Jim Gaffigan: Comedian, now father of 5, makes his debut book a family affair
Jim Gaffigan has joined the cult of parenting.
In his debut book, “Dad Is Fat,” Gaffigan chronicles a funny narrative of his life rapidly changing from a single man and stand-up comic in his mid-30s to getting married and ultimately having five children.
“It is a cult and it’s a strange thing you’re not really supposed to understand unless you’re in the cult,” Gaffigan says.
The family of seven lives in a small two-bedroom apartment in Manhattan. His oldest daughter turned 9 last Thursday.
Gaffigan is an observational comedian, so his main approach to the book was to be funny and have substance. Would his kids be embarrassed if they read the book?
“If they are reading it, I’m most likely dead — because why would they have any interest in this? I’m just this strange large creature that helps them take a bath and maybe tells them to stay in their room when they want to horse around. If and when they do read it, I hope they understand what my intentions were because I tried my best.”
Even the book was a family affair since his son Jack wrote the title and his wife helped him edit the book. “We write everything together, but the point of view of the book is very much mine,” he says. She also works with his standup comedy bits.
“I think it’s kind of unique to the stand-up world. It’s like a secret weapon,” Gaffigan says. “It’s great when you can have someone be a joke doctor for when your jokes aren’t clear or even for performance notes.”
Gaffigan’s book is entertaining, informative and hilarious. He definitely put in the time to thoroughly research the subject.
“I have had five chances to be around a pregnant woman. I have had five chances to be around newborns. I have had five chances to get fatter with every pregnancy. So I wanted to make sure I captured some of the essence of it, whether people have had a kid or not.”
Five children is a lot of work. Would he even consider having more kids?
“It’s interesting,” he says. “I’m open to it, which is weird to even hear myself say that because I think initially the idea of having more than two kids was frightening to me, and now it’s like as long as I can stay within a middle-class existence of enjoying a decent meal and occasionally watching a football game and to have premium paid cable, I’m all right. It really comes down in some ways to a monetary question. It’s not like I need a boat.”