Jim Gaffigan: Dark Pale

I am a huge Jim Gaffigan fan. So multitalented and a sense of humor that you aren't afraid to listen to with your kids in the room. Good, clean fun. We both come from the midwest. I wanted to love this special as much as his others; but, he's lost a step. Perhaps COVID dulled his standup skills a bit, I can't say what it is, perhaps his material, perhaps he appeared to be trying a little too hard because he realilzed he wasn't hitting homeruns. Not sure; but, I'm not sure I had a good laugh until halfway through. I still think he's a national treasure; but, he has set the bar so high for himself that sooner or later he was going to come up short, and this special #10 ("Dark Pale") was the one. Hope it's just a glitch, a momentary lapse, because he is one of th best comedians alive today.

On a positive note: this is the only comedy show I've seen in a while that I didn't have to shut down due to numerous F-bombs (and worse). Keeping the act clean: good for you Jim.

On the other hand, I rate a comedy show by the number of times I actually laugh during the show... and a good show brings me to tears from laughing so hard. To be honest, I'm not really sure if I actually laughed out loud during the entire show. Maybe a light chuckle here or there. That's about it.

The shame is that there was some material that would have been legitimately funny-- if another comic had done it who had better timing. I could tell when a joke thudded just because his timing was lousy. A little longer pause and he'd have nailed it. But nah, it was like he just rambled on and well, that one went over like lead balloon. (Which has some actual relevance to his show.)

I did somewhat enjoy the Starbucks section, not because it was funny but because it was pretty spot on. His monologue on death and funerals was somewhat humorous but not especially impressive. A lengthy run-on dialog about diarrhea (un-funny at that) does not a comedy show make.

This was pretty sad. I think I'm generous in giving it 4 stars, but then again, he kept the show language relatively clean.

Next time Jim, maybe have an honest test audience listen to your show before you get in front of an audience. "Jim, it really wasn't that funny" would be doing you a big favor.

As a big Gaffigan fan, this latest special is is weakest one to date. And he's had some weak ones already. After the Pale Tourist (which was fantastic) he kinda ran out of ideas. Most of the hour was a DOA. His jokes just don't land and are undercooked and totally unfunny. I did appreciate the darker material, especially about the pandemic. He's pretty funny when he is sounding more negative about life. But unfortunately, the rest of the jokes are just bland. This will be the last special I watch from him. Hopefully he'll just have some good film roles in the future. He is good in the parts he's had in movies.

I love the comedy of Gaffigan. But in this special, there are sections where he traded in social commentary for comedy. Don't get me wrong, I can laugh at jokes directed at any party. But his SJW 'jokes' didn't even make me chuckle. I've seen all of his specials, but I've noticed that the more political he gets, the less funny his specials become.

In all honesty, I don't think I laughed until about 15 minutes into it, and he's done diarrhea jokes in the past, but this one went WAY to long. I will admit that there were parts in there that was funny in the way that Gaffigan normally does it. Overall, I'd say this wasn't one of his best efforts. But he's set the bar pretty high for himself and it's hard to keep that consistency.

Even though Jim Gaffigan often jokes that he hates to work, I believe that memorizing thousands of jokes and their timing and delivery has to be hard, like working. On average, Gaffigan films one comedy special every other year, and also tours about 300 cities a year, based on what he has said in his specials. That is a lot of work too.

In between the comedy specials and the tour schedule, Gaffigan has to write about 75 minutes of new material. I would not mind seeing him do a show with the best bits from all of his old specials, like the Waffle House, Hot Pockets, IHOP stuff, and the bear stories. Gaffigan has put together lots of great sequences of jokes over the years.

Unfortunately, in Dark Pale, Gaffigan seems to be hitting a bit of burn-out. It has to be hard to be funny when you are tired of touring 300 cities a year for many many years, getting on endless series of airplanes, drinking at an endless series of airports while waiting to get on airplanes, staying at thousands of hotels, etc. I don't know Jim Gaffigan personally, but I know I would be tired of such a schedule, if that was my life and career.

I don't know if Jim Gaffigan can ever get back to when he thought of comedy as something fresh and funny in his mind. I hope he can. I love a lot of his old specials, like Quality Time, King Baby, Obsessed, Beyond the Pale, Mr. Universe, etc. I look forward to his next special, and hopefully it will be fresh and funny again.