Of course they are not intentionally funny. And they don't think of themselves as comedians. But, hey, it's the final effect that matters.

Pat Robertson comes to mind.

Another point:
Where are the funny bits in the Bible? Did Jesus ever tell a joke?

for The New Yorker (I think) many many years ago that began, "And the Lord made an bet with Satan..." and went on to describe god twisting Job's nose "until it looked like a Molly screw."

Gotta dig that up again. It's around here somewhere...

That's always stuck with me for some reason.

Ever read "The Name of the Rose"? (it's really good)

As I recall, one of my first hides on DU resulted from little more than calling another poster "humorless."

Guess the group.

Christian is an entire subgenre of Comedy.
Check it out.

http://www.jesuscoffeebreak.com/10-funniest-christian-stand-up-comedians-hilarious-clean-comedy/

and may God bless.

%*$!@ dial up...

Red Skelton?

I forget the limitations of dialup.

Red Skelton, guest starring Harpo Marx in Camelot days.

"Somebody Up There Should Stay Up There"

So many threads I can't participate in, sigh...

But I do love it out here in the boonies - right now I am listening to a young male Mockingbird give his nightly concert. He starts every night at 11pm and so far he sucks. The only call he does well is a rooster.

And loud, hoo boy, is he ever, that bird could raise the dead.

If he really does raise the dead ...


let me know.

The words "clean" and "clean humor" are all over this place. Like some weird version of Tourette's.

Huge "clean jokes" section. But all the jokes I read are older than Barbara Bush, meaning they were written circa 700 BCE. And about as funny as a rubber crutch.

I mentioned it in another thread. Despite the "clean" obsession, the site seems to be named for a pretty raunchy novel - "God's Little Acre" by Erskine Caldwell. Whoops! Poor Xians - so many ways for the Devil to sneak up and bite you in the ass...

http://godslittleacre.net

the congregation to be self effacing. UU too. Sorry, but my experience of organized religion has always involved humour as a way to be humble and enjoy being together.

some guy doing a bit stolen from Robin Williams, but when Robin did it, it was hysterical. She liked it because it was clean and appropriate for kids. Robin performed on tv thousands of times and was funny, clean or dirty, but she has that mindset that if a performer doesn't give it all up for god, they're no good.

The following people identify as theists...at least in some of their self-released biographical information.


Stephen Colbert
Dane Cook
Chris Tucker
Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat)
Kevin Smith
Steve Harvey

Oddly enough I am mildly amused by a couple of them and find the rest not quite funny at all, but comedy is subjective indeed and what's funny to one is not funny to another often irrespective of religious views.

It seems to me he does recognize that his religion isn't "true" (I say this because of all the satire he has done about religion both on his own show and the Daily Show), yet he willfully chooses to believe in it because he wants to, while simultaneously recognizing that it's mythology with no more "truth" than any other religion. He's said as much. I don't know how you can just reconcile that split in your thinking enough to still go to mass and all that crap, but some smart people obviously can.

I think the difference is when they do comedy about faith. Then it's as funny as Dennis Miller.

Look up "Christian Comedy" on YouTube and be prepared not to laugh.

There are tons of great bands with religious members - or at least believers if not overly religious - but when they start marketing themselves as "christian" metal (or hard rock) the quality takes a nosedive into the depths of the lake of fire.


I suspect the key word here is "marketing".

My parents dragged me to church every time they opened the doors. Our preacher started every sermon with a joke. The ones I remember were openly racist, not very funny, but played well to the white audience.

until I graduated high school and left home. I don't recall hearing the N word from the pulpit but I heard it plenty from the pastor and the youth ministers - often only after carefully looking around like the chickenshits they were.

Definitely contained the n-word, from the pulpit, great audience response. The preacher was half Cherokee, and I always wondered if he felt obliged to act racist since he was not "pure white".

I think it's more the case of the material rather than the individual. Stephen Colbert doesn't do bits that are pro-religion and funny. Comedy is subversive.

An unusual theist, certainly, but a theist all the same.

Griffin was accused of being an atheist afterwards. But I remember her denying that and saying, "I must be the last Catholic in America with a sense of humor."

From Snopes.com: