Why Jim Gaffigan's Christianity makes him funny-and Pope-worthy

Jim Gaffigan opened a segment of his 2006 Beyond the Pale stand-up special by telling his audience he wanted to talk about Jesus.

"It doesn't matter if you're religious or not - does anything make you more uncomfortable than when a stranger says, 'I want to talk to you about Jesus?' Yeah, I'd rather not," Gaffigan said. "You could say that to the pope, and he'd be like: 'Easy, freak. I keep work at work.' "

Gaffigan could actually get to tell that joke to Pope Francis when he performs at the Mark Wahlberg-hosted Festival of Families on Saturday night. He has never shied from talking about his Catholicism on stage or on his TV Land sitcom, The Jim Gaffigan Show, which ends its first season at 10 p.m. Wednesday. (It's been renewed for a second season.)

Being openly devout is rare in an industry where religion is often the butt of a joke, a source of derision, or a celebrity's defining feature.

But Gaffigan isn't a member of the Duggar family (though his name does begin with a J). He's hip! He's cool! He hangs with other celebs, and his wife's best friend is gay!

He's neither an extremist nor an evangelical, and thus a type that often doesn't get its fair airtime. He's constantly battling with his own belief system and the perception it creates, a conundrum that sets him apart from other celebrities who share their faith in their work.

On paper, The Jim Gaffigan Show doesn't break the model of the traditional family sitcom. Jim is the dumb, lazy dad - although his five-kid family squeezes into a two-bedroom lower Manhattan apartment, so he's also something of a superhero - who prefers naps and snacks to pretty much anything else.

But the show is also really funny and, perhaps more important, never cloying. Being Catholic is not a stance, but a fact of the life he lives with his real wife and writing partner, Jeannie (her TV counterpart is played by How I Met Your Mother's Ashley Williams), and their brood of towheaded kids.

The family's priest, Father Nicholas (Tongayi Chirisa), is an integrated member of the cast rather than a source of moralizing. (And how many prime-time sitcoms involve a member of the clergy as part of their regular ensemble?) In one episode, Nicholas wants to tag along with Jim to a taping of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon because he's a big fan of the house band, the Roots. His function on the show is not to talk about religion, but simply to make Jim look lovably dumb.

Gaffigan is most insightful about his own faith when he makes jokes that go beyond the surface ("I don't know much about the Bible myself. I haven't read it, because I'm Catholic."), specifically when he talks about how uneasy it can make him feel in conjunction with his public persona. In one episode, he rebels against his "King of Clean" moniker by unwittingly getting drunk onstage before an audience of Jewish grandmas.

"The Bible Story," an episode that aired Sept. 9, is indicative of what Gaffigan does so elegantly both onstage and on his show. He is photographed holding a giant Bible, given to him by Father Nicholas, that he's supposed to deliver to Jeannie. He ends up taking it with him to a comedy club - Jeannie is not amused - and the pic goes viral. All of a sudden, he's the new famous face of Catholicism, when he was in fact only a middle man. He tries to backtrack in the media. I'm not that Catholic! he says, referring to his wife as a "Shiite Catholic" (a regular designation in his stand-up), enraging Catholics, Shiites, and seemingly everyone in between.

"The Bible Story" is about religion, but it's more about the perception surrounding a celebrity who happens to be religious. Gaffigan can't just go to church on Sunday. If he's marked as a religious celebrity, all of a sudden he's Tim Tebow.

He doesn't want to be that guy. Not because he's any less deserving or any less of a believer. He just doesn't want to make anyone uncomfortable.

meichel@phillynews.com

215-854-5909@mollyeichel

StartText

The Jim Gaffigan Show

Season One finale, 10 p.m. Wednesday on TV Land.EndText