The Daily Campus

Issue date: 10/6/08 Section: Focus

Media Credit: Adam Bickford Comedian Jim Gaffigan, co-star of 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show,' Saturday night at Jorgensen.

Amid generous applause and a sold-out crowd, comedian Jim Gaffigan took the stage at Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts Saturday night, reassuring audiences that he was not, in fact, that pale middle-aged guy from "Capote."

The co-star of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" kept audiences laughing consistently throughout the night, beginning his routine by saying he went bowling earlier in the week.

"For most of us," Gaffigan said, looking around for approval, "bowling is the activity you do after everything else." Bowling, he said, is the easiest sport since it is the only sport that you could eat and smoke during and have the balls returned to you. "If you're sweating while you're bowling," Gaffigan posited, "you're out of shape."

Given its simplicity, Gaffigan marveled at how college bowling athletes each have a personal coach. Envisioning himself as a bowling coach, he offered advice to his pseudo-athlete: "You know what - this time I want you to knock down all those pins."

"I really enjoyed the show," said Zach Humphrey, a 3rd-semester history major. "I was impressed. He's paler in person than on TV."

Gaffigan then went on to the core part of his performance - talking about his perpetual laziness - which gave him a Garfield-like quality. Instead of liking lasagna, though, he had an affinity for bacon. Describing his struggle with laziness, the "Super Troopers" actor asked the audience a rhetorical question: "Do I sit down and do nothing, or do I lie down and do nothing?" He asserted that there was nothing better than sitting around while watching TV, and chastised those who preferred reading, saying "Clearly they've never watched TV."

Furthering the lazy conceit, Gaffigan said escalators should be a celebration. Meanwhile, Gaffigan expressed his astonishment with signs located at the end of moving walkways, asking "'Sidewalk is ending' … are we that dumb?"

"He's very funny," said Joe Kilgore, a 3rd-semester economics major. "I've seen his specials before and he didn't disappoint."

Before going into how his wife likes taking camping trips, Gaffigan expressed a desire he had to one day go into an adult film store and ask someone about "'Butt Invaders'- does this have cursing in it? Because I'm watching this with my church group and we're highly offended by cursing."

Continued...

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