When asked about how his faith and comedy intersect, a well-known talk show host says "I certainly hope when I get to heaven, Jesus has a sense of humour."

It is no secret that Stephen Colbert is Catholic, often speaking about it with both Christians and non-Christians. During Thursday night's The Late Show, pop star Dua Lipa, whose family is Muslim, praised him for his outspoken faith. She surprised the host by asking him which rules over the other, his faith or comedy?

"I think ultimately, being mortal the faith will win out in the end," Colbert says. "I certainly hope when I get to heaven, Jesus has a sense of humour."

Colbert began speaking about his own beliefs and trust in God, giving the singer an idea of what his beliefs were. 

"I am a Christian and a Catholic. And that is always connected to the idea of love and sacrifice, being somehow related and giving yourselves to other people. And that death is not defeat."

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He pointed to a film called Belfast, saying it was a good example of how he views his faith and comedy.

"It's funny about being sad in the same way that sadness is like a little bit of an emotional death but not a defeat if you can find a way to laugh about it," Colbert says. "Because that laughter keeps you from having fear of it. And fear is the thing that keeps you from turning to evil devices to save you from sadness."

Quoting American poet Robert Hayden, Colbert says "we must not be frightened or controlled into accepting evil into our deliverance from evil." 

He says his faith and comedy intersect through the joy it brings.

"No matter what happens you are never defeated, you must understand and see this in the light of eternity and find some way to love and laugh with each other."

He is being praised for his answer by Christian theologian Timothy Keller.

"This is a brilliant example of how to be a Christian in the public square," Keller tweets. "Notice the witness, but in a form the culture can handle. We should desire to have more Christians in these spaces and give them grace as they operate."

Colbert returned to his Catholic faith as an adult after being handed a little green pocket Bible in Chicago, with the Proverbs and Psalms inside. Cracking open the stiff frozen pages also cracked open his journey back to his faith. When speaking with Faith in Focus in 2018, Colbert says when he opened the Bible that cold night, he read the Sermon on the Mount and was instantly enlightened.

“I stood on the street corner in the cold and read the sermon,” he told the show. “And my life has never been the same.”

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