He appeared on That '70s Show. He was a regular cast member of the TBS original sitcom My Boys. He left the show at the end of the third season.
Gaffigan produced a series of animated shorts for Late Night with Conan O'Brien, titled Pale Force, in which the animated Gaffigan and O'Brien are superheroes who fight crime with their extremely pale skin.
In 2008, he was in the movie The Love Guru starring Mike Myers.
In 2009, Gaffigan guest starred as the best friend of Murray Hewitt in one episode of the HBO comedy series Flight of the Conchords. Later that same year, he appeared in the Sam Mendes-directed dramedy Away We Go and the teen comedy 17 Again. On June 11, 2009, Gaffigan appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. He appeared on Law & Order episodes "Flight" and "Reality Bites", as well as an episode entitled "Smile" on Law and Order: Criminal Intent.
He was in an episode of The Daily Show as a man posing as a Daily Show correspondent who knows nothing about the show (he refers to it as "The John Daily Show") and simply wants to be seen with Jon Stewart. This was meant to be a parody of the 2009 White House gatecrash incident.
Gaffigan appeared on Broadway in That Championship Season, which opened in March 2011, opposite Brian Cox, Chris Noth, Kiefer Sutherland, and Jason Patric.
Writing[edit]
On May 7, 2013, Gaffigan's memoir Dad Is Fat was released. The title is derived from the first complete sentence his son wrote on a dry-erase board. It is a collection of essays dealing with the raising of his children as well as his own childhood. Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist}} template (see the help page).
Media appearances[edit]
Gaffigan participated on the NPR radio quiz program Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! in 2013.Cite error: There are <ref> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist}} template (see the help page).
