Brad Stine

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Brad Stine (born 1960[1]) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and author. Relatively unknown until 2003, Stine first gained exposure when he "came out" as a conservative[2]Christian on his debut album, Put a Helmet On!

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Stine was born and raised in Bremen, Indiana, by Jerry and Nancy Stine.[1] His father was an auto-body repairman and front man for a local musical combo called the Regents and his mother was a housewife. He has three siblings, and he is the second eldest.

Stine's parents divorced when he was eight, but they later remarried and moved to California, only to divorce once again. He stayed with his father, who briefly left the auto-body business to travel with his brother to carnivals in the Midwest. His father later remarried and returned to his previous work.

[edit] Early career

Stine started practicing magic tricks at age 13, which later led to his performing magic in Southern California bars and restaurants. Stine also learned to perform sideshow stunts and began honing his comedy skills.

In the late 1980s, Stine was hired by a manager and toured colleges across the country with comedians Craig Anton and Emery Emery. His first television appearance was on Showtime’s "Comedy Club Network."

Stine continued to work in comedy clubs and on TV, and eventually dropped his magic tricks and stunts. He started taking acting lessons and auditioned for movies and television shows. On the advice of a fellow comic, he eventually made his Christian faith and conservatism the focus of his act.

[edit] Personal life

Stine lives in Brentwood, Tennessee, with his wife Desiree, and their two children.[3]

[edit] Comedic style

Stine's style has been described by Newsweek as "aggressive" with a "rat-a-tat delivery"[4] and by The New Yorker as "frantic, aggressive, and caustic, with echoes of Robin Williams, Sam Kinison, and George Carlin."[1] However, unlike these and a lot of other comedians, Stine does not use profanity or sexual humor because of his Christian faith.[5] He has been described as "a clean Denis Leary" and his material targets "liberals, humanists, political correctness and judgmental Christians."[6] Stine has admitted, however, that his conservatism has sometimes resulted in the loss of appearances.[7]

[edit] Major appearances

Stine has appeared on several stand-up comedy shows, such as A&E’s "Evening at the Improv" and MTV's "Half Hour Comedy Hour," and has appeared on news programs such as FOX News' "Hannity & Colmes[8]," CNN's "Paula Zahn NOW[9]" and "Glenn Beck[10]," and the NBC Nightly News. Stine has also been interviewed on National Public Radio[11][5] and has been featured on FOXNews.com[2] and in Newsweek[12], the New Yorker[1], USA Today, and several other newspapers nationwide. He was a featured performer for Promise Keepers in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2007. Also in 2004, he performed for "R: the Party," a party hosted by Jenna and Barbara Bush during the Republican National Convention in New York City.[11]

[edit] GodMen

Inspired by author David Murrow,[13] Stine founded GodMen, a proposed alternative to Promise Keepers that emphasizes "spiritual masculinity."[4] GodMen's inaugural event was held on October 28, 2006, in Nashville, Tennessee, and drew 200 men.[14] Their second event was held on March 10, 2007,[15] in rented space at a Franklin, Tennessee, mall[16] and drew about 300 men.[17] Many more events are scheduled for 2007 and 2008.[18]

[edit] Acting work

Stine has appeared in minor roles in a handful of big and small screen movies.[19]

[edit] Multimedia

Brad Stine currently has two books and four performance videos/recordings available.

[edit] Books

  • Being a Christian Without Being an Idiot. Word Distribution. (Oct 2004). ISBN 5-556-25453-2. 
  • Live from Middle America: Rants from a Red-State Comedian. Hudson Street Press. (Mar 2006). ISBN 1-59463-015-1. 

[edit] Videos/recordings

  • Brad Stine - Put A Helmet On! [DVD, VHS, Audio CD]. Word Distribution. (2003).
  • Brad Stine - Conservative Unleashed [DVD, VHS, Audio CD]. Word Entertainment. (Oct 2004).
  • Brad Stine - Tolerate This! [DVD, Audio CD]. Warner Bros. (Aug 2005).
  • Brad Stine - "Wussification" [DVD, Audio CD]. Word Entertainment. (Sept 2007).

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Adam Green, STANDUP FOR THE LORD the New Yorker, 2004-08-02
  2. ^ a b Catherine Donaldson-Evans, Growing Group of Comedians Veer Right,FoxNews.com Foxlife, September 01, 2004
  3. ^ Bob Faw, Christian Comedian Brad Stine PBS' Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, May 27, 2005
  4. ^ a b Anita Wadhwani, Spiritual event wants GodMen, not girly men, The Tennessean, 10/26/06
  5. ^ a b NPR, Christian Comedian Brad Stine, Fresh Air from WHYY audio interview, September 2, 2004
  6. ^ Milwaukee Journal Sentinal, A guy walks into a church…, Jan. 23, 2007
  7. ^ ABC News, Coulter, Limbaugh Team Up For Comedy Show, February 17, 2007
  8. ^ FOX News, Transcript (PDF format), Hannity & Colmes, September 6, 2004
  9. ^ CNN, Transcript, Paula Zahn NOW, August 11, 2004
  10. ^ CNN, Transcript, Glenn Beck, June 06, 2006
  11. ^ a b NPR, Live from New York: Comedy at the GOP Convention, Talk of the Nation audio interview, August 30, 2004
  12. ^ Eileen Finan, Real Men Talk About God Newsweek Web Exclusive, Oct 30, 2006
  13. ^ Brandon O'Brien, A Jesus for Real Men, Christianity Today, 4/18/2008
  14. ^ Jenny Jarvie and Stephanie Simon, Manliness is next to godliness, Los Angeles Times, December 7, 2006
  15. ^ Paul Coughlin, New Male Spirit, Crosswalk.com, Feb 21, 2007
  16. ^ ABC News, Group Advocates Macho Christianity, March 15, 2007
  17. ^ ABC News, Christian Men...Too Wimpy?, March 15, 2007
  18. ^ Godmen Events
  19. ^ Brad Stine's page on the Internet Movie Database

[edit] External links