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The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

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God’s Pottery ‘molds’ comedic routine out of religion

Picture a didactic but watered down composition of comedy duo Flight of the Concords sans one guitar and plus two glockenspiel bars. Like the dedicated camp counselors from Christian retreats back in the day when your mother would say no to your adamant demands for a second cupcake, faux Christian comedy and singing duo, God’s Pottery, embodies fundamental Christian mannerisms via wide-eyed, wide-smiled enthusiasm and kindergarten instructing inflections rivaling the low to high pitch of the Wiggles. They’re even keen on their innocuous word choices, versed to avoid “fuck,” and even working to excise “darn” from their vocabulary.

It’s misleading to watch two inviting personalities introducing themselves as counselors who, “Deal with issues today’s youth struggle with,” while wearing grade school T-shirts and equally juvenile hairstyles. But their act resonates beyond educating children about the value of mere sharing. How so? You’ll recognize their faces as finalists of the now defunct NBC show, “Last Comic Standing.”

God’s Pottery is the partnership of childhood best friends from Brooklyn, New York, turned roommates at the fictional Christ Our Leader College, turned comedy duo, who share common Christian values and a symbiotic relationship. Case in point, the pair proceeds to prove this point.

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“The big red dog walks down…” Gideon begins. “The… STREET,” Jeremiah raises his voice in gusto, finishing off his partner’s sentence.

The name, God’s Pottery, piggybacks off of Genesis 2:7, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground.”

Gideon explained, “Just like pottery, we are all very fragile, we all have our imperfections, we’re are all created by God.”

Their skit entrance is the semblance of Jon Glaser and Jon Benjamin’s from the revered ’90s comedy duo, The Funnies, and like Jon Glaser, God’s Pottery’s appeal is culled from their unabashed approach to prove a greater point, all the while doing what they find to be funny. But the appeal of Christ and abstinence can only go so far.

“We don’t want to make it difficult to say the name Jesus,” Gideon revealed, having exhausted Jesus’ name in early songs.

“So we branched out into more issue oriented songs and that really laid the ground work for what we’re doing today,” Jeremiah chimed in.

They summed up their style as “diversified.” Evidenced by their new book, “What Would God’s Pottery Do?”, diversity entails satirical messages spoofing porn, global warning and the Theory of Evolution. According to a study, 90 percent of 8-to-16-year-olds have watched online porn.

“It’s really easy to find pornography these days,” a noticeably concerned Gideon said. “Jeremiah was so concerned about Gideon, me, about finding pornography on the Internet, he sat down and went through every pornographic site and made a list of them, and told me never to go to those places.”

Seeing that porn is so common and rampant among children, God’s Pottery advises a couple of Christian sites that could substitute the conventional. Among them, which can be found in their book, is Multipleprayergasms.com and 55andstillbanging.com.

“If you’re just looking for someone you can trust, there is Deaconseeker.com where you can find a church deacon, or someone you can have ‘tea’ with,” Jeremiah adds. But, they understand the repercussions of porn. “Porn is like a gateway drug to sexual acts.”

Aside from raising awareness through music, they have been mulling over creating their own porn.

“But it will be porn where say the nurse comes into the office, and the patient says, ‘I can’t pay my bills,’ and she says, ‘Well you’re going to have to find a way to pay it.’ And he says, ‘Well how about a Scrabble match?’ I think that can really catch on.”

Porn is not God’s Pottery’s only area of expertise. Add to its credit environmental advocate and problem solver.

“It’s a lot of common sense tips we have. Let’s open up the freezer doors and do our part,” Jeremiah quipped.

Upon challenging their solution by bringing to light the wasted electricity from opened freezer doors, God’s Pottery was quick to deflect. “I think you’re over thinking it Francis. You’re being bogged down in the details.”

Likewise, God’s Pottery shot down inquiries regarding their response to whether dinosaurs preexisted Adam and Eve.

“The answer is Adam and Eve because that is where it started,” Gideon quickly responded with an air of confidence. “They may have had some pet dinosaurs. The Bible is a little unclear on this issue. That’s not a criticism of the bible. You have to realize the Theory of Evolution is literally just a theory.”

Jeremiah added the paradox, “If we evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?”

By now you should have realized that the faux Christian comedy duo, God’s Pottery is as aforementioned, a faux Christian comedy duo.

Surely in the entertainment industry, critics exist whether you’re Joseph Gordon-Levitt or Miley Cyrus. But to quell the critics out there, God’s Pottery’s work is more often than not met with open arms by youth churches, mega churches and comedy clubs alike.

God’s Pottery on no account pokes fun nor trashes a person’s belief system.

It’s safe to say negative first impressions here are likely the wrong impressions. They choose to parody the subculture that’s been built up around Christianity. If you’re open-minded despite your religious affiliation you will see the inherent goofiness in that.

God’s Pottery is set to perform at The Project Lodge on Saturday, Nov. 21 at 1 p.m.

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