‘Jim Gaffigan: Quality Time’ Review: There’s More Than Just Horsing Around In The First-Ever Amazon Originals Comedy Special

News reports often describe Jim Gaffigan as a “clean” comedian or “safe,” as if he’s never uttered a profanity nor taken a risk.

But how many stand-up comedians share writing credits with their spouses? (Jeannie Gaffigan not only co-writes his new special Quality Time, but also directs it.)

How many comedians in 2012 sold their new specials directly to fans? (Only Louis CK and Aziz Ansari had tried that when Gaffigan offered Mr. Universe for $5 exclusively on JimGaffigan.com.)

How many comedians last summer could choose to say no to Netflix, instead of the other way around, and then sell a special on multiple platforms? (Gaffigan was one of the first, and perhaps the only one to have a say in the matter, when he released Noble Ape that way before selling it to Comedy Central and Amazon Prime Video for second-window distribution)

Now he’s definitely the first to have an “Amazon Originals” comedy special. (Yes, we see you see plenty of stand-ups on Amazon Prime Video already, but Amazon’s self-publishing platform allows anyone to upload videos, so even you can boast you have an “Amazon” special, if you really wanted to)

OK, enough with the parentheticals.

If Noble Ape offered a more revelatory perspective from Gaffigan, reflecting on his wife’s brain tumor and subsequent surgery, as well as the surreal experience of performing at an event for Pope Francis, then Quality Time lets the audience back into the comedian’s comfort zones: food, fatherhood, and exercises in extreme laziness.

The most personal material in this 75-minute set recounts how Gaffigan needed an airlift in Alaska for an emergency appendectomy while vacationing with his family.

And while he’s not overtly political, he does insert some jabs at our cultural priorities from time to time. In this special, he realizes “the appendix is like a Kardashian. Think about it: It’s a mystery to everyone. But to some of us causes excruciating pain.”

Gaffigan’s success isn’t quite so mysterious. His observational comedy goes down like the comfort food he himself enjoys to talk about, and he counters those observations with his trademark second, more sarcastic commentary voice. Which allows him to get away with mocking a German custom of putting padlocks on a bridge as a sign of romance, remembering the Alamo and plenty of other famous museums and sights, or in the most striking instance, observing how settlers have abused the native residents all over the world.

Gaffigan usually keeps it light, however, and for 10 minutes, at least, literally is horsing around with jokes about horses. His second voice stops the flow a handful of times to remind the audience that he knows that’s a lot of horse jokes, but by the end, he reveals: “I want you to know that your annoyance gives me pleasure.”

Fortunately for him and for us both, his annoyances at everyday life give us even more pleasure still.

Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat for his own digital newspaper, The Comic’s Comic; before that, for actual newspapers. Based in NYC but will travel anywhere for the scoop: Ice cream or news. He also tweets @thecomicscomic and podcasts half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories: The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First.

Watch Jim Gaffigan: Quality Time on Amazon Prime Video