“Christian” humor can be hokey, but “Coffee with Jesus” is actually funny. Here’s my profile of the creator, David Wilkie.

Quick: Name your favorite Catholic comedian or humorist. Can’t think of one? There’s a reason for that.

Religious humor can be tricky. Either it’s saccharine and not that funny, or it’s hilarious but borderline or even blatantly offensive. Yet if Stephen Colbert (my favorite Catholic comedian) has demonstrated anything, it’s that humor can be the best way to get across your message — even a religious one.

Unfortunately, good religious humor can be rare, though NCR‘s own Pat Marrin’s “Francis, the comic strip” and my friend Jana Riess’ Twible, in which she creates daily Onion-like tweets of Scripture, are exceptions.

Another favorite funny-bone tickler, also distributed via social media, is “Coffee With Jesus,” a daily online comic strip and now book (InterVarsity Press), written by David Wilkie.

Wilkie is an Orlando, Fla.-based advertising copywriter and all-around artist who creates, with his wife and via various media, under the banner of a company called “Radio Free Babylon.” He also grew up Catholic.

The comic is irreverent yet insightful, attracting more than 40,000 followers on Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus, including a variety of churches and congregations.

Read my whole column in the Dec. 6 issue of the National Catholic Reporter here.