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Not sure what to do with Tim Hawkins. Friends keep passing links of his material to us. Here's a representative piece on Church, Food, Prayer. As for music videos Cletus Take the Reel is hard to beat. ;-) Any thoughts on Christian humor? How does he compare to Anita Renfroe, famous for her Wiliam Tell piece?
By the way, the YouTube videos in your post linked to for the William Tell piece no longer work.
Posted by SursumCorda, Mar 26 2008, 09:23I had seen a bunch of the Tim Hawkins stuff before, but I hadn't seen the Corporation Take Over Church (worship songs), a la: "Better is Hyun-dai", "Our Dodge is an awesome Dodge"... Krispy Kreme might have been my favorite.
As for SursumCorda's comment - there is a guy (Mark Lowry) who I think does what you are looking for -- a friend of mine listened to him for a long time - I haven't heard very much of him. When I went to search for him, I found he is writing a book, which he has recorded the first chapter.
Posted by Jon Daley, Mar 26 2008, 13:19
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Humor is a funny thing. It's hard to pin down just what makes it work, but one thing required is a significant connection between the humorist and the audience. The William Tell piece works so well not only because it is well crafted, but because anyone who has been a parent or a child (well, at least a modern American parent or child) can relate to many parts of it. I think Tim Hawkins' Homeschool Family is funny, because we homeschooled ourselves, and also understand some of the stereotypes people have about homeschoolers. Poking fun at stereotypes can be funny (that's what Renfroe's piece does, after all), but there must be some familiarity and sympathy there. For example, Cletus Take the Reel is totally lost on me. I figured out it must be a take-off on some other song, but not knowing that song myself stripped the work of most of its humor.
Christian humor is an even funnier thing. What does it mean? Is it humor aimed at Christians? That seems to be Tim Hawkins' niche, and that of another group whose work I enjoy, Peculiar People. It has its place, but it's not the best I would hope for. I would love to see Christian humorists reaching a much wider audience, dealing with subjects people who are not Christians can also relate to, but undergirded by a Christian world view. Humor that is widely appealing, insightful, and funny without being bitter, sarcastic, or indecent, that sheds the light of Christ abroad in the world, not just in the Christian ghetto.
Posted by SursumCorda, Mar 26 2008, 09:21