Wanted - religious comedians

One Patrick McKearney, who numbers improvised comedy among his enthusiasms, writes in the Guardian to complain about stand-up comedians who use religion as the butt of their wit. Mr. McKearney is studying for an MPhil in theology and religious studies at Cambridge University. He is a scholar of the Cambridge Interfaith Programme and Queens' College, and is researching the implications of the contemporary ridicule of religion.

Mr McKearney's impressive CV leads one to suspect that he may have been one of those unfortunates indoctrinated from childhood with religious mumbo-jumbo. This would help to explain both his chosen disciplines and his narrow perspective on life. He complains that stand-ups "fail to turn their critical attention to secularism, atheism or liberalism", but does not ask himself why they don't. This gives us an excellent opportunity to tell him. It is quite simple, jokes about religious beliefs make people laugh. If he doesn't like this perhaps he could try not to hold such funny beliefs.

There is another reason that comedians don't make jokes about atheists, secularists, liberalists, humanists, sceptics etc; as far as I know there aren't any. McKearney should try and think some up before he leaps to accuse comedians of ignorance and failing to "critically engage" with a particular world view. They would soon get jeered off the stage if they tried to do that.