Jim Gaffigan: King Baby DVD Review
Posted by Joseph Lee on 03.31.2009
Gaffigan returns with more talk about laziness and food.
Jim Gaffigan is a very funny comedian. That goes without saying. His routine is very simple but he discusses mundane topics and usually ends up "preaching to the choir" in regards to his desire to be more lazy and eat whatever we want. Gaffigan is also a family-friendly comedian of sorts, as you don't have to worry about extremely raunchy or R-rated jokes, and yet his jokes are usually hilarious. I've been a fan of Gaffigan for a number of years, ever since the release of Beyond the Pale and his appearances on Late Night With Conan O'Brien.
If you've seen the previous stand-up special, then you'll get the gist of what you're going into as you start to watch this one. He talks about some of the same things, although he doesn't repeat any jokes. It's more of his desire to be lazy and eat food (including a long discussion about his love of bacon). However, he does cross over into other topics, such as camping, hammocks and having a child.
This time he's recording in Austin and while most people would shy away from talking about the good side of being overweight and lazy, Jim Gaffigan seems to be rather proud of it. All he wants to do is find a way to make things require less effort and more delicious food be delivered to him. There are a lot of times you may find yourself agreeing with him as you laugh. Gaffigan also tends to use a voice that represents the average crowd member, which usually is a form of self-depreciating humor. This all makes for an entertaining act.
The one drawback of this hour long special is that it seems to be a carbon copy of his last one. While he does talk about other things, it seems like he's mostly talking about food, with a bit about religion at the end. This is exactly how his last stand-up special went. He spends an enormous amount of time discussing bacon, which is funny at first but wears thing pretty fast. However, those small complaints aside, you can't go wrong with an hour of Jim Gaffigan stand-up.
Film: 9.0
It's a recorded stand-up special, so it looks professional enough but video quality doesn't really matter. As long as you can see Gaffigan you should be fine here. It's presented in widescreen.
Video: 7.0
The audio is fine. You can hear him clearly and that's really all that matters. Nothing stands out but it doesn't need to. You get the standard Dolby Digital 5.1 transfer.
Audio: 7.0
There are quite a few special features for a stand-up DVD, which is nice.
Pale Force: If you've never seen Gaffigan's cartoon Pale Force, you're in for a treat. It's basically Jim Gaffigan and Conan O'Brien as pale superheroes who stop evil with their paleness. Conan is usually portrayed as a wimp. There's three episodes here, but they're very short.
Our Massive Planet: Some sort of nature show that Gaffigan hosted where he rants about animals. Short segments, and not really funny, in my opinion. Still, there are four here for you to enjoy.
Never Aired British Interview: This is an interview from the UK that's about six and a half minutes long. It's played for laughs at some points, like the origin of the name of his tour, "The Sexy Tour". Gaffigan rambling about he's sexy the entire time is pretty funny.
XM/Sirius Interview: This is a half hour interview with Jim Gaffigan and it's pretty much more of his brand of humor while there are a few actual interview bits here and there. Another entertaining extra.
Atlanta Meet and Greet On Demand: On demand content from "The Sexy Tour". It's hit or miss here, but there are a few bits that are funny.
The Sexy Tour: Friday Night Stand up: These are the segments that aired when Gaffigan hosted Friday Night Stand Up on Comedy Central, while promoting the tour.
Beyond the Pale Tour: Friday Night Stand up: This is a similar set of segments, only for the previous "Beyond the Pale" tour.
It's not all entertaining but when it is, it's about as funny as his stand-up.
Special Features: 7.0
The 411: If you're a fan of Jim Gaffigan's previous efforts, you're going to enjoy this one. He talks about a variety of everyday topics and delivers his own brand of comedy with the jokes he tells. It's a fairly entertaining and funny stand-up special and the extras were welcome, even if they were hit or miss. This is a recommended DVD for Gaffigan fans, or even non-fans wanting to see what the fuss is about.
