Stephen Fry once considered becoming a priest

7 June 2019

Stephen Fry considered becoming a priest before he realised he doesn't actually believe in God.

Stephen Fry

The 61-year-old comedian visited a Bishop to discuss his chances of joining the clergy as a lover of church music and the architecture of the religious buildings and thought he would make the perfect priest as he is a great public speaker.

However, he was faced with "one small problem" - he's an atheist.

Speaking on 'The Graham Norton Show', he said: "When I was a teenager I thought about it.

"I love churches - the music and the architecture.

"I fancied the clothes and I knew I could deliver a fantastic sermon and I even went to talk to a Bishop about it.

"We decided I would make a wonderful priest if it wasn't for the one small problem that I didn't believe in God!"

The discussion came up as actor Andrew Scott, who plays The Priest in hit comedy series 'Fleabag', was sat next to the 'Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold' author on the BBC One show.

Stephen was promoting his upcoming 'Mythos' tour, which is inspired by his tome about the "thrills, grandeur, and unabashed fun of the Greek myths", which will see the British star hit the road for the first time in four decades.

His last run was in the late 80s with his Fry and Laurie comedy partner and close friend Hugh Laurie, whom he met through their mutual friend Emma Thompson whilst attending Cambridge University.

He said: "I finally plucked up the courage to do it again.

"The last time I toured it was with Hugh Laurie and we were students.

"It was a long time ago.

"We didn't have enough material for an encore, so on the way to the next show we thought about what students did including watching TV and the then new Aussie soap 'Neighbours', so we devised a parody.

"We didn't know they had become obsessed with it and at the end of our show we started to sing the theme tune and the place erupted.

"It was thrilling to do tours in those days because you didn't know what was going to happen."

'The Graham Norton Show' airs on BBC One at 10.35pm on Friday (07.06.19).