THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Monday, July 2, 2018 | A9 LIFE&ARTS MAARTEN DE BOER/CONTOUR/GETTY IMAGES BOER/CONTOUR/GETTY DE MAARTEN

‘Stand-up is grounded in meritocracy. You either get the laughs or you don’t,’ says Jim Gaffigan, who is taking on more noncomedic roles. ‘With movies, you might not get feedback for a year.’

tures, but he also aspires to the BY JOHN JURGENSEN FILM late actor’s skill, artistic decisions and range. Mr. Gaffigan said his Montreal Broadway debut, in a 2011 revival ON THE SET of the coming movie Jim Gaffigan of the Pulitzer-winning drama “Gut Instinct,” in which he plays a “That Championship Season,” lowlife police informant, Jim Gaffi- came about after Hoffman passed gan was assuring the French Cana- on his role. dian director that the script cap- Diving into drama is a way for tured the nuance of a word he Mr. Gaffigan to take on creative never utters onstage during his challenges, yet it’s also a strategic clean comedy sets. play coordinated with his agent, “That’s the right way to say it: Gets Serious manager, publicist and creative ‘They were f—ing.’ It’s cruder, partner. “There’s always an eye on too,” he said. the future,” Ms. Gaffigan said. You may be seeing more of this “Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Va- comedy series about a couple rais- before getting his break in stand- “The more employable you are, the Jim Gaffigan in the year ahead. In cation,” out July 13, he voices the ing five children in a tiny New York up on David Letterman’s show in more longevity you have.” addition to “Gut Instinct” and his monster-hunter Abraham Van Hels- apartment. It aired for two seasons 2000. He landed TV and commer- Mr. Gaffigan, who was No. 7 on recent performance as a U.S. attor- ing. Earlier that week, his latest on TV Land, but the work of run- cial work before making another a Forbes list of highest-paid come- ney in “Chappaquiddick,” he is tak- stand-up special, “Noble Ape,” is ning a family sitcom took too much leap with his 2006 comedy special, dians last year with estimated ing on more serious roles than scheduled for release in theaters, time away from the real-life Gaffi- “Beyond the Pale.” earnings of $30.5 million (just be- ever before. They include a bitter on-demand and as an album, a gan family, the couple said. It was a dorm-room favorite hind Kevin Hart), isn’t doing indie ride-share driver (“American broad distribution plan designed in Ms. Gaffigan also co-wrote, pro- thanks to the joke that became his films for money. And leaving home Dreamer”); a member of a reli- part to bypass the glut of comedy duced and directed her husband’s biggest hit: an extended bit about in New York for movie shoots and gious snake-handling sect (“Them specials on Netflix. stand-up specials, including “Noble the hazards of Hot Pockets frozen tour dates added stress on his That Follow”); a single dad who The list of comedians who have Ape.” In it, Mr. Gaffigan riffs on snacks. More than a decade later, family. helps his misfit daughter form a done respected turns in drama is doctors comparing tumor size to he still does Hot Pockets varia- “That’s a big ask. ‘Hey, I know scout group (“Troupe Zero”); and short, including Steve Carell, Jim fruit, a pear in Ms. Gaffigan’s case. tions as a crowd-pleasing encore you had brain tumor and we have a man mourning the loss of his Carrey, Jamie Foxx, Mo’Nique and (“Did he go to med school or a to his live shows. five children, but I’m gonna go wife in a plane crash (“Light From Robin Williams. Mr. Gaffigan’s move farmers market?”) “The main responsibility is to shoot a movie in New Orleans for Light”). into weightier work, part of a strat- Of his domestic status after his have the people walking out of the two weeks.’ But if you’re known as It is a sharp turn toward drama egy to diversify his acting career, wife’s recovery, he says: “The tu- theater saying, ‘When he comes a comedian who wants to act for one of stand-up comedy’s most coincided with tumult in his life. mor is gone, along with my ability back, I’m coming back,’ ” Mr. Gaffi- more, how do you turn down an successful acts. The 51-year-old Last year, his wife Jeannie Gaf- to ever win another argument.” gan said. “There are some shows opportunity to work with Viola Da- has anchored six solo comedy spe- figan was experiencing headaches, There was no household debate where I’m like, damn glad I’ve got vis and Allison Janney?” he said of cials, and his live performances dizziness and hearing loss in one over mining personal matters for that Hot Pocket thing.” “Troupe Zero.” generate an average $400,000 in ear. Doctors found a brain tumor. laughs. “Jeannie is the kind of per- Casting director Mary Vernieu, Mr. Gaffigan thinks of his acting ticket sales, all driven by his on- It was benign, but after a success- son who comes out of an MRI and whose Hollywood credits include and comedy work as separate, he stage persona as a pasty, slovenly ful surgery to remove it, she devel- says, ‘Write this down. This is a “Silver Linings Playbook” and said, even if there’s occasional father of five who pines for bacon oped pneumonia that required a funny bit,’ ” Mr. Gaffigan said over “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” helped spillover. On the set of “Gut In- and doughnuts—a subpar version tracheotomy and feeding tube. lunch at a Montreal deli. Staying shift perception of Mr. Gaffigan by stinct,” he was in costume, wear- of himself. Ms. Gaffigan, who has largely re- true to his brand, he snapped a casting him in “Chappaquiddick,” ing the slicked-back hair, gold Mr. Gaffigan knows that not all of covered but is still in rehabilitation photo of his smoked-meat sandwich along with “Gut Instinct” and necklace and yellow-tinted sun- these films will be widely noticed. therapy, is also her husband’s writ- for his 368,000 Instagram followers. “American Dreamer.” glasses of a small-time heroin That is, in part, why he is working ing and producing partner. Together Born in Illinois and raised in In- Mr. Gaffigan has long been com- dealer in 1989, when someone on so many of them. they created “The Jim Gaffigan diana, Mr. Gaffigan played college pared with Philip Seymour Hoff- drove by and yelled, in a French He hasn’t abandoned comedy. In Show,” a semi-autobiographical football and worked in advertising man because of their similar fea- Canadian accent, “Hot Pockets!”

BOOKS OVERSHARING, UP IN THE AIR

tese mix suffers from dementia, and in BY ELLEN GAMERMAN conversation seemed to link the bad news with the coming publication of her book. PARKER POSEY was racing through New- “When you create something, something ark’s airport in April, late for her flight to dies with it,” she said. “It’s just a natural Los Angeles. Distracted by her dog’s health balance.” problems at home in Manhattan, the actress A self-described “impish woman-child,” got to her first-class seat in tears. She be- the 49-year-old known for playing off-kil- gan to talk to the stranger next to her, a fel- ter characters in cult movies such as low dog owner, and quickly discovered that “Dazed and Confused” and “Best in Show” their pet-minders were related. has in her new book brought together her That moment of in-flight intimacy was upbringing in Louisiana and Mississippi, just what she had in mind while writing the ups and downs of her career and other “You’re on an Airplane.” In the memoir, adventures. coming out July 24, she examines her past Ms. Posey always thought she would from 35,000 feet. play the funny friend in romantic come- “If you open up enough, you’re going to dies, like her neurotic career woman in realize that you’re connected,” Ms. Posey 1998’s “You’ve Got Mail.” But with the rise said. “We think something is chaos, and of bromance franchises like “The Hang- it’s really order.” over,” she describes getting sidelined. Earlier this summer, the first-time au- “They don’t know what to do with me thor sat on a bench in a Manhattan park out here,” she writes. with her 14-year-old dog Gracie—“my soul Ms. Posey wrote the book to create op-

ALLISON MICHAEL ORENSTEIN FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL STREET WALL THE FOR ORENSTEIN MICHAEL ALLISON mate, my constant, my protector”—in a portunities for herself outside movies and ‘I’m playing with being the person people expect, performing that on paper,’ Parker Posey says of her canvas bag at her feet. She has recently TV. But a few weeks after she turned in memoir, ‘You’re on an Airplane.’ learned that the bichon frise-poodle-Mal- Please turn to page A10