Faith is Funny: Comedy Writers on God and Religion

The American Writers Museum presents American Prophets: Writers, Religion and Culture at the Studebaker Theater with the program Faith is Funny: Comedy Writers on God and Religion.

From Sister Act to the Book of Mormon, The Righteous Gemstones to Groundhog Day, religion has been a fertile ground for funny writers, getting serious ideas about American culture across with a laugh. Four leading comedians talk about why religion is so hilarious and how their faiths – Jewish, Hindu, Catholic, Muslim – inform their jokes.

PETER SAGAL is the host of NPR’s Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me!, the most listened-to hour on public radio. A playwright, screenwriter and journalist, he is also the author of The Book of Vice: Naughty Things and How To Do Them and The Incomplete Book of Running, a memoir about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and other adventures while running long distances. On TV, Peter has made appearances on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and other shows, and hosted Constitution USA with Peter Sagal for PBS and National Geographic Explorer for the NatGeo Channel.

HARI KONDABOLU is a comedian, writer & podcaster based in Brooklyn, NY. He has been described by The NY Times as “one of the most exciting political comics in stand-up today.” He has performed on The Late Show with David Letterman, Conan, Jimmy Kimmel Live, John Oliver’s NY Stand-Up Show, @Midnight & has his own half-hour special on Comedy Central. A former writer & correspondent on the Chris Rock produced FX TV show “Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell.” In 2017, he released his critically acclaimed documentary “The Problem with Apu” on truTV.

KATE SIDLEY is a comedy writer and performer originally from Cleveland, Ohio. She writes for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and her work can be seen in the New Yorker, McSweeney’s, and Reductress. Kate has multiple Emmy-nominations, a Peabody Award, a Writers Guild Award and, thanks to her years of Catholic school, a visceral aversion to plaid wool skirts. Her forthcoming book is called How to Be a Saint: An Extremely Weird and Mildly Sacrilegious History of The Catholic Church’s Biggest Names.

NEGIN FARSAD was named one of 50 Funniest Women by Huffington Post, named one of the 10 Best Feminist Comedians by Paper Magazine, and was selected as a TEDFellow for her work in social justice comedy. Her docu-comedy film The Muslims are Coming! received an Audience Award from the Austin Film Festival. She is the author of the recently released How To Make White People Laugh, a memoir-meets-social-justice-comedy manifesto which was nominated for the Thurber Prize for Humor and recommended by Oprah Magazine.

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American Prophets is supported by a grant from Lilly Endowment, Inc. through its Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative.