KEN DAVIS - A HEART FOR HUMOR

 

MARCH 9, 2011

by Martha Bolton

Ken Davis is a master of comedy with a pastor’s heart. It’s not surprising, then, to learn that being a pastor was one of Ken’s original career goals. The one he had before that (when he was four years old) was to be a fireman. Since preachers seem to have to put out more than their share of fires, the two seem to go together naturally.

After graduating from Oak Hills Bible Institute in Bemidji, Minnesota (now called Oak Hills Bible College), though, Ken’s life took a different turn. He realized he had the ability to make people laugh, and that gift soon became a measure of his worth. If he could make people laugh, that meant he was accepted.

Being accepted had become important to Ken. In high school he was frequently beaten up, had hardly any athletic ability, and was teased a lot. Like most comedians and comedy writers, Ken got into comedy to escape from pain in his life. He noticed that his comedy helped him to deflect a lot of that pain. It could also make people pay attention to what he had to say.

So he gave it a try. Unfortunately, his timing (as in knowing when to use his gift) wasn’t very good back then. He gave a wonderful comedic performance in his high school play, “Off the Track,” but he would also use his humor to disrupt his English class.

“I remember one day we were discussing Shakespeare and there was a line where a character was supposed to use a swear word. I raised my hand and suggested other ‘adjectives’ that could replace that particular word. I won’t say what the other suggestions were, but my parents were called in. Unlike today, though, they didn’t bring a lawyer in with them. They brought a small tree to swat me with.”

It was Ken’s teacher, Francis W. Peterson, who first recognized Ken’s talent of humor.

“My teacher told me, ‘God has given you a wonderful gift, Ken. You’ve been using it to destroy my class. Why don’t you take Speech class and use it for good?’”

Ken resisted her advice at first, but his teacher went ahead and signed him up for Humorous Interpretation. To his surprise, Ken ended up winning every contest he entered, stopping just short of the state championship.

“I had come to realize through her encouragement that what I had was a gift, and you don’t sit on gifts,” Ken said.

Years later when Ken did one of his shows in California, he invited her to it. He gave her roses and took her to dinner afterward. “That is the lady who literally kicked open the door of comedy for me. While others were saying, “That boy is such a pain in the neck!” or “What’s his problem?” she saw worth in me. She looked past the dirt and found the gold.”

Now, after years of stage experience, Ken’s well-honed comic timing has given him a career at the top of the Christian comedy world. And life has given him a renewed sense of purpose. Today, his desire is for comedy to be the vehicle to help him do what he feels called to do—help other people face their own life’s challenges. “It’s not about my pain anymore. It’s about helping other people with theirs. The rush that comes with an audience response, the rush knowing something I’ve said has touched lives, is what keeps me on the road. My mission is to bring the truth to open hearts.

“All humor points out weakness. We’re balancing on a thin tightrope every time we walk out onto that stage or put something down on paper.”

Ken, the father of two daughters and six grandchildren, wishes the Christian community would be more open to talking about real life. Life isn’t perfect, we’re all flawed. What we can laugh about, we can get through.”

He makes a good point.

“I wish Christians would take themselves less seriously. We have ingrown eyeballs, looking at our own hurts and problems and needs. I’m impressed by Serina Williams who said that there is no trophy, nothing she has ever won, nothing that gives her more of a thrill than going to Africa to build a orphanage.”

Ken goes on to say that laughter and fame have diminishing returns.

“If your worth is tied up in what you receive from the audience, it will eventually take more and more laughter and applause to give you that same rush. If we’re using our gifts because we need to fill something inside of us, then it’s going to be empty.

“I’m not interested in being famous, not interested in being rich--maybe two or three million, tops,” he joked.

All kidding aside, Ken is serious about his priorities and his calling. And these days Ken’s act revolves around family and real life.

“I like to talk about marriage, like how Diane, my wife of forty-one years, and I will get into entire arguments carried on with just one word.

“What?”

“What?”

“Whaaaat?”

“What?!”

Aside from his Dynamic Communicators Workshops, Ken has just released another hysterical DVD titled, Under the Influence, featuring Ken Davis and Friends.

He also teamed up with Bob Stromberg for Together Again for the First Time, and is in talks to animate his popular Sheep Tales.

If that’s not enough to keep this creative genius busy, he also had his, Skating On Golden Pawn book and tour of the same title this past spring.

Ken’s humor and outlook on life, and his advice to all of us, can best be summed up with the title of one of his classic DVDs. “I’m Not OK, You’re not OK, but that’s OK.

How true it is!


»»» Check out Ken Davis comedy DVDs and tour dates at kendavis.com

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