Hot Pockets!

My friend Bruce e-mailed me yesterday, asking me if I've heard of Jim Gaffigan. I most certainly have; he's probably even surpassed Brian Regan as my current favorite stand-up comedian.

I must've had Gaffigan on my mind, because I went to the Natural History Museum today and saw some things that reminded me of him.


"It just so happens, you live in the ocean because you ain't got no job."

Manatees aside, I think the Aquatic Life exhibit was my favorite part of the museum. After wandering around its four floors for over three hours without a single Ben Stiller sighting, I wandered south along Central Park towards the subway. I passed a Universalist Church which was very pretty, but I couldn't get a good picture of the whole building from the angle I was at. I could, however, see the most important part clearly.


Take that, Jews! Now that's a church service I could really sink my teeth into.

If you've seen Jim Gaffigan's TV specials or listened to his albums, you've probably heard a few of his bacon jokes, but it's nothing compared to what you get when you see him live. I went with Tiffany all the way up to Layton to see his show last summer (much better driving conditions than when Megan and I saw Brian Regan at Kingsbury Hall in January '07), and the first ten minutes--maybe even more--were jokes about bacon. It was deliciously funny.

(Almost as funny: for the first half of the show, Tiffany thought his name was Gordon Lightfoot, because he was performing the next month at the same venue and she saw his name on the marquee. Maybe the Edmund Fitzgerald wrecked because it was overloaded with pork products?)

In other stand-up news, I saw a woman on the subway who I'm pretty sure was Laurie Kilmartin, but she's not nearly as funny as the homeless subway comedian I gave a dollar to on Saturday ("We need to get this train going and get you folks off, because this is my house and I've got to get some sleep...all you people pay thousands of dollars in rent, and your houses don't go nowhere. I pay $2 a day and my house takes me all over the city..."). He had like a ten-minute routine, and it was fantastic. At first, people were covering their faces with their hats or otherwise trying to hold the laughs in, as if they would be obligated to give him money if they were caught enjoying themselves, but by the end everyone was laughing and having a good time. I wonder if he's on iTunes?

If you're looking for comedians to check out, I'm also a big fan of Demetri Martin and the late Mitch Hedberg, and like some of Ron White's stuff. But if you want clean comedy that's largely food-based, it doesn't get better than Gaffigan and Regan.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, it's less than two months until my Apollo performance, and my routine isn't ready. I should get to work on that.