Clean Enough for Church

My very first visit to a Gurdwara was a decade and a half ago. I thought that my first trip would be for a wedding of some sort, unfortunately, it was for a funeral. Not only do I remember wanting to be there for my friend, but I also have a strong recollection of pestering my brown friends about the etiquette of being in a Sikh temple. I wanted to be respectful to the traditions and practices of the Sikh temple. I was mindful of not taking off the head cover, sitting with my legs cross to make sure my toes never point to the sky, and touching my forehead to the ground just before I gave my donation. I have a sincere respect for other religions, so you can imagine how respectful I would be inside the walls of a church.

Two Saturdays ago, I performed at the Broadway Church. It was a benefit show for the victims of the Sendong Typhoon that recently wrecked a region of the Philippines. Performing when there are kids in the audience was always weird for me because of the mature subject of my material. So, I needed to reach a whole other level of clean to be an effective comic to perform in a church that night.

This benefit was predominantly a music concert highlighting many of the talented Filipino performers we have in the Lower Mainland, as well as some acts who staked their claim in the homeland. I haven’t done many shows that weren’t focused on comedy, so this music-centric gig was unfamiliar territory. So, there I was backstage thinking how I was going to do performing on the ALTAR in front of an audience of 150-200 people sitting in PEWS.

To my great satisfaction, my set lasted 6.25min and it was absent of any cursing and suggestive or blatant references to sex. I thought I rose to the challenge with more than a handful of people congratulating me on a good set afterwards. To be honest, I’m a little surprised to have felt so at ease and confident going in. It was far from perfect, as a couple jokes in the middle of the set kind of slowed down the momentum I built. However, I finished strong with a semi-big laugh at the end.

After the set, I was pretty darn proud of myself. I just finished a strong set that was completely clean. I just helped in a fundraiser that generated thousands of dollars to help people in need. And I did all that without compromising my commitment to be completely respectful within the walls of a church. Simply, this was one of my most satisfying nights of performing.