The 11th Commandment: Thou Shalt Laugh

c. 2006 Religion News Service LOS ANGELES ÆÂ? Comedian Gilbert Esquivel is the son of migrant farm workers, so he knows hardship. “You’ve heard of Army brats ÆÂ? we were Salvation Army brats,” he joked at a recent show. Esquivel is a stout Mexican with wavy black hair. He tells the audience he looks like […]

c. 2006 Religion News Service

LOS ANGELES ÆÂ? Comedian Gilbert Esquivel is the son of migrant farm workers, so he knows hardship. “You’ve heard of Army brats ÆÂ? we were Salvation Army brats,” he joked at a recent show.

Esquivel is a stout Mexican with wavy black hair. He tells the audience he looks like the lovechild of Saddam Hussein and Wayne Newton; he’s not off the mark. Later, he riffed on his:


ÆÂ? Rough upbringing: “My mom wanted to raise us in a safe environment, so we moved to Los Angeles.”

ÆÂ? Mexican heritage: “We were bad little kids. They used to call us `Children of the Corn Tortillas.”’

ÆÂ? And the multiculturalism in L.A: “I got a homeboy ÆÂ? he’s black and he married a Korean. They had a baby and they named him Martin Luther Kim.”

“Esquivel performs at the top comedy clubs in Los Angeles, was recently featured on Comedy Central’s “Laffapalooza!” and has a role in an upcoming romantic comedy starring Jack Black and Cameron Diaz. On this night, he was working an audience of about 3,500 at Faith Community Church.

That’s right, a church.

“Though some might think it unorthodox for a church to host a raucous night of standup comedy, the crowd here was just in a good mood listening to some of the top comics in the country ÆÂ? all of them Christians.

The comics, the crowd and the upcoming movie highlight the confluence of three trends ÆÂ? the growing number of mainstream Christian comics, churches that are latching on to the growth in Christian comedy, and Hollywood producers who increasingly see money in those pews.

The comedians took the stage on a night when the evangelical megachurch typically hosts a Bible study. The event was hosted by Emmy Award-winning actress Patricia Heaton, from “Everybody Loves Raymond.” It will be turned into an upcoming feature film called “Thou Shalt Laugh,” scheduled for release in theaters across the country in the fall.


According to its producers, four major studios fought to distribute the film, with Warner Bros. winning the deal.

The seven comics featured in the film have performed for decades in clubs across the country. They don’t shy away from material related to their beliefs. Instead, it’s integrated it into their acts in a way that reflects faith, while being broad enough for a secular audience.

The Christian comedy industry has seen a boom over the past five years. In 2002, about 35 Christian comics gathered in Nashville to form the Christian Comedy Association. Today there are 350 in the group.

At the same time, the Christian subculture, which always lags behind the mainstream when it comes to such trends, is catching up. Congregations across the country have been hosting an increasing number of comedy nights. Some shows are outreach events for non-believers; others just provide Christians with a non-offensive environment for good clean fun.

Veteran Christian comic Dan Rupple, who leads the comics’ group, said some of the comics are on par with the best in the business, and mainstream clubs want clean humor. Churches, he said, are also much more receptive to comedians.

“The church has changed a lot in the past 30 years,” Rupple said. “They have a much better sense of humor about themselves. They embrace humor and they love to laugh.”


Christians, like anyone else, are pop culture consumers. “The Passion of the Christ” brought in $611 million at the box office, which challenged the assumptions of Hollywood’s secular elite: maybe church is good for something.

The filming of “Thou Shalt Laugh” had the air of a regular comedy concert, though there were some obvious signs of a church affair. The pastor opened with a prayer. They took an offering. And the warm-up comic tried hyping the crowd by throwing out free DVDs of “The 10 Commandments.” (BEGIN FIRST OPTIONAL TRIM)

Faith Community Church is located in West Covina, a burg just east of Los Angeles. Its exterior is boxy and surrounded by parking lots ÆÂ? more Costco than cathedral. The church boasts a Starbucks, and the sanctuary has exposed beams, theater-style seating and walls lined with acoustic sound tiles ÆÂ? all the functional charms of the American megachurch. (END FIRST OPTIONAL TRIM)

“Thou Shalt Laugh” is being produced by two Christians ÆÂ? a Hollywood insider and a publicist who’s expanding his reach. Producer Hunt Lowry has credits on dozens of films, starting as far back as the spoofs “Airplane” and “Top Secret,” and more recently on “Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie” and “A Walk to Remember.” Publicist Jonathan Bock is president of Grace Hill Media, a company that markets Hollywood to religious audiences.

“Thou Shalt Laugh” was Bock’s vision and believes it will have broad appeal.

“We live in a post-secular world; this is the mainstream,” Bock said. “The days of complete separation between your beliefs and everything you do is just not there anymore. … This stuff plays everywhere. It doesn’t just play in the fellowship hall.”

The audience for “Thou Shalt Laugh” was as diverse as Los Angeles itself ÆÂ? black, brown, white and all shades in between. Mixed couples, families, the old and the young. Guys with long beards and tattoos, style mavens and young professionals in khakis. (BEGIN SECOND OPTIONAL TRIM)


After the show, audience members gave the comics rave reviews. Spencer Johnson, 39, said he watches lots of comedy and the show was “a lot better than what I expected. It showed you can still laugh and have fun without the profanity.”

Lorenzo and Arcelia Lopez said they were pleased they could watch the show with their children Jacob, 10 and Emma, 9. It was the first time the family had seen a standup comedy show.

Comedian Michael Jr. is a laid-back African-American with a sly smile and self deprecating jokes that favor word play. He said someone once asked him if he was “pro-gay.”

“No, I’m not pro-gay, or amateur gay either,” Michael Jr. said. “I didn’t even know they had a league.”

(END SECOND OPTIONAL TRIM)

The humor of Thor Ramsey is more animated, caustic and sarcastic. One of his bits revolved around a recent trip to North Dakota: “It’s the only state where you can get an ice cream headache ÆÂ? from breathing.”

Ramsey considers it his duty to prod the evangelical subculture.

“There are a lot of misconceptions about what it means to be a born-again Christian,” Ramsey says in his act. “It’s pretty simple, really.”


“You just bow your head, say a simple prayer ÆÂ? and when you open your eyes, you’re a registered Republican with a firearm.” (STORY MAY END HERE. THIRD OPTIONAL TRIM FOLLOWS)

Ramsey has been performing standup full-time since 1987. He says he was a “lapsed Christian” in the beginning but he came back to faith in the mid-1990s. Now he hosts a TV show called “Bananas,” and performs in comedy clubs and churches across the country. A comedian’s job in any subculture is to speak the truth in a way that shakes them up, Ramsey said.

Some of the performers said that they prefer not to be known as “Christian comedians.” Esquivel, for instance, is one of several who says he’s a “comedian who also happens to be a Christian.”

Comedian Taylor Mason, who closed the “Thou Shalt Laugh” taping with a ventriloquist act, shared similar feelings. Mason started in comedy in the early 1980s with The Second City theater troupe in Chicago and said his regular performances in secular clubs hone his act.

“I’m a Christian,” he said, “abiding by my code of being a comedian.”

KRE END ALLEN

AP-NY-05-30-06 1544EDT

To obtain a photo of Esquivel for this story, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.

Also see related sidebar, RNS-CHRISTIAN-JOKES, transmitted May 30, 2006.

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