Who is Jim Gaffigan

Jim's self-deprecating jokes playfully poke fun not only at his well-confessed love affair with food, but also at such otherwise mundane subjects as his lactose intolerance, the unusual secular customs that our society has embraced to celebrate modern holidays (such as decorating Christmas trees and hiding colored Easter eggs), and even at his own Catholic upbringing in the American Midwest. (These subjects are explored at gut-busting length in his most famous comedy album/DVD "Beyond the Pale", which was produced by Comedy Central in 2006.)

Jim Gaffigan's stand-up act contains refreshingly few curse words or other "adult-oriented" topics, although he appears not to have written it to entertain easily-offended audience members; people whose (presumed) thoughts about him he often parodies using a whispering and high-pitched female voice. Another frequent comedic device that Jim uses to illustrate the absurdity of everyday life is to portray the "originator" (or "inventor") of odd (but commonly accepted) traditions with the voice of a dimwitted, uncultured and prototypical male (as you will soon see below).

Although the focus of this lens is on Jim Gaffigan's stand-up comedy career, it should also be noted that he has produced, written and/or performed in several dozen television shows and movies, including (among others) the sitcom "My Boys" (which aired from 2006-2007 on TBS); "Pale Force" (a satirical series of cartoon shorts on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien"); the movie "13 Going on 30" (a 2004 movie starring Jennifer Garner); "That 70's Show"; "The Ellen Show" and "Three Kings" (a 1999 action movie which starred George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg and Ice Cube).