Jim Gaffigan: Dec. 31, 2008

You wouldn't necessarily know it from his failed sitcoms or his infuriating Sierra Mist commercials, but Jim Gaffigan, who performs tonight at 7 p.m. at the Pabst Theater, is actually very funny. In recent years, audiences have taken notice, drawn in by a frequently replayed Comedy Central stand-up special in which the comedian assails Hot Pockets. Food humor often conjures thoughts of Weird Al Yankovic or Kenny Bania, the insipid "Seinfeld" comedian with an extended routine about Ovaltine, but with his dim yet genial small-towner shtick, Gaffigan milks laughs out of even the most exhausted subject matters. It's a wonder, though, why a comedian who has made a career ridiculing our country's unhealthy eating habits doubled as the spokesman for an ultra-sugared, nutritionally vapid soda like Sierra Mist.