Catholic comedian Jim Gaffigan to host Al Smith dinner; Trump, Harris to attend

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 9, 2024 / 17:06 pm

Six-time Grammy-nominated Catholic comedian Jim Gaffigan will host the 2024 Al Smith Dinner on Oct. 17, an annual event organized by the Archdiocese of New York that the two major presidential candidates — former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris — are expected to attend.

Gaffigan posted a copy of an invitation on X that lists Trump and Harris as guests along with the stand-up comedian listed as master of ceremonies. In his post, Gaffigan joked that he was unfamiliar with the names of the two presidential candidates.

“I’m so honored to be MC-ing this year’s Al Smith Memorial Dinner on Oct. 17,” Gaffigan said. “Too bad I don’t recognize those two names in the middle of the invitation. Anyone ever heard of them?”

The Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, first held in 1945, is organized to raise money for charitable causes in the archdiocese. In 2023, the archdiocese raised $7.1 million for people in need. The black-tie affair is named after the first Catholic to be nominated for president by a major party — four-term New York Gov. Al Smith, who was the Democratic Party’s 1928 presidential nominee.

Gaffigan, who has acted in dozens of movies and has performed numerous stand-up comedy specials, has been a staunch critic of Trump.

Gaffigan frequently references his Catholic faith in his stand-up comedy. For example, in the 2018 comedy special “Noble Ape,” he discusses saints and patronage.

“Of course, I’m talking about Catholic saints because I’m Catholic,” he says in the special. “I’m not a good Catholic. Like if there was a test for Catholics, I would fail. But then again, most Catholics would fail, which is probably why there’s not a test.”

In September 2015, Gaffigan performed at the Festival of Families in Philadelphia, which was attended by Pope Francis during his papal visit to the United States. In June of this year, he met the pontiff at the Vatican with 100 other comedians, including Stephen Colbert and Chris Rock. 

At The New Yorker Festival in 2015, Gaffigan spoke about a “fear of being associated with being Catholic” in the entertainment industry. 

“I’m Catholic,” he said. “98% of my friends are atheist or agnostic. I was an atheist until I met my wife. I was raised Catholic.”

Gaffigan has deviated from Church teaching on at least one issue by promoting homosexual pride and civil marriages.

The comedian ventured into political discourse during the 2020 presidential election to criticize Trump. He Tweeted that Trump is “a traitor and a con man who doesn’t care about you” and called him “a liar and a criminal” in August 2020. Gaffigan also alleged that “Trump is not pro-life and obviously not Christian or a decent person” when a Twitter user asked Gaffigan whether he was still pro-life.

Both Trump and then-candidate Joe Biden attended the 2020 Al Smith Dinner, which was held a little more than a month before the election. Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton both attended in 2016. At both events, following tradition, the two candidates delivered humorous remarks, skewering themselves and each other.