Praying for Laughs

Did you hear the one about the pastor who’s a little too stylin’?

You won’t hear that joke at a comedy club on Wooster Street or a bar on Crown, but you just might hear something along those lines when Sister Cantaloupe makes an appearance at New Haven’s latest gospel comedy show.

Local social worker Liz McCrae is bringing Sister Cantaloupe to Dixwell Friday night in a mission that mixes laughter with serious business.

Liz McCrae’s dad died of esophageal cancer after 36 years at Pratt and Whitney and without much of a chance to enjoy his retirement.

McCrae is producing the gospel comedy, now in its second year, to raise money for scholarships in her dad’s honor and memory.

In the process she’s raising the profile in New Haven of a comedy form, Christian self-satire, that pokes fun at church life without insulting it.

Her second annual gospel comedy show goes up the day after Thanksgiving, Nov. 26, at the Community Outreach Center (COC) at the corner of Goffe and Dixwell. It features local talent along with Sister Cantaloupe, one of gospel comedy’s big names. Doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $25 to $40 ($10 for children 12 and under).

Why gospel comedy?

“I am a Christian,” McCrae said in a pre-performance interview. ​“I want to provide some clean fun and entertainment for those of us who don’t hang out at bars.”

Or spend time watching BET or listening to rap filled with M‑F-ing.

McCrae is a social worker with the state Department of Children and Families, the founder of a Christian book club, a promoter of Christian authors, and a stalwart at Love Center Deliverance Ministries on George Street in Hamden.

Nothing much good happens from hanging out at taverns or the comedy that emerges from drinking environments, she observed.

Her first gospel comedy event drew 100 people last year. This year she has already sold that many tickets already and hopes that 400 people will attend.

There is a considerable tradition of plays about the church in the African-American community dating from early in the 20th century. One, Church Fight, written in 1926 by Ruth Gaines-Shelton, was recently plucked from the distant repertoire by Dixwell area senior citizens turned thespians at the COO in the spring.

Gospel comedy is a kind of one-person, stand-up version of that tradition. ​“There’s no subject not touchable, marriage, relationships, they might mock how a pastor preaches,” McCrae said. (Click on the play arrow for a sample.)

Some people ​“shout”, that is, dance in peculiar styles. Some gospel comedians make fun of the excess. ​“They even talk about churches and church people being hypocrites,” McCrae said.

The form does appear to have unspoken rules, a primary one being ​“No swearing, no MF-ing, none of that vulgar stuff,” McCrae said. No insulting people.

McCrae said that Christian comedy is on the rise because it’s a stress reliever for people, and Christians need an opportunity, as she put it, to ​“let their hair down.”

More than humor’s release is going on in this Christian context. ​“Last year after the show, people wrote that they were at a crisis point in their lives, but after the show they wrote they were encouraged,” she said.

This year’s proceeds will provide two scholarships of about $500 each. McCrae said that in her dad’s memory she’s committed to doing the show annually. ​“My goal [ultimately] is to raise enough to cover two full tuitions,” at a Connecticut state university, she said.

Tickets can be purchased by calling 203 – 823-3741 or from emailing .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

As to the joke at the top, I don’t know the answer, but you ​‘ll find plenty of other punch lines at the COC Friday night.