Here at The Daily Bonnet, we sure love a good laugh. While many of you may be familiar with Mennonite standup comedians such as Leland Klassen and Matt Falk, there actually are a bunch of other totally hilarious comics you should know about. The fine folks on the list below have left us in stitches on many occasions and their comedic abilities need to be more widely recognized. So, here we go: Top 5 Christian Standup Comedians. These are our favourites. Who are yours?
5. Kenneth Copeland – Satirists often sarcastically advocate what they actually despise. Christian novelist Jonathan Swift, for example, once satirically advocated cannibalism in order to criticize the rich. While 19th-century Ireland had the great Jonathan Swift, 21st century America has the brilliant Christian satirist Kenneth Copeland. Mr. Copeland preaches an amusing satirical theology known as the “prosperity gospel,” which is a sendup of Jesus’ “blessed are the poor” teachings. He takes everything Jesus ever said about the rich and poor and teaches the exact opposite. It’s side-splittingly clever. But Copeland doesn’t just preach satire, he lives it, flying around in a private jet and claiming his 6.3 million dollar mansion as a “parsonage.” Ha, ha, good one, Kenny.
4. Joyce Meyer – It’s hard to call Joyce Meyer a “standup” comic because, as seen in the clip below, she likes to spend a lot of time screeching and flailing about on the ground, which apparently people find very very funny. Still, Joyce Meyer is most hysterical when she’s out shopping. Just one glance at her shopping list, paid for my her ministry, will have you chuckling. Besides more predictable items like a mansion and private jet, she has also used ministry money to purchase a $6300 eagle sculpture, a $5000 silver eagle (you can never have enough eagles), a $7000 porcelain Stations of Cross and a $23,000 antique commode. Joyce Meyer’s greatest act of comedy is continuing to convince people to send her their money.
3. Creflo Dollar – Creflo Dollar does his standup routine every Sunday at World Changers Church International in Georgia. The ‘F’ he received for his ministry’s financial transparency, apparently stands for ‘funny’ because, wow, this guy is side-splitting. He comes from the same school of comical theology as Kenneth Copeland and does this “prosperity gospel” thing like no other. Who says that you can’t make a living doing Christian standup? Creflo owns three multimillion dollar homes and a couple Rolls Royces to boot. Plus, his name is Dollar. I see what you did there, Creflo. Very clever.
2. Peter Popoff – Peter Popoff is near the top of our list of most hilarious Christian standup comedians. Since his “faith healing” abilities were exposed as fraudulent by James Randi back in the 1980s, Peter Popoff has had to resort to comedy to make a living. Today, it’s all just for giggles and a few bucks as he “heals” people with the touch of his hand and hawks “Miracle Spring Water,” which makes a great gag gift to send to all your friends. Sales of this and other novelty items has placed Mr. Popoff in a 4.5 million dollar mansion and a few nice German cars. The man is pure comic gold!
1. Jim Bakker – Ah, yes, Jim Bakker. You knew this was coming, didn’t you? After serving 5 years in prison for mail fraud and conspiracy, Pastor Jim is back and on top of his comedic game. Well, see for yourself, in this awesome parody of the shopping channel. In this episode, old Jim sells a huge bucket of potato soup for a small donation of just $160. Trust me, this video will have you rolling in the aisles.
(photo credit: meaduva/CC/modified)
