Jim Gaffigan shares his reaction with THR when Jerry Seinfeld called him to join Netflix's 'Unfrosted' and said he was amazed at the "stamina" Jerry had as a director. Plus, he talks about stand-up comedy having a resurgence.
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00:00Jerry has said he wrote this part with you in mind when he called you and gave
00:05you this pitch what was your reaction? I was I was incredibly flattered and I was
00:10also very relieved because I had known that he was doing a movie and all I
00:14wanted to do was say hey what's my part but I didn't want to be that friend I
00:18wanted to be the guy that's just not gonna ask for anything so I was very
00:24excited and then very flattered that they kind of considered me even I guess
00:28that's one advantage possibly the only advantage is looking as white bread as I
00:34am so it worked out perfectly. How would you describe Jerry as a director? Jerry
00:40is I mean I'm amazed at the stamina that he had because it's and there's a
00:49thoroughness I don't know I would say that he's somebody who it's weird
00:54because he's also acting in it so like there's a lot of moving parts but he had
00:59he had you know so we would watch and we watch playback and but he's very precise
01:04he knows exactly what he wants the scene to kind of land at and and we don't move
01:13on until we got it but it's not like you know it's not like eyes wide shut or
01:18anything like that you know I mean I don't know if that's a good example but
01:22you're in a lot of scenes with him in the movie so how would you say he
01:26balanced those roles of actor and director? I mean he has a completely
01:31different approach to acting like I think his his approach to acting he
01:38doesn't it's much more about the writing and I mean he definitely but he was kind
01:47of playing a version of himself so it was facilitating I think his view on the
01:54acting is much more facilitating a vehicle to communicate his writing do
01:59you know I mean whereas like I think I'm much more of that nerd that gets caught
02:05up in backstory and you know everything so. Now I asked you know what he's like
02:10as a director but as a friend what's Jerry like as a friend? Jerry is this I
02:17mean I call him the robot right because he has this ability to separate emotion
02:26from logic so what's interesting is like as a creative person you know we are
02:35people that probably are most susceptible to having no control over
02:42things and and we're in a business where we have no control whereas I think Jerry
02:49can kind of detach from the fact all right well there's nothing we can do
02:54about that whereas I think actors are inherently you're supposed to take
02:59things personally but if you can separate you know you know things you
03:07can control from things you can't you're probably healthier in this business does
03:11that make sense? Definitely and Jerry recently said in an interview that he
03:17feels like audiences are flocking to stand-up because it's something you
03:19can't fake as a comic are you feeling that that audiences are really coming to
03:23the world of stand-up right now and loving it and it's kind of having this
03:26resurgence? Yeah I mean I you know stand-up has has been booming for a while
03:32and I do think there is a certain amount of you know coming out of the pandemic
03:41experiencing live entertainment and how rewarding like a stand-up show a good
03:47stand-up show that you like is but yeah there is some authenticity and there's
03:53an efficiency to it so if you go to a stand-up show of a comedian you like you
04:01know in all likelihood if they're you know if they're any good it's gonna be
04:05good the entire time you're there does that make sense?
04:08Whereas there is some some element of and it's gonna be new too I mean by the
04:15way but you know I mean stand-up successful but it's not like it's not
04:19you know we're all kind of like looking at Taylor Swift and going how does she
04:22do that right? Are you a Swiftie? I would I don't know I mean I I'm definitely
04:29impressed you know I mean but I'm yeah I'm very impressed you know like as a
04:36writer and a performer and a business person I'm blown away you know I mean I
04:41love to hear that I'm a Swiftie so yeah no I mean it's like and by the way she
04:46was also very nice to my my daughter and gave a photo when she didn't have to
04:53when I went to the premiere of Cats so she's she's quality in my book that's
04:57amazing I love that it was so great talking to you thank you so much
05:05you