The Christian Chronicle Podcast
The Christian Chronicle Podcast explores the news and stories shaping Church of Christ congregations and members around the world.
The Christian Chronicle Podcast
Episode 128: How a Church of Christ kid became one of comedy's rising stars...in his 40s (Brian Bates)
Church of Christ member Brian Bates is one of the cleanest--and hottest--comedians in the country these days. In this episode, he takes us behind the jokes to reveal how a comedian builds rapport and trust with strangers--whether they're in a bar on Saturday night or a church on Sunday afternoon. Could all Christians learn something about the "Jesus way" from stand-up comedians?
Link to Brian Bates's website, including upcoming shows and videos
Link to Ryan Hamilton (a clean comedian that Brian Bates recommends)
Link to Greg Warren (another clean comedian Brian recommends)
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Learn more about Freed-Hardeman University's Certificate in Counseling for Church Leaders at fhu.edu/chronicle.
Family and friends, neighbors and, most of all, strangers. Welcome to the Christian Chronicle Podcast. We're bringing you the stories shaping Church of Christ congregations and members around the world. I'm BT Irwin. May what you are about to hear bless you and honor God.
BT Irwin:Our guest today is Brian Bates, one of the top comedians around. You'll find him performing on stages all over the country. For example, his next show after recording this episode will be at the Grand Ole Opry, followed by gigs at comedy clubs in North Carolina, oklahoma and Tennessee. He's got his own dry bar comedy series and often appears on Laugh USA and Sirius XM radio. Many folks these days probably know him as one of the four hosts of the Nate Land podcast featuring comedians Nate Vargazzi, dusty Slay and Aaron Weber. Even though he's one of the top comedy acts, brian is a Church of Christ kid who often performs at churches. A couple of summers ago, when we first tried to book him, his calendar was full of shows on Church of Christ stages. Ladies and gentlemen, brian Bates, but all you guys who are married know when you know.
Brian Bates:You know, and about four years ago I went on a blind date, didn't even want to go on this date. My buddy fixed me up. I went begrudgingly and there was an immediate connection. It was different than any other night I'd ever been a part of. There were sparks. We talked all night and I knew that night I got home that night night and I knew that night. I got home that night I called my buddy and I said I found her, I'm going to marry this girl. And even though I never heard from that girl again apparently she did not feel the same way God put my wife in my path. And that's what I'm saying, guys. God knows what's best. He put my wife in my path to help me get over the girl in my dreams. And the Lord works in mysterious ways.
BT Irwin:Brian Bates. Thanks for stopping by, thanks for having me. Okay, so when I told my wife that I was going to interview you, the first thing she said, before I even finished the sentence, was you're not going to try to be funny, are you? And I was like no, I promise, I will not try to be funny. I have always been curious. I watch a lot of comedy. My favorite comedians often talk about their families the way you do. Does your wife think you're funny? She does.
Brian Bates:Now, I'm not trying to be on all the time at home, that would be exhausting and not practical. So I just have my moments. But she thinks I'm funny. I mean, yeah, I mean when we dated. Obviously then I tried harder to be funny, yeah. But I think she thinks I'm funny at home, funny with our daughter, funny, just you know, but obviously everyday life. You're not trying to out material, you know.
BT Irwin:Yeah, there's kind of a second question. There Is that somebody who preaches. I know my wife gets really nervous whenever I I talk about her, uh, when preaching, and so I kind of have to run things by her. Yeah, I wonder, do comedians, do they kind of have to run things by their family first before they make a bit about them?
Brian Bates:It depends on who the comedian is and I guess, who the family member is and what the bit is. I mean, if it's something that's really embarrassing or or whatever, maybe for me personally, um, I usually try it out first and then sometimes, you know, it just doesn't work and I never even have to mention it to my wife, um, if it is a joke, that I think this has got potential, then you know, I'll mention it to her, to her, um, but she's always been good with everything I've done. The key is just to make sure the audience knows.
Brian Bates:um, you're either saying it in love yeah and that you, uh, if anything, I usually make myself the punchline of the joke. Even if it starts off making fun of her, it, it ends up with me being the bigger punchline.
BT Irwin:I found that Ranker has you as the sixth funniest clean comedian of all time and you beat out Jerry Seinfeld, jeff Foxworthy, bill Ingvall and Sinbad. So I was listening to another interview you did somewhere else and you said that comedians are competitive. How does it feel to outrank so many of the household names of comedies?
Brian Bates:Well, that's very funny. I think the reason I'm so high on that list is because on our podcast I think ranker can be manipulated pretty easy and on our podcast we mentioned somehow this list. Um, I think who was number?
BT Irwin:one, do you remember? Oh man, I don't remember.
Brian Bates:Actually I was looking for you, so you know, it was probably nate bargatze it might, it might have been yeah and we were somehow talking about it and we looked at it and then, just from our podcast, everyone who listens to our podcast went on and started voting for us. So I think everyone on our podcast was in the top five at one time and since then it's gradually changed. It's an honor, but I know there's not much to it. It's like getting your friends and family to vote.
BT Irwin:Well, if you see a bump after this episode, now you're going to know why.
Brian Bates:Yeah.
BT Irwin:Back in that top five. My wife and I have watched some of your work and I was telling her I was telling her your story what I know about your story. So my friends and I were all in our forties. We've gone through some kind of reset or starting over, that kind of comes with this age. Right, I had a health scare last fall. I gave up my full-time job and I'm trying some new things, like pickleball, for example, just to get healthy. You in your 40s, though I think you were about 43 years old you were doing well in your career which I think you were in news, right, yep and you decided to try stand-up comedy at the age of 43. Why stand-up comedy at the age of 43? Why stand-up comedy instead of something like pickleball?
Brian Bates:well, um, 43 is actually when I quit my job, but I'd already been doing stand-up comedy for for eight years I started.
Brian Bates:I started when I was 35. I took a stand-up comedy class, um. So, uh, my dad passed away in December of 2006 and, um, I spoke at his funeral. I saw, I shared some funny stories. I saw the power of um. How you know, humor, even in the most difficult times, can can help people.
Brian Bates:The following month, january 2007, I saw a standup comedy class offered um, here in Nashville. It was a four week class and I thought, you know, just for fun, I'm just going to go take this class. I'd never met a standup comedian before. I certainly didn't think they were the type of people that you would have a relationship with. But the guy who taught the class was named Rick Roberts. He was a good Christian man who's still a friend and mentor to me, and I feel like he was a godsend because right out of the gate I had this person that I could identify with and lean on and talk to and and help me along the journey.
Brian Bates:So I did it just for fun, like you might take, you know, pickleball, play pickleball in a league for a month. But then I really enjoyed it. I liked the people in the class, so I took the next level and the next level and then things got competitive and you know this guy's getting this, and this guy's getting that, and you know, and you start to get into it. One thing leads to the other. It's a very long process, but here we are, 18 years later, and this is what I'm doing.
BT Irwin:It's your full time job. So you were. You were working in news by day, yeah, and you were doing stand up at night.
Brian Bates:Yeah, in news by day and you were doing standup at night, yeah, and I'd moved up to um, um, a management position in news, cause I started in news out of college. So I was there altogether 19 years, almost 20. And um, it moved up to lower management and had a pretty good gig there. But, um, you know, this standup company became my passion and um, when I quit my job at age 43, I was still single. So I thought, you know, if this doesn't work out, I'm only hurting myself. Yeah, I'm not hurting anybody else, so I'm gonna give it a shot yeah, and I did.
BT Irwin:Did you like? Can you remember what was the tipping point? Because it started started out as oh, I'm going to try this. I suppose it was kind of like a hobby for a while. And like, when did you think, hmm, I think I could actually have a future in this. I may actually want to give up my day job and do this full time. What was that moment where you're just like, yeah, this is it. There was not one breakthrough moment.
Brian Bates:It was just a series of small successes. And then somewhere along the way, I guess, my brain shifted to oh I could actually make money doing this. And then you know you make so little really in anything when you first start out, but certainly something like this. And it was just shocking that anyone would pay me $50 to do this. But then eventually I'm like I might could do this. So I started saving my money and I left. I lived a pretty frugal life anyway, I wasn't spending extravagantly on anything. And then the last, when I pinpointed when I wanted to quit my job the last six months before I quit I tested to see if I could live off just my comedy income and not touch my day job money. And I did it and that was kind of an indication to me that I could make the job.
BT Irwin:Yeah, did anybody try to talk you out of this?
Brian Bates:Not really. I mean certainly, like I said, I didn't have a wife, so I didn't have her to consult with. But you know, my mom, understandably, was probably a little concerned, that you know, moms always worry about their kids, no matter what age they are. And I've had this career and stable job with benefits, and now I'm leaving it to do this. But at the same time I think she knew that I was passionate about it and she saw that I loved it and I was also 43 years old.
Brian Bates:So there's only so much your mom can do or say but you know, if people doubted it they didn't tell me publicly. Everyone was encouraging. Everyone, to my face at least, was really encouraged me to do it. I don't know that there was anyone who said I shouldn't.
BT Irwin:I've always wondered about this. The only thing I know about starting out at standup comedy is what I got from watching uh, crashing with yeah on HBO, and I mean crashing on people's couches and just being up in the middle of two o'clock in the morning. You know five minutes on a stage somewhere. Like do you just, you just take whatever you can get? Do you just go out and sell yourself? Do you hire an agent? Like, how do you? How do you get gigs when you're starting out?
Brian Bates:Yeah, it's a really long process and thankfully, in some ways it's good that you don't know what you don't know. You know because now I look back and I'm like, oh, that's horrible, some of the things I had to do and experience, but you don't know that in the moment. And then you do them and they make you better and you move on. But I started putting on these local shows with other comedians that were in my comedy class and we would just basically invite our friends and family to come, and I don't really think we were making any money, but it was just a way for us to get in front of them on stage. And then I remember I think I got the first offer.
Brian Bates:Someone reached out to me on MySpace that's how long ago this was and said they were doing a company Christmas party and found my video, I guess on MySpace and you know, wanted to hire me and I didn't have enough material to perform at a Christmas party and I think they wanted an hour and so I got me and three of my buddies to each go do 15.
Brian Bates:And, quite frankly, we didn't have 15. We had maybe five minutes, but everyone always exaggerates and again you don't realize just how bad you are at the moment, and then I would just eventually get small pain shows here and there and we'd put on our own shows. One of the big breakthroughs, I guess, was I remember I always kept hearing about Henry Cho. I don't know if you're familiar with Henry Cho, but he lives in Nashville and he's a clean comedian and he's a member of Church of Christ. So I had so many friends and colleagues that would always mention him or they knew him or they were friends with him, and I always wanted to open for him and getting him. And I finally got to open for I got the MC for him.
BT Irwin:Okay.
Brian Bates:At Zany's comedy club here in Nashville about 15 years ago I guess. And then he offered me some dates and go on the road with him and I've been doing shows off and on with him for 15 years. Wow yeah, so that was a big breakthrough. And then I started opening for other comedians and started touring with Nate Bargatze and started opening for him on the road. Nate's the biggest comedian in the world now, him on the road. When you know Nate's the biggest comedian in the world now. But, uh, when I first started with him, you know he was doing comedy clubs, then theaters and then bigger theaters and then now he does arenas.
BT Irwin:I, uh, I just read Charlie Peacock's autobiography and one of the things he talks about in there is that artists who are Christians including himself, uh, don't necessarily want to be called Christian artists. They, they, they just want to be artists who happen to be Christians. And he, he tells. He tells a story in the book about sometimes a great musician becomes a Christian and the church expects him to become a worship minister now. Or a comedian becomes a Christian and the church expects him to leave comedy and become a preacher Right or become a-unquote. You know Christian comedian and hit the youth rally circuit. You perform, you do perform at churches, but you also perform at comedy clubs. You're going to be at the Grand Ole Opry. I mean, do you ever get questions from folks about why you don't identify as a quote-unquote Christian comedian or why you don't just perform at churches and youth rallies?
Brian Bates:I certainly don't hide from my faith. I talk about being a Christian in my act, whether I'm at a church or at a comedy club. I don't know what people think about that, but I know some comedians who solely perform in churches and I think maybe that's a personal choice for them, or some people are a little timid about performing in comedy clubs because it's a different type of crowd. It could be a rowdier crowd and a drunk crowd. You never know what you're dealing with. But I think I agree with him in the sense that I usually identify as a comedian who is a Christian, instead of labeling myself a Christian comedian, and not that I mind if someone calls me a Christian comedian, because I certainly am that, but I feel like that you know, not to preach here, but Jesus whole thing about. You know he dined with sinners and preaching to the sick and not the well, so I feel like I can maybe be a more influence in place where not everyone is a Christian.
BT Irwin:We Christians we admire Jesus for being the kind of Christ who could eat with tax collectors and sinners, go to the bar, go to the comedy club on Friday night and interact with people there, and then still show up at synagogue on Saturday. He can hang out with anyone anywhere, and that's what we say we want to do, but not many of us actually know how to pull it off. But as a comedian, you seem to do what most Christians don't know how to do. You can go to a comedy club, which is pretty much a bar one night. You can do a show at the Church of Christ. The next night you can get saints and sinners quote unquote to laugh at life. So I mean, do comedians have something to teach Christians about how to actually be more like Jesus in the company they keep?
Brian Bates:I don't know. I just I have a platform that I get to share my faith but not be people over the head about it. Obviously, if I got preachy in my act, it probably would not work in a comedy club If I'm funny and they genuinely like me for being funny. But then also again, I don't beat people over the head about being a Christian but I certainly let them know and I don't hide from it and I have some jokes about being a Christian in church. So it's an honor and a privilege to get to do this. Sometimes at our church we've been encouraged in our Bible class to go find someone in our workplace that week and talk to them about Jesus, build a relationship with someone who's not a Church of Christ member in our workplace and Often people in my Bible class they don't even have anyone in their workplace like that. They're all of the same belief or the same faith. Whereas with me, it's rare that I do find anyone who believes the same way I do.
BT Irwin:I've watched a lot of your material and I noticed that you will use bits that I think would everybody in a Church of Christ audience would understand. You use those bits in a comedy club or on a special.
BT Irwin:Nobody in the and everybody in the audience laughs and they don't hold that against you at all, and so it makes me think about like how important is trust to a to a standup comedian. You seem to be able to establish an immediate rapport and trust where the audience trusts you enough to say what you're going to say without feeling like you're going to bait and switch on them.
Brian Bates:Well, if I came out and the first thing I said was, hey guys, I'm a Christian, I go to so-and-so church and if you don't, you know, here's why you should. Yeah, then that probably my whole set probably wouldn't go well Right. When I first started doing standup comedy I just had a. I knew I just a sense that you got to make fun of yourself first before you can certainly make fun of other people. If you can, if you've established that you have a sense of humor about yourself, then it really opens some doors to talk about whatever else and lets down guards and gets people to like you and kind of lean into you. So I don't save anything I talk about, about my faith or being a Christian. I don't save it for the end. It's some big reveal, it's just right in my set, but I don't say it right off the top either. If that makes sense, I kind of, I guess, establish a rapport with the audience.
BT Irwin:The thing I admire so much about comedians is how relatable they are, like from the moment you walk on stage. If you're good at what you do and you're good at what you Like, from the moment you walk on stage, if you're good at what you do and you're good at what you do, from the moment you walk on stage, people, like, seem to identify with you. You have that, that rapport, that trust. You're relatable. Are there any like you you talk about when you started taking standup comedy classes years ago? Are there without revealing trade secrets? Are there things they teach you about how to make yourself relatable to all these strangers that don't even know you and yet they warm up to you, just like that.
Brian Bates:It's. I think the key is honesty, a hundred percent honesty. Uh, really let your guard down, really being vulnerable, but obviously in a funny way, and, um, if people see that you're just being honest with them, with yourself or whatever, and you're uh being vulnerable, and I think it just makes them trust you more, like this guy's not trying to sell me on anything except having a good time.
BT Irwin:Yeah, and they're. They're always willing to go along with you. I mean, that's why they're there, not always, but ideally.
Brian Bates:I mean, I've had some rough shows, some rough crowds and you know, just like anything you do, you learn along the way. And I look back now and I cringe when I see some of my old sets, just like I'm sure if you have videos of you preaching years ago, you probably feel the same way. Just try last week. Well, me too, really I, um, you always kind of cringe when you see yourself doing it, but I've, I've come a long way, just like anybody.
BT Irwin:I have to tell you my wife she has a tell. When we're watching something and she cringes, she touches her face, she starts touching her, she starts touching her face, and that's how I know. And we were watching some of your stuff and you were talking about the time that you were invited to do stand up at I think it was the Wilson County Agricultural Livestock Association and it was an outdoor pavilion at like two in the afternoon.
Brian Bates:Yes.
BT Irwin:Yes, and I looked over and my wife was touching her face man and turning away.
Brian Bates:Yeah, that was a tough one. I've got a few bombing stories, but that's my kind of go-to bombing story that I share, and your mom was there right, my mom was there Some?
Brian Bates:other family members were there and it was really, was really, really, really bad and um, I just bombed in front of all these people and then, when it was over, there's it's an outdoor picnic pavilion. There's nowhere to go, there's no green room to hide in, so I just had to squeeze in there on one of the benches with the people who just hated me, and then they did an auction where they auctioned off items. I donated my CD to be auctioned off. They started bidding on it. No one wanted to bid on it. It was just horrific.
BT Irwin:Man, oh man, you've turned it into a bit.
Brian Bates:That's one of the best things about being a stand-up comedian. Now, when anything bad or embarrassing happens to you pretty quickly sometimes almost immediately you're like, okay, I can at least make this into a bit hopefully right, that's right.
BT Irwin:So I I gotta say, one of the things I think makes comedians so relatable this is just one of my observations.
BT Irwin:You can tell me, if it's true is that comedians seem to be more observant of all the little details of life that most of us don't notice until the comedian brings them up in a bit and then we're like, yeah, that's right, that's my life too, and and so when the comedian talks about it, it's funny. So, like, how do you think comedians uh look at life compared to the rest of us? Is it a natural talent or is it a skill that you build, uh, as you try to come up with bits?
Brian Bates:I think it's both. I think it's just like, uh, being an athlete you're born with some natural talent but obviously you've got to practice and practice and practice and then you just get better at it. I mean, I think I've always been pretty good at observing and noticing maybe things people wouldn't say, or pointing out flaws. But then now I've trained my brain to be observant and always be thinking about material, or if something happens. Could I make that into a bit and you kind of figure out what will work and what won't work. Sometimes absurd things that happen aren't necessarily the best stand-up comedy material. Sometimes it's the little things in life that, uh, that are the funniest. And I feel like comedians are either so relatable or they're kind of absurd to the point where you've never seen someone like this you know what I mean Like a character almost and like, wow, this guy has got a wild story. Or you're so relatable you feel like they're their best friend.
BT Irwin:Yes, yes, yes, yes. So I I've heard people talk about comedy as an escape from real life. Uh, to you know, something that takes people's minds off their everyday world. But when I listened to comedy, it doesn't really make people forget their lives or the world. It seems to make them look at their lives in the world and find humor in both, and it seems to have this power to turn things that embarrass most people, things like bowel movements or sex, uh, into things that make us feel at least this is me talking feel more human and connected to other people, cause everyone's laughing at it together and you're like, okay, I'm, we're all you know, we all experienced this. Um, so I've just had this feeling of community every time I've ever gone to real good comedy act that I can laugh at my own life. Um, I feel relieved.
BT Irwin:That's the word I feel, okay, I'm not the only one. Um, I mean, do you, do you get that sense? Do you feel that, when you're on stage, do you feel that magic happening and that, that kind of sense of relief and, ah, we're all humans here together? Yeah, is that something you try to to, to lead people into?
Brian Bates:I yes, for sure. I think it's ideally, they're relate to it and they think it's funny because they've they can relate to it and they've been through it. And it's a sense of relief that relate to it and they've been through it, and it's a sense of relief that, hey, I'm not alone in this, other people experience this too, or, um, I'm whatever it is, I'm my situation's worse than there. So therefore, they feel relief in the sense that, well, at least I'm not as bad as this guy as far as you know, whatever it is. I mean, that's the same for our podcast.
Brian Bates:I do a podcast with Nate Bargatze called Nate land, and we take a topic each week and, um, learn about it together. And I think the success from is because people watching again identify like, oh yeah, most of us are pretty dumb about most things if we're being honest and we kind of learn together. And then some people just feel makes it, makes them feel smart because they're like these guys are idiots at least I know more than they do. And stand-up comedy is the same way. Um, you know right, I mean I used to. When I first started for the first, however many years, all my jokes were about being single at at my age, you know in my 30s and 40s. Then I got married and all my jokes were not all but a lot of my jokes material was about being newly married and getting married late in life. And then I had a child at 50, our first child at 50. So the last three years it's been a lot of dad jokes, a lot of material about being a new dad.
BT Irwin:All right. So I know everybody's going to watch your specials. We're going to link those in the show notes. I just I'm always curious. You're a great comedian. Number six on Ranker that's going to go on after this episode comes out. Yeah, who do you? Who are your favorite comedians right now? Like, who would you recommend people?
Brian Bates:Who do you think Ryan Bates watch and listen to these days? I've mentioned him numerous times already on this, but and now it kind of seems like the obvious answer Nate Bargatze. But I've been recommending him for 15 years when no one knew who he was. Nate is so funny, so relatable, so clean and now everybody's learning about him, but I would still put him on there. Aaron weber he's another one of my co-hosts on the podcast, but he's very funny. Uh, clean comedian. I like clean comedians. I know that's I like all comedians, don't get me wrong. Some of I think there's some not clean comedians I think are very funny, but I tend to lean toward the clean ones. So I was trying to think of some maybe not household names. Oh, here's one Ryan Hamilton. Ryan Hamilton is a very, very funny standup comedian. He's had some success out there, but he's certainly not a household name. But whenever I see him perform I'm like wow, this guy is so good.
BT Irwin:Ryan Hamilton. Everybody heard from him here first.
Brian Bates:Okay, yeah, ryan Hamilton, he's great. Greg Warren's another one. Greg Warren, very funny, clean stand-up comedian.
BT Irwin:Okay, everybody, You've got some comedy to watch and you've got some rancor updates to go make for Brian Bates, who is one of the top comedians in the country. If you're listening to this in June 2025, you can catch him on June 29 at the grand old Opry. How many times have you done the Opry?
Brian Bates:I think this will be either my 13th or 14th appearance.
BT Irwin:My goodness, my goodness. What was it like the first time you stood up?
Brian Bates:It was so great. Um, they really treat you wonderful. They have an assigned parking spot for you when you pull in, they have a film crew that kind of follows you around to capture your first time there and then when they introduce you, they tell the audience that this is making the Opry debut. So the audience is behind you and it's just so great being out there on that stage and the Grand Ole Opry it's just a great venue great acoustics, great crowd. I mean the Opry House holds over 4,000 people, so it's a big venue.
BT Irwin:Yeah, you're going to be at the Grand Ole Opry House on the 29th. Yes, because they move it to the Ryman some months of the year.
Brian Bates:They do, they do and I've done the. I've performed at the Ryman a few times for other shows, but never for the Grand Ole Opry. Every time I've done the Opry it's been at the Opry house.
BT Irwin:Okay. Well, that's where Brian Bates is going to be on June 29. And then he's hitting the road for the month of July, right, so you'll be in, I think, north Carolina, oklahoma.
Brian Bates:I'm in Raleigh, north Carolina, on July 6th and Chattanooga, tennessee, july 9th and then July 25th, I believe, hattiesburg, mississippi, and my own show in Nashville at Zany's Comedy Club July 29th Okay.
BT Irwin:If he's near you, everybody go check out Brian Bates. Brian, thanks for being on the show, Thanks for having me. We hope that something you heard in this episode encouraged, enlightened or enriched you in some way. If it did, thanks be to God and please pay it forward. Subscribe to this podcast and share it with a friend. Recommend and review it wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Your subscription, recommendation and review help us reach more people. Please send your comments, ideas and suggestions to podcast at christianchronicleorg.
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