LOS ANGELES — Jim Gaffigan is experiencing a major glow-up lately. He’s looking slim, trim and well-styled in a hip suit and glasses on a recent morning in a posh room at the Peninsula hotel.
His vibe is a lot different from the hefty, pale, Midwestern everyman that a lot of people think of when they hear his name. But if you’ve tracked his recent trajectory, the recent evolution shouldn’t come as a surprise. From touring with comedy megastar Jerry Seinfeld to portraying Tim Walz for five weeks on “Saturday Night Live,” Gaffigan’s fit physique and wry, clean humor are meeting the moment by popping up in places that bring together the biggest crowds to laugh as a family about topics we can all relate to on some level at a time when we need it most.
His 11th stand-up special, “The Skinny,” recently premiered on Hulu as part of the new brand rollout dubbed “Hulu Laughing Now,” featuring 12 new comedy specials per year on the streaming platform. We spoke to Gaffigan about the inspiration behind his new hourlong special, the pains of parenting teenagers and how growing his career while his body gets slimmer is only the beginning of his new chapter in comedy. This interview was edited for length and clarity.
Q: In your new special “The Skinny,” obviously you talk about the fact that you’ve had a body transformation. What inspired you to make a change to become Slim Jim?
A: I wish there was some romantic story surrounding it, but it really came down to my doctor who brought it up. [She said] “I’ve noticed you’ve gained a fair amount of weight.” In the ‘90s I was working out twice a day to be thin. And then once I had kids, I was desperately trying to find time to work out. And then it just got to a point where my knees didn’t work. So [my doctor] said, “You can try these appetite suppressants.” And I’m like, “yeah, sure!” but I didn’t have an expectation it would work. Even when I was working out twice a day — I have a joke where I was like, “I need to work out a lot just to look like someone who doesn’t work out.” And so I was pleasantly surprised when it worked.
Q: Describe the process of whittling down the material for “The Skinny” and what do you hope that audiences will get to see from you in terms of what’s going on with your life and your comedy?
A: Stand-up has changed so much. The notion that people are putting out multiple specials didn’t exist when I started with stand-up, but I think that people who consume a stand-up comedian’s material, there’s a familiarity, but it’s like a friendship. You can’t have the exact same conversation, even though we all have friends where it’s like we’re having the same conversation about high school, it has to be different. You both have to challenge each other. I think that people that have tracked me along the way in my stand-up will be interested in my view on parenting. I’ve always had the view that I suck at it, but I have a greater empathy for what all parents are dealing with it. I don’t know if you have kids, do you have kids?
Q: No, I’m still happy.
A: (Laughs) There’s books that reveal the mistakes [we] have made. Parents of teenagers have this perspective. Adults have an impression of what their teenage years were like and I’m providing this point of view of what it’s like to live with these people. It’s kind of a cliché but raising teenagers is like raising a mentally ill person. It sounds harsh — we know there’s a natural separation process where teenagers challenge things but I love that I’ve gained this perspective of “was my dad a d— or maybe I was a d—?”
Q: Considering how long it’s taken for you to build a career, it’s cool to see you popping up on “SNL” as Tim Walz, touring with Jerry Seinfeld, appearing in movies…. This is a pretty big comeback era for you — you are smaller but your career is getting bigger, does that feel weird?
A: That’s funny — yeah, doing those shows with Jerry, I never had an expectation that that would happen. Jerry has a clear and concise view and philosophy on stand-up and comedy that when you talk to him, you feel like you’re talking to Aristotle. He’s kind of like a stoic [who reminds you to have] control of your material. You don’t get caught up in what the trend is of the moment. You work on evolving your act and your writing.
The “SNL” experience was so surreal, because I never auditioned for “SNL.” I was presented an opportunity to audition to be a writer, but I was like, “I want to be an actor,” so I was resistant. But the opportunity to be in that orbit of this last vestige of American live television that still exists with its impracticalities … there’s no replicating it. What “SNL” has done for 50 years is insane. So even when we were there [filming] and I’m sitting in a room with Dana Carvey, or you look out and you see John Lovitz or Chris Rock, it’s just bizarre. So gaining access to that is really an amazing thing.