Paddy McGuinness 'scared' of religion as a child
Paddy McGuinness was "a little bit scared" of religion when he was younger, but his views changed when he attended the christening of Peter Kay's son.
Paddy McGuinness used to be a “little bit scared” of religion growing up.
The 51-year-old comedian dreaded going to church because of the "solemn" atmosphere and how nuns used to "kick [his] a**** up and down the bloody schoolyard".
He explained to Jessie and Lennie Ware on their 'Table Manners' podcast: "If I went to church, the priest was always like, really solemn, and you sat there, in this cold place, and don't say anything, don't do anything (..)
"And then the nuns used to, like, kick our asses up and down the bloody schoolyard. So it was always a bit negative."
However, his view on churches and religion changed when he attended the christening of his 'Phoenix Nights' co-star Peter Kay's son Charlie, and the priest allowed the children in attendance to run riot.
The 'Top Gear' presenter continued: "This priest came out and he went, 'Listen, everyone, if you've got your kids, we and what have you, let them run round. If they want to grab stuff, leave them to it.'
"I just went, 'Bloody hell. This is how it should be.'
"And weirdly, it kind of changed my view on that, and churches and everything else.
"I kind of just thought, if you can be inclusive and make people feel like everyone's welcome and you can have a laugh ... it just lifted a lot off my shoulders."
Paddy - who has 11-year-old twins Leo and Penelope, and eight-year-old daughter Felicity with his ex-wife Christine McGuinness - thinks hit ITV1 Saturday night dating show 'Take Me Out', which he fronted from 2010 until its end in 2019, could not be made now amid woke culture.
He admitted: "I think if you did it now, I hope I'm wrong, but I think if you did it now, there'd be that many bloody things going, oh, you can't do that.
"You can't say this and take things out of context and what have you, because essentially, it's a family Saturday night entertainment show."
However, Paddy would jump at the chance if bosses brought it back for charity specials.
The star teased: "If they said, like, do you want to do a, you know, two or three charity specials, I would be all over it. "
Episode 21 of 'Table Manners' is available to stream on all podcast platforms now.
