‘Stewart Huff’

Politics and religion might not be smart table talk at Thanksgiving, but that’s how comedian Stewart Huff gets the conversation started at the Fringe Festival.

Huff, two-time festival Best Comedy winner, headlines “The American Heretics Comedy Tour” with stand-up friends Jay Whitecotton and Tom Simmons who tackle those taboos and abortion, too. The Fringe Factor:

They’re not afraid to ask challenging questions about government, God or a being more mysterious than both: the Bank of America.

Don’t confuse this trio with Jeff Foxworthy’s redneck troupe. Huff and friends show off Southern roots, too, but whooo-weee doggie, they ain’t servin’ grits at their show.

Huff began the show reading from a notebook of provocative thoughts he has collected from strangers willing to answer one probing question: “Do human beings have a soul?”

The responses included this gem from an old guy at a gas pump who groused, “Who gives a [poop] as long as I don’t die in Iowa?”

Curtain Call: Go ahead, invite these guys to Thanksgiving with your family. Yes, they’ll make everybody uncomfortable, but so do Aunt Anne’s deviled eggs and Uncle Roger’s cologne. It is cologne, right? At least these guys will make your guests think about everything from saying grace to dead people and strange images on U.S. currency. Where & When:

Black venue at 511 Virginia Ave., 60 minutes, $12, 18 and up. 6 p.m. today; 10:30 p.m. Saturday.