He may be covered literally from head to toe in tattoos, but there's only one thing more obvious than that. comedian shane smith His recent body art may be his newfound Catholicism.
And the former Bosozoku members are certainly in good company.
Jim Gaffigan, Kevin James, Stephen Colbert, Tom Leopold, Russell Brand, and Rob Schneider are just a few of the other comedians who share the same faith, and the latter half of the raucous bunch have grown up as adults. He has since converted to Catholicism.
The first half is similarly busy keeping Catholicism alive. Gaffigan recently performed at the Sheen Center for Thought and Culture, of which Cardinal Timothy Dolan is a director. Kevin James was reportedly hosting a Catholic retreat before the pandemic. Stephen Colbert is known for teaching Sunday school.
But what drives these comedians to become Catholic?
Smith, who officially converted last year, shared his perspective with Fox News Digital, first explaining what drew him to his longtime religion.
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“I chose Catholicism for all the right reasons. I'm a history buff and I just thought…if you're not Catholic and you don't want to ask Siri who founded your religion?” If you ask her, she'll just give you a name. [But] If you were Catholic and you asked her who started your church, she would say Jesus Christ. So I think it was a very good start. ”
comedians Kevin James, Shane Smith, and Jim Gaffigan; I identify all of them as Catholic. (Fox News)
“There is [also] A very rational reason outside of history. For example, I read this book called Dominion. This book was about a man who tried to write a book about how religion disrupted Western civilization and made the world even worse. And he happened to discover that Christianity, especially Catholicism, was responsible for hospitals, the modern university system of scientific discovery, medicine, and Western civilization in general. And he ended up becoming a Christian. ”
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But in his search for a natural explanation, Smith discovered the supernatural.
“I had an experience where I was forced to join the Catholic Church for no reason, and I had no Catholic education. [at the time]As a result, I didn't understand much about the Catholic Church in general. I understood Christianity and was leaning toward Protestantism. But one afternoon I stepped into a Catholic church – finally giving in to this obsession – and had an experience with our Heavenly Mother. [Mary]. ”
Smith went on to describe a “very brief but incredibly powerful” experience, saying that he believed at the time to be a psychedelic vision of a woman “in bright white light.”
“She reached out and touched me,” he explained. “And I cried the hardest I've ever cried.”
Smith, who is used to revealing her “trailer park” upbringing in her semi-autobiographical stand-up, says her mother, who was mostly single, was once tough enough to beat a “bad dog” into unconsciousness. talking. He went on to tell Fox News Digital that his “incredibly surreal” experience with the Virgin Mary helped him instantly mend his relationship with his mother.
“In that moment, a lot of things changed for me. All of a sudden, I felt like a lot of my issues with women were healing. And I felt like my relationship with my mother was healing, too. And… All kinds of other things happened.” ”
Smith left the church that day, determined to dedicate his life to Jesus.
And it all started with his discovery of Marian's vision.
“It was then that I realized for the first time that Marian apparitions happen to people and, in fact, can happen to tens of thousands of people at once,” he added. “So there's a rational reason why I became a Catholic, and another reason would be my supernatural experience with Mary.”
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Comedian-turned-Catholic Shane Smith performed in front of a captivated crowd of Catholics at the annual SEEK conference in Washington, D.C., in early January. (concentration)
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Asked why he believed other comedians might have Catholic leanings, Smith provided a surprising answer to FOX News Digital: agonizing.
“I think having a sense of humor has everything to do with suffering, and Catholics know suffering very well. They are not afraid of suffering,” he asserted.
“And in fact, they often encourage it so much that we end up with this concept of Catholic guilt, which is not what it should be. We don't have a system that alleviates guilt. It’s the only religion that’s built in. I confess, I’m an idiot,” he joked. “But, yeah, I think it really correlates with suffering. Catholics are very sensitive to suffering, they know very well that their suffering is important and meaningful, and they're not afraid of it. They're confronting suffering head-on in a way.'' And I think that's an essential part of having a good sense of humor. ”
Smith went on to describe his struggle to rise from his beginnings as an atheist to success as a comedian and podcast host. Despite his appearance and former criminal history, the Catholic community has welcomed him with open arms, he said. Even after his public conversion cost him tens of thousands of followers.
He told Fox News Digital that after starting his stand-up career as a man who rejected religion, he was “basically canceled” by his former fan base when he went public with his conversion to Catholicism.
“I got death threats. People were texting my mom like she was crazy. And I was like, 'Okay, well, this is kind of the end of my career.' I thought, “That's okay, because faith is more important than money,'' he continued. “But over time, that reversed. And now I'm more popular than ever.”
Smith went on to say that in the early days of his popularity, when he encountered fans at fan meet-and-greets, he felt uneasy because of the inappropriate nature of the interactions, including being “touched by women” and “harrassed.” “I received a lot of money,” he explained. By drunk people. ”
However, his fandom has changed dramatically since he was wiped out of action.
“Now, as I meet and greet people, people ask me to pray the Rosary with them. The women are so kind and gentle. People give me handwritten letters of encouragement and all It's so nice and bright and good. I was just blown away.”
Not only did Smith clean up his act in the proverbial sense, he set the record straight on Fox News Digital. he calls himself clean comedian Start.
“I have a Catholic sensibility, so anyone can understand my comedy,” he said. “I'm Catholic and that's the center of my identity and the most important part of me. But as far as my comedy goes, I'm just a storyteller. I try to be as funny as possible.” To as many people as possible. ”
One of Smith's most recent performances took place in Washington, D.C., during SEEK '25, the annual Catholic conference. Sponsored by Focus Organization. There, Smith performed a stand-up routine on opening night to a captivated crowd that could only be described as “friendly.”
“I recommend SEEK to anyone of any age. It's Comic-Con for Catholics,” he joked. “When I went to SEEK, I found that Catholicism is very personal, but also very communal… [God] He wants us to come to Him together… He wants us to care for each other and to love and love ourselves as God loves us, which is to say, infinitely. . ”
Brock Martin, son of the Focus organization's founder, spoke to Fox News Digital at the SEEK conference about the group's mission.
“When Focus works with people, your first experience will be an experience of God's love and God's plan for you,” Martin said. “It is an astonishing reality: the God of the universe, the same one who created the universe, knows your name, has a plan for you, wants you to prosper, and is with you.” I want to spend eternity…”
Smith said when she recognized God's plan for her life, she realized she could not keep her Catholic faith to herself.
“I realized that it's not important to just stay at home and make your faith personal, or just read the Bible, or just be a Catholic and keep it to yourself… And it wasn't ultimately a fulfilling and rewarding experience,'' the comedian concluded.
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To hear more from Shane Smith, fans should check out his new “Ghost Stories” special. angel studio A dry bar comedy.
