30 Interesting Things Every Fan Should Know About Jim Gaffigan

James Christopher Gaffigan, the most popular stand-up comedian, is the co-creator of the TV Land television series based on his own life called "The Jim Gaffigan Show." Here are 30 surprising facts about the comedian:

1. Gaffigan is stand-up comedian, actor, writer and producer. He is known for his self-depreciating humor about fatherhood, laziness and food with his high pitched voice.
2. He was born James Christopher Gaffigan on July 07, 1966 in Elgin, Illinois, to Marcia and Michael A. Gaffigan.
3. He is the youngest of six children to a small time banker, who encouraged his children to pursue a career that promised job security.
4. He attended La Lumiere School in La Porte, Indiana. After spending a year at Purdue University, he graduated with a degree in finance from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business in 1988.
5. Gaffigan grew-up watching ‘Saturday Night Live’ and also as a great admirer of David Letterman, he was inspired to take up comedy as career. He was mentored by Dave Attell.
6. After graduation he moved to New York and found a job in advertising. He would work by day and attend acting class by night.
7. A friend of his from improvisational theatre class talked him into doing stand-up comedy at night clubs. He would work from nine to five as an account manager, attend acting class from seven to ten and then do stand-up till wee hours in the morning.
8. Despite laboring for seven to eight years constantly exploring with his variety and style, he met with little success, which is also attributed to some bad luck in auditioning. All this changed when Letterman thought he was good and was regular on ‘The Late Show with David Letterman.’
9. Gaffigan is well known for his material poking fun at Hot Pockets, after he was inspired by a commercial which he mistook to for a ‘Saturday Night Live Sketch.’ This topic was so popular among his fans, that he was offered Hot Pockets regularly on his tours.
10. He is popular for his ‘audience-member voice’ which he developed over a time, used it mainly to disarm other as a teenager. He used it to fend off provoking and also to be connected with his audience.
    
11. On February 07, 2006, he released his sixth album ‘Beyond the Pale’ recorded at The Vic Theatre in Lakeview, Chicago. It was a live Comedy Central special which was all about American food habits.
12. His seventh album called ‘King Baby; was released on March 31, 2009, by Comedy Central, after his ‘The Sexy Tour.’ This album contains other features such as behind the scenes footages and interviews apart from main performance.
13. On March 14, 2013, he was named the ‘King of Clean’ by the Wall Street Journal. He has nothing against crudeness and curse words. It is just that he vaulted to success without them.
14. Gaffigan’s next album ‘Mr. Universe,’ is one hour stand-up special recorded at Warner Theatre in Washington D.C and was self- released on December 2012 through his website for $ 5. The album was nominated for Grammy Award.
15. He was inspired by comedian Louis C.K with his business model and donated $ 1 for each download to ‘The Bob Woodruff Foundation,’ a charity dedicated to helping injured war veterans and their families.
16. He was among top ten touring comedian in North American in 2012 according to Pollstar. He has donated $ 280,000 of his profits to various charities, and distributed another $ 250,000 to his staff as bonus.
17. The comedy special titled ‘Jim Gaffigan: Obsessed’ which was premiered on the Comedy Central on April 27, 2014, set a record for being most watched stand-up comedy special of the network.
18. On November 07, 2013, he was one of the celebrity presenters during the ‘CNN Heroes: An All Star Tribute,’ honoring everyday heroes doing extraordinary work around the world. He also did a short stand-up.
19. In May 2014, he performed at the ‘Make it Right Foundation’ of Brad Pitt which aids the rebuilding of homes and building for communities in need.
20. The Catholic event ‘Festival of Families,’ held at Philadelphia on September 26, 2015, is memorable for Gaffigan in more than one way. He was the only comedian at the festival and the event was visited by Pope Francis. The event was attended by more than one million.
    
21. The Pandora Radio, which celebrated its fifth anniversary in June 2016, disclosed that Jim Gaffigan is the most popular comedian with 647 million spins.
22. As stand-up comedy was proving a difficult venture in 1990, he tried to audition for commercials reluctantly and ended up getting bunch of it. Since then he appeared in over 200 T.V commercials.
23. He along with Christine Baranski hosted a television sitcom for CBS. He played the weatherman for the fictional news ‘AM NEW YORK’. The show was on the air from October 2000 to January 2001 and was closed due to low rating.
24. Gaffigan, wrote and produced the sitcom ‘The Jim Gaffigan Show’ which was promoted by TV Land was premiered on July 15, 2015. The show is partially based on the real lives of Jim and Jeannie Gaffigan, his wife.
25. He appeared as a guest star on who’s is who list of hit shows including ‘That 70s Show,’ ‘Sex and the City,’ ‘Third Watch,’ ‘Ed’ and ‘Law and Order.’
26. He has lent his voice for the animated version of himself on ‘Pale Force,’ and also has voiced characters on the animated shows Bob’s Burgers, Shorty McShorts’ Shorts, WordGirl and Star vs the Forces of Evil.
27. In 2013, he released a book ‘Dad id Fat’ a collection of essays dealing with the raising of children and also recollection of his childhood. The title for the book was derived from the idea, the first complete sentence his son wrote.
28. He married to Jeannie Noth, an actress and they have five children, two daughters and three sons. He spent large part of his life with his family even on tours and maintains a bedtime rituals to stay connected with them.
29. On April 18, 2017, Gaffigan’s wife Jeannie underwent a nine hour surgery to remove a tumor in her brain. This experience only added to his faith in humanity. He is a devote Catholic.
30. On April 26, 2014, he was awarded the ‘Concert Comedian’ at the ‘American Comedy Award’ for his work.
    
31. Jim Gaffigan Net Worth: $16 Million