Grievances were a major through-line of the Super Troopers reunion panel at Vulture Festival 2022. Specifically, who Broken Lizard’s Kevin Heffernan had beef with. Heffernan even butted heads with his fellow troupe member Steve Lemme when the first met. In fairness, Lemme had stolen Heffernan’s winter coat when blackout drunk. But the man he described as his nemesis may surprise you: Jim “Hot Pockets†Gaffigan.
It may surprise you to know anyone could have beef with Jim Gaffigan, whose whole brand is soft-spoken affability, but for Heffernan this goes way back. “We were in New York, and we’re auditioning for stuff,†Heffernan told Vulture critic Bilge Ebiri at the November 12 event. “I would go audition for commercials and stuff like that, and in the room would always be this fucking guy. Jim Gaffigan.†Heffernan went up against Gaffigan for commercial after commercial, and it never went Heffernan’s way. “I would not get it,†he lamented, years later. “And I see the commercial come on, and Jim Gaffigan would get the fucking commercial every time. He was the Rolling Rock guy, he was the Saturn guy.†Heffernan went so far as to call Gaffigan his “nemesis†at the time. The rest of Broken Lizard, however, had no beef-igan.
Gaffigan later auditioned for a role in Super Troopers – a driver who’s pulled and starts playing the “The Cat Game.†“I’m like This is my chance. I’m gonna fucking shoot this guy down,†Heffernan recalled. “And these guys love him.†Paul Soter said meeting Jim Gaffigan was like meeting a “funnier Kevin Heffernan,†adding “We love this guy.†Despite Heffernan’s objections, Gaffigan got the part. And meow you know the rest of the story.