Gaffigan entertains crowd with classic favorites
>>Print ViewPublication Date: 09/10/2007
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Those at comedian Jim Gaffigan's Friday night show at the Elliott Hall of Music may have gotten hungry during his performance.
The theater was packed with enthusiastic fans, some of whom brought Hot Pocket boxes. The crowd gave the food-loving comedian three separate standing ovations during the night.
Before Gaffigan took the stage, he was preceded by Rich Brooks, a comedian from Tennessee with bad sideburns and an ex-girlfriend he loved talking about.
Although Brooks received a warm reception from crowd members, they didn't rise to their feet until Gaffigan took the stage.
Gaffigan, a former Boilermaker who had the facial expression of a man rudely awaken from a good nap, began his act talking about "The Region," the area in northwest Indiana where he grew up. But aside from a later reference to walking across Purdue's campus to 5 a.m. classes, he chose not to focus too much on his Indiana roots and stuck with many of his classic jokes. It wasn't long before he started talking about food.
Gaffigan did a bacon monologue that seemed to go on for 10 minutes, but kept the audience laughing the entire way. He talked about his love of bacon and said the food instantly made everything better. He even suggested that actor Kevin Bacon's success was tied to his surname.
He also spoke of how lazy he was.
"Ever read an article and it said, �continued on page 6?'" he asked the audience. "Not for me."
Gaffigan, who has two children under the age of three, talked about parenting and how exhausting it is to watch his wife do all the work. He also said she doesn't consider him to be a real Catholic, although he'll occasionally cheer for Notre Dame � this comment received loud boos and a few cheers from the crowd.
But he quickly got back to his favorite subject.
"I haven't talked about food in two minutes," he said. "I have to get back to bacon."
Gaffigan ended the show doing the audience's favorite bit, his Hot Pockets monologue.
"I was watching the �Price is Right' and someone won a life's supply of Hot Pockets," he said. "That's like a death sentence. Murder pockets."
After leaving the stage, Gaffigan waited a few moments and listened to the applause before returning for an encore about cuddling with his wife.
After the show, hundreds of people filled the Hall of Music's lower lobby to meet Gaffigan.
Mark Lewis, a senior in the College of Technology, said the show was excellent.
"He has a real understanding for what people go through," Lewis said.
Although she had never heard of Gaffigan before, Julie Stark, a student at the University of Indianapolis, said she really enjoyed his act.
"I can sympathize with loving all types of food," she said. "I could hear myself thinking the things he was saying."