Christian fundamentalist preachers can be hard to parody because they often appear to be taking the mickey out of themselves.
Of course, the fact that many of these scriptural literalists wouldn’t get irony if it hit them in the Holy Bible with a copy of the Koran leaves the way open for a production like “Pastor Michael’s Second Coming (& His Wife Comes Too)” to do a fine job of making fun of these alleged men and women of God.
The show started with a reworked version of “Love Shack”, which could’ve been regarded as offensive to Muslims and fans of The B-52s thanks to such lyrics as “15 miles to the Crusade”.
It then covered almost every dubious aspect of those “Praise the Lord and pass the cash” churches including intelligent design, the evilness of The Greens, Labour (sic) and the Demoncrats, evolution, being saved from homosexuality and procreating to increase the Christian population with help from Pastor Michael, who seems to bat for both teams in the name of the Lord.
Of particular interest to the females present was his wife’s advice on how to be skinny and gorgeous for the bloke with the beard.
According to the very blonde Becky Mae, no man’s going to think you’re a looker if Jesus doesn’t.
Given that Australia has plenty of homegrown clerics of the greedy variety including Hillsong’s Brian Houston, the American accents used by the comics who played Pastor Michael and his missus were unnecessary.
Even if there was some stammering over the dialogue, this didn’t dampen the audience’s enthusiasm for the show, especially when it came to holding hands up in praise of President George W.Bush and Prime Minister John Howard.
It’s a wonder the roof of Trades Hall didn’t fall down.
The frightening thing is that there are deluded souls who would’ve taken one look at Pastor Michael and given him their credit card details in an instant.
“Pastor Michael’s Second Coming (& His Wife Comes Too)” was hilarious, but in some ways you can watch it every week if you get up early enough on Sundays.
“Pastor Michael’s Second Coming (& His Wife Comes Too)” is playing at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) until the 29th of April. For information about booking tickets, check the MICF website