‘The Jim Gaffigan Show’: Nothing new, but so very funny
We all love Jim Gaffigan, right? I mean, come on, who doesn’t? Ever since comedy audiences first heard him do his Hot Pockets sketch, they’ve found themselves drawn to his sense of humor. Now you’ll get to see him every week on the small screen — he’s starring in his own self-titled show on TV Land. (Yeah, TV Land, the channel that used to only play oldie-goldie shows.)
Based on a fictionalized version of his life, “The Jim Gaffigan Show” takes place in New York. Jim makes his living as a standup comedian and lives in a two-bedroom apartment with his wife, Jeannie (Ashley Williams, “A Most Violent Year”), and their army of five children. Adam Goldberg (“Maron”) and Michael Ian Black (“Another Period”) play Jim and Jeannie’s best friends Dave and Daniel, respectively. Instead of centering on Jim’s life as a comedian, the series centers on his life off the stage with his day-to-day activities involving his family and friends. The pilot’s storyline focuses on Jim deciding whether he should get a vasectomy, which turns out to be a rather hilarious contemplation.
Based on the pilot, the series comes off rather simple with plenty of witty dialogue and visual gags, most of them involving food. What’s really intriguing about this cable network series is that it makes no effort to be crude or adult in getting laughs. The overall humor is clean and the show never feels like it’s trying too hard to be funny. Some of the topics are mature (i.e. vasectomy), but it’s not far from the imagination to categorize this show in the same comedy league as “Modern Family” or “Black-ish.”
“The Jim Gaffigan Show” knows who its audience is, taking a less-is-more approach instead of trying to stand out as some one-of-a-kind phenomenon. It seems like too many comedy shows these days try to stand out from the pack but end up failing (R.I.P. “Selfie,” “Manhattan Love Story,” “A to Z”). Instead of trying to deliver a never-before-seen premise, “The Jim Gaffigan Show” takes a tried-and-true comedy angle about a family man with his day-to-day life. It gets on with itself and has fun — and in the end, isn’t that all we need from a good comedy?
