Brandon Firla has an interesting theory about comedy and religion.

"I actually was thinking comedy and religion are kind of the same, because you can say outrageous things and have an instant defence for it," Firla said. "Either, 'I'm just joking', or, 'It's in the Bible.' "

Firla also is hoping that comedy and religion find common ground on your TV screens when the fourth season of Little Mosque on the Prairie debuts Monday on CBC.

Firla has joined the Little Mosque cast as Reverend William Thorne. The idea is that Rev. Thorne will bring some edginess back to the series, which in the past season and a half had become far too bland and safe.

After all, Little Mosque has a unique premise. If it doesn't venture right up to the precipice of making people angry, then it is wasting that premise.

"(Rev. Thorne) is very condescending, but very manipulative and hides everything with a smile," Firla said. "So he's what I call spiritually insane. He's this really self-absorbed mad man. He's a Christian extremist with his own interpretation of what Christianity and Anglicanism is. But always with a smile.

"He's assigned to this church (in Mercy, Sask.), sight unseen, and he shows up and he's appalled that there's a mosque renting his community hall. So he goes out of his way to try to eradicate this problem, this infestation. He basically spends the 18 episodes trying to do this."

Hmmm ... we're guessing Rev. Thorne's attitude doesn't go over all that well with the people in the mosque, right?

"It's Rev. Thorne against Amaar (played by Zaib Shaikh) the whole season, in various battles," Firla said. "It's like 18 rounds with Ali and Frazier, me trying to knock Amaar and his Muslim clan out of my church."

Prior to this, Firla was best known for his role on Billable Hours, an underrated series -- "It wasn't," Firla joked -- that ran from 2006 to 2008 on Showcase.

"I thought we had lightning in a bottle the first season, and I thought, 'Wow, this could be something really great,' " Firla said. "And it was, I'm not saying (otherwise). But it didn't reach that level of exposure.

"One of the people who used to be at Showcase who helped develop Billable Hours (Al Magee) was brought on as the executive producer of Little Mosque last season, and he was still there, obviously, for this season.

"It was his thought to turn this new season more into the conflict between the two faiths. So he knew me from Billable Hours and thought I might be a good fit for this, which is great."

It's funny, when Firla described Rev. Thorne as "condescending," we couldn't help but relay one of our favourite exchanges on The Simpsons.

After Springfield's volunteer fire department saves Homer's house, Rev. Lovejoy is explaining to Homer how God was "working in the hearts of your friends and neighbours when they came to your aid, be they Christian (points to Ned Flanders), Jew (points to Krusty) or miscellaneous (points to Apu)."

An indignant Apu says, "Hindu! There are 700 million of us!"

To which Rev. Lovejoy replies condescendingly, "Ah, that's super."

"You know what? What you just described, that is what (Little Mosque) is trying to be," Firla said. "We're trying to get that irreverence back.

"It's about taking advantage of the biggest theme the show has."