Jim Gaffigan

James Christopher Gaffigan (born July 7, 1966) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and producer.

His material often addresses fatherhood, laziness, food, religion, and general observations.

He is regarded as a "clean" comic, using little profanity in his routines.

He has released several successful comedy specials, including Mr. Universe, Obsessed, Cinco, and Quality Time, all of which have received Grammy nominations.

Gaffigan was born on July 7, 1966, in Elgin, Illinois, the youngest of six children born to charity worker and fundraiser Marcia Miriam (née Mitchell) and banker Michael Ambrose Gaffigan.

Of Irish descent, his family's surname was Gavahan.

His maternal grandfather was Iowa Supreme Court Justice Richard F. Mitchell.

Gaffigan was raised in Chesterton, Indiana, and often jokes about growing up in a large family.

Live comedy was in decline following its peak in the 1980s, and was further affected by the increased popularity of cable television.

His mother was accomplished at needlework and received a national award for original design and craftsmanship from the American Needlepoint Guild in 1985.

He attended Purdue University for one year, where he was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, before transferring to Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business, where he graduated in 1988 with a degree in finance.

He played football at Georgetown and Purdue.

Although he "hated" studying finance, he worked as a litigation consultant for a short time after graduating and "was horrible at it".

She died of cancer in 1990 at age 53.

Gaffigan moved to New York in 1990 to pursue comedy, a move that was inspired by his admiration for fellow Hoosier David Letterman.

He worked in advertising during the day and took acting classes at night.

During this time, he was cast in Blockbuster Video's "Entertainment Squad" series of commercials.

His career began in earnest when a friend from his acting class dared him to take a stand-up seminar that required a live set at the end.

He fell in love with stand-up, and began playing comedy clubs nightly—after his evening acting classes—until the early hours of the morning.

He was often found sleeping at his day job; his boss had to wake him up to fire him.

For the first seven years of Gaffigan's stand-up career, he tried various styles, ranging from angry comedy to impressions and voices.

Gaffigan's father was the president and CEO of the Mercantile National Bank of Indiana for 15 years until his retirement in 1991.

A former seminarian, he was also actively involved in local charity work.

He died of lung cancer in 1999.

Gaffigan's father was the first in his family to attend college, and encouraged his children to seek careers that promised job security.

However, at about the age of five, Gaffigan announced that he wanted to be an actor.

As a teenager, Gaffigan watched Saturday Night Live.

He attended La Lumiere School in La Porte, Indiana, where he played on the school's football team.

After periodically auditioning for The Late Show with David Letterman for six years, Gaffigan did a successful stand-up routine on the show in 1999, and his career took off.

Gaffigan's style is largely observational.

Some of his main topics are laziness, eating and parenthood.

His famous Hot Pocket routine was inspired by a commercial he saw that he mistook for a Saturday Night Live sketch.

He often performs soliloquies.

For example, in high-pitched voice, he may portray someone giving negative feedback on his own performance.

(After he made a diarrhea joke in his 2012 special "Mr. Universe", he used the voice to say, "Really, he's using diarrhea jokes?" ) He has said, "That inside voice is my connection with the audience".

In an interview with the Duluth News-Tribune, he explained that he began developing the voice as a teenager, when he disarmed people by talking for them in their presence.

Gaffigan's memoir Dad Is Fat (2013) and his most recent book Food: A Love Story (2014) were both published by Crown Publishers.

He co-created and starred in the TV Land series The Jim Gaffigan Show, based on his life.

He collaborates extensively with his wife, actress Jeannie Gaffigan, with whom he has five children.

They are Catholic, a topic that frequently comes up in his comedy shows.