Abstract
Jim Gaffigan is a middle-aged white comedian known for his everyman approach to humor—an iconic American male. Gaffigan has developed a unique and enormously popular approach to observational humor (mostly about himself) about his inability to stop eating unhealthy foods that connects in a significant way to his mainstream American audience. In his comedy, he is at once talking about his own food addiction and America’s addiction to food. One of his most famous routines, “McDonald’s” is explored in this chapter using McGraw and Warren’s Benign Violation Theory. Using this theory, we explain what deadly assumptions about food addictions and obesity Gaffigan relies on in his audiences and the American public at large. Gaffigan’s skit links to prominent, dangerous discourses regarding obesity in the United States.
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Noland, C.M., Hoppmann, M. (2020). Stop! You’re Killing Me: Food Addiction and Comedy. In: Oppliger, P.A., Shouse, E. (eds) The Dark Side of Stand-Up Comedy. Palgrave Studies in Comedy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37214-9_7
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