Dad is Fat, by J. Gaffigan

It makes me sad to report that Jim Gaffigan's Dad is Fat was not very funny. I suspect that I feel this way because I'm not a parent myself and the entire book is a compilation of parenting anecdotes. I laughed all of one measly time. Once! And at what? A photo caption, of all things.

The author went on vacation with his family and, as many Manhattan families do, brought along their babysitter. In the book, there's a picture of the whole gang standing in front of Mt. Rushmore, but the sitter's face is blurred out. The caption reads something like, "Our babysitter quit the day we returned to the city."

Woe is the sitter duped into a travel job with five children. No matter how generous the compensation may be, there's a reason why some career nannies will not travel with their families. That reason is called sanity.

I caught Jim Gaffigan at a comedy club many years ago. His standup act was the only clean one the entire evening. In an era when legions of professional comedians make their living by simulating one crude sexual act after another on stage, Gaffigan is a class act. I admired his career that night and I still do. I just hope that I'll enjoy his next book.