Thou Shalt Laugh

Catholic Exchange by Patti MacGuire Armstrong:

Everyone loves to laugh. It clears the air and brings down walls. Laughter chases away pain and is healthier (and cheaper) than alcohol or drugs. Even though my husband and I love comedy, the Comedy Central channel is blocked at our house. There are just too many hijackers using X-rated humor rather than true wit. Vulgarity is merely arrested development—like naughty words getting a laugh among the pre-school set.

Recently, we had a couple families over our house. I had given my kids permission to put on “Thou Shalt Laugh! 5,” which was sent to me to review, the latest release in the series. My kids had already watched it with me and wanted to share the laughs with their friends. The adults had been outside until a thunderstorm hit and we all came in. Two of the dads passing by our family room paused with concern when they saw the kids watching adult comedians.

“Don’t worry,” I told them, reading their concerned expressions. “It’s Christian comedy. The ‘Thou Shalt Laugh!’ series are DVDs of comedy concerts with Christian comedians.”

Relief immediately relaxed their expressions. “Oh good,” one said. “You never know with comedy these days.”

Family-Friendly Comedy

What makes the series Christian is not that all jokes lead to some aspect of religion–although some of them do–but that Jesus, Mary, and Joseph could be sitting right next to you and you would never have to wince that something said was offensive.

Not everyone enjoys comedy in the same way. That is one of the strengths of the “Thou Shalt Laugh!” series. Each one has an assortment of comedians with different styles and schticks.

Taylor Mason, who has been in all five DVDs, is a ventriloquist who is not just funny, but also fast and clever. Bone Hampton and Gilbert Esquivel have made names for themselves in comedy. My kids and I laughed hard at Hamptom’s proclamation that every guy needs a “dude friend in Christ.” He explained that if Adam would have had a dude friend in Christ, he could have been warned not to eat the apple but to instead snack on some grapes or other fruit.

Leland Klassen is tall with huge hands, which he uses as part of his routine. Anyone watching him show how his hands spread across his face touching one ear with his thumb and the other with his fingertips, is compelled to see how far their own hands reach. Gilbert Esquivel refers to his family, especially his mother’s ineptitude with computer technology, to get laughs.

Chonda Pierce

Chonda Pierce, a Southern belle with a voice that makes you laugh even before she gets to the punch line, hosted this fifth concert. In an interview, she described her voice as “both my blessing and my curse,” explaining that there can be no disguising it—so her kids can always find her in a crowd just by listening.

Chonda is an award-winning comedian and author with a Christian testimony. “I’m my own opening act,” she explains of her ability to evoke laughs before diving into her story as proof of what God can do. Her dad was a Protestant minister of a very conservative sect–”There were a lot of rules like the Catholics but we did not have confession, unfortunately, which would have saved me a lot of money in therapy later on.”

As the middle of three girls, her life was riddled with grief when her older sister died in a car accident at 20 and her younger one died of leukemia at 15. Her father left his position at his church in disgrace. “He struggled with mental health,” Chonda explained. Comedy began as survival for her but it turned into ministry and a prosperous career.

In college, Chonda was a theater major but she fell in love and married during her senior year, dropping out with only one semester left. Ironically, her husband is a university professor. “I just wanted to have sex,” she laughed, “but I was a good Christian girl so I got married first.” She landed a job at Opryland Themepark in Nashville, Tennessee, where she worked for six years impersonating comedian Minnie Pearl.

Comedy proved to be more than just therapeutic for Chonda. She has written eight books, including one about her struggle with depression, Laughing in the Dark: A Comedian’s Journey Through Depression. She has five gold-certified comedy albums and two platinum, appears regularly on TV and radio, and is a sought-after Christian speaker.

Chonda said that the life of a Christian comedian was lonely when she was just starting out. “I’ve been at this for twenty years,” she explained.

“At the end of one comedy concert, people commented on how nice the fellowship was with other Christian comics, so I invited everyone out to my farm–The Funny Farm–for a get-together. Around fifty people showed up,” she said. “The next year over eighty people came.” The desire to connect with people who cared about both Christ and comedy led to the formation of the Christian Comedy Association, which holds a get-together once a year now.

Laugh for the Love of Jesus!

Among Christian comics, denominational lines fade as humor is seen as a gift from God and laughter as a way to glorify him. (Christians of all denominations–yes, even Catholic–have been invited to perform in these concerts.) Respectful jokes and routines open the door to fun without warning labels.

Chonda points out that one of the things that is so refreshing about the “Thou Shalt Laugh!” series is that people vote with their dollars. “People appreciate fun, clean, safe entertainment,” she said.

Fr. Peyton coined the saying, “The family that prays together, stays together.” Perhaps the same could be said of the family that laughs together. At least while we are all together laughing, no one is getting into trouble or fighting!

Patti Maguire Armstrong is the mother of ten children including two Kenyan AIDS orphans. She is a speaker and the author of Catholic Truths for Our Children: A Parent's Guide (Scepter) Stories for the Homeschool Heart and also the children's book, Dear God, I Don't Get It!" (Bezalel). She was the managing editor and co-author of Ascension Press's Amazing Gracebook series. Her website is RaisingCatholicKids.com.