Jim Gaffigan’s Milwaukee Shows Set New Riverside Theater Sales Record

Renowned comedian and Milwaukee fan favorite Jim Gaffigan recently performed a series of six shows at the Riverside Theater that grossed nearly $1.1 million in ticket sales, a new sales record for the venue for a single headline attraction. The shows ran from April 9 – April 13 and marked an unprecedented run for Gaffigan.

Since his first sold out show at the Pabst Theater (1,350 capacity) in 2006, Gaffigan has made a significant impact on Milwaukee’s entertainment scene with a total of over 70,000 tickets sold across 39 shows in his 19 years performing in the market. Notable performances include a 10-year run of consecutive New Year’s Eve shows at the Pabst Theater from 2007 to 2016 as well as the first comedy show at the newly built Fiserv Forum performing ‘in the round’ to a capacity crowd in 2019. His recent return to Milwaukee proved to be an unprecedented run of shows.

Gaffigan’s ties to Milwaukee run deep as his wife, Jeannie Gaffigan, is a Milwaukee native and Marquette University graduate. During his frequent visits to Milwaukee over the years, Gaffigan has consistently gone out of his way to support the local community and engage with the city. Notably, he has worked to raise awareness and funds for Kinship Community Food Center in Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood.

“As Jim Gaffigan always says from the stage, Milwaukee is his ‘hometown-in-law’ and we couldn’t be more pleased to celebrate these impressive sales and community milestones with him,” said Matt Beringer, COO for the Pabst Theater Group. “We’ve had the privilege of a front row seat to Jim’s remarkable journey and he has broken a lot of records here along the way. From our longest annual run with his New Year’s Eve shows to now being the highest grossing performer for the Riverside. We are lucky to welcome him back regularly and take pride in connecting him with his loyal Milwaukee fanbase.”

About Jim Gaffigan

Jim Gaffigan is an eight-time Grammy nominated comedian, actor, writer, producer, two-time New York Times best-selling author, three-time Emmy winning top touring performer, and multi-platinum-selling recording artist. He is known around the world for his unique brand of humor, which largely revolves around his observations on life. His 11th special, The Skinny, premiered on Hulu last winter as the streamer’s first ever original stand up special for their new comedy vertical, Hularious, and garnered almost 100 million clip views online. Gaffigan is currently on his, Everything is Wonderful standup comedy tour.

Gaffigan is a top ten comedian according to Forbes’ most recent comedy list and top ten earning comedian in Pollstar. He released his 10th comedy special, Dark Pale, in 2023 on Amazon Prime Video, an unprecedented achievement for the comedian/actor. Dark Pale was met with critical fanfare with The New York Times calling it, ‘his best yet.” Gaffigan is currently co-headlining with Jerry Seinfeld for a sold-out multi-city arena tour and in May of 2024, sold out two shows at The Hollywood Bowl during the Netflix Is Joke Festival.

In 2021 Gaffigan released his 9th special, Comedy Monster, on Netflix which was nominated for a Grammy Award. He was also recently awarded for being the first comedian to reach one billion streams on Pandora.

Gaffigan can currently be seen opposite co-stars Jerry Seinfeld, Melissa McCarthy, James Marsden, and Hugh Grant in Netflix’s Unfrosted, which debuted as the #1 movie in the world on Netflix last May. He can also currently be seen as the lead in the well-reviewed and certified fresh Sci-Fi drama, Linoleum, which was named one of Vulture.com’s best movies of 2023 and is currently streaming on Hulu after a theatrical release.

Gaffigan starred as Mr. Smee in Disney’s Peter Pan and Wendy, opposite Jude Law and Yara Shahidi. Also premiering recently, Gaffigan joined the cast of HBO Max’s Full Circle, a limited series from Steven Soderbergh and Ed Solomon which follows an investigation into a botched kidnapping, connecting multiple characters and cultures in present day NY.

On the silver screen, his many credits include Three Kings, Super Troopers 1 & 2, and Chappaquiddick. 2019 was Gaffigan’s biggest year in film to date with an astonishing eight films releasing, three which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival including Troop Zero with Viola Davis and Alison Janney, Them That Follow and Light From Light – with many festival goers and press calling Gaffigan the “King of Sundance.” Gaffigan was also recently heard in Disney/Pixar’s highly anticipated animated film, Luca, opposite Jacob Tremblay and Maya Rudolph.

Gaffigan had two films recently in which he debuted as the lead. The comedic film Being Frank, and American Dreamer, a dark thriller which features him as a ride share app worker who moonlights as a private driver for a drug dealer. Gaffigan can also currently be seen opposite Ethan Hawke in IFC Films Tesla, as well as opposite Josh Hartnett in Saban Films’ Most Wanted.

In addition to two seasons of the critically acclaimed semi-autobiographical The Jim Gaffigan Show, which he wrote and produced with his wife Jeannie, Gaffigan has guest starred on many television comedies and dramas, ranging from Portlandia and Bob’s Burgers to the HBO cult hits Flight of the Concords to dramatic roles in Law & Order.

Gaffigan regularly does humorous commentaries on CBS Sunday Morning for which he has won 3 Emmys. In 2018 Jim served as master of ceremony at The Al Smith Memorial dinner. In 2015, Gaffigan had the great honor of performing for Pope Francis and over 1 million festival attendees at the Festival of Families in Philadelphia.

He and his wife currently live in Manhattan with their five loud and expensive children.

For more info on his current Everything is Wonderful standup comedy tour, go to: jimgaffigan.com/tour-dates.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.