Processing Religious Experiences with Comedy

A Conversation with Comedian Spencer Bland

Aaaand we’re back with our series talking to comedians about the connection between comedy and spirituality. Spencer Bland is a southern-based comedian with a wealth of experience navigating different Christian denominations before eventually moving away from Christianity to a more open-ended approach to spirituality.

Spencer uses his religious background as source material for his comedy, but I was interested to hear how much nuance and care he takes with it. While he is telling these stories for laughs, he's careful to frame them as his personal experiences rather than broad critiques of Christianity or Christians in general (the bit about “Kyle the demon” is especially funny).

I also found it interesting how Spencer uses comedy to reframe and process his religious experiences. In therapy, we often help clients integrate difficult experiences into their broader life narrative—and Spencer seems to be doing something similar through comedy. By finding the humor in these moments, he's able to acknowledge both their absurdity and their significance in his life story. Just as therapy provides a space to examine religious experiences with both seriousness and critical distance, comedy can offer a unique venue for processing these experiences. Spencer's comedy doesn't simply mock his religious past; instead, it uses humor to explore the genuine strangeness and humanity of these moments.

These episodes are always a good time with lots of laughs and some profound thoughts as well. I hope you enjoy.

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