When I write and teach and give talks on the spiritual life, I always say I am speaking from my Catholic Christian heritage and perspective, but that I take wisdom anywhere I can get it. Today the wisdom comes from late-night talk show host Stephen Colbert.

One of my favorite writers, as well as one of my favorite spiritual writers and teachers, is Frederick Buechner. My favorite non-fiction book of his is titled TELLING THE TRUTH: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale. Colbert makes a brief turn into the neighborhood of this trinity with a comment he made while speaking with a guest on his show. I think it is particularly relevant this week when Christians celebrate the High Holy Days of our liturgical year which bring together the tragedy, comedy, and fairy tale of the human experience when understood and lived from the perspective of the Christian faith.

English singer and songwriter Dua Lipa asked Stephen Colbert, television host of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, “Does (sic) your faith and your comedy ever overlap? And does one ever win out?”

Smiling, Colbert’s spontaneous response is at first in jest and self-effacing saying “I think ultimately us all being mortal, the faith will win out at the end. (audience laughter) But I certainly hope when I get to heaven Jesus has a sense of humor.”

Then he quickly pivots, turns pensive, and says, “But I’ll say this. I’ll say this. Someone was asking me earlier about what I—This relates to faith because my faith is involved with—I’m a Christian and a Catholic and it always connected to the idea of love and sacrifice being somehow related and giving yourself to other people and that death is not defeat if you can see [what] I’m getting at there.”

He continues offering this elegant, unrehearsed, and provocative response:

“Someone asked me earlier what movie did I really enjoy this year and I said ‘Well, I really liked Belfast,’ which is Kenneth Branaugh’s story of his childhood. And one of the reasons I love it is that—I’m Irish, Irish American—and it’s such an Irish movie—and I think this is also a Catholic thing—because it’s funny and sad and 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. Because that laughter keeps you from having fear of it, and fear is the thing that keeps you from (sic) turning to evil devices to save you from the sadness. As Robert Hayden said “We must not be frightened or controlled into accepting evil as our deliverance from evil. We must keep struggling to maintain our humanity though monsters of abstraction threaten and police us.” So if there is some relationship between my faith and my comedy, it’s that no matter what happens you are never defeated and you must understand and see this in light of eternity and find some way to love and laugh with each other.”

And then—great APPLAUSE.

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