Jim Gaffigan doesn’t want any credit for his 50-lb weight loss — no, seriously.
While speaking to Today hosts Jenna Bush Hager and Justin Sylvester on Monday, May 26, Gaffigan explained he lost the weight because “I was brave enough to stick a needle in my stomach.”
Gaffigan has been on a drastic weight loss journey with the help of the popular drug, Mounjaro. The drug is the brand name for tirzepatide, a prescription drug that is used to treat type 2 diabetes and that is also used for weight loss or weight management (ideally under the supervision of a licensed medical professional).
“I did appetite suppressants, so it’s not like I can even take any pride in it,” he also said of his weight loss methods. The comedian, who weighed 270 lbs before embarking on his weight loss journey, added that “it’s great because my knees don’t hurt standing up. I’m less exhausted … It’s always good, you know, like the health benefits, like, ‘I’ll live longer.’”
“But I love it just because I feel better,” he added. “It is great. It’s beneficial.”
The comic spoke exclusively to Us Weekly about his journey with Mounjaro in November 2024.
“I was so paranoid that I was going to be nauseous that I kind of put it off, but then it kind of worked,” he explained at the time.. “It’s weird because we live in this society where people who eat too much are told that they just don’t have any self control. … There are people that just have no ‘off’ button to eat, right?”
He also likened his inability to stop eating to an addiction. “I would eat when I was hungry and I would eat when I was happy and eat when I was sad, and I would just eat. It was my reward,” he shared with Us, noting that it’s “odd” that there’s a “negative stigma” surrounding the decision to use weight loss drugs. “It’s obviously personal, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. But then again, anonymity is a thing surrounding a lot of struggles like that.”
Gaffigan said he had the body type of a “square Midwesterner,” adding that despite his weight loss successes, he knows he “will never look super thin.”
The comedian also launched the Hulu special The Skinny, where he discussed his weight loss more widely. “We’re a country that’s struggling with the obesity epidemic,” he explained. “And then there are these appetite suppressants that do wonders, so The Skinny is a bit about processing society’s take on that.”
