Food: A Love Story
Written and Narrated By: Jim Gaffigan
Length: 7 hrs and 17 mins
If you’re a fan of JG, I hear tell this all might be familiar. I, however, am new so what a fun ride!
I have to admit that, other than occaaaaasionally catching a few minutes of “Saturday Night Live” or maaaaybe getting a Kevin Hart audiobook, I’m not really that into comedians. Not that I have anything against laughing (After all, m’ husband has me in stitches most of the time!), it’s just that I usually find humor to be stretched out too long, gags taken too far, a bit o’ brevity needed for the ol’ 1-2 Punch. Tina Fey? Love her when she does a bit part being Sarah Palin. But buy her audiobook? Oooooh, I think not…
One night, however, the husband was doing some late night watching and an interview with comedian Jim Gaffigan had him HOWling with laughter. Really just gales of guffaws, loud enough to peeve the neighbors (But their dogs bark all the time so I didn’t feel tooooo terribly bad…). This rather stuck with me and came to mind when I saw Food on sale over on Chirp books. Hmmm… the laughter of my hubby? the upcoming Thanksgiving newsletter to be thought of? the fact that I was really really hungry when I saw the cover, what with its oversized hot dog on it? Yum.
I bought it right quick.
So I was floored with delight when I listened to it and discovered just how hiLARious the man is. All together a wonderful listening experience when just over 7 hours came and went.
Naturally, I checked other reviewers to see what their pet peeves were, and I discovered that, if you already are familiar with Gaffigan, you might be sorely disappointed with this whole deal as it’s many parts of his act, like, verbatim. In the book he flat-out tells ya that his Hot Pocket routine is already widely, widely known—earning him, “Hey! Hot Pocket!” when strangers see him out and about. But at least he expands on the routine (Which is mighty hilarious), and he tells us of how he made a couple of observations during an act, got a couple of half-hearted chuckles from the crowd, but was later told: That was funny… No, man, like, seriously Funny. So NATurally the offered advice caused him to go full bore Hot Pocket Funny, and we are the beneficiaries of his observational work. But apparently other people heard it, laughed, and now don’t wanna hear it again. Or at least not pay hard-earned cash to listen to it yet one more time. I get it.
But there’s so much more, and with Gaffigan delivering it all, with accents where required, screams and screeches when a telling demands them, grunts and moaning when, say, a cheeseburger is involved—Oh how AWEsome. A comedian should ALWAYS do his own narration when s/he writes a book and translates it into audio. Gaffigan’s timing is spot-on; and he’s fearless when hamming it up for the mic (Yes, hamming was a pun tho’ after listening to this, Gaffigan waxes more poetic for steak than he does for pigs… poor pigs. And by the way? Animals are NOT safe when it comes to Gaffigan’s rumbling belly).
Don’t expect long essays on thoughts, but do indeed enjoy the brief observations that are always padded out with how inCREDibly patient his wife, Jeannie, is. And how she might dread one of his: Hey, just heard about a restaurant that has the BEST… fill in with barbecue, or fried chicken and waffles, or whatEVER catches his fancy. Usually such statements are followed by a packing up of all five of his kids and…. loooooooong lines which make Jeannie absolutely wanna throttle Jim as “waiting” and “children” should NEVER be in the same sentence.
There are treatises on where to find the best kinds of grubs, a look at the country state by state and their regional offerings (And how they make Gaffigan swoon and salivate), and oh soooo much more. I mean really, I hadn’t eaten in a while when I was listening to this book, and I started getting so hungry I was eyeing my cats and wondering how much fur I’d be picking outta my teeth if I went for them. Poor RoRo started looking at me warily, oh so warily.
7 hours? No big deal. But I do recommend having a snack before listening.
And hey: If you’re cooking this Thanksgiving, let Food be your inspiration. There’s nothing on earth more pleasant than listening to a man who does NOT mind referring to himself as On The Chunky Side and who sings a love song to all his fave foods. Meals are celebrations.
And with Gaffigan at the helm? They’re gosh awfully hysterically funny too!
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