A lot of entertainers think of religion as the third rail – something you stay away from. Catholic comic Jim Gaffigan is testing that theory in a major way in his new “The Jim Gaffigan Show.”
Gaffigan has built a huge brand around a few things: overeating, having tons of kids (five at last count, and it’s not clear he and his wife are done) and a performing technique people often call “the inner voice.” His inner voice is whispery, almost lady-like, has a scolding tone and lets Gaffigan assume the position of people he perceives as his critics – perhaps an audience member or some random person on the street. It’s a quirky, funny way for Gaffigan to get one up in advance on people who judge him, or, more accurately, people he suspects might be judging him.
Which is also Gaffigan’s way of dealing with his Catholic faith – a little bit on the defense, a little bit paranoid. Which is how some people might see religion’s posture in general these days.
This all plays out very deliberately in Gaffigan’s new show, which will premiere in July and is set in his real life. “The Jim Gaffigan Show” explores what it’s like to be a popular stand-up comic named Jim Gaffigan, juggling the secular, sometimes raunchy entertainment world with being a husband to a devout wife and dad to their five kids, all of whom are crammed into a hip apartment in lower Manhattan.
Jim and Jeannie Gaffigan – who have long co-written his comedy – pre-released one of the shows in May, an episode centered on the idea that it’s risky for a pop-culture figure to come out as religious. The plot takes off after Gaffigan is accidentally photographed carrying a massive Bible and then panics about what the public will think. Will he come across as stupid if people know he believes in God? Gay-hating if they see he’s a committed Catholic?
“I don’t want to get involved in the culture war. Religion is a very iffy business. As soon as you identify yourself as believing something, you open yourself to ridicule,” he tells his wife and her friend on the show.
This rings bells for me as someone who writes about religion in America.
Embracing the paradox
The belief that the mainstream culture is hostile toward faith is not only widely held and spoken of by many religious leaders but has powerful theological allure. Core texts present religious believers as essentially outsiders, inherently persecuted and that to be religious is by definition to assume the identity of the marginalized. It can be a challenge to see one’s self as fully religious and mainstream.
Which is part of why I love Jim Gaffigan; he dives into this paradox. He and Jeannie (who he often calls a “Shiite Catholic”) chose to introduce themselves through an episode that centers on their Catholicism. In fact, the entire series is built around the juggling act of this wholesome, churchgoing, no-swearing, no-artificial-birth-control-using family. And they aren’t painted as oddballs, but hip Manhattanites living in a cool loft and hanging around with people like Chris Rock.
In other words, Gaffigan knows that being religious is not a black mark per se but potentially an asset, a marketing point – if he can sell it right. The question is: What kind of religious person? Gaffigan and his wife play with this idea in the episode, as they do in his work generally.
I wrote about this first a couple of years ago after seeing Gaffigan speak during the same week in which I covered the Catholic Church’s then-new global campaign to reimagine “evangelizing” as being more organic and less judgmental about one’s faith. Part of this involves facing a reality I think has become even clearer since my 2013 piece: It’s not God that Western society seems anxious to ditch, it’s institutional religion.
Recently, I asked the Gaffigans about why they chose this topic as a way to introduce the show.
“We played off the notion of being outed as Christian, that being Christian in entertainment is like being gay in the ’50s. It really touches on my fear surrounding being known as a Christian,” Jim Gaffigan said.
‘Fish out of water’
Gaffigan talked about what he called an important comic device – the “fish out of water.” In reality, as a married, churchgoing guy with a bundle of kids, he feels a bit like a fish out of water. On the other hand, he knows his family is thriving. The show merges his reality and his comedy, which can beg the question: Who is he really making fun of? Himself for being paranoid? Society for mocking the religious? The media for its lack of nuance around religion? The audience for buying any of this as serious?
“He still has point of view, but he’s not going to take a stand because there are people who love Jim who are atheists, and who love Jim and are of all faiths. The Christian ghetto is a hard one to get out of if I’m only preaching to the choir,” Jeannie Gaffigan said.
Indeed, there is pragmatic business here.
“There are positions in this culture war that Jim doesn’t want to engage in, he just wants to do jokes about avocados,” he said of himself, using the third-person. “We know conflict sells, but 90 percent of my friends are devout atheists. The message is: He believes in God, it’s not that big of a deal. When we were kids, it didn’t matter if someone was religious, it just mattered if they were annoying.”
