Why do comedians lean toward Catholicism? A quirky comic offers a surprising explanation

While he may be covered in tattoos from head to toe – quite literally – the only thing more obvious than comedian Shane Smith’s recent body art may be his newfound Catholic faith.

The former motorcycle gang member is certainly in good company.

Jim Gaffigan, Kevin James, Stephen Colbert, Tom Leopold, Russell Brand, and Rob Schneider are just a few other comedians who share the same belief— The latter half of this raucous group converted to Catholicism in adulthood.

The first half is equally busy keeping Catholicism alive: Gaffigan recently performed at the Sheen Center for Thought and Culture, where Cardinal Timothy Dolan is a board member; Kevin James reportedly hosted a show before the pandemic Catholic retreat; Stephen Colbert famous for teaching Sunday school.

But what drove these comedians to convert to Catholicism?

Smith, who officially converted to Christianity last year, spoke out to Fox News Digital — first explaining what drew him to the ancient religion.

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“I chose Catholicism for all rational reasons. I’m a historian and I just think… You know, if you asked Siri who founded your religion and you weren’t Catholic, she would say just the name of some guy . [But] If you asked her who started your church and you were Catholic, she would say, Jesus Christ. So I think that’s a good start.

“have [also] Very legitimate reasons beyond history. For example, I read a book called Dominion about a man who set out to write a book about how religion disrupted Western civilization and made the world a worse place. He unexpectedly discovered that Christianity, specifically Catholicism, was responsible for hospitals, the modern university system of scientific discoveries, medicine, and Western civilization in general. Then he eventually became a Christian.

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But it was in the search for natural explanations that Smith discovered the supernatural:

“I had an experience where I was forced into the Catholic Church for no reason and I had no Catholic education [at the time]so I don’t know much about the Catholic Church in general. I have a keen eye for Christianity and a slight leaning toward Protestantism. But one afternoon I walked into a Catholic church—I finally gave in to the urge—and I had an experience with my Heavenly Mother. [Mary]”.

Smith went on to describe a “very brief but extremely powerful” experience when he believed it was a psychedelic vision of a woman “based on a bright white light.”

“She reached out and touched me,” he described. “I cried the hardest.”

Smith, who is no stranger to recounting his “trailer park” upbringing in semi-autobiographical stand-ups, describes his mostly single mother as so strong that she once knocked a “bad dog” unconscious. He went on to tell Fox News Digital that his “incredibly surreal” experience with Mary’s mother immediately helped repair his relationship with his own mother.

“In that moment, a lot of things changed for me. I suddenly felt like I was healed of a lot of my issues with women. And I felt like my relationship with my mother was healed, and all these other things. happened”.

Smith left church that day and decided to dedicate his life to Jesus.

It all started when he discovered the apparition of Maria.

“It was only then that I discovered that Marianne’s apparitions were something that happened to people, in fact, sometimes to thousands of people at the same time,” he added. “So there were legitimate reasons why I became Catholic, and another reason was my supernatural experience with Mary.”

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Comedian-turned-Catholic Shayne Smith performs in front of a captivated crowd of Catholics at the annual SEEK conference in Washington, D.C., in early January (emphasis)

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When asked why he thought other comedians might lean toward Catholicism, Smith offered a surprising answer to Fox News Digital: pain.

“I think there is a sense of humor… it’s all about suffering. Catholics understand suffering very well. They are not afraid of suffering,” he asserted.

“In fact, they often invite it, sometimes too much, and then we get the concept of Catholic guilt, which shouldn’t be a problem. We’re the only religion with a built-in guilt relief system. Like, go to Frankly Come on, silly,” he joked. “But, yes, I think it does have something to do with suffering. I think Catholics are very attuned to suffering and very aware that their suffering is important and means something, and they’re not afraid of it. They kind of face it head-on and I think that’s An important part of having a good sense of humor.

Smith went on to describe his comeuppance as a painful but successful comedian and podcast host who started out as an atheist. He said that despite his appearance and criminal history, the Catholic community welcomed him with open arms — even after his public conversion resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of followers.

He told Fox News Digital that after starting his stand-up career as a religious denier, he was “basically canceled” by his former fan base once he publicly converted to Catholicism.

“I got death threats. People mailed things to my mother like this was crazy. I was like, ‘Okay, well, this is the end of my career.'” And it didn’t matter, because faith trumped money More important,” he continued. “But as time went on, that reversed. Now I’m more popular than ever.”

Smith went on to say that when he first became popular, his contact with fans during meet-and-greets would cause him to feel anxious because their interactions were inappropriate, explaining that he was “touched by women” and “harassed” by drunken people.

However, since cleaning up his act, his fan base has changed dramatically.

“Now, I do meet and greets and people ask me to pray the rosary with them. Women are so kind and gentle to me. People give me handwritten letters of encouragement and everything becomes more lovely and lighter and better and I, I, like , was shocked.

Not only did Smith famously clean up his act, but he also set the record straight to Fox News Digital: He claims to be a clean comedian start up.

“Because I have a Catholic sensibility, my comedy is accessible to anyone,” he said. “I’m a Catholic and that’s a core part of my identity and the most important part of who I am. But as far as my comedy goes, I’m just a storyteller. I want to be as funny as possible for as many people as possible Serve.

One of Smith’s most recent performances was in Washington, D.C., during SEEK ’25, an annual Catholic conference sponsored by the Focus organization. There, Smith performed a stand-up comedy show on opening night to a captivated audience that he described as simply “nice.”

“I would recommend SEEK to anyone of any age. It’s the Catholic Comic Con,” he joked. “I went to SEEK and discovered that Catholicism, while deeply personal, is also deeply communal… [God] Wants us to come to Him together… He wants us to care for and love each other and ourselves the way He loves us, you know, and that’s limitless.

Brock Martin, son of the founder of Focus, spoke to Fox News Digital about the organization’s mission at the SEEK conference.

“Whenever Focus works with someone…the first experience is experiencing God’s love and His plan for you,” Martin said. “It’s an earth-shattering reality that the God of the universe—the same person who created the universe—knows your name, has plans for you, wants you to flourish, and wants to spend eternity with you…”

In acknowledging God’s plan for his own life, Smith said he realized he couldn’t keep his Catholic faith a secret.

“I realized that staying home and making my faith personal, or just reading the Bible, or just being Catholic and keeping it to myself… wasn’t the point. And it wasn’t ultimately fulfilling and rewarding. Experience, I need it,” the comedian concluded.

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To learn more about Shayne Smith, fans can watch his new “Ghost Stories” special on Angel Studios. Dry bar comedy.