Stand-up comedy — ‘can anything good come from there?’ Well, yesterday we discovered Eddie Izzard. He must be the student’s comedian. History, religion, language, pop culture…
His fabulous (!) 1998 stand-up, Dress to Kill, is an hilarious journey through European history. We loved his bits about church history http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ope-1Zb5t-k and his mini-skit of what the Inquisition would be like under Anglicans: CAKE OR DEATH! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAOLOGGftTY&feature=related
Stand-up comedy — ‘can anything good come from there?’ Well, yesterday we discovered Eddie Izzard. He must be the student’s comedian. History, religion, language, pop culture…
His fabulous (!) 1998 stand-up, Dress to Kill, is an hilarious journey through European history. We loved his bits about church history and his mini-skit of what the Inquisition would be like under Anglicans: CAKE OR DEATH!
Categories: Uncategorized Written by Arthur
Arthur Davis
Arthur Davis is an Aussie living in Tanzania, writing at meetjesusatuni.com.
Meet Jesus at uni 
I quite enjoyed his take on the formation of the Anglican church, and think it’s (for the most part) pretty accurate (for standup).
Having the dialogue between the Trinity at the end made me squirm, though. Satire is ok to a point, but that’s going a bit far in my opinion…
To the extent that the piece reminds us not to take ourselves too seriously, I think it’s great; but God can’t and won’t be mocked…
Izzard is not a Christian so I haven’t the slightest expectation to hear theological truth from him. (His latest stand-up tour, Stripped, is about how the Universe is random and unplanned.)
On the other hand, his satire is very revealing as to how Christians, the church and God are perceived in the wider world. The God that Izzard portrays is a small one, polite and doddery and dull — and this flows straight out of his portrayal of the Church of England.
All part of exegeting culture.
And I don’t mind having a laugh at something that is truly ridiculous and entirely unworthy!
I agree with most of what you’ve just said. I don’t expect Izzard to give theological truth either; perhaps our reactions would (should?) be different if the exact same sketch (less blatant vulgarity) were delivered by a “Christian” comic.
To the extent that his satire of CoE is accurate, I react with a mixture of amusement (comically, his delivery is amazing) and horror (what if much of the church *is* like this?).
There’s always room for poking fun at the truly ludicrous, but satire wouldn’t be satire if there weren’t some truth behind the laughter. And that part ain’t funny.
No, that part ain’t funny.
And that uncomfortable truth drives me not to defend corruption, nor to snicker and ignore it, but to strive for love and holy living. I think that must be our response.
Forgot to link this in the post: https://arthurandtamie.wordpress.com/2007/03/15/anglicanisms/