Is there a relationship between comedy and the divine? (Here you say “Are you nuts?”) But hang on, maybe there is. Both start with a premise: one, that there’s an all-powerful, omniscient being who watches over everyone in the world; the other, that a priest, a rabbi and a gecko walk into a bar. In comedy, accept the premise and you get a laugh – in religion, accept the premise and you get eternal life, emotional support and answers to all questions. (Which may explain why there are more religious people than stand-ups.)
This multimedia talk uses Amy Schumer, Steve Carell, “Waiting For Godot,” Monty Python and the novel “The Name of the Rose” to explore whether comedy is fundamentally cruel or empathetic; how religion’s search for meaning has a corollary in comedy’s search for a punchline; how laughter is like religious ecstasy and transcendence; and how to achieve divinity through fart jokes.