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Bob
Smiley, "I've Got a Funny
"Feeling about This", Too
By Jerri
Phillips
Years ago, I went to
school with a young man, not a man at the
time, named Bob Smiley (still his name).
He was in a different class, but being in
a small school like ours, everyone knew
everyone else, or can at least recognized
their face in the hall. Bob was of
particular importance because he was the
superintendent's son and he played
basketball (a rather important feature to
me at that time). After high school, I
lost touch with Bob. I think it had to do
with his being jealous that I was better
at basketball than him, but over time, he
outgrew his jealousy and through our
alumni website, we reconnected. After a
decade or so of not speaking, we had lots
to catch up on, families, careers, and
the like. Now, I had always known Bob was
funny, but I also found out he is a
comedian. In fact, he is a Christian
comedian with quite the resume, but more
importantly, he has quite a heart for
God. Recently, the Lord allowed for Bob
to make a CD, "I've Got a Funny
Feeling About This," and setting all
bias aside, I think it is wonderful.
(Friends of ours who have also heard it
are still our friends. In fact, they
laughed really hard…at Bob, not at
our liking his CD.)
My husband loves the funny parts, and the
material is funny and completely clean. I
like the poignant parts, the parts that
make a person stop and wonder if he/she
has that kind of impact on his/her world.
Those parts are interwoven so well that
the atmosphere remains upbeat while
demonstrating the power of kindness and
the effectiveness of simplistic
evangelism. And although Bob mentions his
wife and son, that is not the focus of
"I've Got a Funny Feeling About
This", just a wonderful
demonstration of God's love for His
children.
"I've Got a Funny Feeling About
This" is well crafted and the
material is well delivered. While being
funny, Bob delivers more than a line. He
delivers the truth of God in a way that
even "non- Christians" will
find it inviting and Christians will find
it
exciting.
Recently, Bob and I hooked up via email,
and he took some time to answer some
questions I had and some questions my
husband Rob had as well. When I
approached Bob about the interview, it
wasn't because I had played ball against
him in high school and felt guilty for
making him look bad on the court and I
certainly don't need points with the
superintendent anymore. I asked to do the
interview because there is a world out
there that is going to hell, and I keep
hearing people asking how they are
supposed to reach it when people seem so
offended by Christianity. Well, I think
"I've Got a Funny Feeling about
This" and Bob's humor is a good
method of evangelism, frankly. I think
it's time for the world to see that we
can have fun as Christians and laugh at
ourselves when we mess up and move on
trusting God's grace to save us, not
because of how good we are, but because
of how good He is. I believe "I've
Got a Funny Feeling about This"
accomplishes that. I believe in Bob's
heart, not just his talent. As you will
see in the interview many of the answers
have a comic edge to them, but when the
bottom line is stated, Bob is very
serious. He has a calling to share
Christ, and he takes that quite seriously
in an excitingly fun way.
Enjoy!
Jerri
Bob, on your website, you share part of
your testimony. You said you accepted
Christ as your Savior when you were a
junior in high school. How did your life
change at that point?
It didn't change my life as much as I
would have liked. I knew that Christ was
my Savior. I knew He died for me but
outside of that it didn't really affect
me too much more than allowing me to get
to sleep faster. Now, I wasn't a mean kid
that smoked and murdered or voted
Democrat. I was still a good kid and
Christ's love made me want to continue to
do good, but I didn't really go on the
offensive (i.e. start promoting Christ's
love rather than just trying to be a nice
kid) until I got to college.
How did you get started in comedy?
I went to Abilene Christian University in
Abilene, TX, where I majored in
elementary education thinking the classes
would be easy. After all, I already knew
most of the alphabet. However, I really
thought my calling in life was to teach.
Well, during my junior year, I entered
and won a few standup competitions
offering cash prizes but only did standup
for the money, not for the love of the
stage. So, upon graduation, I did what
most college graduates do, I got a job
involving absolutely nothing I studied in
college. I did want to be a teacher, but
first wanted to see what it was like to
have some money in a bank. So, I became a
professional photographer in Dallas, TX,
where I worked for one year.
Towards the end of that year, I received
an unexpected call from an old college
friend who now lived in Nashville, TN,
and was working as a road manager for
Christian singer Clay Crosse. This old
friend had seen me do stand up in college
and wanted to know if I was interested in
going out on tour with Clay with the idea
of getting up in-between the acts and
using my strange, yet clean and positive
comedy to entertain the audiences. Clay's
tour quickly opened up the possibility of
doing standup without having to go to the
normal comedy venues. My comedy was well
met with the Christian audiences, and I
began to get many other offers to do
standup.
Did you take classes to be an actor or
comedian?
No. As stated above, being a comedian was
not in my plans. I did run the curtain
for my 3rd grade play and many parents
told me that they had never seen a
curtain open and close so professionally.
I was also in two plays in High School
and many people told me that I should
stick with the curtain gig.
Have you always done Christian comedy?
Yes. I like standup but not enough to
just do standup. I never wanted a life
playing in bars or clubs getting home at
3AM and smelling like Dennis Lery's Index
finger (ie. very smoky). I simply use
standup as a vehicle to promote Christ's
love and God's sense of humor.
Tell us about your
first performance, how it went, where it
was, and when (like your age).
Well, depending on your definition, here
is an account of my three
"first" performances.
1. I was a Junior in
High School and my Youth Group was
supposed to do a church service for a
retirement center. My youth leader asked
me to do the preaching part. I decided I
would use comedy to keep people's
attention to get my points across. I did
some "standup" about water
skiing and owning a raccoon. The eight
other kids that were there were laughing
like crazy but the elderly people just
stared at me. I later realized that they
probably hadn't done a lot of water
skiing in the past 80 or so years so they
couldn't relate to any of it. That was a
great lesson that the crowd has to be
with you...you can't be funny by yourself
and if you are, that's just sad.
2. The next "first" time
performance was the first standup
competition I did at college. I was
scared to death until I saw the first
three "comedians", then I
couldn't wait to get up there. I did 12
minutes, and it felt really good.
3. The first "professional"
full-length stand up show I did was on
the Newsboy's "Take Me To Your
Leader" Tour. I had done quick
little 2-5 minute sets on the Clay Crosse
Tour and emceed a lot of shows, but I had
never done a true extended set. I was
just supposed to be opening with 3
minutes of jokes and then emceeing the
Newsboy's tour when the opening act
didn't make it to the Corpus Christi, TX,
show....which happened to have around
3,000 people at it. The Newsboy's asked
me to open with 20 minutes to which I
responded confidently, "Where's the
bathroom? I'm going to be sick!"
However, I went out there after praying
and I felt very confident, and I did 22
minutes. The crowd really responded
greatly and it was then that I thought
God might have something cool planned for
me.
Do you like to travel?
I love it. I'll give you an example of
how cool it is. A month ago, I was
standing in Monteray, California, on the
top balcony of a hotel over looking God's
beautiful mountains and open sky and the
next week I was in New York being
squashed by a million people all swarming
in and out of shops, restaurants and
subway entrances. I also set foot in
Indiana, Ohio, and Georgia. I love to
travel and see how creative God is and
has been, I get to meet a ton of cool
people and, best of all, I get a bunch of
free hotel shampoo! If I ever start using
shampoo, I'm going to be totally set!
How does your family handle the
traveling? On your CD, you refer to your
son being with you. Does your family
travel with you often? My wife used to
travel with me more but now she's getting
picky. She chooses to support my ministry
if I'm playing somewhere really cool. She
wants to go if I'm playing a ski resort
in Colorado or Seattle in the fall or
California in the spring...but she never
makes it to Alma, Arkansas, or Cleveland,
Ohio. My son will go with me if I'm doing
a drive date but hasn't been on a fly
date or gone on tour with me yet. My hope
is to let him get a little older and then
we will head out and try to learn all 47
states together!
What would you do if you were not being a
comedian?
uh...do you want fries with that?
Where has your favorite place been to
visit?
I went to Great Britain this year...which
by the way, I consider pretty cocky of
them to call themselves "Great
Britain", not "Pretty Good
Britain" or "All Right
Britain" but "GREAT
Britain". Again, I was standing on
an England countryside one day thinking
how great God is and how weird it was
that I was so far from home just because
I could tell a few jokes. Also, it was
cool being in a room with all those
"English Blokes"...I was the
only one in the room that didn't have an
accent!
Where do you want to go that you haven't
been? I'd like to go to Holland and
Australia...the latter because I'm
friends with an Australian band (the
Newsboys) and have heard so much about
it. The first, because I like wooden
shoes.
What is the hardest thing about being a
comedian?
Having the discipline to write everyday
and to remember to always chekc my
speling.
Does your wife think you are funny?
She thinks I'm absolutely hysterical. In
fact, she has said that I am the
funniest...oh wait, here she comes...I'm
going to come back to this question...
When and to whom do you try new material?
I used to try out new stuff on my friends
in everyday conversation and then I
noticed I had fewer and fewer friends.
Actually, I realized that standup in
front of an audience is completely
different than being funny to a few
friends. If you've ever tried to retell a
comedy bit you heard the night before to
your friends and then had to follow it
with "Well, you had to be
there," or, "You had to see him
to get it," then you know what I
mean. Nowadays (which is one word like
that, I checked), I just write it,
memorize it and then squeeze it into my
show right between two bits that I know
work well. It's like trying a new trick
but with safety net below. I know the
next stuff will do well if the new stuff
doesn't.
Are your friends afraid they'll end up in
the act?
Yes. One of the most common comments I
get besides, "Will you please stop
talking to me," is, "Great. I'm
going to end up in your act!!" The
strange thing is that most people really
do want to end up in my act. I've had
people email me to remind me about things
that happened to them for me to start
using even after they've said, "You
better not use that in your act!"
Which reminds me, did I ever tell you
guys about Jerri when she was in High
Schooowwwwwthat really hurt, Jerri!
What advice would you give to someone
trying to become a comedian or
professional entertainer?
Write everyday. Know that you are going
to bomb about half the time your first
year but to keep trying. It's like riding
a bike. Sometime you are going to fall
off the bike, but other times you are
going to fall off the bike into some
broken glass and then roll down a hill
into a den of hungry lions. The waters
fine...come on in!!
Do you find that people take you less
seriously as a professional because you
are a comedian in contrast to your being
a singer?
Sort of. Public speaking is the number
one fear in America. Death is number 2!
To quote Jerry Seinfeld "So, if you
are at a funeral, its better to be in the
casket than giving the eulogy." And
that is true. People think what I do is
cool, but they don't really understand
it...then again, I don't know how to tie
a tie and sit in a business meeting.
Being a singer has that "cool"
stigma attached to it where as comedian
can only be so "cool". For
instance, I toured with a ska-rock band
called The Supertones and the best
compliment I got from fans was,
"Wow, you're really funny! Can I
meet the band?" So, it's just not as
cool as being a singer.
Do people you knew in high school or in
college support you or do they seem to
react negatively?
They fully support me. Everyone that knew
me then that knows me now seems to be
really supportive. Of course, I didn't
really have that many friends back then,
and the ones I did have aren't allowed
that many day-passes so they can only
support me through prayer...which is fine
with me! Nobody has come up to me and
said, "I beat you up in junior high,
and I'm here to beat you up again."
Although, if I saw Sid Casey at a show,
I'd be sure to notify the security
guards.
Do you ever worry that people won't find
you funny? If so, how do you deal with
that fear?
That's a common fear, and there are days
that I just don't feel funny. Those are
the days that I think I should start
looking through the want-ads, but then I
have great writing days where I come up
with a bunch of funny stuff. It helps
that this is not what I started out in
life to do, so everyday I wake up as a
comedian (at noon) is an extra fun day
that I didn't count on.
What do you hope to accomplish with your
comedy?
When people walk out the doors (hopefully
after a show and not during), that their
bellies ache from laughing, their hearts
are lighter with encouragement, and that
they leave feeling closer to Christ than
when they came in through those same
doors.
What is the greatest message you feel you
can convey and what are you goals you
have for your abilities?
All of this world one day is going to
burn away and the only relationship that
will be left with you is the relationship
of Jesus Christ. Its the only thing that
will remain and matter when its all done.
So my main message is to make sure that
people are pursuing that relationship
first before anything else. I'm not sure
what the second question is asking but I
will say that comedy is what I do right
now and I am grateful for it. However,
life is a big etch-a- sketch, and when
I'm done with this picture I will hold it
above my head, give it a good shake and
start in on the next picture.
Did you ever dream you would be living
this life, the life of a professional
comic?
No way. I thought I'd be a
teacher...which I guess I kind of am.
******
Presently, Bob is
touring with Festival Con Dios. For more
information about this exciting festival
for God or about Bob, check out his
website at www.bobsmiley.com While there,
you can hear some clips from "I've
Got a Funny Feeling about This,"
check out Bob merchandise, and hop over
to order his "I've Got a Funny
Feeling About This". If online
shopping isn't your thing, though, you
can find Bob's CD at most Christian
stores, and if the one near you doesn't
have it, they can probably order it.
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