Tuesdays with Media: Jim Gaffigan

Stand-up comedy has been around for a while.  Some vaudeville comedy routines transitioned into people simply standing on stage telling jokes.  However, as time has gone on, there have been more and more comedians that push the boundaries of decency.  It's not unusual for a popular comic's album to be have a language warning on the cover.  Fortunately, not everyone has decided follow this trend.

Jim Gaffigan has made a name for himself as a family-friendly comedian.  And while the above clip does have a little bit of toilet humor, it's minor and unoffensive.  I feel the need to point out that he didn't always keep things so clean.  His first album had it's share of swearing, but all of his later albums have been in the PG range of things.  He may have been motivated by trying to set a good example for his five kids or maybe he realized that without the swearing, his routine was TV-ready.

Another reason that I really like Gaffigan's work is that he has a lot of bits about food.  Like, a lot.  I think that might be the thing he's most known for.  And not only is eating something we can all relate to, but with my main hobby being "making delicious food," I especially appreciate his humor.

The one area that he jokes about that I don't care for is religion, though even then he's careful to make fun of his own religion's (Catholicism) quirks rather than religion or Christianity in general.  Also, even his Catholic jokes are still pretty innocuous, so even then he's not really offensive.

It's getting harder and harder to find a stand-up comedian that's safe to share with kids, but as long as Jim Gaffigan's around, we'll have a least one.