This is what I’ve learned about Christians from years of trying to make them laugh

‘Clean comedian’ Andy Kind says Christians can be a tough crowd – it’s time to lighten up

“How many people are we expecting tonight?” It’s a question often asked on my arrival to a gig (I’m a stand-up comedian). It’s usually me asking. On this occasion, the vicar was the one posing the question, sending a chill of confusion and dread down my spine.

He had assumed (without guile but wrongly) that when I perform at churches it’s like hiring a function room for a party; that his work was done and that ‘my people’ would do all the promotion. That isn’t how it works and so, having driven for three hours, I ploughed on with the show in front of an audience of five – the vicar, his wife, their son and two teddy bears from the crèche to fill it out a bit. One of them left before the end. Worst teddy bear’s picnic ever.