Have you ever watched the ABC reality show The Bachelorette and thought, “What would an LDS version of this show look like?” Well, wonder no more. It has been going for almost a year in Arizona and is now in Season 3. When I heard about it I had to laugh. I admit I have seen bits and pieces of the mainstream show on ABC and think it is a joke. The news in Arizona ran a report on the LDS version running a series on YouTube yesterday and my wife told me about it. I immediately thought I need to post this on FunnyMormons, because more people need to know about this.
Ryan Farley is an LDS father of 5 children who makes funny videos with his kids and posts them on his youtube channel and website. The videos are well done it looks like he has a lot of fun with his kids. He also puts a lot of effort into making them high quality. They are more than just home videos.
This is a controversial topic right now. If you haven’t heard already, there is a musical on Broadway named ‘The Book of Mormon.’ It recently won nine awards at the 2011 Tony Award ceremony. It has also broken some records for Broadway musicals. The problem is, the show was not written by a friend of the LDS church. In the words of the creators it is supposed to ‘gently mock Mormons.’
Well, there are a few people that don’t like that and they aren’t all Mormons themselves. Deseret News recently had a great article about the responses of some people around the country.
Dr. Harold Pease, a history and political science professor at Taft College, was not nearly so light-hearted as he mused about “The Book of Mormon’s” creators admission that the show was designed to “gently mock Mormons.”
“Imagine a script designed to ‘gently mock’ Islam or its sacred book the Quran, or Christianity and its sacred book the Bible,” Pease wrote in the Bakersfield Californian. “The Middle East would be in flames, al-Qaida would grow and President Barack Obama would travel abroad on bended knee delivering speeches of apology.”
Click here to read the rest of the article. The article quotes a BYU professor’s response:
James Faulconer, who is a philosophy professor as well as the Richard L. Evans professor of Religious Understanding at BYU, provided an LDS perspective on “The Book of Mormon” in a column for Patheos.com. He pointed out that Mormons aren’t the only religious people who find themselves to be the target of comedic derision. “Catholic priests have come in for a good many cruel jokes recently,” Faulconer wrote. “Evangelical Christians get their fair share of mockery . . . Jews have been making jokes about themselves for a long time. We could learn from them, and we should laugh when others use humor to point out our idiosyncrasies.
It is for that reason I decided to post it here. I don’t think I will be going to the play, but at least I can not react in a hostile way, but let the “water roll of my back” so to speak. What are your thoughts?
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There have been a lot of visitors to this site that are interested in the Kid History videos. We posted about Kid History back in March. They are very funny videos. Check it out.
On His blog Kirby Heyborne announced last week that he has been cast on a new 3 stooges film…
I have been cast in the Farrelly brothers’ comedy, “The Three Stooges.” I am playing alongside Sean Hayes, Will Sasso, Chris Diamantopoulos, Sofia Vergara, Jane Lynch, and Larry David. I’m in Atlanta for the next little while having the time of my life. Thanks for your support. I’ll keep you posted with more movie details!
Kirby Heyborne is the LDS actor featured in many LDS produced films such as Saints and Soldiers, The R.M. and Sons of Provo
We went with our family for a vacation in San Diego this last weekend. We took some time to visit the Mormon Battalion museum in Old Town San Diego. I had visited the historic site about 13 years ago, and heard that they had changed a lot since then, so I wanted to see it and I wanted my kids to learn about this part of history. I have an ancestor that was part of the battalion, so I have a personal connection to this story.
When we got there, we were greeted at the door by a pleasant Sister Missionary. We were quickly put into a group to start a tour. Another Sister Missionary was our guide. She started talking about some portraits on the wall when one of the pictures sneezed. Yes, that is right, the person in the portrait sneezed and then they started talking to each other. I won’t give away everything, because there are a few more surprises in the tour. I will just say, they have made the tour fun and engaging for the kids. At the end there are activities for the kids to participate in. Our kids (ages 6, 4 and 3) were very interested in each part of the tour.
Again, this post isn’t a “comedy funny” but it is just another example of how humor makes learning about history more interesting and engaging for kids and people of all ages.
You may have heard of Stephanie Nielson. She was in a near fatal plane crash that burned 80% of her body. After months of rehabilitation she started blogging about her new life. She shares touching stories of her gratitude and the love she has for her family. So why are we including a post about her on the Funny Mormons blog? Because amid her struggles and serious reflection, humor helps her to lighten the burden even for a moment. She has also found strength in the truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
For example she recently wrote that after her midnight soak in the hot tub with her husband (referred to as Mr. Nielson), he dares her to jump on the trampoline naked. Not only does she do it, but for nearly three minutes she says. Yes, that may seem a little over-the-top, but for someone that has been getting used to new skin all over her body, it must feel liberating to have skin to bare.
From the NieNie Dialogues site
Stephanie has been featured in Mormon Messages, on the LDS Radio, on a panel at BYU, and recently I heard her on a radio commercial in Arizona for the Burn Center where she stayed after her accident. She has even been on Oprah (Click here for her funny Top 10 from the experience). She has inspired many with the way she has overcome adversity and has kept a positive attitude.
So even though this isn’t a “laugh out loud” post, it just goes to show that humor plays an important role in the lives of Latter-Day Saints in all situations.
…but Golden was not silent! I thought it has been a while since we had a post on J. Golden Kimball, so I thought I would include another story about him. Brother Kimball is well known for his outspoken ways. He says just what he thinks, whether it seems appropriate or not. This story is taken from The J. Golden Kimball Stories by Eric A Eliason.
J. Golden Kimball began one of his stake conference addresses supposedly, by saying, “Brothers and sisters, how many of you have read the Seventeenth Chapter of Mark in the New Testament?”
Many hands went up, and he said, “Well, you’re the people I want to talk to today! There are only sixteen chapters in Mark and my sermon for today is on liars and hypocrites!”
Many times I wonder after hearing so many funny stories about J. Golden Kimball, if many of them are just made up and attributed to him because he is one of the only Apostles that would have done something so outrageous.
I found a great blog recently called As Sistas in Zion. They have some clever posts about being Mormon. If you haven’t heard of this site, I suggest you go check it out. Tell us about any other funny LDS themed blogs or videos you have seen.
A couple videos that they posted on their site are pretty funny. The first one is about the term “sweet spirit” used in LDS culture to refer to someone that isn’t very attractive. It is a song by Sons of Provo.
The second one is an old LDS commercial starring Alfonso Ribeiro, known for his role as Carlton Banks from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. No, Ribeiro is not LDS, but at least he is honest in the video.
by Eric A Eliason. 
. No, Ribeiro is not LDS, but at least he is honest in the video.