Jim Gaffigan, ‘Beyond the Pale’
By user • Mar 24th, 2006 • Category: Album Reviews
Jim Gaffigan likes food.
Over the course of his second comedy release, the Indiana native makes that abundantly clear. Of the 21 tracks, 17 are dedicated to cake, Hot Pockets, pie, cereal or something edible.
And fittingly, the audience at Chicago’s Vic Theater ate it up.
The problem, however, is the jokes don’t taste as nicely when back for seconds.
That’s the fault with live recordings; the imperfections of a performance can be revisited and are no longer lost to the moment. Bands run the same risk, and as more comedians test the release market – Dane Cook, David Cross, the late Mitch Headberg – the “you had to be there” syndrome becomes clearer.
It’s the same reason jokes lose impact when retold; the humor is muddled and predictable after the first telling.
Which would be even more of an obstacle to overcome if Gaffigan wasn’t starting from such a hilarious point. Yet his naively good-natured front makes this version of self-depreciating observations so easy to swallow.
At times, he falls too often into his schtick ? an alter ego as a middle-aged woman in the audience raising questions about the act.
But it works, because these segments stand out as the funniest of his routine. So his faux questions about whether his shirt is actually a blouse, why he’s so pale or how his holiday customs are confusing make his act identifiable on a couple levels – the jokes serve both as a way to entertain and relate to his audience.
But no amount of connection on record can relate to the feedback by the crowd. After all, it’s hard to recreate a live performance.
You just have to be there.
Northern Star, March 24, 2006
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