Squeamish audiences beware: Jim Gaffigan is coming to town, and his new stand-up set is darker and edgier than anything you've ever heard before.

"I deal with the very hard-hitting issues like bowling, camping and, you know, bacon. Stuff like that," the genial, Mr. Stay Puft-pigmented comedian said in an interview with Flyer News.

So maybe Gaffigan, 42, doesn't pride himself on pushing buttons. But in a comic environment riddled with Dane Cook F-bombs and Carlos Mencia-style political incorrectness, Gaffigan's observational comedy is refreshingly straight-laced. His most recent Comedy Central DVD special, "Beyond the Pale," was certified Platinum, and his 2007 tour sold out 32 of 38 shows in 29 cities. Gaffigan's latest set - excellently-titled "The Sexy Tour" - has been showcased throughout the country since July to much fanfare, eliciting the taping of a new one-hour Comedy Central special in December.

"It's all new stuff, but I always throw in the Hot Pockets," he said of his incredibly popular bit about those delectable "Pop-Tarts filled with nasty meat." "It's all about building a new act. It's going well."

That's perhaps the under-statement of the century, especially considering the route Gaffigan took to comedic prestige. He grew up in a family that "never did anything creative" in a small Indiana town where the closest thing to offering a performance background "was the marching band."

"I was raised where success was really kind of gaining a job that had security associated with it," he said. "My father was the first one to go to college in his family, so it wasn't like my uncle was some kind of theater star in New York."

After graduating from George-town University in 1988 with a degree in finance, Gaffigan took a job in Florida. He lasted just eight months before moving to New York, where he worked at an advertising agency by day and, essentially on a whim, studied improv and acting at night.

"Honestly, I went to the improv classes because I had a pretty gigantic fear of public speaking," he said, referring to the job-related presentations he typically gave to small groups of five people.

One of Gaffigan's friends eventually expressed interest in pursuing stand-up, and challenged Gaffigan to join him.

"We set off to do this one show, and he never showed up. But I did it," he said. "It's kind of strange because when I was in college, there wasn't a pervasive comedy scene, so it was really kind of a crazy idea. I didn't have any expectation that I would be making a living doing stand-up. I thought it was something that I was going to just do and it was going to be my little weird, eccentric hobby."

Gaffigan toiled and tweaked for eight years, doing commercial work on the side, until he was booked to perform a five-minute set on "Late Night with David Letterman" in 1999. He had watched for nearly three years as many of his friends received small career boosts from the show. But Letterman, a fellow Hoosier, rarely changed a lot of comedians' lives.

"Being from Indiana, it was a huge deal. But by the time I got there, I felt like I was so prepared and so hungry for it. I was definitely nervous, but I knew I could do it in my sleep. But I didn't have any expectations that it was going to change my life."

It absolutely did. At the conclusion of his set, Letterman offered Gaffigan the still rare honor of joining him at his desk. The offers still flood in.

"I feel like there's a Midwestern kind of small-town cynicism," he said of his act. "There's kind of an underdog mentality, because I feel like people in a lot of big, urban areas treat everyone in the Midwest like it's 'Little House on the Prairie.'"

What makes Gaffigan especially dangerous is his deft, sometimes dramatic acting ability. After starring in the ill-fated CBS sitcom "Welcome to New York" in 2000, he was cast in smaller roles on "That '70s Show," "Ed," "Law & Order," "Super Troopers" and "The Great New Wonderful." He currently stars in TBS's critically acclaimed "My Boys" and recently shot a part in "Farlanders," a film directed by "American Beauty's" Sam Mendes.

His "Pale Force" cartoons, which often appear on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," are also incredibly popular. The shorts revolve around a melanin-deficient pair of superheroes - an incredibly buff Gaffigan and a gangly, effeminate O'Brien - who fight crime by blinding it with their paleness. Gaffigan writes every installment and provides all the voices.

Audiences, however, will be much more likely to see his stand-up because of the unique style and content - especially his running "inner voice" gag, personified by interjecting comments as if they came from an elderly woman in the audience who's critical about everything from his pasty appearance to his love of food.

"As a writer it's easier to write about things you know about and things that you're passionate about," he said. "I have a great interest in keeping the topics universal. I want everyone in the room to have access to it."



Nine Sexy Secrets About Jim Gaffigan

Favorite dessert

Anything with peanut butter in it.

Greatest movie ever

"Marty," starring Ernest Borgnine

Favorite 1980s soft rock band

Asia - even though he admitted he doesn't know what that is.

Favorite church hymn

"Be Not Afraid"

Comedian he'd listen to for the rest of his life

Bellbrook native Jonathan Winters. "That guy's a genius. He was doing Robin Williams before Robin Williams."

Actor that would play him in a movie about his life

Phillip Seymour Hoffman

Favorite character he has played

"Toby" on the show "Ed"

Pre-show rituals

Drinking a Red Bull and a cup of coffee.

Future goals

"To never be mediocre and always focus on the quality. It sounds like a mission statement for a corporation."



How To Go

What: Jim Gaffigan: "The Sexy Tour"

When: Thursday, Oct. 2 At 7:30 P.m.

Where: Nutter Center, 3640 Colonel Glenn Highway, Dayton, OH

Cost: $25 (Student tickets with valid college ID must be purchased in person at box office)

$37.75 (General Admission)

More Info: Nuttercenter.com