Jim Gaffigan: Dark Pale (2023 TV Special) User Reviews

Not His Best, Still Better Than Most

[AudioFileZ · 5/10 · 30 July 2023]

I am of the opinion Jim is the best stand-up comic at the moment. This video, however, gives me pause in my belief. Jim has stubbled here it seems. His politics are usually quite topical and humorous. Here, he begins overtly picking on anti-vaxers in ways I simply find not funny. After this, he picks it up some which seems to not overcome the start as the audience seems reserved and removed. No connections early on.

Now, it shifts to death and diarrhea, both funny only under certain circumstances I full well believe Jim is capable of. The hits are about equal with the misses. When Jim equates diarrhea with Mexico it hits a bit of resonance. He underscores it with the term "Montezuma's Revenge" which is vintage Jim.

After over-using the Montezuma thing it still lags when compared to Jim's best moments. I'm half-way through and am listening for nuggets that come too few and too far apart. Let's hope we haven't seen Jim's best. I like the way the man thinks and presents his humorous observations. I like him talking in the third person so much it often is my favorite part. I don't know why Jim seems off here exactly, only that I look forward to a return to form.

How he's gone downhill...

[d_tkidd · 6/10 · 27 July 2023]

I love the comedy of Gaffigan. But in this special, there are sections where he traded in social commentary for comedy. Don't get me wrong, I can laugh at jokes directed at any party. But his SJW 'jokes' didn't even make me chuckle. I've seen all of his specials, but I've noticed that the more political he gets, the less funny his specials become.

In all honesty, I don't think I laughed until about 15 minutes into it, and he's done diarrhea jokes in the past, but this one went WAY to long. I will admit that there were parts in there that was funny in the way that Gaffigan normally does it. Overall, I'd say this wasn't one of his best efforts. But he's set the bar pretty high for himself and it's hard to keep that consistency.

Mainly misses despite some funny zingers

[mooveephantom · 5/10 · 22 August 2023]

As a big Gaffigan fan, this latest special is is weakest one to date. And he's had some weak ones already. After the Pale Tourist (which was fantastic) he kinda ran out of ideas. Most of the hour was a DOA. His jokes just don't land and are undercooked and totally unfunny. I did appreciate the darker material, especially about the pandemic. He's pretty funny when he is sounding more negative about life. But unfortunately, the rest of the jokes are just bland. This will be the last special I watch from him. Hopefully he'll just have some good film roles in the future. He is good in the parts he's had in movies.

Not his best work

[JSG25 · 1 August 2023]

Jim Gaffigan has always been a reliable and hysterical laugh and this was just not it. He took a couple mediocre bits and absolutely rode them into oblivion. It really seemed like he either fell into the "they'll laugh at anything I say" trap, or he thought he could completely change his style. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he witnessed the meteoric rise of Joe Rogan and his band of edgy comics and decided to try and tiptoe that way too. We chuckled a few times and watched the whole show but it didn't have the same punch any of his other shows. I'm rooting for his next set to get back to funny Jim.

Skip the first 15 minutes & get the old Jim

[BB-15 · 7/10 · 8 August 2023]

When I first tried to watch Dark Pale from the beginning, I gave up after 5 minutes. I was surprised because I'm a fan of Gaffigan's humor & specials.

Then I saw a clip from Dark Pale from later in the show about dads and that was funny.

So, what I did was I skipped the "dark" humor from the beginning and got to about 15 minutes where Jim's more typical jokes started. Then it was regular Gaffigan humor the rest of the way. Some funny stuff from then on.

What's the problem? Imo after so many specials, Jim and Jeannie are running out of material and decided to try something new at the beginning of the show. Just skip that and the old Jim is back.

7/10.

"Hundreds of people have died today. Let's go to a comedy show."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 2 August 2023]

Almost every review here for Gaffigan's 'Dark Pale' routine draws a negative response, and though I'm a fan of all his other stand-up shows, I'd have to agree that he took this one to a place he probably didn't have to. It got a little clumsy with the obsession over diarrhea jokes, and coming out of Covid, the shots taken against anti-vaxxers were all one sided. He could have balanced that with a few token jabs at the pro-vaccine crowd as well. He reverted somewhat to usual form with jokes about Starbucks, new sneakers and long lines at Chick-fil-A; I could relate to that last one when on vacation last summer, my family encountered the same thing, only it was two lines of cars, one for drive-ups and one for app orders. Some might have found the digs at funeral homes in poor taste, but knowing a pair of brothers in the business, I did get a kick out of that bit. All in all, not one of Gaffigan's best, but to his credit, he does keep it clean of four letter words, which is almost a rarity for comics these days.

It was fine - the whining conservative reviews are not

[Beaupedia · 6/10 · 29 October 2023]

So many anti science reviews, holy crap! I find it amusing that conservatives call young progressives "snowflakes" only to get so offended that a comedian insulted their misguided beliefs. How are you still so oblivious to facts? Vaccines are not a debate, climate change is not a debate, this is why he can make the jokes about them that he does and not have his career harmed one bit. You far, far overestimate how many people have backwards beliefs when you think he's going to alienate half his audience. He hasn't, he isn't, he won't.

This was not my favorite special of his, but not because he made fun of antiscience know-it-alla because get saw something on Facebook, but because a lot of the jokes were repetitive. Still worth a watch, if only to spite the snowflakes in these reviews.

Funny; but, not his best

[redbaron-86192 · 6/10 · 1 August 2023]

I am a huge Jim Gaffigan fan. So multitalented and a sense of humor that you aren't afraid to listen to with your kids in the room. Good, clean fun. We both come from the midwest. I wanted to love this special as much as his others; but, he's lost a step. Perhaps COVID dulled his standup skills a bit, I can't say what it is, perhaps his material, perhaps he appeared to be trying a little too hard because he realilzed he wasn't hitting homeruns. Not sure; but, I'm not sure I had a good laugh until halfway through. I still think he's a national treasure; but, he has set the bar so high for himself that sooner or later he was going to come up short, and this special #10 ("Dark Pale") was the one. Hope it's just a glitch, a momentary lapse, because he is one of th best comedians alive today.

Dark and funny - loved true comedy

[Italouomo · 9/10 · 6 August 2023]

I laughed so much that my sides ached. He dared to go where many comedians shy away from these days. It was refreshing how he called the shots. True comedy pokes fun at real human experience. This is what I like about Jim; he gets real.

The dark comedy was a good way to not take myself so seriously. Life is short. You need to step back and laugh at some of the dogma and cultural things that make us real. I like how he addressed death, religion, and yes, coffee drinkers who are so wrapped up in themselves they forget to laugh.

If you are really honest with yourself you can laugh at multiple levels.

It pains me to say this.... PAINS ME, but it's bad (kinda terrible actually)

[orcinussr · 3/10 · 31 July 2023]

First of all it's essentially twenty-eight minutes of material that's been vamped and teased and fluffed somehow into an hour long special - which would be fine had it been funny or thought provoking or entertaining orrrr enjoyable! Then it's basically jokes about the jokes and bits on the joke just told which I mean.. Sure people love a call back and he does that third person commentary which can be endearing but this is not that - ok wait, I can explain it simply and it's not that he does diarrhea jokes - nay... It's cause he actually came at us with the laziest or played out of all jokes - Starbucks (and if u think it's not about the mispronounced name on the cup well boy-oh-boy....) all and all, for this once seamless storyteller that I fawned over, I have to say BOO! Boo Jim, just boo!

You All Can't take the Negativity

[sarnoldsilver · 9/10 · 21 August 2023]

Just as good as the last ones, but COVID had taken his comedy into darker directions and I am all here for it! You can't expect someone to just make food jokes (and there still are some) for a quarter of a century. Also I bet some of this got review bombed because he said he hates Trump! He hates Trump not you get over yourself conservatives.

I thought his material was stronger pre-pandemic, but he is still better than 99% of active comedians and he doesn't weigh into the culture wars like Chapelle or Gervis even though I agree they have every right to. Just his typical brand of humor with a dark comedy twist.

So disappointing!

[tqmkspyq · 1/10 · 29 July 2023]

I have loved all of his specials. Seen him live. Loved Linoleum. This was not funny. Not funny. Offensive, yes. Watched 30 minutes and couldn't take it anymore. My husband and I were very excited to get tickets for his November show here with Jerry Seinfeld. Now I guess at least we have Seinfeld....which certainly is saying a lot. This is not the comedy he is loved for. Even his live audience did not seem into it. He should run from political themes. He should remember his fan base. For some reason that is happening a lot lately. Too bad. If you are a Gaffigan fan, let this be a hard pass, and hope it's a fluke in his career.

As always Jim is a National Treasure

[juliahairchick · 10/10 · 27 July 2023]

Jim Gaffagin stand up comedy specials are all outstanding and this one is no exception!

So many of the post covid first stand up comedy specials have been lack luster except Chris Rock's post covid special also rocked me hard with laughter.

I highly recommend all of Jim's specials. He is a clean comic, but I never even think of that while laughing with the audience.

Jim's wife is his co-writer and that makes his comedy even more interesting and funny!

Jim has 5 children and a dog in a New York apartment. If that doesn't give you material, nothing will.

Jim travels the globe with all of his children and he enjoys his family.

Not relavant to the review but I needed to say more to submit this review.

Success and Repetition

[Johnny_West · 3/10 · 29 December 2023]

Even though Jim Gaffigan often jokes that he hates to work, I believe that memorizing thousands of jokes and their timing and delivery has to be hard, like working. On average, Gaffigan films one comedy special every other year, and also tours about 300 cities a year, based on what he has said in his specials. That is a lot of work too.

In between the comedy specials and the tour schedule, Gaffigan has to write about 75 minutes of new material. I would not mind seeing him do a show with the best bits from all of his old specials, like the Waffle House, Hot Pockets, IHOP stuff, and the bear stories. Gaffigan has put together lots of great sequences of jokes over the years.

Unfortunately, in Dark Pale, Gaffigan seems to be hitting a bit of burn-out. It has to be hard to be funny when you are tired of touring 300 cities a year for many many years, getting on endless series of airplanes, drinking at an endless series of airports while waiting to get on airplanes, staying at thousands of hotels, etc. I don't know Jim Gaffigan personally, but I know I would be tired of such a schedule, if that was my life and career.

I don't know if Jim Gaffigan can ever get back to when he thought of comedy as something fresh and funny in his mind. I hope he can. I love a lot of his old specials, like Quality Time, King Baby, Obsessed, Beyond the Pale, Mr. Universe, etc. I look forward to his next special, and hopefully it will be fresh and funny again.

Diarrhea

[IrishInDetroit · 1/10 · 30 July 2023]

This is my first actual word review. I'm 54 I'm Irish Catholic- I swear like an Italian and I'm a damn funny girl. I like Jim Gaffigan - he's funny - this was unbearable. In the past he had been hilarious - wife - kids - I get poop jokes - we all make them - I have 3 kids. I just felt embarrassed and sad for him and I wanted it to stop. I'm not sure how to fill an entire review full of negativity but I know he can do better than diarrhea and Starbucks and I hope he takes any of these reviews to heart - you're not a bad man Jim - this was just a s*it show - I'll still tune in for something better.

Stop with the politics and get back to everyday life

[jspkru · 1/10 · 30 July 2023]

By far the least funny of his funny specials. I don't need social political commentary. Comedy unites at its best. Jim brought more division and diarhea. He is at his best when he travels, eats, and talks about home life. I also found it odd that he already touched on some covid and pandemic related themes in his last sketch (2021 I think?) and it was fine, definitely funnier. I agree with other reviews that remark he is less funny the more political he becomes. I was excited to see a new Gaffigan sketch and have considered seeing him live in the past. If this is the direction he continues to go, hard pass.

Painful!

[cindyloveland · 2/10 · 2 August 2023]

Because it's Jim Gaffigan, I kept waiting and waiting for it to get funny, but it never did. One horrible bit after another. I have never been so disappointed with a Jim Gaffigan show before now. It was tasteless, tactless, and just really inappropriate. His style is the same as always, so you expect it to be funny, but he chooses one tactless, inappropriate, or downright disgusting topic after another. I want to tell people to just skip this one or you will never bother watching any of his shows again. So don't even bother, thinking maybe these reviews are wrong. Just spare yourself the hour of disappointment.

Just okay

[hallenbeck3 · 5/10 · 19 November 2023]

Jim is usually hilarious to the point I rewatch and laugh endlessly at his specials. This one, I actually found myself thinking about turning it off. Just over an hour and maybe half of it is worth watching and half of that makes you laugh. If you find yourself thinking of turning it off, go ahead you aren't really missing much and definitely not a one liner you will find yourself repeating to friends. Really for me if this is how future specials, if any, are going I am sad to lose Jim as a good comedian. If you have to watch, just go in expecting a lesser show, it will help. I don't know if you saw some of his small stuff before Beyond the Pale, this feels like that. His timing is off, his stories are a bit too long before a punchline. Overall if you are a diehard fan it isn't bad, if you are looking to try Jim's comedy out for the first time, check out any of his other specials instead.

Meh

[Snootz · 4/10 · 1 August 2023]

On a positive note: this is the only comedy show I've seen in a while that I didn't have to shut down due to numerous F-bombs (and worse). Keeping the act clean: good for you Jim.

On the other hand, I rate a comedy show by the number of times I actually laugh during the show... and a good show brings me to tears from laughing so hard. To be honest, I'm not really sure if I actually laughed out loud during the entire show. Maybe a light chuckle here or there. That's about it.

The shame is that there was some material that would have been legitimately funny-- if another comic had done it who had better timing. I could tell when a joke thudded just because his timing was lousy. A little longer pause and he'd have nailed it. But nah, it was like he just rambled on and well, that one went over like lead balloon. (Which has some actual relevance to his show.)

I did somewhat enjoy the Starbucks section, not because it was funny but because it was pretty spot on. His monologue on death and funerals was somewhat humorous but not especially impressive. A lengthy run-on dialog about diarrhea (un-funny at that) does not a comedy show make.

This was pretty sad. I think I'm generous in giving it 4 stars, but then again, he kept the show language relatively clean.

Next time Jim, maybe have an honest test audience listen to your show before you get in front of an audience. "Jim, it really wasn't that funny" would be doing you a big favor.

A Swing and a Miss

[kmaulden-24103 · 4/10 · 9 August 2023]

My wife and I both love Jim Gaffigan and have seen everything that he's ever done. I'd say 95 out of a 100 of what he puts out there is 10/10 material, and my wife and I end up sore from laughing so hard. I hate to say it, but it sounds like this special was one of those contractual obligations and only really called it in.

It wasn't the death and diarreah subject matter - we've heard countless comedians joke about that, and some are funny and some aren't. Unfortunately, the jokes just weren't funny. And oddly enough, you could tell from the audience's reaction as well because it didn't seem as if they were enjoying it either.

From about the middle to the end when he branches out and discusses his family - we thought that was good. I thought about giving this a five because it balanced out in the end, but he's so capable of 10/10 that I couldn't justify anything better than a four. Sorry, Jim.

What happened?

[Michael Steen · 3/10 · 30 July 2023]

I love Jim Gaffigan. A new special is always a cause for celebration. But not this time. After the dying in a plane crash jokes, we moved on to funeral jokes. And then we got to the diarrhea jokes. I'm sorry (glad) to say that I didn't watch the whole special, nor am I ever likely to. My wife and I watched about 10 minutes of it, and I kept looking at her and listening, waiting for her to laugh. She didn't. Nor did I. I finally turned to her and admitted that I hadn't laughed once, and she agreed. It was just one cringe after another. I'm glad I didn't fork over hard-earned $$$ to go sit in an auditorium and be subjected to this. Jim, what's happened to you?

What happened to Gaffigan?

[backura · 1/10 · 20 August 2023]

It's painful to write this review.

I always enjoyed Jim Gaffigan's standup, but this one was flat out painful to watch.

Jim looks unhealthy...I hope he's alright, physically.

The jokes are stale and his falsetto schtick was way overused.

The COVID jokes, the funeral jokes...not funny.

I guess this has to happen to standup comics sometimes.

The same thing happened to Seinfeld.

The jokes can't all be gold, but maybe it's time for Jim to do something other than standup.

There are far better comics doing specials on the various streaming services, or rewatch some old Gaffigan standup, instead.

This one is not worth the time.

Who knew Jim Gaffigan was a leftist?

[toddg-473-289818 · 1/10 · 31 July 2023]

The comedic material of the usually reliable Jim Gaffigan has really deteriorated in his latest TV special, "Dark Pale." Coming out of the pandemic, many comedians express their happiness at being able to perform again. There are easy and relatable jokes to be made about covid, but Gaffigan chose to infuse left wing politics into his material this time. First was a dig at people who oppose the covid vaccine. Then, about halfway through the show, he took a dig at people who oppose the current narrative on global warming. And in between all this was only marginally funny material and awkward segues, going to the well too often to talk about diarrhea. Even his self-deprication about making too many diarrhea jokes didn't play well.

For years, Gaffigan's comedy was funny, polished, clean, and well timed. But by choosing to inject politics into your material, you risk alienating half of your audience. This performance was darker and edgier than his previous comedy specials. We want the old Jim Gaffigan back.

Used to be funny, now just gross and repetitive

[lauraposton-17250 · 1/10 · 17 August 2023]

There is nothing funny about this. The material is lame and gross. Diarrhea jokes... really?! Over and over and they aren't funny. It's like someone who thinks they are funny just blathering on and you're hoping they will just stop.

It's a portrait of someone who made it big and now has no more material and is grasping at straws to come up with something so they can continue to rake in the bucks.

It is embarrassing and painful to watch. He should be embarrassed.

I've enjoyed him for years, but now it is clear he is washed up. He should just quit while he can , enjoy his money and his kids and wife.

Shame he's not funny anymore

[loisball · 1/10 · 7 August 2023]

I miss the days when he was genuinely funny. Now he's just kind of boring and annoying. I'm not easily offended, but starting out making jokes about people dying from Covid. It's just in bad taste. I miss the days when he was genuinely funny. Now he's just kind of boring and annoying. I'm not easily offended, but starting out making jokes about people dying from Covid. It's just in bad taste. I miss the days when he was genuinely funny. Now he's just kind of boring and annoying. I'm not easily offended, but starting out making jokes about people dying from Covid. It's just in bad taste. Abcderghij.