Instagram/ rugrugg1
CV NEWS FEED // The St. Philip Neri Festival, an annual Catholic Comedy event, is set for Feb. 15 in Mesa, Arizona, and will feature games, art exhibits, food trucks, and entertainment.
Paul Rugg, an actor, screenwriter, comedian, and producer who got his start in North Hollywood, California, is set to perform at the festival. Rugg took a break from his work this week to speak with CatholicVote about his “insider” perspective on the entertainment industry as a devout Catholic.
CatholicVote: How did you begin your career in the entertainment industry?
Paul Rugg: I was in a sketch comedy group called the Acme Players in North Hollywood. One of the founding members was Adam Carolla, who has now gone on to be quite the spokesperson for common sense. So that was pretty interesting. We did sketch comedy and improv, sort of like The Groundlings. We were like a lesser-known Groundlings, and it was a lot of fun.
CV: What’s the most meaningful project you’ve ever worked on?
Rugg: Believe it or not, it’s a project that I didn’t make any money on. It was directing plays for my daughter’s high school. It was so fun and very meaningful. It was a little classical school called St. Augustine Academy, and it was great.
CV: How has your faith informed your work?
Rugg: I would say that over the years, it’s changed. I think when I first started out, it was more like, ‘Oh, that’s interesting, but I’m going to do this over here.’ But as I’ve gotten older, it’s made me choose projects or not choose projects or know that I can audition for something, which happens a lot. So it really has provided a roadmap for what I do now, I think.
CV: Liberal agendas in kids’ entertainment are a pretty big concern for many parents. What do you think parents should know about the entertainment industry coming from an insider’s perspective?
Rugg: Two things. To not ever, ever let a child sit alone in front of the TV.
I come at it from a different perspective. A lot of people think that children’s television needs to enrich, enlighten, or educate. And that’s a very dangerous thing. The only thing children’s entertainment should do is entertain for that brief half hour. And then the parents can go ahead and educate, inform, and socialize. But there’s a huge industry around the myth that children’s television will actually provide some service. And I don’t believe it will. The best it can do is make your child laugh, or go, ‘Ooh, that’s an interesting story. Ooh, I wonder what happens next.’ I’ve always felt that and will always feel that.
The people making the shows, some of them who I know, who are wonderful people, but they’re kind of wacky in their beliefs and have no problem putting a lot of that in.
CV: What is your mentality toward Christian or wholesome entertainment in general, given this principle that entertainment is meant to entertain? How should people be approaching television and movies?
Rugg: I mean, I think we’ve all seen Christian shows, and I don’t think I’m going out on a limb here to say, ‘Wow, that’s pretty bad.’ So I think that you have to approach it and just say, ‘I’m going to tell a good story’ or ‘I’m going to try to make someone laugh’ or but don’t necessarily couch it in a Christian theme unless you’re really, really good at it. Otherwise, just tell a story. A good, wholesome story doesn’t have to be lousy.
As a Catholic, all things should be universal. We’re all humans. We’ve all had the same experiences. We’ve all had the same lousy teacher. We’ve all bought a used car. Meaning there are a billion things to laugh at and make fun of, especially from a comedy point of view, but not necessarily a religious one, right?
My thought has always been, if you make a good movie, people are going to want to find out, ‘Oh, who are you? What do you do? Oh, interesting. You’re Catholic. What’s that about?’
I don’t think you could look at someone’s house and go, ‘That’s a Christian house, you know, the rafters are very Christian.’ No, we’re all people. So it doesn’t necessarily have to be Christian or religious. It just has to be wholesome and good so we can all enjoy it as human beings.
CV: Given the way Hollywood is going now, where there’s a lot of prioritizing propaganda over good stories, who are you seeing in the film industry right now leading the way in just telling good stories?
Rugg: I don’t know because the pendulum swung so far to the crazy side that now it’s just beginning to swing back. I think it’s anyone that is telling good, fun stories or good movies to go see. So I don’t know if any one particular person is sort of leading that charge yet. Although I don’t think it’s lost on anybody that Top Gun Maverick did so well when it was just a regular old movie telling an old-fashioned story.
Note: This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
