10 Questions Answered by Bob Smiley

What inspired you to pursue Christian comedy as a career?

Actually, I never wanted to do standup comedy. After High School, I went off to Abilene Christian University in Abilene, TX. I majored in Elementary Education thinking the classes would be easy. After all, I already knew most of the alphabet. During my Junior year, I entered a few standup competitions only because they were offering some cash prizes that became very appealing to a starving college kid. Well, I found that standup offered a better salary per hour than determining whether or not someone desired fries with their purchase. However, a life spent in bars and standup clubs was not desirable to me. So, upon graduation, I did what most college graduates do, I got a job involving absolutely nothing I studied in college. I did want to be a teacher, but first wanted to see what it was like to have some money in a bank. So, I became a professional photographer in Dallas, TX. where I worked for 1 year. Towards the end of that year, I received an unexpected call from an old college friend who now lived in Nashville, TN and was working as a Road Manager for Christian singer Clay Crosse. This old friend had seen me do stand up in college at those contest and wanted to know if I was interested in going out on tour with Clay with the idea of getting up in-between the acts and using my strange, yet clean and positive comedy to entertain the audiences. Clay's tour opened up the possibility of doing standup without having to go to the normal comedy venues. Also, I quickly realized that I could use comedy as a ministry which is where the "Christian" part of "Christian Comedian" comes from. My comedy was well met with the audiences and I began to get many other offers to do standup. So, in short (is it too late for that?), God had a completely different path for me and I tried to follow it as best I could.

Was it difficult to get a start?

Even though God was leading me and I had big break so to speak, I still had to pay my dues just like everyone else. I use to agree to road manage or take care of all the merchandise for a tour in order to get to do standup. This usually meant waking up about 7 AM, loading in all t he equipment and setting up the Merchandise displays. Around noon I would start inventory, counting all the Christian T-shirts, C.D.'s, dog tags, photos, posters, tiny staplers, mouse pads, shovels, horse shoes, marbles, etc., etc. I'd work all day setting stuff up and training the volunteers that would run the merch booths. I'd usually open the show with 10 minutes of standup or until the booing drowned me out. I'd then emcee the rest of the show. Afterwards I'd sell stuff at the me rch table until everyone left. I'd then start counting everything back out, put it all in boxes again and spend an hour loading it back in the truck. I usually crawled into my bunk at about 2 AM totally worn out but the 3 autographs and the one or two people I'd pray with after the show was worth it all. That and I usually got free coffee and a ton of hotel shampoo!! So, it wasn't difficult but it took a lot of patience and energy to keep focused on my goals and I had to be creative in order to keep getting in front of people.

What would your grade school teacher say about you?

With the exception of Mrs. Barnes, who you can read about in Revelation, I had great teachers that actually encouraged me to be different....sometimes they encouraged me to be different in the principal's office, but they were encouraging nonetheless. The first joke I remember telling was in second grade during a math lesson. We each had to do a problem on the board and mine was "If you have two birthday candles and you add two more birthday candles, how many birthday candles would you have left? I walked up to the board and said, "2 birthday candles plus 2 more birthday candles give you 4 birthday candles (prepare for great joke here!!!!)....I mean, come on, its a PIECE OF CAKE!!" Cake...get it...Birthday Candles...cake. Much like my shows, the students didn't laugh but the teacher, who was having a bad day, started laughing and smiled th e rest of the day. I never forgot that. Even then, I thought, "Maybe I can use humor to make friends or to make people be happy." So, uh...what was the question? Oh, I think my grade school teachers would be proud unless it was Mrs. Barnes and then I think she would just try to stab me with her pitch fork.

What does it take to put together a script for your shows?

I'm constantly writing stuff down that I see or hear that might be worked into a bit but mos t of my standup stuff comes from situations that I've found myself in. For instance, two stories on my new C.D. basically happened exactly the way I tell it without too many jokes added in. When I just sit down to write a show though, I usually try to figure out what ministry topics I want to cover and then write around that.

What do you do when you're not performing?

Why, what do you need done? When I have time off, I usually spend time answering 10 questions that people have for me. :) Actually, I read like crazy. I'm usually reading three or four books at a time. Also, I answer all my email from my website (www.bobsmiley.com) which usually takes about an hour a day (see: My Mom loves to email me!). I hang out with my wife and kid and I do a weekly online radio show on Wednesdays at www.planetlightforce.com. I'm also pretty active in my home church and I have a yard that grows like a rain forest...so I spend a lot of time behind a lawn mower.

Is it difficult to get the audience to shift gears from comedy to devotion?

Not really, all my standup is geared to tell a story that makes some sort of challenge. In other words, I don't just do standup just to do standup. I'm working the crowd up to a point and drop in a challenge when I think they're ready. I'm pretty amazed how easy it is. Plus, I'm getting to the point where people know why I'm there. The y know that I bring some sort of message along with the punch lines.

Is your humor ever a hinderance to your testimony?

Every once in a while I'll run into someone that thinks we, as Christians, shouldn't be doing standup because, in order to do comedy you must point out the absurdity in something. I've actually received emails from people saying that they don't find laughing in the bible and therefore we shouldn't laugh. I bet those people make Christianity look appeali ng, huh? So, comedy can be a hindrance. However, most people that will not come hear a preacher will come to see a comedian. So, I get them in and laughing and then get to present the Gospel to them. Comedy is just a strange vehicle to get my message across and it usually helps more than it hurts. Of course sometimes, when the crowd isn't laughing, it can hurt really bad.

What would be your dream gig?

I always thought it would be great if I could stay h ome and have the crowd come to me. I could get someone to emcee the event saying things like, "Bob, you know them, you love them, put your hands together and please welcome 'Alma, Arkansas!!!!!!!'" They would all come into the living room and I could do my show without going out on the road. Actually, I've been blessed with plenty of dream gigs. I've done the big festivals with 20,000 people. I've performed at churches that only have 20 or so members who are just so g rateful to have you come to their church. I've toured with some of the greatest bands in the country. I even took my show over to the U.K. in November and December 2001. One day I was standing outside viewing an old England countryside, taking in God's masterpiece and I was struck at how blessed I was to be in such a strange beautiful place simply because I tell a few jokes. So, if there is such a thing as a "Dream Gig", I'm sure I've already experienced it.

What has surprised you the most about your audience?

That they keep coming back. My fans have been so supportive through prayer and by buying my comedy albums and coming out to my shows. I truly feel like I have the greatest fans/friends supporting me.

Any advice for the aspiring Christian comedian?

Its good to write every day, write down any idea that you might have that might turn into a bit and to read the bible daily. Pray before going on stage and pray before writing a bit. But the best advice I can give that will help an aspiring Christian comedian is to by my new comedy C.D. out on Inpop records called "I've Got A Funny Feeling About This"... that and never be ashamed to shamelessly promote yourself!