Comedian Daren Streblow joins the show this week and his love affair with bacon is thrust into the spotlight.  This stems from a recent headline that read, “If You Read This Story About Bacon, You Will Never Eat Bacon Again!”  I mean, really, what kind of monster is the writer who would misuse their God-given talents tot destroy the happiness of so many innocent bacon lovers?!  Are health writers out of their minds?!?!

These are the same people who destroy the dreams and imaginations of children by telling them rotten behind-the-scenes tales of puppet shows.

Their fundamental flaw is that they try to appeal to bacon lovers’ desire for self-preservation.  I mean, does anyone really believe that bacon is nutritious?

We don’t eat bacon because it’s healthy.  We eat it because it makes our taste buds sing like angels and confetti burst from our mouths in glorious celebration.

All this to say, a recent article that Daren discovered reported that most comedians border on psychosis.  And because of this unique wiring, they are able to come up with their off the wall and humorous observations.

Similar to putting bacon on salad:  telling jokes is like the healthy salad and the comedian’s psychotic personality is like the toxic bacon.  Together, people in general love them.

One factor that contributes to Daren’s bouts with melancholy (his own manifestation of psychosis) is his comparison of the world around us versus the way the world should be.  And what he sees everyday simply doesn’t measure up to his idealistic model.

Likewise, as I recently heard in a sermon – one of the biggest arguments people have against faith in a loving God is all the evil they see in the world.  Yet what they don’t understand is that the world is the way it is due to Genesis chapter 3 – the fall of man and the introduction of sin into our existence.

As the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous says:  acceptance is the answer to all my problems.  Not just some of them, but all of them.  When I can’t accept things as they are, that’s when internal conflict begins to boil over.

Now, according to Daren, there is another step to this – there is accepting and then there is improving.  Yes, first you have to accept the current state of things before you can improve them.  But then you can strive to improve them, to the best of your ability, and move forward.

It’s with this as a backbone that Daren and I discuss the comedy industry – how each of us started and some of the lessons we have learned.

Daren learned fairly early that by doing “clean comedy”, he received a much greater response than “going blue”.

He also discovered that he would receive warm receptions from other comics backstage as well.

Some would even say something like, “You’re not like other Christians I know… you’re nice!” (which makes you wonder what “Christians” they knew)

As the Bible tells us, we should be the salt and the light to this flavorless and dark world.  Entertainers – and everyone, really – needs to know that the world we live and work in can be a very dark cesspool, but in dire need of a light.