From Open Mic Nerves to Easter Baptism: A Comedian’s Leap of Faith
Local
Adelaide comedian Jackson Grant is accustomed to being judged. For the past six years, he stood under harsh stage lights in pubs and festival tents, hoping to make a room full of strangers laugh.
This Easter, the 27-year-old steps into a very different kind of spotlight when he is baptised into the Catholic Church.
Jackson, who grew up in a secular household, is best known on the local circuit for his sharp, story-driven stand-up and his inaugural Adelaide Fringe show ‘The Human Antidepressant’.
This year, his show ‘‘Jackson Grant: Joke Addict’ lifted spirits when he performed at city venue Arthur Arthouse.
Behind the jokes is a quieter story: a journey towards faith he once kept at arm’s length.
“I believed in God for quite a while,” he says, “but I never really felt comfortable to pursue it. I felt [church] was kind of a place of judgement.”
The turning point came in two stages. The first was in Scotland in 2017, where he travelled alone to experience Edinburgh Fringe.
While wandering through cathedrals and dramatic landscapes, he felt a presence he couldn’t shake. “I discovered my love of comedy, but I also kind of discovered my faith,” he says.
“I didn’t really feel alone, because I felt God’s presence at all these different cathedrals.” Back home, another unlikely nudge came from fellow comedian James McCann, who invited him to mass at the Church of the Holy Name on Payneham Road, Stepney.
Jackson’s first experience was a Latin Mass.
“I was kind of thrown in the deep end,” he says. “But I loved it… it was a great community.” Later, his now-girlfriend – a “cradle Catholic” returning to her faith – encouraged Jackson to join her at St Margaret Mary’s in the Croydon Park, where Father Olek Stirrat is parish priest. The young priest has been crucial in reshaping Jackson’s perception of the Church.
“I’ve found someone who is helping me understand the Bible better,” Jackson says. “And I now understand what a nice, warm, welcoming community the Catholic Church is.”
After months of attending mass, he was invited to begin the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA), a weekly class for those entering the Church. The lessons, held on Wednesday nights, helped him make sense of rituals he had previously followed on instinct.
“It’s almost like doing things backwards,” he says. “I’ve gone to so many masses and now I’m unpacking why we’ve been doing things.”
As Easter approaches, the significance is sinking in.
“I am feeling excited,” he says. “I’m just looking forward to being able to take communion every Sunday now.”
The shift in his inner life has already changed his work. Grant, who works as an IT trainee and hosts trivia nights on the side, is currently performing his second Adelaide Fringe show. Jackson deliberately steers his material away from cheap gags.
“I’m definitely trying to clean up my comedy a bit,” he says.
His new challenge is to stay honest and funny without relying on shock value.
“There is more creativity involved when you limit yourself,” he says.
Judgement – onstage and off – is something he still thinks about often.
“You go from feeling judged by Christians to feeling judged by people who are outside the church,” he says. “I guess that’s why we need faith, because we will never not be judged by other people.”
The difference now is where he looks for approval.
“We should be leaning ourselves in to believe that only God can judge us,” he says. “That’s helped my confidence.”
For those quietly curious about faith, his advice is simple: start small.
“Just go along to a mass at first and just go and sit and watch,” he says. “There’s so much to learn that it can be daunting, but the whole point at the start is listening.”
Onstage, Grant still wants audiences to leave feeling lighter. Offstage, this is a young man quietly reordering his life around something deeper than applause.
