Can Comedy Point the Way to Faith?

Truth can come from a range of places. In Shakespeare, it’s the fool who  often has the insight that the main characters lack. In the Old Testament,  it’s the prophets that proclaim the truth from God’s perspective. 

Maybe today, we should be listening more to the comedians – to the  people who stand back from our day-to-day happenings and see the world  from different angles. They can make us laugh, but they can also teach us  truths about ourselves that can be distinctly uncomfortable. 
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Take the new book by comedian, and Catholic, Frank Skinner. It’s called ‘A  Comedian’s Prayer Book’ (Hodder & Stoughton) and runs to just over a hundred pages. Yet in that thin volume, Skinner – who is very open about  his devout Christian faith – poses serious questions for both believers and  atheists. 

Revd Peter Crumpler, Church of England

It’s far from being a comfortable read, though it never ceases to be amusing  and thoughtful. 

Setting the scene for the book, Skinner, an award-winning comedian,  television and radio host, explains: “Imagine someone on a pilgrimage,  stopping at churches, martyr-related tourist spots and sacred wells, while  dressed in a medieval jester outfit. ​

“The intention is serious and completely devout, but the pilgrim just feels  more at home in the motley than in sackcloth and ashes. He feels jest is an  integral part of who he is, and it seems wrong to deny that part.” 
Skinner sees his role as a comic as integral to this faith, although some  ‘fellow pilgrims’ may be uncomfortable with someone who seems to see  humour all around him – and can easily make others laugh. 

Yet Frank Skinner raises deep issues in the chapters of this slim volume,  including questions that will connect with people both within the Christian  faith, and those standing outside. 

He describes his prayer life as “a telepathic dip into a long, ongoing  conversation with thousands of tabs left open and no helpful ‘new readers  start here’ summaries or simplifications for the neutral observer.” 
Skinner’s ‘prayer book’ is on my bookshelf alongside ’10 Second Sermons,’  (Darton, Longman & Todd) written by fellow comedian Milton Jones in  2011. Again, the comedian’s quirky view on life brings fresh insights and  challenges. 

Jones, a master of one-line jokes, describes gossip as “bullying people who  are not there,” lust as “rehearsing for a play in which you shouldn’t have a  part” and salvation as “like being returned to the factory settings – but you  have to admit there is a factory, and that there could be some settings.” 

One of my favourites is Jones’s description of the Holy Spirit as “a real  person you can invite in. But watch out – in time He will go over, pull the  fridge from the wall and say, ‘What’s all this mess under here?’ But at least  He helps clear up.”

Both Milton Jones and Frank Skinner are comedians of faith – comedic  commentators with a gift of making us see the world with fresh insight.  And, as importantly, making us laugh. 
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Revd Peter Crumpler
Associate Minister at St Paul's Church, Hatfield Road, St Albans

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