This post on Steve Colbert, religion, and comedy is one of Ann Althouse's best ever, right up there with the one on the Body Worlds exhibit, and for the same reason: it comes to no conclusions, just opens questions upon questions.
I would question only the title: I'm not sure this post evokes "the dissonance between religion and comedy," except in the sense that some modern musical compositions find a provocative, oblique richness in dissonance that is actually closer to our sense of life. (I'm hearing a particular string quartet in my mind's ear, and I can't remember who it's by; it's not Bartok, it's . . . if it comes back to me, I'll put it in.) Comedy and religion are in fact related, somehow (my most fervently devout friend says that "God has a sense of humor"), and you come away from Ann's post thinking that Colbert's religion -- so unfashionable in his show-biz milieu -- must be a large part of what makes his comedy more unpredictable, different and deeper.
Amba, I'm with you--this is one of Ann's best ever, which I noted in her comments section.
I'm also with your friend: One oft-repeated line of mine, in real life, is: "Of course, God has a sense of humor. How else do you explain the duckbill platypus?"
(This not withstanding the fact that I am both a committed Believer and also accept the scientific reality of evolution.)
Posted by: reader_iam | January 28, 2006 at 03:59 PM