VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Jim Gaffigan Explains Why His ‘Pale Tourist’ Comedy Was ‘Self Assignment’

Jim Gaffigan dished on his new stand-up comedy special The Pale Tourist in a new uInterview.

“Stand-up comedy is very much all self-assignment, you know, no one goes ‘Hey we need you to do jokes on donuts,'” Gaffigan told uInterview’s Erik Meers. “But this self-assignment I presented myself was that I was going to, in different parts of the world because I was starting to do international shows, that I was going to do mini specials, or chapters if you will, about different parts of the globe.”

Two episodes are available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video, titled Canadian American and Spanish American. The comedian explained that The Pale Tourist  “embodies material that I developed while I was in Spain, and another one is called Canadian American which is all about Canada from a uniquely American perspective.”

Gaffigan first tried out this type of comedy in Asia with a stand-up special posted on YouTube.

“The first one was Asian American, and it was shot in Seoul, Korea, and the Asian is the continent and the American is me,” joked Gaffigan. “So, it was just material I’d compiled over my time in Asia.”

The comedian added that he still would like to make more episodes of the show: “And was gonna do Mexican American,” he said, “but the pandemic hit.”

The Pale Tourist is available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Check out the trailer below: