The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gaffigan fan base grows to arenas
Stand-up performer and author has built a following over 20 years.
Jim Gaffigan is the stand-up model of the baffled dad, perplexed and annoyed by society as a whole. He’s a more self-aware, self-deprecating version of Homer Simpson with an equal love for doughnuts.
Over the course of two-plus decades, the 51-year-old author and actor has steadily built his stand-up fan base to the point where he is now headlining arenas. He comes to Atlanta’s Philips Arena for the first time this Saturday, a rarefied achievement matched by the likes of Amy Schumer and Kevin Hart in recent years.
And his busy schedule belies how he portrays himself on stage
as someone who prefers to sit and binge-watch shows and eat chips than, um, move.
“Laziness is a romanticism of what I want to be,” Gaffigan said. “But that being said, I do feel like
there are plenty of things I am lazy about. So when I talk about watching TV and not being able to find the remote so I just watch
whatever is on, that’s based on truth.
“In my stand-up, I do portray myself as being kind of a bad parent,” he added, “but hopefully I’m not really a bad parent. … My joke is being a dad is the most important thing that I will fail at. I enjoy fatherhood, but it’s not like you can win it.”
Gaffigan, from a career perspective, said he only does stuff he really wants to do. Sure, he could host a game show to get his face out there more, but he’s not interested. He does enjoy acting and has even picked up a few dramatic roles.
In the upcoming film “Chappaquiddick,” Gaffigan plays attorney Paul Markham, who was accused of helping cover up Ted Kennedy’s role in Mary Jo Kopechne’s 1969 drowning after Kennedy drove a vehicle off a bridge into a pond.
“When I’m in a movie, I’ll see a tweet: ‘What’s he doing in this movie not trying to be funny?’ To me, it’s strange that we think it’s odd a funny person would be in a serious role. It’s not like someone who is serious in a comedic role. I think that’s odd. But comedic people understand sincerity. That’s why they can be funny.”
He now has five Netflix specials, including his most recent, “Cinco.” He intersperses his usual mix of jokes about his girth, his parenting fails and (of course) food. And as a devoted Catholic, he doesn’t mind touching religion.
“I wouldn’t mind being in shape,” he said during his 2017 special. “You know who was in really good shape? Jesus.” After some uncomfortable laughter, he said, “Nothing like the topic of Jesus to take the air out of the room! That’s what he would have wanted: ‘When you bring up my name, I want them to be really uncomfortable!’ “
After a few more riffs on Jesus making bread, he pretended to be someone in the audience uttering, “Get back to your regular food jokes!” So he talked steak. “If eating steak is manly, it is the only manly attribute I have. I know nothing about cars. I’m not handy. I can’t fix things. If something breaks, I say to my wife, ‘You should call someone!’ “
Gaffigan admits he could be the next Andy Rooney, the curmudgeonly “60 Minutes” commentator from 1978 to 2011. In fact, he does Rooney-like commentaries for “CBS Mornings” on occasion. “When I first started stand-up, I’d do impressions of Andy Rooney and Casey Kasem,” Gaffigan said. “But there are people who do impressions much better than me. There are people who do irreverent material better than me. I like the standup I do. I like the fact that in this day and age we’re in, it’s almost as if I’m this reprieve from the news drama. We can come here and not hear about all the fears we read about all day, which is nice.”
Gaffigan isn’t plain vanilla by any means. He recently made a joke on Twitter about World Food Day, providing a reel of him eating voraciously. He received no complaints, but he was aware this wasn’t necessarily safe territory given that World Food Day is a serious movement to ensure people are not starving.
“Social media is similar to stand-up,” he said. “People can say it’s about political correctness or whatever, but it’s about being tonedeaf. I even kind of struggle with it. I don’t want to be disrespectful. Am I being dismissive of the fact people around the world are really struggling with being fed? It’s a balancing act.”