After scoring his eighth Grammy nomination for comedy album The Prisoner, Jim Gaffigan has unveiled the trailer for The Skinny, his new special coming to Hulu on November 22, which will be the first unveiled as part of the streamer’s new stand-up brand, Hularious.
Gaffigan has a knack for getting in first, as his Amazon special Noble Ape was also the first original for its streamer. In his 11th hour, taped earlier this year at the Wilbur Theater in Boston, he offers the skinny on everything from appetite suppressants to raising teenagers.
The trailer opens with Gaffigan addressing his recent weight loss. Says the comedian, “I don’t know if you know, I’m normally a fat guy, but since I’ve lost all this weight, now I’m just arrogant.”
He jokes that “People, they won’t even say anything to me. They’ll just go up to my wife and ask, ‘Is Jim okay?’ Because to them, it’s more likely that I’m sick than that I would ever have any self-discipline.”
Later, Gaffigan riffs on how his family has “ruined” his life, and how his wife has accused him recently of gaslighting her. “My wife was like, ‘Don’t gaslight me.’ And I was like, ‘I’ve never heard that term before,’” he deadpans. “She was like, ‘You’ve never heard of gaslighting?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t think anyone on this planet has heard of gaslighting. You might be going crazy.’”
Among other things, Gaffigan also discusses alcohol commercials, which too often center on people “laughing and having a good time.”
Jokes the comic, “I’d just like to see one print ad that shows some expressionless dad sitting alone at a kitchen table with a bottle of booze.”
One of the most prolific and consistently on-point comedians working today, Gaffigan released his last special, Dark Pale, on Prime Video last year. Most recently, he’s been seen regularly on Saturday Night Live, playing Democratic VP hopeful Tim Walz in the lead-up to the election.
Other previously announced comedians bringing new specials to Hulu under the Hularious banner include Bill Burr, Chris Distefano, Ilana Glazer, Sebastian Maniscalco, Andrew Santino, and Roy Wood Jr., to name just a few. As part of its new comedy initiative, Hulu is also launching a curated collection of licensed stand-up specials ranging from iconic comedy specials to recent releases from 800 Pound Gorilla and Comedy Dynamics, among others.
