Why I Love Comedians

Saying I love comedians is a gross generalization. There are plenty that I don't find funny, that I hear as either inane or offensive. But as a general group, I love comedians. I guess I am kind of like Linus van Pelt, of Peanuts fame, who declared, "I love mankind, it's people I can't stand."

I love comedians for several reasons. As one could guess from the name of the blog, I love to laugh. Laughter is good. But I love comedians because we are in the same business. I don't mean entertainment, or making people laugh, or being in front of crowds speaking (although there are great correlations there).

In no particular order, comedians do the following things that are important to preaching (in my own humble estimation):

• They use various combinations of skillful timing, well turned phrases, gestures, body language, eyes and facial expressions to help get across their point (or joke or story or whatever it is), so that a connection is made with the audience, which is what all preachers hope to do with their congregations.
• They take the ordinary parts of life and flip them on their heads, a very Gospel way of doing things.
• They take the taboo, dirty, unseemly, "we don't talk about those things" parts of life and they rub our noses in them. Seems strange for a pastor to like this, and I don't mean it in a prurient way. What they often accomplish is popping the balloon of our own personal and social hypocrisies, a very Prophets way of doing things.
• They take the difficult and painful parts of life, expose them to some fresh air, and offer some catharsis, a very Psalms of Lament way of doing things.
• They make us think about life in new and different ways, a very Letters of Paul way of doing things.
• They often find a way to turn their own pain, grief, and difficulties into laughter, a very Psalms of Praise, Prophets, Gospel and Letters of Paul, okay most of the Bible, way of doing things.

So thank you to all the comedians who have taught me timing, encouraged me to be a fool for God, helped me defuse anxiety and get across difficult lessons to people through humor and laughter, and made my day better.