Yes, Dad Is Fat
It’s a little unnerving how much Jim Gaffigan seems to get the dad part of me.
It’s been a few weeks (okay, a few months. I finished in May) since I read this (okay, I “listened” to it because Jim reads it, and that’s a no brainer. It’s like listening to his stand-up, but less live…), but with Jim’s new show on TV Land, I thought I’d throw up my two-bits about the book.
For a guy who lives in urban New York, Jim’s experience is surprisingly not unlike mine in suburban Utah, from how it is to play second fiddle parent to a stellar mom (what dad doesn’t know how that feels?) to how different the world becomes the moment kids become a part of it. Being a dad is a sometimes strangely fun, but difficult experience, and Jim both honors and makes fun of it, in almost the same breath. He loves his kids, as do I, and yet he acknowledges that being a parent is no piece of cake.
It’s a fun read/listen, and Jim Gaffigan is full of fun stories, lines, and perspective. Go check it out, buy a copy, and put some money in Jim’s jar. After all, he’s got five kids (six?) and a wife all living in an apartment on the fifth (sixth?) floor of a New York apartment building, sans elevator. The laughs are worth it.
PS: NO, your dog does not equal a child. Stop responding to people talking about their kids by mentioning your dog.
Dad is Fat
Humor
Three Rivers Press
April 22, 2014
Audiobook
288
In Dad is Fat, stand-up comedian Jim Gaffigan, who’s best known for his legendary riffs on Hot Pockets, bacon, manatees, and McDonald's, expresses all the joys and horrors of life with five young children—everything from cousins ("celebrities for little kids") to toddlers’ communication skills (“they always sound like they have traveled by horseback for hours to deliver important news”), to the eating habits of four year olds (“there is no difference between a four year old eating a taco and throwing a taco on the floor”). Reminiscent of Bill Cosby’s Fatherhood, Dad is Fat is sharply observed, explosively funny, and a cry for help from a man who has realized he and his wife are outnumbered in their own home.
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