John Crist heading to Cedar Rapids with no-holds-barred humor

Veteran comic John Crist sees himself as a vehicle for people who can't say what they think.

“This is a time in history when we can’t offend anyone,” Crist said by phone from his Nashville home. “There are people in Iowa who are afraid to say what’s on their minds. Well the good news is that comedians say what people are thinking. That’s why shows are selling out across the country. People want to hear what people like me say because I’m saying what’s on their minds.”

The charismatic Crist doesn’t care who he offends.

“I just let it fly,” he said. He’ll be flinging his views through the Paramount Theatre in Cedar Rapids on Friday night, Oct. 20, 2023.

Crist, 39, isn’t married and doesn’t have children, but he nails parents at their most absurd when cheering or jeering their kids at sporting events, courtesy of his YouTube clip. (youtube.com/watch?v=HurkqYAQYJ4)

“The parents at sporting events video was one of my favorite ones to make,” he said. “I guess I just see things in the world and in the culture and satirize them as a way with coping with my own feelings. I would sit at these games, either for my siblings or for friends’ siblings and I’d hear these parents screaming from the bleachers and having no idea what they were talking about. So I made my own version.

“I feel like when satire is done correctly, people can see how silly they really look and hopefully have a laugh, too.”

Crist pokes fun at Disney, as well. (youtube.com/watch?v=kLCid7b5uyY). After watching a television advertisement, Crist wondered why he failed to experience what brings great joy to youngsters today at America’s premier theme park.

“Oh man, I think comedy has always been about seeing the truth in things,” Crist said. “Regarding the Disney clip, that put me on the map. I look back fondly at the inspiration I had. I remember sitting on my couch and watching a Disneyland commercial. It was so overly sweet. Like there were happy children licking ice cream cones, hugging their parents and everyone was enjoying the park at the perfect temperature with no crowds. And my comedy brain just saw that commercial and thought, ‘OK, my parents took me to Disney World when I was a kid and it was nothing like that.’ So I flew down to Orlando, bought a ticket to the park and made my own version. And people related.

“Again, it goes back to that I say what people feel.”

Crist is a clean comic, who happens to be a Christian. However, he would like to avoid labels.

“Look at music, or movies and you see it’s more comfortable for people to put things in categories, easier for the brain to define,” he said. “This is a country song, this is a rap song. This movie is suspense, this one is a romantic comedy. But of course, now we see country artists collaborating with rappers. And romantic comedies have suspense. That’s part of it.

“I grew up in the South. My dad was a pastor and we were home-schooled. I’ll always create content from that perspective. I make a lot of Christian-related jokes. It’s certainly fair for someone to tag me with the Christian moniker. Is Dave Chapelle a Black comic or just a comic who is Black? Is Jerry Seinfeld a Jewish comedian or is he just a comedian who grew up Jewish? It depends on what box you want to put him in.

“I do think comedy and Christianity go very well together. There are, of course, some things that are deeply sacred to our faith that I probably wouldn’t joke about, but there are a lot of things about our subculture that need to be joked about, to help everyone make sense of it all, just like the Disney video.”

Shortly after reaching adulthood, Crist had an epiphany after catching the outrageous comic Katt Williams.

“I watched his comedy special and it changed my whole life,” Crist said. “I wanted to be a comedian from that day forward. Along the way I’ve been influenced by lots of comedians: Cedric the Entertainer, Tim Hawkins, Bo Burnham, Dave Chappelle, Sebastian (Maniscalco) and Sacha Baron Cohen.”

Expect Crist to be topical when he plays the Paramount Theatre.

“There is plenty to talk about,” he said. “There’s so much going on in the world. The great thing is that I can never run out of material.”