Christian comedy

Cafe Society
1

Christian comedy is a subgenre of comedy where the material presented is aimed towards a Christian audience. The performances are typically held on church grounds or at off-site, church-sponsored venues.

Had no idea this existed until I listened to a Marc Maron WTF podcast, he was talking to Taylor Tomlinson, who started out as one but decided she was not a believer. She was politely asked to leave the circuit after a joke deemed not appropriate.

I was brought up in a Baptist church and got saved when I was 12. If I were still a believer, I would probably love this stuff.

Anyway, without having seen one of these comedians, I wondered what the jokes would be. Something like, Jesus walks into a bar…

So I wrote one -

Jesus walks into a bar.
Bartender says, “What willl you have?”
Jesus says, “A glass of water.”
Bartender gives it to him. Jesus turns it into wine, and drinks all night for free.

OK, so I am not a joke writer. I just found it interesting that this subgenre existed. Comedy is just like porn, anything you can think of, it’s out there.

2

Funny you mention porn because while perusing the Kindle Unlimited selection, I was made aware of Christian Harlequin romances. I’m not sure how they pull it off.

3

I just ordered a Kindle. I have no more room for bookshelves in my apartment. Went for the Oasis. Looking forward to getting it, I love the feel and the weight of a book, and the satisfaction of finishing it and putting it on a shelf. But reading on a Kindle is so comfortable, I read one book years ago on one. One handed reading. And since I usually read with a little desk on my lap, one thumbed reading. Set the Kindle on the stand I also ordered and just thumb away.

4

If you want to see what Christian comedians’ stand-up sets are like, just do a search on YouTube, where you can find some of them.

I tried to find one of Taylor Tomlinson’s stand-up sets from when she was doing Christian comedy, but I can’t find any.

5

I doubt it. The target audience may not be comfortable with jokes about bars and drinking.

My impression is that when popular entertainment gets labeled “Christian,” that tells you more about what it doesn’t contain than about what it does.

6

a lot of “Christian” comedy is just normal comedy cleaned up or changed to be less offensive like I bought a book of “clean Christian jokes” that was the same old ethnic putdowns just with a made-up nationality or was profession based

So your not missing much

7

I was about to say that christians as a group had no sense of humor. But I have seen Christian humor on church signs.

Example: “Whoever stole our AC unit you can keep one it is hot where you’re going.”

You know, you’re not gonna fall out of your chair but it was mildly amusing.

There are better ones. I’m a heathen and too lazy to google.

8

ISWYDT :smiley:

lc

9

If you haven’t seen it, the Babylon Bee will remind you very much of The Onion, albeit with conservative and religious overtones.

Here are a couple of the headlines from their current issue.

Church Members Worshiping At Home Could Get Used To This Mute Feature

Streets Of Heaven Now Paved With Toilet Paper

10

There must be a web site, or a trade journal where pastors all over collect and contribute and pass around all those cutesy church sign slogans.

ETA: Okay, there’s this.

11

I don’t think Jim Gaffigan is a “Christian Comic” but he does work clean and I think has a large Catholic fan base as he is a self professed strong Catholic and brings it up in his act a lot, he is wildly successful as far as a standup is concerned.

12

Agreed; I suspect that the market for “Christian comedy” is largely conservative/Evangelical Christians, many of whom are teetotalers.

I also agree that Christian comedy is likely to be heavy on the dad-jokes, and low on insult humor, and zero humor about sex, drugs, or drinking.

13

Other “hilarious” articles from their current front page:
Kentucky Orders All Churchgoers To Wear Yellow Cross
China Impressed By Michigan Governor’s Totalitarian Policies

Iphone Update: ‘I Don’t Agree With You’ Now Autocorrects To ‘I Hate All Gay People’

Vicious Tyrant Trump Wants To Let People Leave Their Homes
I especially like the hilarious Christian joke that people who are looked down on for not practicing social distancing are just like Jews in the Holocaust.

Here is my Pit thread for it.

14

Yeah, that is really useful.

Oh wait, aren’t we still talking about porn?

15

You might want to check out Tim Hawkins. I believe he’s a Christian Comedian and I think he’s funny.

16

Chondra Pierce is pretty funny, Committed Christians have doubts and hang-ups and social or family problems, too, and can laughh at irony.

17

I came in to mention Chondra Pierce. I find her extremely unfunny but she is a prime example. From what I gather she tours churches and has a Christian singer opening for her. She of course works clean but it’s not mostly Jesus jokes. It’s family and relationship stuff mostly.

Oh also came in to move this to CS.

18

From what I’ve heard of her, Chonda Pierce is like a modern-day Erma Bombeck, more of a humorist than a comedienne.

Sinbad has long done profanity-free standup sets, ever since he did one because he knew his father, a pastor, was in the audience, and got his best audience response ever. Some people have referred to him as a “Christian” comedian, when really, his act could better be described as “appropriate for all ages.”

19

I saw Mike Warnke in the late 1980s, before he too got defrocked. The show was very funny, but at the end, when he told stories (later proven false) about being a satanist and engaging in human sacrifices, he said that his compound was housing homeless men that his ministry was hoping to keep alive until they could accept Christ. At that moment, I knew he was a fake.

20

Pete Holmes did Christian comedy early in his career. It’s a plot point in his semi-autobiographical HBO series Crashing.