“Religion is iffy," says Jim Gaffigan in the debut of his new sitcom, The Jim Gaffigan Show. "Once you identify yourself as believing something, you open yourself to ridicule.”
Gaffigan's humor is a rarity: Catholic jokes that are actually funny without being offensive ("Catholics don’t need to read the Bible. That’s why they give us CliffsNotes on Sunday"). But the show also touches on the reality of how religion is often viewed by society. Gaffigan's character finds himself quickly labelled and judged for his beliefs, as people either condemn or applaud him based on false assumptions. It wouldn't be surprising to know that Gaffigan has in real life had to deal with similar (though less ridiculous) situations as a result of his openness about his faith.
Washington Post reporter Michelle Boorstein once wrote that Gaffigan is a great spokesman for the church who embodies the idea that you can embrace the secular culture without compromising your faith. His new show makes that even more clear, putting a positive image of living the Catholic faith on prime time TV. And best of all, it's pretty funny, too.
