LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 30: (L-R) Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Gaffigan, Melissa McCarthy attend ... [+]
Unfrosted star Jim Gaffigan loves food so much that many of his hilarious observations in his standup sets over the years have been built around eating.
Funny enough, however, Unfrosted director and star Jerry Seinfeld didn’t even have to say the delicious words “Pop-Tarts” to get Gaffigan salivating about working with the comedy luminary on his new Netflix original comedy movie about the fictionalized origin of the famous Kellogg’s toaster pastry.
“I think honestly if Jerry didn’t even give me the topic I would have done it,” Gaffigan told me in a recent phone interview. “I have a lot of respect for him but also, I would never bet against Jerry Seinfeld. He’s not only behind a generation-defining sitcom with Seinfeld, but he did Bee Movie and Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. His batting average is pretty stellar so I would have been happy to climb aboard any project he’s doing.”
New on Netflix Friday, Unfrosted is a mostly made-up comedic take on the invention of Pop-Tarts and a space race-like competition between breakfast cereal titans Kellogg’s and Post to create the ultimate breakfast pastry in the 1960s.
While the story includes many legendary figures, most of the characters in the story were invented for the film, including Seinfeld’s Kellogg’s executive Bob Cabana and Melissa McCarthy’s NASA-turned-Kellogg’s scientist Donna Stankowski. Even Gaffigan’s character Edsel Kellogg III — while bearing the iconic brand’s surname — is fictional.
Kellogg’s rival executive Marjorie Post (Amy Schumer), however, is based on a real person, but for comedic purposes, her motivations are fictionalized in Unfrosted, too.
Gaffigan Mostly Stuck To The ‘Unfrosted’ Script
In addition to the movie’s core cast, Unfrosted features dozens of cameo appearances by stand-up comedy greats, including Bill Burr, Cedric the Entertainer, Sebastian Maniscalco, Sarah Cooper, Darrell Hammond and George Wallace.
Yet while Jim Gaffigan and his contemporaries are all experts in riffing and improvising, he opted to honor the Unfrosted script by Jerry Seinfeld, Spike Feresten, Andy Robin and Barry Marder as much as possible.
“I wouldn’t say riff, but there was definitely a feeling of, ‘Let’s get to the script [first],” Gaffigan recalled, adding of his director, “Jerry was always open to ideas.”
That’s not to say a line or two that Gaffigan came up with on the spot didn’t make it into the final cut of Unfrosted — particularly one regarding the U.S. entering a very unpopular war in the 1960s.
“There’s a scene where I’m reading a newspaper about it and said [in a serious tone], ‘Vietnam. That’s a good idea.’ There’s a bunch of throwaway lines like that,” Gaffigan recalled. “It definitely wasn’t like an improvised movie but Jerry was open to ideas.”
Bob Cabana (Jerry Seinfeld), Stu Smiley (Cedric The Entertainer) and Edsel Kellogg III (Jim ... [+]
Gaffigan Says ‘Unfrosted’ Felt Like A Big Reunion Of Comedy Greats
In some ways, Unfrosted was a giant reunion of sorts for Jim Gaffigan, Jerry Seinfeld and many of the standup comedians they came up the ranks with, especially in larger scenes like an awards ceremony for breakfast cereals that’s akin to the Oscars.
“It was a daily reunion or meeting of people that you knew or were a huge fan of,” Gaffigan said. “I mean, I was in New York City in the early ‘90s with Bill Burr. I’ve known him for a long time. Then there’s other people that you’ve met before or been a part of other movies with. The amount of cameos and guest stars in this movie is incomparable to anything else I’ve worked on before.”
Edsel Kellogg III (Jim Gaffigan), Bob Cabana (Jerry Seinfeld), Mike Puntz (Fred Armisen) and Donna ... [+]
Gaffigan Reveled In The Experience Of Working With Melissa McCarthy
Despite his familiarity with his comedic contemporaries working on Unfrosted, Jim Gaffigan admits he experienced a personal thrill working with Melissa McCarthy for the first time.
“I was a fan of Melissa McCarthy already, but when working with her you realize how she’s a very special talent,” Gaffigan enthused. “You always hope that someone will add value and I just think with her it was very apparent how she added three or four more laughs to a scene.”
Also starring Fred Armisen, Hugh Grant, Jon Hamm, James Marsden, Andy Daly, Christian Slater, Rachael Harris, Mikey Day, Bobby Moynahan and several others in cameo roles, Unfrosted is new on Netflix Friday.
