It’s kinda funny, eh?
Jim Gaffigan: The Pale Tourist: Canadian American (2020): 7 out of 10: When comedians come to do a set in a new town they often start with a few minutes of hacky material about the town they are in… gee your airport is weird… that big monument downtown looks like a giant penis… your city has the same name as a feminine hygiene product.
The Pale Tourist is this opening but for the entire stand-up set. It is quite bizarre in reality. If it was anyone but Gaffigan one might suspect some this is some sort of avant garde ironic commentary on the nature of stand-up routines on the road. But with Gaffigan I suspect it is painfully hacky dad jokes written on the road while in Canada and then put into a special… You know Regina is a funny name for a town. That kind of thing.
The Pale Tourist Great White North Edition has few redeeming qualities, however. For one thing, it is relativity brief at forty-five minutes. Gaffigan understands we can only take so much commentary on the metric system, poutine, youth hockey, and moose (mooses? meese?).
The other saving grace of The Pale Tourist Hoser Edition (yes, everything I know about Canada comes from The Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie: Strange Brew) is that it is often quite funny. While there are a few insightful or rip-roaring laughs (His comparing excusing Trump in foreign countries is like trying to excuse your alcoholic dad to friends is probably his best bit.) most of his bits are at the very least chuckle worthy,.
There are worse ways to spend 45 minutes than to listen to a few dad jokes expertly delivered. Jim Gaffigan: The Pale Tourist: Canadian American provides that in spades.