Jim Gaffigan’s Catholic sitcom isn’t on a major network for reasons involving his faith.
In a new interview he did along with his wife Jeannie, who helps him write a lot of his material, the Catholic comedian discussed “The Jim Gaffigan Show.”
The series is based on Gaffigan’s real life, and deals a lot with religion.
In the first episode, Gaffigan’s wife asks him to do her a quick favor: pick up a Bible from their priest. It becomes an ordeal when Gaffigan is seen carrying the Bible in public, and the media labels him a holy-roller and a bigot.
Gaffigan’s show airs on TV Land because that was the network that gave he and his wife “complete creative control,” Jeannie told The Daily Caller. A major network made the pilot for the show and though they loved it, there was talk of watering down the religious theme, or shooting in front of an audience — neither of which the Gaffigans wanted.
TV Land asked for ten episodes of the series, and nothing else. No constraints. No added roles. Nothing.
“It’s like, this is our life so we don’t want someone else to have this much influence over our story,” Jeannie said.
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And Gaffigan wanted the priest in the series to be “a teacher to Jim, and the opposite of American consumerism and superficiality.”
He didn’t want to see him turned into “comedy fodder,” either.
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Jeannie said they were “tired of the priest jokes.”
“The priests that have been influential in our lives and have become our friends are brilliant and generous people, and that’s our experience of priests,” Jeannie said. “We don’t have any other experience of priests.”
Gaffigan also has five kids in real life. All are portrayed on the show by actors, except for his two-year-old, who plays himself.
There was talk of reducing the amount of kids to two.
Gaffigan stressed the importance faith has in his day to day life.
“My faith is very associated with the notion of mercy. I understand that there is something greater than myself that does not judge me in a negative manner — or forgives me I should say. For me, being in touch with the idea that I’m not in control of everything is important.”
[This post has been updated for clarity]