Now That’s a Joyful Noise

“There are a lot of misconceptions about what it means to be a born-again Christian. It’s pretty simple, really. You just bow your head, say a simple prayer, and when you open your eyes you’re a registered Republican with a firearm.”

--Christian comedian Thor Ramsey

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Evangelical Christians are better known for the religious right than for riotous laughter, but as stand-up Christian comedy gains momentum, the giggling is growing.

At a recent “Comics 4 Christ” show at Woodland Hills Community Church, four comedians kept an audience of hundreds rolling.

The man who lined up the acts was “gospel comedian” Vernard “Bone” Hampton, one of several dozen Christian comics who perform in secular venues and in church shows around Southern California.

Their humor is reflected in the advice Hampton says his pastor gave him for finding a good woman at church: “Watch ‘em when they come into church. Do they come into church like they’ve been there before? Or do they have their ID out ‘cause they think it’s a club? During praise and worship, are they praising the Lord, or raising the roof? Do they think Mary was a virgin, or that Mary was a Virgo?”

The mainly evangelical Christians who attend these events are able to laugh wholeheartedly, without the anxiety that would be part of the price of admission at a typically raunchy secular comedy club in Hollywood or West Los Angeles.

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“When I wanted to get married, my pastor told me I should leave the men alone, trust God, and take myself off the market. I said, ‘Not only am I NOT off the market, I’m in the front aisle with a clearance sign on my chest. It says: “No Refund, No Exchange, Buy One Get It All Free, SE HABLA ESPANOL.”’”

--Comedian Sherri Shepherd

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Embracing culture through a medium like comedy is a relatively new concept in evangelical Christianity, said Rob Johnston, professor of theology and culture at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena.

For much of the 20th century, most Protestant churches did all they could to remove themselves from popular culture. But over the past 20 to 30 years, the evangelical Christian community has begun to cautiously reverse that, Johnston said. Pastors of mega-churches, ever-conscious of the art of performance, have been expected for years to include humor in their sermons, Johnston noted.

“Comics 4 Christ” is one of several church-based shows in L.A. that provide a more sophisticated view of Christianity to people who may be hostile to it. “Most Christians today recognize that life was created to be enjoyed with each other and God,” Johnston said. “For us to be able to laugh together is appropriate and wonderful.”

Thor Ramsey, the headliner of the recent “Comics 4 Christ” show and producer of his own “Pure Comedy” show, offers another theory: When it comes to trends, evangelical Christians generally lag a decade or two behind secular culture, he said. Stand-up comedy boomed in the ‘80s, and now Christians are catching up.

Ramsey was a full-time comedian before he became a Christian. He took a year off, turned his blue routine squeaky clean and added a short profession of faith to the act. “When I first came back to comedy, I didn’t feel the psychological need to perform to the crowd,” he said. “It was the most freeing time I’ve felt in comedy.”

Sherri Shepherd struggled harder to make the same transition. Becoming a Christian did not immediately remove her appreciation of how her “nasty and dirty” style of comedy worked on an audience.

“I remember being on my knees crying, saying, ‘I can’t let this go! You’re going to give me something better?’” Shepherd said. In what she describes as an act of faith, she says she removed swearing and sexuality from her act and then found God answering her prayer for new material.

God “opened the doors of creativity so wide that sometimes the ideas come so fast I can’t even write them down,” said Shepherd, who has also been a series regular on several TV shows.

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“I made the mistake of purchasing a Bible at the 99 Cents store, and I got an “irregular” Bible. My Bible had a few pages missing; some Scripture was misquoted. It wasn’t the King James Version--it was the Rick James version.”

--”Bone” Hampton

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One thing stand-up comedy clubs and churches have in common is a reputation for segregating white from black. This has led to a distinctly black “gospel” style of comedy, but also to a commitment to be inclusive.

Since 1997, many L.A.-based Christian comedians have performed at Lamont Bonman’s “Gospel Komedy SLAMMs”--the biggest and most established Christian comedy show in the area.

The shows are produced almost weekly at venues throughout L.A. and have a “Showtime at the Apollo” feel to them, often drawing more than 1,000 people.

Bonman says he tries to integrate Christianity by booking comics from different racial backgrounds.

“I think one reason people like Malcolm X and Ali went to Islam is because of the prejudice they saw in the [white] church--especially in the South,” Bonman said.

Bonman said he recently asked a secular black comedy promoter why he didn’t tap into the white audience. “White people don’t want to sit next to black people,” the promoter told him.

“I think it’s important that we tear down the walls,” Bonman said.

Hampton says he also tries to achieve a racial and gender mix at “Comics 4 Christ” bookings. At the Woodland Hills show, the Rev. Garry Zeigler, pastor of Spirit Food Ministries, which rents space at Woodland Hills Community Church, was on board with the push for integration. Zeigler said there are no racial boundaries when people share a relationship with Jesus Christ. When he invited members of the audience to hug one another and say “I love you” after the show, they complied with gusto.

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“Imagine a country where pot is legal. Domino’s would deliver your pizza, and it would already be eaten.”

--Thor Ramsey

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Ramsey says one of the most common questions he gets from Christians is: Isn’t “Christian comedian” an oxymoron? His answer: Christian comedians use stand-up as a vehicle for sharing their faith.

Ramsey’s “Pure Comedy” show, based in his home church, Anaheim Vineyard Christian Fellowship, lets people who aren’t Christians know that “God is good and Christians are OK,” he said.

Audience members are encouraged to bring non-Christian friends by paying only $1 per friend when the Christian pays the $10 full price.

People turned off by Christian concepts of church or God may not become Christians at the show, but they might move a step closer to the faith, Ramsey believes.

“Humor breaks down walls,” he said. “You won’t laugh at someone you don’t like.”

Bonman is even more direct in sharing the faith with nonchurchgoers at his shows. The title of his show, “SLAMM,” is an acronym for Salvation, Laughter and Ministering Music. It features comedy, music and an “altar call”--a presentation that invites people to follow Christ.

Bonman envisions himself as a Billy Graham with punch lines.

“My vision is to see stadiums full of people who wouldn’t normally go to church, with the same results as Billy Graham.”