Jim Gaffigan: The Skinny

I've been a fan of Jim Gaffigan for years! He used to set the standard for clean, family-friendly comedy and his sets had me choking with laughter! He was SO talented and came up with some genuinely iconic and memorable bits (Hot Pockets will always remind me of Jim's high-pitched riff)!

Then came Dark Pale: an uninspired, lackluster, blasphemous, and somewhat twisted special. I went into The Skinny desperately hoping that Gaffigan had learned from his mistakes and returned to his normal, hilarious formula. No such luck. The Skinny is profane, religiously offensive, and most of the jokes don't land. Was anyone hoping for a segment on Viagra? Of course not. I hate to say it, but the old Jim is gone and this clunky, disappointing mess of a script should never have left the drawing board.

Used to love Jim. Saw him live years ago and laughed until I cried. This special was just bad - like depressingly bad and so negative about his family life and his marriage. In the past he would joke about family life but this time there was such a harsh mean edge. His religious stuff also crossed over into insulting territory vs the funny ironic jokes of the past. I'm not a very religious person myself but I would have thought Jim was an atheist by the sound of this special. Totally different vibe than he used to have - even swore a bunch which just seemed almost forced. If you're new to Gaffigan you may like it, just wasn't what I was expecting nor did I think this new angle was funny. On a production note, the constant laugh track was distracting. There were times when it was obviously real laughter but often it seemed piped in.

I used to love Jim, buts let's be real here. His old ( and best material ) were self deprecating fat jokes. This special feels like the Tyson-Paul fight. Something you wished never happened because it took the shine away from a legend you used to really look up to. And yes Jim, taking diabetes medication to essentially poison yourself into weight loss is bad. You did not get healthy. You did not exercise. You did not improve your diet. You just shot up with a needle. Crack makes you lose weight to Jim. Why not smoke crack next. I don't want to explain all this to the kids, and his whole brand is supposed to be family friend.

This is the absolute best Jim Gaffigan special in years. I have seen all of them several times. You can clearly tell that Jim is in a better place and happier given recent events with his health (discussed in the first few minutes of the special). The jokes are as clever and relatable as ever. I won't spoil anything.

I love the other reviewer who claims that this is awful, that Jim is no longer the "clean comedian" & that he hates religion now or whatever? Jim has literally met the pope and he is very religious. If you can't lighten up enough to watch an hour comedy special from Jim Gaffigan, then maybe comedy really is not for you. I pity anyone that can't enjoy this.

I have always been a Jim Gaffican fan. I think this may be his best show yet. You don't realize how good he is until you watch other comedians who aren't as good - most aren't - and realize that Gaffigan only makes it look easy. How does he keep coming up with all his comedic observations? Many of them seem obvious in hindsight, so how come no one thought of them? I guess they aren't so obvious after all. I appreciate his clean comedy. Whenever I try another comedian they are almost always so nasty, and not even as entertaining as Gaffigan. The only exception is Brian Regan. He now has teenagers and still a couple kids are almost teenagers. So he's going to have great material for the rest of his life, and then we will be well the old man jokes. He's the great thing we need in a world that often doesn't feel so great.