Comedian Jim Gaffigan talks new movie and more!
You're lawn with Mario a little pitz.
It's up you all.
Mario Lopez joining me on Zoom. Actor and stand up comic mister Jim Gaffigan, Welcome back, man, How you been.
I'm good. Thank you for having me back. Always good to be back.
Well, thank you for taking the time. First off, I don't know you were a next level gardener. I saw your harvest. What are you gonna do with all those vegetables?
I mostly compost them. I try and give them away, but nobody wants any of them. I mean, you know, like I always have these grand designs of uh, you know, finding a food bank and stuff like that, but it's not really that much stuff. But I try and give them away to neighbors, and eventually people just subtly say, please stop coming over here.
I wish that I lived by you, because there's there's nothing more tasty than homegrown vegetables. When you get a tomato, you can eat it like an apple. It's so good and you can really tell a difference. So so good for you. It's a fruit, that's true, that's right, well both, it's both. It kind of straddles of fence there. Congrats on the new movie, Greedy People. What's this one about?
It's, you know, it's a pretty I watched it with my family, and it's it's a it's a fun movie. It's it's you know, it involves some murder a million dollars. What would you do if you had the opportunity? It really kind of analyzes what people will do to protect their family or to maybe, you know, pursue a million dollars. So it's a little all over the place, and I don't want to give any of it away. But when I watched it with my family and my kids are you know, eleven to twenty, they all loved it because it is one of those mysteries that you don't know where it's going, which is kind of a relief. And I get to play a bad guy, which is always fun.
Oh fun, That's what I was going to ask. Your role in it? So you're one of the bad guys?
All right? Yeah, I'm a bad guy?
Okay, all right. And also from earlier this month, another dark comedy running on empty Who'd you plan that one?
That is such a I play a guy who runs a funeral home. It's a family business kind of and you know, I play you know, I would say kind of just a creepy weirdo. I mean, some of it is maybe it's just so fun to go against type and there are as you as you know, you know, it's it's fun. The more complex a character, the more entertaining. But Running on Empty is just a bizarre film, right. But it was a blast and and Kiir and everyone, you know, we just had a good time doing it and it was very total indie fair, kind of like everyone's there for the right reason. So it was a blast.
Fun man, And you released your latest comedy album, The Prisoner on vinyl. Does stand Up sound better on vinyl? You know?
It's it's it's strange, right, the popularity of vinyl, right, which is it's I guess because obviously it's available on all the audio streaming platforms. But that's where we are, is that now there is you know, people want to hold something, yeah, And so I think that's led to this reassurgence of vinyl and how important it is for people, particularly for comedy fans. And so this special I just it's not a special, it's just an album. Because I had all this material that I was not going to use in my upcoming Hulu specials. So I wanted to release an album, and I didn't want to, so it's just an audio version. So I thought we'll give it a whorl because we just consume so much stuff anyway, So yeah, why not.
As I said, it took me back because I remember my dad listening to some old Richard Pryor on vinyl when I was a kid. Yeah, and I.
Think there's something about and you know, listening to comedy on vinyl that has a piece of nostalgia. You know. Obviously it's you know, we think of vinyl, we think of music, but it is you know, I remember listening to Bill Cosby and you know, Steve Martin on vinyl, and I think there's just something kind of unique about that experience.
Yeah, I think it's really cool. You're also on tour all fall. What are you talking about on stage these days?
Gosh, you know, I'm trying. It's all self assignment, right, So it's it's always interesting to kind of figure out what I'm going to talk about. I mean, some of it is just peeling away layers of of as I learn about myself without hopefully sliding into a complete narcissist you know. I So I'm kind of talking about how, you know, my the things that I struggle with, Like I have a horrible memory. You know, I'm a bad dad. You know. Kind of the glimpses of where my writing is leading is very strange and kind of it's always self effacing, you know, I'm always kind of a little bit amazed that I'm making it through life, you know what i mean, I'm not really equipped for this. I'm not equipped to be a parent. I'm not equipped to be a husband and so and but people enjoy it, and you know, some of it is is finding new topics. You know, this is my I'm now working on my eleventh or twelfth hour. So it's it's so fun because the people that come to my shows, you know, they've been multiple times, and so the challenge, like any conversation with a friend, you have to keep it fresh. You can't have the same conversation. So it's it's fun.
I gotta imagine with five kids, though, there's there's got to be endless material. Just with I mean with my three, I just it's kind of keeping me on my toes and there's comedy all day.
Yet now it is there is a lot of comedy. I don't know how old your kids.
Are, but I'm still kind of little.
I tell you, the teenage years is all it is bizarre. It is a bizarre experience that you won't remember me saying this, but there will come a time when your kids are teenagers and you will be like, oh my gosh, I had no idea because I think we're so obviously we're filled with love and like the the arrival of the children is so amazing and them discovering the world is so brilliant. But them going through that teenage years is insane. It is it is so difficult for them, for you, right, this is a this is a hard it's a hard time to be a teenager. You know what I mean?
You know it really is that. I I mean, I got a lot of nieces and nephews, and you're right all that they didn't have as many distractions, and of course social media and all that stuff to play to factor in. So I'm I'm bracing myself. You're you're absolutely right about all that. Well, I'm looking forward to checking out the special, the latest album, and congratulations on all the projects, my friend. You can watch Greedy People in theaters now, Jim, thanks for hanging out.
Hey, always great chatting with you. All Right, Matt, we'll see you. Thanks.
With Mario Lopez