Jim Gaffigan and Jeannie Gaffigan are partners in life, love and laughter.
The couple first met in 2000 at a New York bodega and married in July 2003. Jim and Jeannie live in New York with their five children, whom Jim often jokes about in his stand-up routines.
In addition to raising their children, Jim and Jeannie have worked together on various comedies, including the TV Land series The Jim Gaffigan Showloosely based on their family life. Not only Jeannie directed and co-wrote one episode, but was also one of the series’ executive producers. Jim said vanity fair in 2015 that the sitcom was “the perfect exploitation of us.”
“Our relationship has always been — ever since we first dated — a collaborative one,” Jim told PEOPLE in May 2017. “We’ve always had a similar work ethic that we don’t really see it as work. And it doesn’t happen at a set or even scheduled time. ; it’s an ongoing discussion.”
Here’s everything you need to know about Jeannie Gaffigan and her relationship with the Grammy-nominated smile.
She is originally from Milwaukee
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Jeannie was born in Milwaukee and is the oldest of nine siblings. Her brother, Patrick Noth, is a writer and actor with more than a dozen credits (incl The Jim Gaffigan Show), and her brother, Paul Noth, is a comic book artist whose works are shown in The New Yorker.
In 2021, Jeannie celebrated the milestone wedding anniversary of her mum and dad, Louise and Dom Noth, by sharing a series of throwback family photos on Instagram.
She captioned photos of Noth’s large brood: “Happy 52nd Anniversary Mom and Dad of your 9 children, 10 grandchildren, all spouses, partners, friends, nephews, nieces and all the ‘adopted children’ you have gathered over the years with your unconditional love and support! ”
She and Jim have honorary doctorates
Before moving to NYC to pursue an acting career, Jeannie graduated from Marquette University’s Diederich College of Communication in 1992, located in her native Milwaukee.
In May 2018, she and Jim received honorary doctorates from Marquette. During the awards ceremony, Associate Professor Dr. Stanley M. Harrison recognized the duo for their “outstanding success and contributions as a couple in the worlds of comedy, theater, television and film.”
She didn’t immediately agree to go out with Jim
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The couple first met in 2000 at a Korean market in the NoLiTa district of New York.
“I smiled at him and said ‘hello,'” said Jeannie, who was also working in comedy at the time. The New York Times in July 2003. “He said, ‘How do I know you?’ And I said, ‘We’ve probably seen each other in comedy clubs.'”
Jeannie at first turned down the comedian’s requests for a date, but “he asked again and again.”
She continued: “When I finally said I was going to lunch with him next Saturday, he said, ‘You know, we’re probably going to get married.’
She married Jim at the old St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York
Jim Gaffigan’s Instagram
According to the announcement of their wedding in The New York TimesJeannie and Jim were married on July 26, 2003 at the old St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. Rev. Thomas Kallumady, a Roman Catholic priest, conducted the ceremony.
She wrote her first joke with Jim in 2000
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One of the pair’s first collaborations was a joke Jeannie wrote for Jim’s guest appearance on the The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn.
“We dated for a while, and Sisqó’s ‘Thong Song’ was really popular. It was on the radio all the time, and we both thought she was so hysterical,” Jeannie said. Fast company in September 2015. “Jim didn’t talk about that kind of thing on stage at the time, but he made a really funny observation about the song, and I did the same – one that wouldn’t have worked for me if I wanted to make a joke, but I knew Jim would to really make it.”
She continued: “So he was working on Craig Kilborn’s show and he called me after the taping and said, ‘I made a joke on Kilborn,’ and I said, ‘Oh my God, how did it go?’ And he said, ‘That killed it.’ It was just so great. It was really fulfilling for me in a way that writing for someone else wouldn’t be.”
“After the Kilborn thing, I started really learning him, learning his cadence, learning his point of view, and we started making TV spots together,” she told Fast company. “We’d do different parts, like theme segments in different clubs, to see which one is the best.”
Jim told PEOPLE in 2017 that he and Jeannie always write together for his comedy specials and tours, including On the other side of Pale (2006), King Baby (2009) and Pale tourist (2020)
“Usually I’ll come up with an idea, go on stage, play with it, write based on it, then talk to my wife,” he said. “Then they’ll see me doing a set, they’ll have ideas or changes, and the jokes will kind of grow from there.”
She shares five children with Jim
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Jeannie and Jim’s five children—daughters Marra and Katie, and sons Jack, Michael, and Patrick—are often mentioned in Jim’s comedies, which are drawn from his real-life experiences. But he’s quick to give her all the credit, saying that Jeannie has parenting down to a science, partly because she has eight siblings.
“I don’t know what I’m doing,” the star told PEOPLE in 2016. “I think it’s my wife; she’s Wonder Woman. But it’s just fun chaos. I come from a big family, and my wife comes from a big family — I think there is great value in the chaos between siblings.”
One particularly busy time the couple had to go through was during the COVID-19 pandemic. They had to come up with a new system to make things work in quarantine and embrace more time with their children.
“Of course, there was a lot of screaming and crying — and sometimes the kids got upset, but we had amazing moments with each of them that we never would have had if they were at school or if Jim was traveling,” Jeannie told PEOPLE in January. 2021: “That was a bright spot in all this chaos.”
She was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2017
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On May 1, 2017, Jim discovered that his wife had undergone surgery for a brain tumor.
“Two weeks ago an MRI revealed that @jeanniegaffigan had a large tumor around his brainstem that was life threatening,” he wrote on Facebook.
Jim told PEOPLE that his wife’s more than nine-hour surgery on April 18 was a success.
“We were prepared to understand that the good news would be like, ‘We’ve got 85 percent of it,'” he said in May 2017. “But they removed all the tumor, and there was no damage to her 12 cranial nerves.”
According to PEOPLE, Jeannie experienced a variety of symptoms, from recurring headaches to dizziness, but ignored them. However, when she began to lose her hearing, she looked for answers. An MRI showed a pear-sized tumor, which was later confirmed to be a benign papilloma of the choroid plexus.
Jim shared his initial reaction to his wife’s diagnosis in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE in September 2019.
“The doctor said, ‘This is very concerning,’ and I saw the fear on his face,” Jim recalled. “That was the day I dreaded the most. It was definitely a period where I thought, ‘Okay, I’m probably going to be a mediocre single father of five.’
He was anything but, with Jeannie revealing to PEOPLE in July 2018 how her husband had taken on the “caregiver role” and brought some levity to the terrifying situation.
“His comic ability [was able] to transform situations into something that’s not so horrible,” she said.
Jim – who made frequent trips to the hospital to support Jeannie – added: “You’re grateful for the opportunity to support this loved one and, obviously, it takes an emotional toll on you, but there’s a lot of responsibilities to take on.”
In September 2019, on The WTF Podcast with Marc MaronJeannie told the host that she had a second surgery to repair her left vocal cord, which was paralyzed by a tumor.
She wrote a memoir
Jeannie Gaffigan’s Instagram
Jeannie published her first memoir, When life gives you pears: The healing power of faith, family and funny people2019, two years after the brain tumor diagnosis.
The book describes her diagnosis and recovery process, as well as the “brutal conversation” she had with her children and loved ones.
“We have been the beneficiaries of so much love and support from everyone during this medical crisis,” she told PEOPLE exclusively in June 2019. “I hope that sharing our story can bring hope and laughter to everyone facing the unimaginable.”
Jim added: “I can’t believe how perfectly Jeannie captures the fear, the charm and the humor of this terrifying part of our lives. And then again, I can’t believe she married me.”
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