Jim Gaffigan: Self-Awareness Is Essential in Comedy and in Life| Big Think

Jim Gaffigan: Self-Awareness Is Essential in Comedy and in Life| Big Think

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Being self-aware is one of the more important things a person can be. Knowing one’s physical capability means not doing things that are outside those limits, thereby avoiding danger, injury and undoubtedly some embarrassment. Knowing that a person is allergic to cats, means they can avoid pet dander and keep their health up. We’re self-aware about health, but awareness has broader applications.

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JIM GAFFIGAN:

Jim Gaffigan is a Grammy nominated comedian, New York Times best-selling author, top touring performer, and multi-platinum-selling father of five. He recently wrapped the first season of his semi-fictitious television show, The Jim Gaffigan Show, which TV Land picked up for a second season and premieres two episodes on Sunday, June 19th at 10/9c. The series, lauded by The Los Angeles Times as “Fun and Funny,” and People Magazine as “One of Summer TV’s bright spots,” was developed by Peter Tolan along with Gaffigan and his wife, Jeannie, who both also serve as executive producers and showrunners. The single-camera comedy co-stars Ashley Williams, Michael Ian Black, and Adam Goldberg and revolves around one man’s struggle to balance fatherhood, stand-up comedy and an insatiable appetite. With multiple projects in motion, Gaffigan is currently preparing to travel the country in a tour bus with his family on behalf of his Fully Dressed arena and theater tour which begins July 7th.

Gaffigan’s fourth special ("Beyond the Pale," 2006; "King Baby," 2009; "Mr. Universe," 2012),"Obsessed" premiered on Comedy Central in 2014 and the DVD/CD was released soon after by Comedy Central Records. "Obsessed" premiered at #1 on iTunes which marked the fifth time Gaffigan reached the Top 25 Comedy category on iTunes. The album also earned a nomination for "Best Comedy Album of the Year" at the 2015 Grammy Awards.

In 2013, Jim’s first book, Dad Is Fat, was released by Crown Publishing and debuted at #5 on The New York Times Bestseller’s List and remained on the list for 17 weeks.  His second book, Food: A Love Story, was released in the fall of 2014 and debuted at #3 on The New York Times Bestseller’s List

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TRANSCRIPT:

Jim Gaffigan:  I think self-awareness is really important. I mean I think it was know thyself. Socrates, right. I think the specific to my experience in life being this pale kid with white blonde hair when the teacher would turn around her eye or his eye would focus on me. So I feel like – and again my victimization complex I feel like I was blamed for things even if I wasn’t participating. But that being said what I’ve learned in the acting world is you’re forced to embrace self-awareness. We all have moments of self-awareness and maybe it’s looking at a photo of how good we looked five years ago versus today. Like oh my gosh, I didn’t realize there’s – but with actors they’re forced to face the reality of who they are and how they come across. So I played football and wrestled in high school. I played football in college but I’m mostly cast as nerdy people. And so now that’s not to say a football player can be nerdy but it’s like there’s this – I remember this realization like why am I being cast as this? That’s just how I come across. And I’ll often meet people and they’ll say I thought – you’re much taller than I thought. Because I think there is – and it’s fascinating in a narcissistic way that people think that I’m shorter than I am.

But think with acting being a character actor which is code for not attractive in the entertainment industry you’re forced to, you know, actors are forced to embrace the idea of auditioning for a certain type so you embrace that. So it’s like the schlubby friend. Okay, I guess I’m a little schlubby if I’m considered for this role. But with standup going on stage this conversation that you have with the audience where you have a microphone and they communicate mostly through laughter and silence. You have to become immediately aware of how you come across. And that communication is I think vital for particularly my type of comedy. So if I didn’t learn that when I would go on stage at this comedy club called Pip’s in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, if I didn’t realize that I was this white bread guy and everyone in the audience was like Italian and Jewish and they looked at me like John Tesh. If I didn’t address that they would think I didn’t have a self-awareness.

So ...

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