User reviews

I feel the need to dispel the review by the individual who gave this a 1/10 and stated that Jim Gaffigan is awful and that no other comedians have the heart to tell him so. Well, here is a list of comedians who have appeared/will be appearing in Jim's show: Fred Armisen, Janeane Garafalo, Dave Attell, Hannibal Burress, Robert Smigel, Adam Goldberg, Michael Ian Black, and also includes appearances by Seth Meyers, Jon Stewart, Keith Olberman, Jimmy Fallon, etc. The bottom line - don't make silly statements that you can't effectively back up because as evidenced by this stellar cast, Gaffigan has more than enough backing and support within the comedy and television world. If you don't care for his comedy, that's a 'you' thing.

Comedy with realism and wit! Jim makes living with his family and friends believable and wittily funny. A joy to be in his world for a few minutes each week. Well written story lines and the supporting cast performs well too. Good to see a comedy "set" with a family that does not use their children as props instead of real human beings with feelings. Jim has a self-deprecating humor that is witty and honest and the way he and his spouse depict real life situations is comical as well as refreshing. A different kind of comedy and well worth thirty minutes of your time once a week!! You will not be able to watch Jim's comedy without enjoying how honest his feelings about life,family and marriage really can be full of laughter and truth.

Jim Gaffigan is a standup comedian in Manhattan. He and his wife Jeannie (Ashley Williams) have five little kids in their small 2-bedroom apartment. His best friend is the aggressively single-without-kids Dave (Adam Goldberg) who annoys Jeannie. Her best friend is her gay college boyfriend Daniel (Michael Ian Black) who annoys Jim. Jim's jokes are often about food and his usually large Manhattan family. He is always eating.

This is a sitcom based on Jim's real life. The first season is great fun with a meta joke with his real family in the last episode. I would put that joke in the pilot episode or maybe have his real family live in an adjacent apartment with a far more handsome Jim. That way, his family could show up every once in awhile as a recurring joke. The second season goes down a darker path with Dave. Dave is always a jerk but the second season has him being a truly awful self-serving frenemy. Will Ferrell shows up as a mercurial comedy power. He needs to be serious but he goes down a wacky path and takes away the comedy. He's trying to make a wacky sitcom when the role calls for a satire. The second season does need to lighten up a bit. The show lasted two seasons on TV Land. If Jim wants to spend more time with the kids, hire them for the show. This deserves more seasons.

I have never really been a Jim Gaffigan fan. Sure, he's funny, but far from one of my favorite stand ups.

As such, I am greatly surprised by how good this show is - in my view, one of the best comedies headed by a stand up comedian in years.

The chemistry with Ashley Williams is believable and balanced, she is not just a prop, but in fact very funny herself.... I especially enjoyed seeing her come to life in Episode 4, rather than just playing the boring "frustrated" housewife.

Michael Ian Black is awesome as the snarly homo friend, and Adam Goldberg is finally in a role where he get's a bit of depth, rather than just being the token angry a..hole, which usually get's old really fast in his previous work.

All in all, this show is well written, well acted and well produced, and highly recommended to anyone who also like current shows like You're the worst (which I put this show on par with) and Married (which I rank slightly below The Jim Gaffigan Show).

The Jim Gaffigan Show is hilarious.

I have not seen much of his stand up. My husband is a big fan of Jim Gaffigan's comic stand-up. After watching this show, I am going to watch his stand up.

The chemistry between Jim and Ashley is great. They play off each other very well. We have been watching since the series premiere. The characters are well played by each individual actor. The banter between Adam Goldberg and Jim Gaffigan is perfect.

It is a must see show.

I recommend this show to everyone. I laugh from beginning to the end.

I really really really enjoy this show.

This show goes way beyond the stand up routine (per my headline).

I really appreciate all the character interactions and although the main cast is small, they are all an integral part of the show and create plenty of depth.

I have enjoyed Jim Gaffigan's stand-up for years, so maybe I am biased. But I have also enjoyed other comedians' stand up and their shows fell flat for me. This is not the case with this show.

All chemistry between characters is great.

I love how the show isn't on a laugh track (...that I can tell, I think I'm usually naturally laughing when there is supposed to be laughter).

This show isn't just a replay of all of Jim's humorous stand-up, it's real life and I hope this is a close portrayal to how your* life is (*if Jim is reading this) because it makes me happy.

Maybe the reviewer who gave it a one star is anti-Gaffigan or maybe he didn't drink his two alcoholic beverages suggested by comedy clubs to lighten the mood.

I'm so glad this show got signed on for a second season. You should start watching now before there are too many seasons to catch up on!

Author, Grammy Nominated for Best Comedy Albums, Stand-Up Comedian Jim Gaffigan is to comedy today what Carol Burnett was to comedy in the 70s; clean and funny. Refreshing! His deadpan sarcasm is done beautifully for those of us who use and appreciate it. The entire cast of this show plays their part effectively and humorously. I love Ashley Williams who plays his wife. Adam Goldberg as a a fellow friend and Michael Ian Black are also spot on. I first became familiar with Gaffigan when he did a very small part in the wonderful 2004 movie 13 Going On 30. This show has a running time of about 22 minutes on Wednesday evenings on TV Land which is perfect as it keeps the viewer wanting more!

First: Jim's show is not for kids. This show is about smart adults doing adult things, like eating and dealing with life. IF you are an adult, you will appreciate Jim and his writers reflecting real life issues, while making them funny too.

Second: TV Land has finally put on a show for adults that is not done in front of an audience or an annoying laugh track. Hooray! Third: This show is shot on location in New York City meaning the city itself is another major character of the show -- even more important than it was on the television show Seinfeld.

Last: This show has depth far beyond its twenty-one minutes. Good for you Jim. Keep up the great work!

Having seen all of Jim Gaffigan's comedy specials, it is interesting to see him try to turn some of his comedy stories into scenes in a sit-com. Also brave of him not to use a laugh-track. Stuff happens, and nobody is laughing. Being used to every sit-com having the same laugh-track, at first it was disconcerting. Then I realized that Gaffigan has some major stones, and I appreciate that. Interesting to watch, think about what is going on, so you can actually laugh on your own!

Really funny, gaffigan is at his best. Watch this you won't be sorry

Season one of this show was hilarious. So funny and the banter between the actors was amazing and quick witted. We couldn't wait for the second season. Now that it is almost over - we can't figure out what happened. The ideas for the show are still great, but the writing is horrible. We hardly laugh at it any more. Sometimes we even fast forward through short sections. And why do they have to explain the show afterward? That should be their first clue that it is bad. If you have to explain your comedy, it isn't funny. I don't know what happened to the writers, but they need to go back to the way it was. Watch the first season on demand - but don't waste your time with the second one.

Great show! Sure, some of your material is in there but to say its a rehash is ridiculous hyperbole. I've listened to all your albums several times and will binge this series again soon. Can't believe there's only one season when shows like 2 broke girls are in syndication. Sometimes I'm ashamed to be an American.

So far I have only watched the first six episodes of season one. And I can say that this is one of the funniest television sitcoms I have seen. Its right up there with threes company. If you are having a bad day and need to laugh. Then go watch the Jim Gaffigan show it will make you laugh so hard you will forget that you were having a bad day. I had the shows first season on DVD for awhile before I watched it. I thought it was a show like the tonight show or Conan. I did not realize it was a sitcom. I did not expect the show to be so funny. But, it was. I am glad I took the time to watch it.

"Jim Gaffigan" has already been on this list of The 400 Most Notable Television Shows Set in New York City. He was an Indiana weatherman on a New York based morning show with Christine Baranski as his producer, Sara Gilbert as her assistant and Rocky Carroll standing in for Bryant Gumbel on "Welcome to New York," back at 389.

We're still dealing with "Jim Gaffigan," only one that's a whole lot more seasoned, this time around.

We've turned the clock forward fifteen years from that initial sitcom, where, back in Y2K, fresh faced Jim was basically doing the David Letterman story, despite the fact that he too was from Indiana and was a stand-up comic, just like Dave. Jim was just too green to insert his influences and ideas that might have helped "Welcome to New York" work better, be more about him and be more funny.

This time, we're letting Gaffigan be Gaffigan, as this sitcom was completely based on his own real life circumstances: his stand up routines were the basis of the plots of these episodes, and his homelife actually paralleled the genuine article, as Jim and his wife Jeannie (played here by Ashley Williams) really did have five kids and actually lived in a two bedroom apartment in Manhattan as they were getting started.

With his real life wife as a consultant (she was originally going to play herself in the series, but bowed out at the last moment which allowed Williams to take the part), they told the factual tales of having this gaggle of kids in a too small for their family apartment and how they attempted to make things work, ever so comedically.

Helping out was Jim's best friend, adviser and fellow comic Dave Marks, played by Adam Goldberg... and Jeannie's former beau, who eventually realized that he was gay, Daniel Benjamin, played by Michael Ian Black. And, of course, the five reasons why this all got so crazy, the five kids.

Also, spoiler alert: turning up along the way are a variety of real-life comics and TV personalities. I won't go into the details, in case you want to view the program yourself, but there is a running gag with a particular personality that is always pretty amusing.

I don't mean to call in Dr. Freud, but Mr. Gaffigan is seen in a lot of scenes, eating something. Oral fixative elements aside, it helps explain why the Jim Gaffigan of this show is putting on the L. Bs, compared to the earlier Gaffigan. They are almost unrecognizable! But they do share that lilting voice, that wry approach to life and neither "Jim Gaffigan" wanted to deal with problems, even though problems are all they get.

New York played a part because of the comedy scene, the TV scene, and the Real Estate Market, where you're supposed to have at least two bedrooms for the kids, one for the boys and one for the girls: even pseudo-architect Mike Brady knew that! I wonder if this "Jim Gaffigan" is related to, or the same guy as that earlier "Jim Gaffigan" and how that might have informed this series. I'd like to believe there was a little truth to that possibility.

The show was made all the more absurd because of the five actual kids they have and the maneuvering and compromises the Gaffigans made throughout. Is it a cautionary tale or a "how to" program? Maybe it's both? Either way, it's a whole lot funnier than "Welcome to New York" was, and just that much more worth viewing.

I really enjoy Jim Gaffigan's stand-up, probably even more so than most people. I've watched every episode of the the Jim Gaffigan Show so far though (midway through season 2 now), and with each episode I'm eking closer to dropping it.

There's a few laughs here and there, but all in all, during 95% of the episode I don't even laugh. It's more of a drama about a comedian than an actual comedy. It's very self-deprecating of Jim, sometimes harshly and unbearably so. I know it's a TV show and it's ironic and for fun, but the jokes (against Jim) are so real and harsh sometimes that you literally feel bad for him - and wonder if this is even hurting his image!

At least if there was a captivating plot line, it could work as a drama. But it still follows the silly, whimsical story line that a comedy would - save for the laughs.

If there were some good supporting characters at least, it could work. But none of the other characters are funny either. Adam Goldberg is boring, dull, unfunny, and same with everyone else. The only other character I kind of like is Michael Ian Black (who I think is BRILLIANT in Another Period), but even in this show, he's not truly "funny".

Jim is the only person on the show you can rely on for laughs, and there aren't really much at that. So, it's not funny as a comedy. It's not interesting as a drama. I don't know what it is, but either way, it's just not holding my interest so I think I'll drop it.

This show is positively putrid. There is nothing, and I mean nothing, even remotely funny in this show. I saw two episodes and no one can accuse me of actually laughing. The premise of the show is that Jim is a comedian who likes to eat. He didn't have to put a lot of thought into that, since that is his real life, and for some reason, he thinks his life is a lot funnier than the rest of us. All you see in the show is him avoiding any kind of real work and eating. That's it. He took the worse aspects of bad comedies from the late 90's and early 2000's and mush them all into one spectacularly horrible show. Stupid and lazy man? Everybody Loves Raymond. Lazy and fat man? The King of Queens. Fat and obnoxious man? According to Jim. It's nauseating. On top of that he manages to get a hot wife, which seems totally unrealistic, but is a myth that television keeps trying to make Americans believe. The only realistic part of the show is that the family is crammed into a small apartment. Since they live in NYC, it is not always feasible to live in a comfortable space, and I applaud the show for being honest about that. Everything else pretty much sucks. You see actors like Michael Ian Black, Ashley Williams, and Adam Goldberg and they look like it is painful having to deliver these stupid lines and pretend that the show is good. You can tell they are embarrassed, and I am embarrassed for them.

Watched 2 episodes and could not bare to watch another. The show is about a man with 5 kids that are never really part of the show. Not able to tolerate the premise. Too many people in a small space all so happy and bright and smiling. I have seen his comedy - he is not like that. He is unhealthy and a bad example to his children. He is having kids like they cost nothing to care for or that he doesn't mind them going to public school. None of them are in school. This story isn't funny. The premise is not funny. The writing is not funny. I can't think of nice thing to say. Oh yeah, the kids are SUPER CLEAN and their house SUPER CLEAN. And the wife is SUPER HOT and he is super out of shape. They are all super happy. This fantasy is super dull. I can't think of way to revive the show unless they change everything.