Tuesday, April 19th, 2011
Church groups are planning to protest outside theatres hosting a ”blasphemous” comedy show.

Comedian Richard Herring, 43, is currently touring Britain with his stand-up show Christ On a Bike – The Second Coming.
But Christians living in the town of Lowestoft, Suffolk, have slammed the show as ”blasphemous” and ”vulgar” for its portrayal of biblical characters.
Several groups are now planning to picket local theatres hosting the stand-up gig in protest against its content.
The Reverend Kyle Paisley, from Oulton Broad Presbyterian Church, Suffolk, has slammed Herring’s humour as ”infantile”.
He said: ”When I looked at the flyer, I marked three things – the vulgarity, the blasphemy and the downright dishonesty of the man.
”We’re just using our right as Christians to say how we feel.
”It’s infantile. The continual reference to sexual things makes it manifest that Richard Herring hasn’t got out of puberty yet.”
Church youth worker Matthew Pickhaver added: ”We plan to peacefully stand outside the theatre and give out a simple tract about the real Jesus.”
Herring first toured with his show Christ On A Bike in 2001 and will be performing at Lowestoft’s Marina Theatre on 28 April this year.
The comedian describes his stand-up routine as a humorous look at Jesus ”combining childlike guile with rigorous academic research”.
Writing on his blog the Herring has hit back at his critics by describing them as ”backward”.
He wrote: ”Some of the more backward people of East Anglia (and imagine how backward that must make them) are planning on protesting, which is probably great news, as that is the one that is selling about the worst so far.”
Herring is no stranger to controversy and grew a Hitler-style moustache for his last stand-up tour in 2009.
He is famous for writing Al Murray’s TV breakthrough series Pub Landlord, Time Gentlemen Please.
Adrian Hearn
Twitter: @swns
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