Saturday night, atheist evangelist Sam Singleton held congregation at the Philadelphia Ethical Society on Rittenhouse Square. His two act comedy show called “Patriarchs and Penises” was delivered in Sam’s signature old time preacher style with a modern flair.
Roger Scott Jackson (Rosco to his friends) is the writer and performer of the one man show. As the character of Sam Singleton, Rosco’s first act deal with the natural state of atheism, where we stand in America today, and some humorous observations about the theistic belief. He also jokes about growing up in a Pentecostal family whose grandparents handled poisonous snakes and spoke in tongues.
The second act deals mostly with the Bible itself. Sam Singleton discusses and jokes about the Bible’s preoccupation with the male genitalia. While this bit of bathroom humor is obviously childish as Brother Sam admits, the basis of the humor here isn’t the penis jokes, but that fact that so many people take these jokes so seriously as to make it a religion… or three.
There was no doubt that everybody who came to see the show had a good time and Sam Singleton received a standing ovation for each act. After the show, a small group of us went out for drinks and discussion. The thing about the show that was really brilliant was that it was the perfect mixture of hard hitting religious criticism, light hearted humor, satire, and Bible study.
The Sam Singleton, Atheist Evangelist show is currently touring the nation and Rosco has taken his show to various cities and states around the nation already. This was his first time visiting Philadelphia and I think we got him hooked, and he hasn’t even gotten a cheese steak yet. Hopefully Sam Singleton will return to Philadelphia at some point down the road. If you are in a city where Sam is touring definitely check out his show. You can learn more about where his show is going and what his act is like by visiting his website at www.SamSingleton.com.
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