DVD Review: Jim Gaffigan - King Baby

Written by Musgo Del Jefe

Jim Gaffigan may be the funniest and yet most invisible comedian around today. Few people I talk to can recognize him by name and he's only vaguely familiar by face. These people will find out about Jim's brilliance in a few years and they'll be the one's trying to tell me that I've got to catch this hilarious comedian. King Baby is a stand-up routine filmed in Austin, Texas. It's a follow-up to the great Beyond The Pale special that gave us the oft-You-Tubed "Hot Pocket" routine.

Jim Gaffigan has an easy style. He balances observational humor with shorter stories. The topics are broad and not going to suffer with age - no political satire here. He spent much of his first special talking in a higher, softer voice that was the voice of a disappointed audience member. He's toned it back in this special and it works even more effectively. The thing that really hits you about halfway through the performance is that it's clean. I had to check the DVD to see if I had the "edited for TV" version, but it clearly stated that it was Not Rated and that "This program is recommended for Mature Audiences". It's refreshing to get through the 71 minute set and realize that it rarely veered off into even PG-13 category and yet it appeals to adults.

Some of the topics include . . .

BOWLING. "For most of us bowling is the activity you do after you've done everything else . . . no one's ever jealous when they heard you went bowling." This section is a great lead off to the act. Jim's able to hit on lots of his strong points - the combination of laziness, nerdiness, and food. The jokes seem a little dated mainly because bowling seems to be an activity that has fallen out of favor with youth today.

ESCALATORS. "How about those people that take the stairs right next to the escalator. 'What are you drunk? This thing is free.'" Once again, Jim hits on our essential laziness. The scenarios are so simple and yet he makes the jokes seem fresh. Much of this act feels right out of a Seinfeld routine - that's a compliment.

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