Thursday, March 24, 2011

Christ on a Bike

Richard Herring says that he is not the son of god ... that is for other people to say.

In this show, Herring sets out to explore the reasons why he, as a devout atheist, should be so drawn to the character of Jesus. Even after being able to recite the genealogy of Christ from memory and hence spotting the glaring mistake on page one of the New Testament, he retains a fondness for the beardy bloke in sandals that stretches right back to his childhood.

Some of the more obsessive Christians who have emailed in with threats of hell and damnation for daring to mock god (and providing a highly amusing extra twenty minutes of the show in the process) seem to have missed the point entirely. If god is the sort of petty tyrant who would arrange for John Lennon to be shot in the head some fourteen years after making a rather boastful remark about the relative fame of the Beatles and Jesus, then is that really a good advertisement for Christianity?

As Herring says, Jesus is like the Fonz - he is cool, it's just the people who follow him who are idiots.

There is plenty of food for thought here, as well as the usual collection of knob gags, childhood memories and surreal digressions. Herring also proved that he is still the maestro when faced with a bizarre heckle about knitting needles which proved to be one of the highlights of the night.

Truly, a divine comedy.

1 comment:

Anonymous Me said...

Oooh, you went to see the show? That's great!