Humor about Catholicism

The Catholic Church has been a subject for humor, from the time of the Reformation to the present day. Such humor ranges from mild burlesque to satirical attacks. Catholic clergy and lay organizations such as the Catholic League monitor for particularly offensive and derogatory incidents and voice their objections and protests.

Examples of fairly mild burlesque of the Church in the twentieth century include material by humourists such as the Irish comedian Dave Allen and the comedy show Father Ted.

Traditional fears about the Roman Catholic Church were burlesqued by Monty Python in their Spanish Inquisition sketch (first aired September 22, 1970) in which hapless victims of the Spanish Inquisition are threatened with the 'comfy chair' and other such innocuous implements of torture.

Another sketch by Monty Python featured a song "Every Sperm Is Sacred" (1983) which is a satire of Catholic teachings on reproduction which forbid masturbation and contraception by artificial means. The sketch is about a Catholic Dad (played by Michael Palin), his wife (Mum, played by Terry Jones) and their 63 children, who are about to be sold for medical experimentation purposes because their parents can no longer afford to care for such a large family. When their children ask why they don't use contraception or sterilization, Dad explains that this is against God's wishes, and breaks into the song "Every Sperm is Sacred". The real punchline comes a bit later, as a scoffing Protestant Husband (played by Graham Chapman), after observing the large family's song and dance, briefly describes this "typical catholic" situation to his wife (Eric Idle). He goes on to remark how, as a Protestant, he could down to the store and unashamedly buy a condom, and that way, "because I'm a Protestant", intercourse is not bound to pregnancy, and therefore, available to them any time they wish. Protestant Wife's quietly excited reaction reveals, however, that they've never availed themselves of this option, turning the joke back round on the scoffing Protestants.

Irishman Dave Allen (1936–2005) was the host of several comedy series broadcast on UK TV from the 1960s to the 1990s. The most controversial was called Dave Allen at Large, which broadcast 1971–79 on UK TV. The programmes consisted of an introductory standup routine by Allen leading to handsomely mounted sketches that continued on the themes touched on in the opening monologue. The comedian's trademark debunking of religious, especially Catholic, ritual throughout each episode made for minor controversy which, coupled with some quite frank material, earned the show a somewhat risqué reputation. His later comedy series continued in the same vein and included sketches showing the Pope (played by Allen) and his Cardinals doing a striptease on the steps of St Peter's; aggressive priests beating up their parishioners and other priests; priests who spoke like Daleks though electronic confessionals; and an extremely excitable Pope who spoke in a Chico Marx type accent as he ordered Allen to "getta your bum outta Rome!"

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