James Christopher Gaffigan (born July 7, 1966) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer. His material often addresses fatherhood, laziness, food, religion, and general observations. He is regarded as a "clean" comic, using little profanity in his routines. He has released several successful comedy specials, including '' Mr. Universe'', ''Obsessed'', ''Cinco'', and ''Quality Time'', all of which have received

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

nominations. Gaffigan's memoir ''Dad Is Fat'' (2013) and his most recent book ''Food: A Love Story'' (2014) were both published by

Crown Publishers The Crown Publishing Group is a subsidiary of Penguin Random House that publishes across several fiction and non-fiction categories. Originally founded in 1933 as a remaindered books wholesaler called Outlet Book Company, the firm expanded i ...

. He co-created and starred in the

TV Land TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its networks division. Originally a spinoff of Nick at Nite consisting exclusively of classic television shows, the channel now airs a combination of recent and cl ...

series '' The Jim Gaffigan Show'', based on his life. He collaborates extensively with his wife, actress

Jeannie Gaffigan Jeannie Louise Gaffigan (née Noth) is an American actress, producer, and comedy writer. She is best known as a writer and executive producer for '' The Jim Gaffigan Show'', a show loosely based on her own family life with her husband, Jim Gaffig ...

, with whom he has five children. They are

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

, a topic that frequently comes up in his comedy shows.

Early life

James Christopher Gaffigan was born in Elgin, Illinois, on July 7, 1966, the youngest of six children born to charity worker and fundraiser Marcia Miriam (née Mitchell) and banker Michael Ambrose Gaffigan.Stated on '' Finding Your Roots'', February 2, 2021. He is of Irish descent, with his family's surname originally being Gavahan. His maternal grandfather was Iowa Supreme Court Justice

Richard F. Mitchell Richard Furlong Mitchell (October 11, 1889 – August 2, 1969)Chesterton, Indiana, and often jokes about growing up in a large family. His mother was accomplished at

needlework Needlework is decorative sewing and textile arts handicrafts. Anything that uses a needle for construction can be called needlework. Needlework may include related textile crafts such as crochet, worked with a hook, or tatting, worked with ...

and received a national award for original design and craftsmanship from the American Needlepoint Guild in 1985. She died of cancer in 1990, aged 53. Gaffigan's father was the president and CEO of the Mercantile National Bank of Indiana for 15 years until his retirement in 1991. A former seminarian, he was also actively involved in local charity work. He died of

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...

in 1999. Gaffigan's father was the first in his family to attend college, and encouraged his children to seek careers that promised job security. However, at about the age of five, Gaffigan announced that he wanted to be an actor when he grew up. As a teenager, Gaffigan watched ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serve ...

''. He attended La Lumiere School in La Porte, Indiana, where he played on the school's football team. He attended

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and ...

for one year, where he was a member of the

Phi Gamma Delta Phi Gamma Delta (), commonly known as Fiji, is a social fraternity with more than 144 active chapters and 10 colonies across the United States and Canada. It was founded at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, in 1848. Along with Phi Kappa Psi, Ph ...

fraternity, before transferring to

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

's McDonough School of Business, where he graduated in 1988 with a degree in finance. He played football at Georgetown and Purdue. Although he hated studying finance, he worked as a litigation consultant for a short time after graduating and "was horrible at it".

Career

Stand-up

Gaffigan moved to New York in 1990 to pursue comedy, a move that was inspired by his admiration for fellow Hoosier

David Letterman David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He hosted late night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982 debut of '' Late Night with David Letterma ...

. He found a job in advertising, and he would work during the day and take acting classes at night. During this time, he was cast in Blockbuster Video's "Entertainment Squad" series of commercials. His career began in earnest when a friend from the class dared him to take a stand-up seminar that required a live set at the end. He fell in love with stand-up, and began to play comedy clubs nightly—after his evening acting classes—until the wee hours of the morning. He was often found sleeping on the job; his boss had to wake him up to fire him. For the first seven years of his career, he tried various styles, ranging from angry comedy to impressions and voices. Also, live comedy was in decline following its peak of the 1980s, further affected by the increased popularity of

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

. After periodically auditioning for ''

The Late Show with David Letterman The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production ...

'' for six years, he then had a successful stand-up routine on the show in 1999, and his career took off. Gaffigan's style is largely

observational Observation is the active acquisition of information from a primary source. In living beings, observation employs the senses. In science, observation can also involve the perception and recording of data via the use of scientific instruments. The ...

, and his principal topics relate to laziness, eating, and parenthood. He is famous for his Hot Pocket routine, which was inspired by a commercial he saw that he mistook for a ''

'' sketch. Also, during his routines, he will sometimes perform soliloquies by using a high-pitched voice and—in the third-person—deliver negative feedback on his own performance, such as after making a diarrhea joke in his 2012 special "Mr. Universe" using the voice and saying "Really, he’s using diarrhea jokes?" He says "that inside voice is my connection with the audience". In an interview with the '' Duluth News-Tribune'', he explained that the voice was developed over time, beginning as a teenager when he would disarm people by talking for them in their presence. He also used it as a way to fend off hecklers earlier in his career, when he says that comedy clubs were more combative. He cursed early in his career, and he added cursing to his comedy album ''Doing My Time'', at the request of his label, in the hopes of drawing more teenagers. However, he has largely removed profanity from his routine, as he feels that his subject matter doesn't lend itself to cursing and that it reduced the effort he put into crafting his jokes. In 2004, Gaffigan's stand-up material was featured in

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy program ...

's animated series ''Shorties Watchin' Shorties.'' In October 2005, he filmed a live

special that aired for the following January, and became the comedy album/DVD '' Beyond the Pale''. The routine consisted primarily of material regarding food and American eating habits, and the comedian unknowingly predicted a future menu item at Dunkin Donuts—the 'glazed donut breakfast sandwich'—while commenting on the future of America's eating habits. His 2009 album '' King Baby'' was also a television special filmed in Austin,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, 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. Four years later, on March 14, 2013, Gaffigan was named the "King of Clean" by the ''Wall Street Journal''. On February 25, 2012, Gaffigan taped a one-hour stand-up special—'' Mr. Universe''—at the Warner Theater in Washington, D.C.; it was nominated for a Grammy. 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 20% of the total proceeds going to the

Bob Woodruff Foundation Robert Warren Woodruff (born August 18, 1961) is an American television journalist. Since 1996, he has served as a reporter for ABC News. Woodruff co-anchored ABC World News Tonight in 2006 alongside ABC News journalist Elizabeth Vargas. He was ...

, an organization that provides support to military veterans. In 2012, he was among the top-ten grossing comics in the US, according to Pollstar. Gaffigan filmed his 2014 comedy special titled '' Jim Gaffigan: Obsessed'' at

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

Wilbur Theater The Wilbur Theatre is a historic performing arts theater at 244–250 Tremont Street in Boston, Massachusetts. The Wilbur Theatre originally opened in 1914, but underwent renovations in 2008. The Wilbur Theatre sits in the heart of Boston's histor ...

on January 18, 2014. ''Obsessed'' premiered on

on April 27 becoming the most watched stand-up comedy special of the year for the network. The accompanying album, also titled ''Obsessed'', debuted at number 11 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and number 1 on the Billboard Comedy Album charts. 2015 saw him embark on a headlining tour, culminating in a winter show at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsyl ...

. Gaffigan has performed stand-up to support charitable causes as well. In 2002, he was part of a United Service Organization event at

Guantanamo Bay Naval Base Guantanamo Bay Naval Base ( es, Base Naval de la Bahía de Guantánamo), officially known as Naval Station Guantanamo Bay or NSGB, (also called GTMO, pronounced Gitmo as jargon by members of the U.S. military) is a United States military bas ...

. Gaffigan performed at the 2013 Stand Up for Heroes charity event benefitting the Bob Woodruff Foundation alongside fellow stand-up comedians Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Cosby and

Jon Stewart Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz; November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, political commentator, and television host. He hosted '' The Daily Show'', a satirical news program on Comedy Central, from 1999 to 2015 and now hosts '' ...

. Gaffigan also performed at the 2013 CNN Heroes event, which celebrates everyday heroes doing extraordinary work around the world. In May 2014, Gaffigan performed at the Make It Right Gala, an organization founded by

Brad Pitt William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. He is the recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award. ...

, which builds sustainable homes and buildings for communities in need. On September 26, 2015, he performed at the Festival of Families, a Catholic event held in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. Gaffigan was the only comedian on the bill at the festival, and the event was visited by

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

. The event had more than one million attendees. As of June 2016, Gaffigan was the most popular comic on all of

Pandora.com Pandora is a subscription-based music streaming service owned by Sirius XM Holdings based in Oakland, California, United States. The service carries a focus on recommendations based on the "Music Genome Project" — a means of classifying indiv ...

with over 647 million spins. In 2016, Gaffigan embarked on his

Fully Dressed Tour The Fully Dressed Tour is a 2016-17 comedy tour by comedian Jim Gaffigan. Opening Act *Ted Alexandro Ted Alexandro (born January 26, 1969) is a stand-up comedian from New York City. He has appeared on most late night talk shows and has had hi ...

, performing in the United States, Canada, and the UK. Gaffigan has appeared at the " Just for Laughs" comedy festival in

Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...

, numerous times.

Influences

Gaffigan credits

and Bill Murray as influences, and he has asserted that

Richard Pryor Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor Sr. (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. He reached a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style, and is widely regarded as on ...

was the greatest stand-up comedian ever. His comedy mentor was Dave Attell, who he asserted was the only person who thought he was funny in his early stand-up years. On the episode of '' Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee'' which featured Gaffigan, he admitted that the show's host Jerry Seinfeld was a big influence for him.

Reception

Gaffigan is widely noted for being an

everyman The everyman is a stock character of fiction. An ordinary and humble character, the everyman is generally a protagonist whose benign conduct fosters the audience's identification with them. Origin The term ''everyman'' was used as early as ...

and a clean comic, and signature routines regard Hot Pockets, cake, and

bacon Bacon is a type of salt-cured pork made from various cuts, typically the belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central ingredient (e.g., the bacon, lettuce, and tomato sa ...

. His tendency to avoid profanity has drawn mixed responses from audiences and critics. One critic compared him to ''Full House''-era Bob Saget (who starred in the 1990s family show), which Gaffigan took as an insult. However, Hampton Stevens in ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'' wrote that the comic champions "a vital element to standup that ennyBruce had taken away—the indispensable, but apparently forgotten idea that comedians have no obligation to be provocative, topical, socially conscious, or anything else but funny".

Acting

As Gaffigan's comedy career stalled in the 1990s, a friend suggested he audition for commercials, a move that turned out to be profitable. He has appeared in over 200 TV commercials, ranging from Rolling Rock to

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; ...

Chrysler Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automot ...

and

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

. His ubiquity earned him the title of 'Salesman of the Year' by ''

BusinessWeek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York Cit ...

'' in 1999. He also performed in a trio of Sierra Mist commercials for the 2007 Super Bowl as part of the Sierra Mist comedy ensemble "The Mis-Takes". He appeared in an ad series for Sierra Mist alongside fellow comedian

Michael Ian Black Michael Ian Black (born Michael Ian Schwartz; August 12, 1971) is an American comedian, actor, writer, and director. He has starred in several TV comedy series, including '' The State'', '' Viva Variety'', ''Stella'', '' Wet Hot American Summer: F ...

. After his first appearance on ''

'' in 1999, Gaffigan was tapped by the host to develop a sitcom called '' Welcome to New York'' in which he also co-starred alongside Christine Baranski. The show was cancelled after its first season despite receiving positive reviews. During the 2000/2001 television season, he was a cast member of ''

The Ellen Show ''The Ellen Show'' is an American television sitcom created by and starring Ellen DeGeneres that was broadcast during the 2001–02 season on CBS, aired from September 24, 2001, to January 11, 2002. It was DeGeneres' second attempt at a sitcom ...

'' on CBS,

Ellen DeGeneres Ellen Lee DeGeneres ( ; born January 26, 1958) is an American comedian, television host, actress, writer, and producer. She starred in the sitcom '' Ellen'' from 1994 to 1998, which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award for " The Puppy Episode". S ...

's second sitcom. He appeared in two movies chosen for the 2001

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...

: '' Super Troopers'' and '' 30 Years to Life''. He appeared on ''

That '70s Show ''That '70s Show'' is an American television Period piece, period teen sitcom that aired on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox from August 23, 1998, to May 18, 2006. The series focuses on the lives of a group of six teenage friends living in the ficti ...

''. He was a regular cast member of the TBS original sitcom '' My Boys''. He left the show at the end of the third season. In 2008, he appeared in the movie '' The Love Guru'' starring

Mike Myers Michael John Myers Order of Canada, OC (born May 25, 1963) is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. His accolades include seven MTV Movie & TV Awards, MTV Awards, a Primetime Emmy Awards, Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Acto ...

. In 2009, Gaffigan guest starred as the best friend of

Murray Hewitt ''Flight of the Conchords'' is an American sitcom that was first shown on HBO on June 17, 2007. The show follows the adventures of Flight of the Conchords, a two-man band from New Zealand, as its members seek fame and success in New York City. ...

in one episode of the HBO comedy series '' Flight of the Conchords''. Later that same year, he appeared in the Sam Mendes-directed

dramedy Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

'' Away We Go'' and the teen comedy '' 17 Again''. On June 11, 2009, Gaffigan appeared on ''

The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien ''The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien'' is an American late-night talk show that featured Conan O'Brien as host from June 1, 2009, to January 22, 2010, as part of NBC's ''Tonight Show'' franchise. O'Brien had previously hosted NBC's ''Late N ...

''. He appeared on ''Law & Order'' episodes "Flight" and "Reality Bites", as well as an episode titled "Smile" on ''Law and Order: Criminal Intent''. He was in an episode of ''

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form fr ...

'' 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 On November 24, 2009, Michaele () and Tareq Salahi (), a married couple from Virginia, and Carlos Allen (from the District of Columbia), attended a White House state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, as uninvited guests. The Salah ...

. Gaffigan appeared on Broadway in '' That Championship Season'', which opened in March 2011, opposite Brian Cox, Chris Noth, Kiefer Sutherland, and Jason Patric. Gaffigan's performance was praised by

ABC News ABC News is the journalism, news division of the American broadcast network American Broadcasting Company, ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other progra ...

correspondent Sandy Kenyon as the most moving and that he may "steal the show". He called being on Broadway "an amazing experience, really hard but really fun". Gaffigan starred in Shia LaBeouf's 2013 short film ''

Howard Cantour.com ''Howard Cantour.com'' is a 2012 American short film directed by actor Shia LaBeouf. The short was shown at the Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2012, followed by an online premiere on December 17, 2013. The short film follows the eponymous intern ...

'', the content of which was later revealed to be mostly plagiarized from Daniel Clowes's 2007 graphic novella '' Justin M. Damiano''. Reflecting on the incident in an interview for ''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...

'', Gaffigan said, "There's no greater sin in the stand-up world than thievery...So you do not want to be associated with thievery," but added, "I don't have any hard feelings about it because I don't think people think I had anything to do with it."Stern, Marlow (July 15, 2015)
"Jim Gaffigan's Time Is Now: The Comic on His New Show, Bill Cosby's Fall, and Donald Trump"
''The Daily Beast''. Retrieved July 28, 2015. In the 2010s, Gaffigan, his wife, and Peter Tolan began to develop material for a show based loosely on their own life. CBS agreed to shoot a pilot of their show in March 2013, with casting by Marc Hirschfeld, and Mira Sorvino playing his wife; but ultimately passed on the project. When the cable network

began efforts to broadcast original material and attract younger audiences, it offered the Gaffigans complete creative control. The result was '' The Jim Gaffigan Show'', a sitcom about a couple raising their five kids in a two-bedroom New York City apartment. After the release of two online-only episodes in June 2015, the

pilot episode A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other dist ...

aired on July 15, 2015. The show stars Gaffigan as a fictionalized version of himself, with his wife Jeannie played by Ashley Williams. Other characters include their real-estate agent (and Jeannie's best friend) Daniel (played by

), Jim's fellow comic and best friend Dave (

Adam Goldberg Adam Charles Goldberg (born October 25, 1970) is an American character actor, filmmaker, musician, and photographer. Known for his supporting roles in film and television, Goldberg has appeared in films such as '' Dazed and Confused'', '' Saving ...

), and their priest, Father Nicholas ( Tongayi Chirisa). After 2 seasons of the show, in 2016 Jim and his wife Jeannie decided not to continue with a third season so they could spend more time with their kids. Gaffigan co-starred in the film '' Experimenter'', a fictionalized account of the experiments of the Yale professor Stanley Milgram.Hughes, William (July 24, 2015)
"Jim Gaffigan fakes electrocution in the trailer for Experimenter"
The AV Club. Retrieved July 28, 2015. Gaffigan plays an actor hired to collaborate in the experiments. In February 2016, Gaffigan began appearing in KFC commercials as Colonel Sanders, replacing Norm Macdonald. Since April 8, 2016, Gaffigan has appeared with his family in a marketing campaign for the 2017 Chrysler Pacifica. In October 2016, it was announced Gaffigan would be joining the cast of the third season of the anthology drama series, ''

Fargo Fargo usually refers to: * Fargo, North Dakota, United States * ''Fargo'' (1996 film), a crime film by the Coen brothers * ''Fargo'' (TV series), an American black comedy–crime drama anthology television series Fargo may also refer to: Othe ...

''. However, he was ultimately forced to drop out due to scheduling difficulties; he was replaced by Mark Forward. In 2018, he portrayed Paul Markham in the biographical drama '' Chappaquiddick'', starring Jason Clarke and Kate Mara, to positive reviews. Gaffigan next took on the lead role in the 2018

neo-noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating s ...

film '' American Dreamer'', which was released on September 20, 2019. Gaffigan's dark portrayal of a broken man driven to desperate actions was very well received by critics, with the

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

review calling it "a career-best dramatic performance" by Gaffigan. Gaffigan portrayed George Westinghouse in Michael Almereyda's 2020 film '' Tesla''. In 2020, Gaffigan was announced to provide the voice of

Thunderbolt A thunderbolt or lightning bolt is a symbolic representation of lightning when accompanied by a loud thunderclap. In Indo-European mythology, the thunderbolt was identified with the Proto-Indo-European mythology#Sky Father, 'Sky Father'; this ...

in season two of '' Stargirl''. By season three, the role recast to Seth Green. In January 2021, he joined the cast of

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

's '' Peter Pan & Wendy'' as Mr. Smee. In 2021, Gaffigan voiced Lorenzo Paguro in the Pixar film '' Luca''.

Animation

Gaffigan is also notable for his voice-over work. He voiced an animated version of himself on ''

Pale Force ''Pale Force'' was a series of short animations starring Jim Gaffigan that aired on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien.'' Its humor was derived from "paleness" of both Gaffigan and O'Brien, as well as from portraying Conan as a weakling to poke fun a ...

'' with Conan O'Brien from 2005 to 2008. He has also voiced characters on the animated shows ''

Bob's Burgers ''Bob's Burgers'' is an American adult animated sitcom created by Loren Bouchard that premiered on Fox on January 9, 2011. The show centers on the Belcher family—parents Bob and Linda and their three children, Tina, Gene, and Louise—who ...

'', '' Shorty McShorts' Shorts'', '' WordGirl'', '' Star vs. the Forces of Evil'', and the animated feature '' Duck Duck Goose''.

Writing

Gaffigan produced a series of animated shorts for ''

Late Night with Conan O'Brien ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien. NBC aired 2,725 episodes from September 13, 1993, to February 20, 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musi ...

'', titled ''

'' (2005–2008). The animated sketches featured Gaffigan and O'Brien as superheroes who fight crime with their extremely pale skin. The series was nominated for a Daytime Emmy in 2007 in the category of "Outstanding Broadband Program – Comedy". Gaffigan's humorous quips have earned him over two and a half million followers on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

. He was listed by ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...

'' as one of the "25 funniest people on Twitter" in 2012. In 2013, Gaffigan released ''Dad Is Fat'', a title derived from the first complete sentence his eldest son wrote on a dry-erase board at the age of four or five. "He showed it to me," Gaffigan recalled in an interview, "and I laughed, and then I put him up for adoption." The book is a collection of essays dealing with the raising of his children, as well as reminiscences from his own childhood. In support of the volume, he appeared on NPR's ''

Weekend Edition ''Weekend Edition'' is a set of American radio news magazine programs produced and distributed by National Public Radio ( NPR). It is the weekend counterpart to the NPR radio program '' Morning Edition''. It consists of ''Weekend Edition Saturday ...

'', ABC's '' The View'', and MSNBC's ''Morning Joe'', spoke at BEA in New York, embarked on a nine-stop bus tour that ended on Father's Day. It debuted at number five on ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' Best Seller's list, remaining on the list for three months. The book received tepid reviews from critics. '' Kirkus Reviews'' said of the book that it's "hardly groundbreaking comedy material, but the book will appeal to Gaffigan's fans". Lou Harry of the Indianapolis Business Journal said that while "no new ground is broken in Jim Gaffigan's book...'Dad is Fat' should be a fun

intermezzo In music, an intermezzo (, , plural form: intermezzi), in the most general sense, is a composition which fits between other musical or dramatic entities, such as acts of a play or movements of a larger musical work. In music history, the term ha ...

in your summer reading pile." Regarding the audiobook, which Gaffigan read, ''Audiofile'' said his "performance strikes the right balance between his near-deadpan comedy delivery and the energy needed to keep a beleaguered parent engaged". Gaffigan signed with Crown Publishing in June 2013 to write a second book of comic essays. The book, ''Food: A Love Story'', which was released in Fall 2014. ''Publishers Weekly'' said the book "packs plenty of laughs". ''Kirkus Reviews'' remarked that "Gaffigan somehow manages to work 'clean' without ever becoming sickeningly saccharine," and that "laughs reserved up just right on every page". Of the accompanying audiobook, the ''Library Journal'' said, "The witty commentary is peppered with jokes and funny stories that will have listeners smiling throughout and occasionally laughing out loud." Prior to meeting his wife, actress Jeannie Noth, Gaffigan largely wrote alone. However, while working on his first show, ''Welcome to New York'', he was overwhelmed and asked for input from her (then his friend). Although initially hesitant to have a collaborator, as their relationship grew, so did Noth's ability to write material for him. Once they married, she left behind her work with her youth theater project (Shakespeare on the Playground) to devote herself to raising their expanding brood, and after a joke she wrote drew big laughs at a show, she and Jim began to collaborate more. She gradually transferred into the position of Jim's chief co-writer, and they are now full writing partners. She has been a credited writer and/or executive producer on all his comedy endeavors since ''Beyond the Pale'', including his two books and television show. He also credits her with "coaching" him through his performance in ''That Championship Season''.

Media appearances

Gaffigan participated on the NPR radio quiz program '' Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!'' in 2013.(July 26, 2013)
"Not My Job: Jim Gaffigan Take a Quiz on Gwyneth Paltrow"
''Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!'' NPR. Retrieved July 28, 2015. Gaffigan is also a regular commentator on '' CBS Sunday Morning'', for which he won a Daytime Emmy in 2016.

Personal life

Gaffigan married actress

(née Noth) in 2003. They have two daughters and three sons together. The family of seven lived in a two-bedroom apartment in the

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

borough of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, before moving to a larger Manhattan home in 2015. To stay connected to his family, Gaffigan tries to "maintain bedtime rituals while working in the city". When on tour, he reportedly takes his family with him. Gaffigan is a practicing

who avoids working on Sundays, though he has joked that his wife is so much more devout than him that she seems like a "Shiite Catholic" in comparison. He and his family attend

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different element ...

St. Patrick's Old Cathedral The Basilica of Saint Patrick's Old Cathedral, sometimes shortened to St. Patrick's Old Cathedral or simply Old St. Patrick's, is a Catholic parish church, basilica, and the former cathedral of the Archdiocese of New York, located in the Nolita ...

in Manhattan, which is also where he and his wife were married and where their children were baptized. In May 2016, he and his wife delivered the commencement address at the

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Roman Catholic research university in Washington, D.C. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by U. ...

. They also delivered the commencement address at his wife's alma mater,

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Henni, John Martin ...

, in May 2018. They were both awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree as part of the graduation ceremony.

Discography

* 2001: ''

Luigi's Doghouse ''Luigi's Doghouse'' is the first album released by American stand-up comedian Jim Gaffigan. The album was released in 2001. Track listing #Bread #Don't Drink / Going Out to Dinner #Movies / Reading / Spelling #Girlfriend / Sex #Fired / Quit Sm ...

'' * 2001: '' Economics II'' * 2003: '' More Moo Moos'' * 2004: '' The Last Supper'' * 2004: '' Doing My Time'' * 2006: '' Beyond the Pale'' * 2009: '' King Baby'' * 2012: '' Mr. Universe'' * 2014: ''Obsessed'' * 2017: ''Cinco'' * 2018: ''Noble Ape'' * 2019: ''Quality Time'' * 2020: ''The Pale Tourist'' * 2021: ''Comedy Monster''

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

On April 26, 2014, Gaffigan received the award for Concert Comedian at the American Comedy Awards for his work. In 2007, ''Pale Force'' was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Broadband Program in the Comedy category. Gaffigan served as executive producer, writer, and lead actor. In 2016, he won the

Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Morning Program The Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Morning Program had been awarded every year between 2007 and 2021. Beginning in 2020, the category name was changed from Outstanding Morning Program to Outstanding Morning Show. In December 2021, it was ann ...

for his contributions as a commentator to ''CBS Sunday Morning''.

Grammy Awards

The

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

s are awarded annually by the

National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences The Recording Academy (formally the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; abbreviated NARAS) is an American learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is famous for its Grammy A ...

. Gaffigan has been nominated seven times.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gaffigan, Jim 1966 births Living people People from Chesterton, Indiana American male film actors American stand-up comedians American male television actors American people of Irish descent McDonough School of Business alumni Male actors from Indiana La Lumiere School alumni 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors People from Elgin, Illinois People from La Porte, Indiana Purdue Boilermakers football players Georgetown Hoyas football players Comedians from Illinois Comedians from Indiana Catholics from Illinois Catholics from Indiana 20th-century American comedians 21st-century American comedians