Apostles of Comedy: The Movie

“Doctor Howard! Doctor Fine! Doctor Howard!”

Every head bowed, every eye closed. Now raise your hand if you just thought of The Three Stooges running around in a hospital. …I see that hand. If laughter does the heart good like medicine (and The Bible says that it does) then it makes sense that so many of the classic comedy teams at some point ended up playing doctors. That being the case, I guess you could say that the four subjects of Apostles of Comedy: The Movie are something like faith healers, since their faith-fueled comedy goes down like a dose of good medicine for the soul. The practitioners in question (specialists in their fields, of course) are Jeff Allen (family practice), Brad Stine (mental disorders), Anthony Griffith (relational trauma), and Ron Pearson (general practitioner). Only one question is really important, though – are these guys funny? Yes. There will be laughs – and they won’t drink your milkshake.

To many people, the term ‘Christian comedian’ is an oxymoron – to others, it’s simply redundant. The assumption is that Christians have no real sense of humor, or that we simply default to the Hee-Haw variety. Of course, neither is the truth (well…), and the four comedians on Apostles of Comedy: The Movie prove that there is such a thing as stand-up comedy that is sharp, witty, observant, and just-plain funny without being obscene or mean-spirited. Allen, Stine, Griffith, and Pearson make genuinely funny observations about family, society, political correctness, and life in general, managing to be edgy and speak from a Christian worldview at the same time. Allen’s observations on everyday family life bring to mind Bill Cosby, while Griffith gives us the same thing, but from an African-American perspective and a more resigned attitude. Ron Pearson gives us a little bit of everything, as he tries to make sense of life in our world, and Brad Stine sets out to unapologetically skewer political correctness, hypocrisy, and anything else that doesn’t make sense to him about today’s society.

The live performances featured in the documentary are used as a framing device (although the film is essentially focused on the stand-up routines) for the personal stories of the individual performers. Between ‘concert’ segments we see the comedians together in an informal situation, discussing their motivations and personal stories. We also get to see the four men at home interacting with family members, who also take turns sharing anecdotes and personal stories about what life is like when the head of the household’s job is trying to make other people laugh. Particularly poignant is the story of Anthony Griffith, who’s found life to be “like a novel … with God as the author,” even though one chapter of his life’s story included the loss of his young daughter to cancer and his own subsequent development of MS. We see the serious side of the comedians, yes - but don’t let that give you the impression that this is a heavy-handed ‘message’ film. Thankfully, they didn’t let the serious discussion kill the comic intensity. The bottom line of Apostles of Comedy: The Movie is still to get you to laugh.

Unlike the Thou Shalt Laugh DVDs, which featured uninterrupted routines, The Apostles of Comedy: The Movie gives the comedy out in doses. Each comedian performs in several segments throughout the film, perhaps playing havoc with the performers’ momentum. It might have made more sense to allow the routines to unfold in separate, complete performances with short off-stage segments between each one. The more in-depth interviews might have been saved as extra features instead of being incorporated into the film. Still, there are plenty of laugh-out-loud spots (and some pretty manic moments thanks to the lunatic-fringe style of Brad Stine). It’s medicine that goes down real easy.

Tagged as: Anthony Griffith, Apostles of Comedy: The Movie, Brad Stine, Jeff Allen, Ron Pearson

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