Performs, from front

hard to be a comedian. It’s not an easy job, obviously, and not everybody can do it. Most people can’t. So, it was really just trying to learn to see if I could survive and be a comedian in the comedy clubs throughout this country.”

When asked about what he enjoys about entertaining people through his comedy, Stine remembered that when he first started comedy, he viewed it as a challenge. “I remember this idea of, man, if you could entertain people with just your mind, your mouth, and a mic, that’s pretty interesting because you don’t have a song to hide behind. You don’t have an instrument to hide behind. It’s not like you’re in a movie or play where you can do it a few different times and take a short do over. You’re just up there raw. And I just felt like there was a challenge to that. I just felt like it was just something that I wanted to see if I could accomplish artistically.”

“So, I think I enjoy just that idea that you give people thoughts and ideas that you find funny and important, hopefully, and that they resonate with it. So, you feel like you’re communicating where people get a laugh but in my case I kind of make people think as well,” he said.

When watching Stine perform, expect not just to laugh, but to think about the material that he’s commenting on. That’s what he likes about performing. “That to me is kind of fun. Because I feel like I’m maybe leaving people with funny, but also maybe another way to think that maybe could be hopeful to them in the long run as far as how they see America, how they see themselves, how they see freedom.”

Free speech, religious liberties, and America are all important to Stine and his comedy. “America is the greatest nation in history, but it’s dying right before our eyes. And it will die completely if we are no longer free to speak.”

According to Stine, comedy is great in terms of freedom of speech. “It’s the last kind of truth tellers left, is that we can make fun of the king and not get our head cut off because our job is to sort of hold a mirror to society and say ‘look what’s going on, isn’t this crazy?’ and hopefully make people a bit more bold in how they stand up and speak in America.”

Stine doesn’t use profanity or sexual humor because of his conservative Christian faith. However, he doesn’t really consider himself to be a “Christian” comedian. “Jim Gaffigan is a very famous comedian. He’s Catholic and he says that, but nobody calls him a Catholic comedian. George Carlin was an atheist, nobody called him an atheist comedian,” he said. “But I’m a Christian, yes, and so they call me that. I try to walk away from that because I didn’t want to be pegged as something. I happen to be a Christian, but I just want to see if I can be funny, and anybody could laugh. And the proof is what I just mentioned. You don’t have to be Catholic to think Jim Gaffigan’s funny. You don’t have to be an atheist to have thought that George Carlin was funny. You just laugh because they were funny in general. So, the whole idea of Christian Comedian was something that people put on me as like they needed a title.”

In the 1990’s Stine was commenting about political correctness, but because of that material being shared on Youtube and social media, Stine has developed a new fan base. “All these people are saying ‘this guy’s great, oh my gosh he’s saying what we need to hear right now, thanks for being bold.’ I’m going, ‘dude, I did that 20 years ago.’ Literally.”

Stine realized that he was a bit behind his time. “And that’s why people have said this guy basically launched the anti-woke movement before there was a woke movement. I was already talking about those things.”

Defending free speech from those that would silence it is how Stine uses his comedy. “The only group that keeps you from disagreeing with them are the Left. Well, if your ideology cannot withstand intellectual scrutiny, it needs to be abandoned. Because clearly, it’s broken. See, you can bring up anything you want about my idea. I don’t have to agree, but we can have a conversation. We can talk about it. Let’s add the two pieces of information together to see if we can find a conclusion that people can evaluate. Left doesn’t give you that. You can’t even speak if you don’t speak like us. I’m not going to live in a country like that. And if that’s what I end up with, then I will die defending that not happening. So, that’s what my comedy’s become. I didn’t sign up for this, that’s not what I wanted it to be. I just wanted to be a comic, but what good is being a comedian if your country is not free to not have comics anymore. What good is being able to speak as a comic if you’re not allowed to say things without government deciding what you’re allowed to say. What good is the First Amendment if it’s not being defended?”

For those that haven’t seen Stine perform, he said to expect to laugh and to hear ideas that you might not be used to hearing from the comedy stage.

If you’re wanting to see more of Stine prior to Saturday’s performance, head over to the Marshall County Museum. According to Stine, there is an exhibit about his time in movies and comedy.

This event is sponsored by Plymouth Wesleyan Church.

General admission is $25 or $50 for balcony seats with a meet and greet prior to the performance. The show starts at 7 p.m.