Monday, November 7, 2011
Laughing at Mormonism: A National Pastime
Posted By Jerre Wroble on November 7, 2011, 2:34 PM
Just when you thought that Trey Parker and Matt Stone had mined all of the Mormon comedy gold remaining in the ether --- in South Park's Season 7 "All About Mormons" and the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon -- to say nothing of gut-splitting bits by Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and even that mean-spirited Bill Maher -- along comes Pete Kotz with Village Voice Media who writes an entertaining blog (that's been picked up by alt-weeklies across the country): "Can Mormons Be Trusted? A Shallow Guide to Managing Your Most Ill-Informed Fears."
One can only wonder how much satirical skewering the LDS Church will take before its tilt light comes on. Its "measured" response to the Book of Mormon the musical is what some might call "being a good sport." After all, Mormons are among those lining up at the Eugene O'Neill Theater on Manhattan's 49th Street to pay top dollar to see what all the hullabaloo is about. Getting people to talk and think about Mormonism is the stuff of missionary mojo. Certainly, a mark of strength is being able to take a good-natured drubbing.
But when does, "We're a worldwide religion -- we can laugh at ourselves" turn into "Ain't funny no more --you're going down." Take it from City Weekly -- we've been on this story for 27 years and counting -- the day of "we've lost our sense of humor" will come. But can the church maintain its composure until the 2012 Republican convention?
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