3.5 because Jim Gaffigan has quite the knack for narration. ( )

Road trip audiobook!

I love Jim Gaffigan's stand-up routines and this book borrows liberally from them and fills out its pages with fresh jokes and insights about junk food, restaurants, and holidays.

This 2014 book has some problematic references to indigenous people and a very dated reference to the dieting success of Subway spokesman Jared Fogle before, y'know, all the child porn and pedophilia.

After listening to the audiobook, I skimmed through the paper edition, but the main difference was the inclusion of many cute but unnecessary pictures of Gaffigan's wife and children. ( )

This is a very funny, very silly set of musings by stand-up comedian Jim Gaffigan on one of his favorite topics: food. The slightly rambling nature of it is very similar to his stand-up act as opposed to a more structured memoir or comedy narrative; it's all in Gaffigan's tried and true gently curmudgeonly, schlubby American Dad persona.

The first half of the book is the funniest, with the Jim Gaffigan Food Map and its various regions providing a lot of excellent material. My favorite chapters were the ones about "Seabugland" (the northeast), and Gaffigan's distinct lack of interest in lobsters, oysters, or crabs. (I will now always think of oysters as "snot on a rock.") This level of quality continues up to his descriptions of how his famous "Hot Pocket" routine came to be - the one real piece of genuine personal insight in the book, and very funny, too.

After that, the book starts to taper off. It's better to get in and get out of these comedy books, and once Gaffigan starts giving capsule impressions of fast food restaurants that aren't McDonald's, pizza chains, and breakfast places, the concept is starting to feel a little long in the tooth. 350 pages - or 7 hours, if you listen to the audiobook (which, in fairness, is an excellent performance) - is probably pushing it, to be honest.

Still, so much of it is so funny that it's an easy recommend for a pick-me-up. No matter what you like to eat - or don't like to eat - you should find some chapters here to your taste. ( )

I was disappointed with this one. The first quarter and the last quarter made me laugh, but I felt like the middle was filler, as if Gaffigan was trying to fulfill a quota. For a humor book, it was really long (over 300 pages!) and dragged, and I actually found myself wishing it would end sooner - which is sad! I also wasn't expecting there to be so much recycled material. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't heard so much of it already.

There were some gems, though, and that has to count for something.

One of my favorite quotes:

"Some fast-food places like Wendy's offer an in-store ketchup pump instead of packets. It's like a keg of ketchup that you pump into tiny paper shot glasses. I like to hang around the ketchup keg and try to meet ladies. Whenever a woman approaches, I'll just start pumping ketchup for her in a masculine manner. 'Here, I'll pump for you. You come to this Wendy's often?... Here's an extra shot of ketchup for your cute friend.'" (p. 273) ( )

If you are familiar with many of Gaffigan's comedy routines, you won't find much new here. But it's still good stuff. A perfect listen for cleaning day at home. ( )