Comedian Nazareth: "Laughter for all"

In this episode, I sit down with clean comedian Nazareth, and his story is just incredible. He shares what it was like to truly hear “come as you are,” then give his life to Christ, and then makes that bold, Monday-morning decision to walk away from his old path and let God redefine his purpose.

What I really loved is how real our conversation gets about blending stand-up comedy with faith—without losing people in the process. He talks about earning the laughter first, then naturally sharing his testimony, whether he’s on a huge stage, in a corporate setting, or at a packed church.

And some of the stories…you can’t make these up. From a stage literally collapsing, to a tense moment that unexpectedly turned into a hug—it’s the kind of stuff that sticks with you. We also talk about why he still believes invitations and altar calls matter, which I found really powerful.

Oh—and at one point, he showed me a picture as “proof” that Jesus loves laughter too…which just kind of says it all.

Would love for you to check it out when you get a chance. I think it’ll encourage you—and hopefully give you a few good laughs along the way.

Listen to the episode right here right now:

Watch the episode right here right now:

NAZARETH AT A GLANCE

International Comedian • Ministry Leader • Founder of Laughter for All & Voice of the Refugees • Christian Testimony

Topics: Christian faith • Comedy • Hollywood • Conversion • Gospel • Prayer • Purpose • Ministry • Evangelism • Prison ministry • Youth ministry • Refugees • Service • Marriage • Faith in action

His Faith Journey: Greek Orthodox upbringing → Christian by name but not a follower of Jesus → Hollywood success and an increasingly empty life → Encounter with the Gospel → Surrender to Christ at age 28 → Leaving his mainstream comedy career → Returning to comedy as a Christian ministry → Sharing Jesus through laughter, service and evangelism

This Episode Explores:

• How Nazareth walked away from a promising Hollywood career after giving his life to Jesus

• Why he believes God redirected his comedy rather than taking it away

• The unexpected marathon that helped him discover his purpose

• How he uses comedy to open doors for sharing the Gospel

• His nearly 300 performances inside prisons and the ministry that grew from them

• Why he shifted his focus toward reaching middle-school students and the next generation

• How Laughter for All and Voice of the Refugees put his faith into action

Questions Answered:

• What is Nazareth the Comedian's Christian testimony?

• How did Nazareth become a Christian?

• Why did Nazareth leave Hollywood after finding Jesus?

• How did comedy become part of his Christian ministry?

• What is Laughter for All?

• What happened during his ministry in prisons?

• What is Voice of the Refugees?

• How does Nazareth share the Gospel through comedy?

Podcast Transcript:

Amazing Greats with Ric Hansen

From Hollywood to the Gospel: Nazareth the Comedian on Faith, Laughter and a Life Transformed

Guest: Nazareth the Comedian — International Comedian, Ministry Leader and Founder of Laughter for All and Voice of the Refugees

From the Holy Land to Hollywood

Ric Hansen:What a great thing it is. We have a special guest. It's international comedian Mr. Nazareth, the comedian, and he is with us today.

We're going to talk about a lot of good stuff because there's a lot of good stuff in your story. What an amazing story. Born in the Holy Land, somehow ended up in Toledo, Ohio. Is that correct?

And then from there to Hollywood. You've done like 4,000 shows around the world, 300 of which are in prisons, which is an amazing story in and of itself.

You've performed on all the networks. I mean, you've been on CBS, NBC, CNBC, CBN—there we go.

Nazareth:Whatever vowel you want to buy, I'll pay for it.

Ric Hansen:And you've been on stage with B.B. King and The Righteous Brothers and Chris Tomlin and For King & Country and MercyMe, all the big names and Christians, as well as with Lee Strobel, the author.

And not only all of that, you founded two nonprofits, which are existing and great, and we're going to talk about that a little later.

You have a wife and three kids, you run marathons. Good grief. What do you do in your spare time, Nazareth?

Nazareth:I sleep.

Yeah, no, it's so funny, Rick. You know how when churches say, when pastors say, "When you tithe, God is going to bless you tenfold"?

Even with your time, when you tithe with your time and serve the kingdom, God will give you more time. And I'm always shocked.

I'm also on the board of other nonprofits and other ministries internationally, and it's like I go, "How can I get the time?"

But God just gives us the time.

I've already been on a radio interview this morning where they did a writing session with other comedians for two hours and stuff, and I still have to go to my junior high today as a leader.

We have about 200 students in junior high that I'm every week one of the life-group leaders for.

But God just gives us the time. And my wife is at a point where she goes, "Don't you have a show to go to? You're just home too long."

From a Hollywood Career to Following Jesus

Ric Hansen:So God is good. I appreciate that.

Well, let's jump right in.

The whole deal is you have made a career, a name for yourself, combining laughter with thousands and thousands, hundreds of thousands of people, and at the same time have shared the Gospel.

So, how do you weave those two together on stage and offstage? How does that all come together for you?

Nazareth:When I first started doing comedy, I was not a believer in Christ. I was a Christian by name, but I was not a follower of Jesus.

When I started doing comedy, I was doing the clubs, I was doing the Hollywood scene, I was doing Vegas, and then all the improv comedy clubs. I was doing big stuff.

NBC was writing a sitcom for me called Fish Out of Water, a Middle Eastern man in America, and everything was great.

And then a friend of mine, a comedian friend of mine, invited me to church.

When I went to church and I heard the Gospel, the pastor said, "Come as you are."

And to me, I thought fame and money and girls and parties and drinking and cocaine would bring me joy and happiness and fulfillment.

It wasn't. There was that emptiness in my heart.

And when that pastor said, "Come as you are. Jesus will do the work," I went forward crying.

I mean, I normally never cry, but I went forward and gave my life to Christ.

Monday morning I called my manager. I said, "I quit."

And he was so furious—250 F-words. "How could you? We have a contract coming up with NBC. Are you aware your career is going to go? You're going against Seinfeld. You're doing good. You're going to be the best name out there."

And I was like, "But I don't want that anymore."

And he goes, "What do you want to do?"

I go, "I don't know. I quit."

I literally quit, Rick. I quit comedy.

A week later, my pastor comes to me and he goes, "Nazareth, would you like to do a comedy show at our church?"

I'm like, "Are you kidding me?"

This is 1992 or '93, where it's like, "Are you serious? You can do comedy?"

He goes, "God created humor. Satan perverted it."

He goes, "You can do that."

I'm like, again?

So I said, "Okay."

I started and I looked at my act, and I cleaned it up and all that. And I'm still a new believer.

Then the day of the show, Rick, a deacon—an old deacon who's with the Lord now—prayed, "Lord, use this man's comedy to bring people to know You and to bring joy to the believers."

From that moment on, I could not help but share the Gospel when I can.

If I'm doing a corporation, of course, I'm just going to do the show. They're going to come to me. They come to me and say, "Are you a Christian? Are you a Christian?" And they would know it.

But if I'm given the opportunity, or I do my own concerts, which we can talk about later, I cannot help but share the good news of Jesus Christ.

So this is how it started—with me deciding to quit, but God said, "Nope. I've got to use you."

The Altar Call That Changed Everything

Ric Hansen:Wow. So it's the old-fashioned altar call was the start of it all, huh?

Nazareth:Yes, yes.

Some people are against altar calls. I still do them. I still ask people to come forward because that's how I—it was my accountability moment.

That's when I felt the Holy Spirit saying, "Go forward."

Some people say, "Oh, well, some people come forward and it's not real," or, "It doesn't matter."

For me, it happened to me.

Ric Hansen:I go forward.

And God loves humor, and you have proof of it right behind you there, don't you?

Nazareth:Yes, I do.

I have a picture. I normally never carry it, but here we go.

It's always been on my desk, and it's a reminder that Jesus laughed.

People—you know, you don't see people preaching about Jesus laughing.

Of course, we talk about Isaiah, and how He was a man of sorrow, and how He suffered. Yes, He did. But He was human. He's fully human, fully God.

So He had to laugh.

Ric Hansen:If He cried, He laughed.

Wow. Yes, that's so cool. I love that.

When you showed me that picture, I've never seen it before. Just like you say, nobody pictures Him that way, right?

So that was great.

The Moment Nazareth Became a Christian Comedian

Ric Hansen:Did you—when all of this was going on, so you converted and all of that—what point in your career was that? How old were you? Where did you make the switch?

Nazareth:It wasn't—it was like, okay, I grew up in a Greek Orthodox Christian family, but my parents never went to church.

They never took us to church.

I was born in the Holy Land. I moved to Kuwait when I was three years old.

So we were actually in a Muslim country, but there was a Greek Orthodox church. My parents were never religious or never took us to church.

So I did not know.

When that moment happened, when that pastor gave the invitation, somehow it's like I felt, "Okay, this is what I need. This is exactly what I need, Lord."

I was 28 at the time. I was already doing Vegas and other things. The sitcom was coming. Everything was happening.

That's when I transitioned to doing Christian comedy.

At the time, there weren't many Christian comedians. It was Mark Lowry and Robert G. Lee, myself and a couple of other comedians around the country.

And then a lot of people like Jeff Allen left the clubs and came back, and Michael Jr. left the clubs and came to the church.

So in that scene earlier, there wasn't anybody, especially in California. There weren't many.

I remember I started a comedy club at the church called the Christian Comedy Club. It lasted for two years.

We had teachers, we had invited people, and it was hard to find comedians because there were not many Christians doing comedy.

But that's how it started.

Comedy Was His Weapon

Ric Hansen:Wow. Ric Hansen here with clean comic Nazareth on Amazing Greats.

When did you first realize that you were drawn or gifted with comedy in the first place?

Were you a kid and you made people laugh and then you said, "This is cool, I like this, I'll do it"?

Where along the way did you get the bug for comedy?

Nazareth:Yeah. Oh, that's a great question.

When I was young, I was the youngest of three boys. I have a very strict Middle Eastern mom, so that brings humor into your life.

We lived in Kuwait. We were the Christians living in Kuwait at the time.

Going to school and dealing with all of that, humor was my weapon, my tool to protect myself, to fit in.

So I used that.

Then you move to Toledo, Ohio, and you have to try to fit in as well.

Humor was my way to make friends and to be liked.

But then when I moved to California, I decided to run a marathon, Rick.

Don't ask me why.

The Marathon That Changed His Life

Nazareth:I was smoking, drinking, doing cocaine and working as an accountant, and I decided to run a marathon.

I have no idea why.

But I started running, and all of a sudden, I'm not—I didn't train for it.

I smoked my last cigarette that morning in Los Angeles, and I started copying what the other runners, the real runners, do.

And then I started running.

After two miles, my body became a dysfunctional family gathering.

My lungs were like the grandpa: "Ah, you know, I can't breathe. You guys better stop this shenanigan. We can't do that."

My heart became like my wife, where it's like, "Nobody told me. I didn't sign up for this. Okay, I'm the only one pumping here. Nobody's helping. Let me stop and see what happens to all of you if I stop."

My legs became like the kids: "Are we there yet, Dad? Are we there? How much longer? Dad, we're tired."

And I kept running.

After five or ten miles, you become numb. You can't feel any pain.

So I'm running with everybody else.

I get to 22 miles and I'm just dead.

And then a homeless lady standing there says, "Honey, you can't quit. Look at the finish line. You can see it."

And when you see the finish line, you get extra energy, right?

I didn't.

I just dragged myself, got to the finish line and sat there.

And I go, "Wow. What do I want to do in life that, if I never get paid for it, I would still do it to the best of my ability?"

And it was making people laugh.

Ric Hansen:Wow.

Nazareth:That was my defining moment.

Because when you think you're not capable of doing stuff, and then you run 26.2 miles and you finish it, you go, "I can do anything right now."

And that was what I wanted to do.

So the next day I took action right away, otherwise I would have forgotten about it.

I went to the LA Cabaret in Los Angeles in the Valley and signed up at 7 p.m.

Three hundred people in the audience, all the big names performing. It's like, "This is great."

By the time I got on stage, it was midnight—nine drunks.

I didn't have an act. All I had were the jokes that I used to do.

People would say, "Oh, you're from the Middle East. You live in a tent."

I'd go, "Yeah. A two-story tent with a two-camel garage."

And then my brother would come and take Ken and Barbie hostage. I sent G.I. Joe to get him back.

Stupid jokes.

Got a huge laugh.

Another one was like, "Hey, we had the earthquake in L.A. I was at work, and the Slurpee machine fell and hit me on the head. I'm glad I had my turban on."

People fell off their chairs laughing.

I can't do these jokes now, but it was like my sign: "I can do this."

The next day I went to the Comedy Store and signed up for open mic night.

And then within a few months, it was me and Sherri Shepherd, if you've heard of her, the comedian.

We started on the same day.

That day we went up to the Improv in Santa Monica, California.

The owner—you know, people know Budd Friedman, who was the owner of all the Improv, but it was Marc Lano, his partner, who said, "Nazareth and Sherri, you guys are so funny. You are welcome anytime at any club in the country, any Improv, and you can do time."

That was like the open door for me.

And from that point on, the door just opened, and it was great.

So that's what happened.

When the Stage Literally Collapsed

Ric Hansen:What's the funniest thing that has ever happened to you on stage that you can recall?

Is there a time or a space where something crazy funny took place?

Nazareth:Crazy funny.

I remember one time I was in Midland, Michigan, and we were doing an outdoor comedy concert, and the stage just fell.

I just fell under and came up and finished my comedy.

After I finished, the guys came and said, "Please don't sue us! Please don't sue us!"

I'm like, "Sue you? I had a great show. I'm happy."

Another one—we used to perform in places where they had to put cages up so people wouldn't throw stuff at you.

I've been so blessed. I haven't had hecklers who really bothered me.

But one time—oh, this is funny.

I was near Tacoma, Seattle, and I was doing a show outdoors for a radio station.

I was doing my comedy about being Middle Eastern. Nobody wants to talk to me at the airport. People are afraid to talk to me on the plane.

And this guy walks up the steps onto the stage.

There were two security guys just standing there.

I'm like, "What are you doing?"

I'm looking to see if he had a knife or something in his hand.

He just came in and hugged me.

He goes, "Oh, I'll fly with you. I'm a Marine and I'll fly with you."

I was like, "Oh, God bless you, brother. Thank you. But not right now. We're not flying right now."

And then the security guys come and grab him.

I'm like, "Wait, you should have grabbed him before! Right now he's a nice guy. He's my friend now. Don't just let him go. Don't worry about him."

That was one of the only times where I was fearful on stage that something could go wrong.

But other than that, it was fine.

Weaving the Gospel Into Comedy

Ric Hansen:So, in your routine, in a normal kind of Christian-oriented venue, how do you actually weave the Gospel message in with the comedy?

Or is it separate? Do you do the comedy and then do some scriptural—how does that work?

Nazareth:If I'm doing a corporation, I won't bring that up.

If I'm doing a certain event, what I do is people come to laugh. I will give them their hour of laughter, or hour and 15.

And in the middle of the act, I somehow share how God changed my life very lightly—how the power of prayer gave me my wife, how this happened—and just slowly.

Even when I don't do a Christian audience, I still weave what God has done in my life.

I've never had a complaint from Bank of America to Coca-Cola or anybody saying, "Oh, you talked about your life."

Somehow my accent allowed me to get away with stuff.

Okay, I'm from the Holy Land. What are you going to do about it?

This is how we talk. We talk prayer and we talk Jesus. How about that?

And then I get to a point towards the end of the show, and I go, like right now when I do my stadium events for Christians:

"Okay, you got your money's worth. Thank you so much. If you want to leave, you can.

"But I want to tell you something that happened.

"Because I can make you laugh, and you can go home right now, get a text or an email or some bad news, and you lose all that.

"But if I lead you to the source of joy, which is Christ Jesus, that's what He did. He gave me joy.

"So that will last with you regardless of what's going to happen to you next."

And then I get to share the Gospel.

Many times, if the Holy Spirit leads me to, I would say, "Hey, if you want to receive Jesus, and you feel—you know, would you come? I want to pray for you. Would you come here to the stage? I want to pray for you."

And that's how we do it.

Praise God.

I've had shows where hundreds of people came forward.

The Man Who Came Forward After 26 Years of Prayer

Nazareth:One time I did a show, Rick, and there were a lot of Asians there.

The promoter said, "Can you please share the Gospel and do an invitation?"

I'm like, "You sure?"

He goes, "Yeah, I want you to do that."

So I did my comedy and I did the invitation.

I started asking people to come forward.

And one guy—just one older guy with a cane—slowly walked forward.

And I'm looking around like, "Anybody else? Keep going, keep going. Anybody else?"

You know, because you get points in heaven and you get paid based on how many people come forward.

And I was trying to drag it out, and nobody came forward.

So I prayed with the guy, and he was tearing up.

I prayed with him and I was like, "Okay, I guess they don't want to hear it."

And this lady comes to me.

She goes, "I've been praying for my husband for 26 years to come to know Jesus."

And she goes, "Today he came forward."

Ric Hansen:Oh, man.

Nazareth:Oh, yes.

So when people say you can't ask people to come forward and stuff—that doesn't work.

Yeah, you know, God bless you. If that's how God put it on your heart, God bless you.

But this—yeah.

Ric Hansen:So, yeah. It works.

The Prayer That Brought Him His Wife

Ric Hansen:You briefly said that prayer brought you your wife.

Now I want to know that story.

Nazareth:You want to hear that?

Oh, that's a God story.

Okay, for the single people watching or listening—and I say, "My clock is ticking."

It's not.

What happened is when I came to Christ, Rick, I decided, I said, "Okay, I'm not going to watch porn. I don't want to date. I don't want to lie to a woman. I don't want to live with a woman outside of marriage. I don't want to do this, I don't want to do that."

That's it.

I'm—I want this, Lord.

I promise you, I will do this.

But if I'm not going to be dating and stuff, I want a beautiful wife with a rich father that knows the whole Bible.

So let Your will be done.

You bring her to me. I'm going to go about Your business. You go about my business.

And I really believed that.

Because when you're a new believer, you don't put restrictions and excuses on why God wouldn't do that.

It was just like, "I know God is able. I know He loves me. I know marriage is His idea."

Okay, I want to be married, but this is what I want.

And I waited.

Then came the evil day called Valentine's Day, when you don't have anybody. Everybody else is in love except you.

I thought, "Okay, Lord, you know what? She doesn't have to have a rich father. You'll take care of us. You know, beautiful in the New Testament is fine with me. I'll go with that."

And you wait because you want God to do things on your time, and you don't want to compromise.

Second year, I'm losing a little hair.

I was like, "I don't want to be bald before I get her. Lord, you know what? She doesn't have to be beautiful. She's okay. It's fine with me. And the book of John is fine with me. That would be great."

A year later, I started gaining weight on my sides.

I'm like—

And when you start erasing your phone messages without touching it, or you can't hear a drink—

I'm like, "Oh, Pizza Hut, I didn't call you."

My fat called you.

"Okay, make a large pepperoni and hurry up."

I said, "No, I can't. I can't."

I said, "Lord, John 3:16. Bring her over. I'll witness to her."

And that was my real prayer.

That year, when I prayed that prayer, my father was dying at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach.

And he goes, "Son, can you do me a favor?"

I go, "Anything for you, Dad. You know, of course."

He goes, "I have a home in the Gaza Strip in the Holy Land."

Ric Hansen:Wow.

Nazareth:And I want you to—

I'm like, "What?"

He goes, "Yeah, we're from there, and I want you to go change it into your mom's name. Would you do that for me?"

I said, "Of course, I'll do it for you."

I was touring with the Righteous Brothers at the time. I didn't want to go, but it's your dad.

So I flew into Tel Aviv. I drove to the Gaza Strip.

The first night I'm there, my atheist cousin from Baltimore who lived there—who was there to get married—goes, "Oh, you want to be my best man?"

I go, "Sure. I'm here."

So he said, "Let's go to dinner. Me, you, my fiancée and her sister."

So we go to dinner that night, and he looks at me.

He goes, "You look happy. What's wrong with you? You're in the Gaza Strip. Why are you happy?"

I go, "Jesus changed my life. He gave me a reason to live."

I used to be like an old car that keeps breaking down.

Now that I'm a Christian, I'm that same old car, but I'm married to a mechanic and I have AAA.

It's not an insurance claim. It's God is with you.

He goes with you through it.

And my cousin got mad.

He goes, "Girls, don't listen to him. He's a born-again Christian."

And her sister, Rick, looks at me—and she's gorgeous.

She goes, "Me too."

I go, "What? You're a Christian?"

She goes, "Yeah."

I go, "Would you like to marry me?"

And she goes, "I've been praying for three years for a believer to come to this side of the world."

So I'm going to take you seriously.

She goes, "Are you serious?"

I go, "Yes."

She goes, "Let me pray and fast for three days. I'll get back to you."

Three days later, she came back.

She goes, "I'm starving. Let's do it."

August 10th will be 30 years of marriage.

Beautiful, godly woman.

Her dad was kind of the mayor, so she was—everything I prayed for. Rich dad, knows the Bible very well, loving and beautiful.

It all came in because I was being faithful.

And some people go, "Well, I've been praying for a wife or a husband."

Well, have you been waiting for him?

"No, I'm dating different people."

It's not going to work that way.

You've got to trust.

And I trusted and I waited, and God rewarded me with that.

Laughter for All: Bringing Comedy to People Who Need It

Ric Hansen:So good. So good.

That's a great story. Thank you for sharing that.

So let's talk about your nonprofits.

You have a couple, as I understand it.

One is all about laughter—Laughter for All.

Tell us about how that started and what it is.

Nazareth:Laughter for All started in 2013.

I was doing events, and I started doing church events where some churches were like, "I just want you to be funny. I don't want you to talk about anything Christian. I just want you to be funny."

I go, "Okay. If you just want me to be funny, my comedy friends who started with me and after me are charging $20,000, $30,000. Would you like to pay that?"

Because I started with Chris Sack, Adam Sanner, Kevin James, all these guys.

I'm like, "If you just want me to be funny, you better pay me what mainstream media companies pay for the comedian."

But I want to be able to share at the end.

That's a church.

You don't know what if the fire of Chicago happens, you know, and people—what if I don't share?

So I started praying, and I said, "Lord, how can I—I want to be able to control my shows. I want to be able to do my own shows where no one can tell me what to do and what not to do.

"I want the Holy Spirit at the end of my comedy to be able to do that.

"And also I wanted to be able to bring poor people who can't afford to go to a movie theater or a comedy club to come and enjoy my show or a Christian concert. I want them to come for free."

So I prayed and I just felt the Lord saying, "Okay, go find a poor area and we'll talk."

At the time, next to me was San Bernardino County, California, which was the poorest county in the country.

So I drove there and I started praying.

I'm not one of those fanatic prayer people, but I was just praying.

And I saw the stadium there, the 66ers stadium.

And I go, "Okay, wow. Would that be?"

And I just felt, "Okay, I'm going to go inside."

I went inside.

I'm like, "May I speak to the manager?"

And he goes, "Yeah."

I go, "I'd like to rent this place."

He goes, "What are you doing?"

I said, "A clean family night."

He goes, "How much are you charging for tickets?"

I go, "I'm not charging for tickets. I want to be able to bring people for free because it's a poor county. I want to be able to give them toys and food if I can find vendors who would donate it."

And he goes, "Wow, that's a great idea. Well, I'll give it to you for half price."

I go, "How much?"

He goes, "Ten grand."

I didn't have ten grand.

I go, "Oh, okay, okay, let me see."

So I started driving and I get a phone call from a friend.

And I said, "Hey."

He goes, "How are you doing?"

I go, "Fine. This is what happened."

He goes, "I'll just give you the ten grand. Don't worry about it. Go book it."

So I booked the thing.

Five thousand people showed up that day.

We gave a thousand toys, a thousand bags of food, and it was a free event.

It was great.

I brought, I think at the time, Crystal Lewis and Dennis Agajanian, the fastest guitarist. I brought comedians and people just loved it.

Then we did it four times in that stadium.

Then I started doing one in Vegas—a couple in Vegas—where we had 3,500 people come for free.

But we did it for free.

And then the last few years it became difficult to do free events because people don't show up because they don't attach value to it.

So I started doing it in theaters.

Like last November we did one at the California Theatre of the Performing Arts. It's an 1,800-seat theater. We filled it up.

But you know what?

People say, "Oh, I want 10 tickets," but they don't show up.

So what we started doing is—we said, okay, and this is just the first time, this is where I'm starting to change the focus a little bit.

Last year we said, "Okay, instead of renting a stadium and paying that much, I'm going to start going to recovery groups, to the L.A. Mission, to go to the homeless shelter in Dallas, to this, and go and do comedy, of course, for free."

I'll send comedians.

Let's say sometimes if I go to the L.A. Mission, I have some African-American Christian comics that can do a great job there, better than me, because they can fit with the audience.

Or if I go to an area in East L.A., Los Angeles, where there's a lot of Latinos, I have Christian Latino comedians who fit.

So I said, "Listen, I will pay you from Laughter for All Ministry to go and do these events for free. Just go."

But the one condition: you've got to share the Gospel at the end and give them a chance to accept Christ.

And just don't ask for anything. Just do it and we'll pay you.

So we started doing that.

And now I'm doing a big event at the church in Corona, which we've done five times for free.

We said, "Okay, we've got to put value into this event."

So we said, "Okay, we're going to call it a pay-it-forward event."

If you have money, you can buy a ticket and buy an extra ticket for someone for free.

And they go, "What if we don't get it?"

I said, "Don't tell anybody, but we'll let everybody in for free if they want to come for free."

Because that's what's on our heart.

We don't want a family of four who can't even worry about going to the movies. They're worrying about the next paycheck and inflation and groceries.

I don't want them to worry about it.

These people don't go to events.

Rick, you'll be surprised how many fathers come to me and say, "Hey, thank you, because I never could take my kids to a live concert before."

Yeah.

And it's just amazing.

We are so blessed.

So that's what Laughter for All is all about.

It's about doing comedy, taking comedy where people are hurting and they need it, but also doing events where people don't have to feel burdened to pay for a ticket.

If they have it, they can.

We get a lot of wealthy people to come to the event and they can afford it and they can buy it, and some of them pay for more.

But we want to be able to let people who don't have the money come and laugh.

But the goal at the end: we share the good news of Jesus Christ.

Comedy Behind Prison Walls

Ric Hansen:Using comedy to make the world a better place.

You're listening to Nazareth, the comedian, on Amazing Greats.

And you know, there's so much truth to the fact that if it's free, people don't put value on it.

And so just putting a price tag on it makes the difference between, "Oh, now I'm going to go to a real deal," but at the same time to make it available when they need it and they can't afford it.

So that's super.

What about the prisons?

Nazareth:Laughter for All goes to prisons.

And the way the prison thing started, Rick, is before I became a believer in Christ—I mean, I was a Christian, but in order to work as a comedian, we go to what we call hell gigs or one-nighters.

It could be a bar in the middle of nowhere with five people in the audience, or it could be a strip bar where you go in between the dancers and do your comedy.

But you always need a place to try your new material on people that's normally not very impressed by you, so you can know it works.

If this guy who doesn't care about me is laughing, or he doesn't know there was a comedy night and is laughing, that's a good joke.

And then when I came to Christ, I'm like, "Lord, I don't want to go to strip clubs and perform. I don't want to go to bars. What do I do?"

And right away I get a call from Chuck Colson's office.

"Hey, would you like to join us? We're starting something called Operation Starting Line, where we want to bring an ex-inmate or a pastor or an actor or a comedian to come and do a show inside the prison yard and then share the Gospel."

I'm like, "Perfect."

So I started working my new material with death-row inmates and with people doing life.

And if someone on death row laughs, it's a good joke.

They don't have to be nice to you.

That's kind of—I've done almost 300 shows, and it really made me stronger as a comedian.

I remember at the time it was me and Tim Hawkins and Gilbert Escalva and some others. We'd go into the prisons, and each one would go to a different yard, and we're just making people laugh.

We'd go, "This is great."

So when you—you know, some Christian comics started in the church, and in the church they were kind of soft.

Like, you can do a joke, and if they don't laugh, say, "Hey, Jesus loves you," and some of them would laugh.

I'm not against that.

But when you start in the clubs and you start doing prisons and you do street comedy—where you're going into a very bad area and standing on the streets and doing comedy for homeless people or doing homeless shelters—your comedy is going to be a lot stronger.

And that's why I just felt the Lord was preparing me to do that marathon of working hard as a comedian.

We've seen people go.

I prayed with an inmate in, I think it was Missouri or somewhere, where he was executed the week after.

He accepted Christ after the comedy, and we hugged and I prayed with him.

And the guard said, "You can't hug them. You can't touch him."

I said, "I don't care right now. This man is going next week."

So, yeah, it was a great experience.

Nowadays, I don't know. I just feel the Lord shifted my ministry from prisons.

When COVID happened, I was having a men's Bible study at my house with five guys. We would meet every Wednesday.

And then the Lord said, "I want you to go to where you really have an impact."

And it was junior high boys, because that's the age where they're getting attacked more than anything.

So for the last three years, I've been just going every Wednesday to do junior high.

Reaching the Next Generation

Nazareth:I'll go and there's young sixth graders to eighth graders.

You get a can of Raid and spray it to shh because they're like, "Hi, how are you?"

At the end of the day, they'll end up saying—you know, some of them come and it's like, "Okay, I love Jesus and I want to know more about Him."

So that's where they're cool.

A Night of Laughter and the Gospel

Ric Hansen:Before we get too far away from Laughter for All, the event you're going to be at in Corona is at Crossroads Church.

Want to make sure everyone knows that, and it's on June 27th.

Is it just you solo or is there a group?

Nazareth:I always bring a few comedians to open for me.

We have 3,000-seaters, and I know every single time we've done it there, it's sold out.

So what happened is I'm going to bring comedian Cecil C. He is a high-energy African-American comedian, just a great guy.

I'm bringing a comedian from Texas. Her name is Dory Lattimore. She's really great, she's funny, she fits with the ladies.

Also, I'm bringing a guy named Michael Raynor, who's been on The Letterman Show, he's been on every Tonight Show.

He can take an umbrella and put a cheeseburger on it and separate the meat from the cheese—just an amazing, amazing variety act, juggling.

The guy's been all over the world. He has millions of followers.

He's going to be doing the comedy.

So if people have kids, bring them.

And then I will do comedy, and then at the end I will get to share the Gospel.

So if people have relatives or friends that wouldn't come to church, that would be a great night.

We're doing it differently because we're putting like a ticket price.

A ticket is $15.

If you buy two tickets, one for you for $30, one for you and one for someone to come, we can also give that ticket to someone.

And then if you want to sponsor a family for $100, you can. We'll have a whole family come for free.

But then also we call it community tickets.

What they can do is send us an email and say, "Hey, I want free tickets."

We send them a code and they can get the free ticket.

So it just gives them some kind of—it's not embarrassing.

"Hey, send us an email, we'll give you a code," and that code will get you a free ticket to come in.

So that's the goal from the event.

We're going to have food trucks up in the beginning. Five o'clock, doors open. Six o'clock, showtime.

How to Support Laughter for All

Ric Hansen:Is there an opportunity for our audience to actually donate toward your Laughter for All event?

Nazareth:They can go to LaughterForAll.org.

If they want to donate, they can donate to that.

Because we do send comedians to places.

So if someone in the audience goes, "I want to donate money so you can bring a comedian to our church's recovery group or to the mission in our city," we would love to do that.

We'll pay.

But also, if they can click on events, which is on the first page, they can go to this event.

They can buy tickets for other people, they can buy tickets for themselves, and it would be a great opportunity for them to share in the blessing.

Voice of the Refugees

Ric Hansen:Okay, the other one—I don't want to get away, and maybe we don't have as much time to talk about this—but your other one is for refugees.

Nazareth:Your other voice of refugees, yes.

Okay, I'll tell you how that happened.

There was a time where people went to different countries, especially in the Middle East, like Iraq and others and Afghanistan and stuff, and they were able to share Jesus and live there and stuff.

And then the whole ISIS thing happened, and the whole war in Iraq happened, and missionaries stopped going.

And people started coming here during the war from Iraq and Afghanistan and all that, escaping.

So what happened is we were at church one morning, and this guy—blue eyes, blonde hair—comes to me.

He goes, "Can you teach us Arabic?"

I go, "Yeah. Why?"

He goes, "Because there's an Iraqi family that just moved next door. I want to share Jesus with them."

And me and a lady at my church are like, "Oh, my Lord. We can speak the language. We know how to share the Gospel. Why don't we do it?"

So we said, "Okay, well, what can we do?"

We said, "Okay, let's start giving them free furniture."

So I said, "Hey, Rick, do you have an extra couch you don't want?"

"Yeah."

"Give it to me."

We put it in our garage and then go and deliver it to that family.

And then they said, "What do they need?"

"They need English."

"Oh, anybody can teach ESL."

And people started doing that.

And before you know it, God just exploded it.

Right now, even though I'm the founder, like, you know, board chair, I have an executive director, I have eight employees. They're all believers. They all do devotions.

And we serve over 2,000 families in Southern California.

Food, furniture, ESL classes, job placement, driving—we have a driving simulator just to help them simulate.

And in the whole process, we share Jesus.

And people say, "What if they're illegal?"

No. Everyone we serve has been vetted and brought to this country from an American embassy somewhere. They're all legal immigrants.

And I'll tell you what: if an illegal immigrant comes to me—a mom with her kids—and she needs help, I'm going to help her.

Ric Hansen:Good for you.

Nazareth:They don't, because our focus is people from Afghanistan, Iran, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco—all that Middle Eastern part.

How to Help Voice of the Refugees

Ric Hansen:If we want to help on that, is there a place to go donate, or is there a website for it?

Nazareth:Yes. They can go to VORServices.org.

Or you can just do "Voice of the Refugees" on Google and you can find it.

It's called VOR—VORServices.org.

A Life Verse: 1 Corinthians 10:13

Ric Hansen:So, a life verse.

Is there a Scripture verse that you've kind of adopted as your favorite?

Nazareth:My favorite—the one that I sign under when I autograph my books or my stuff—I always use 1 Corinthians 10:13:

"For there is no temptation that's new to man, but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able, but in the temptation will provide a way of escape."

Earlier in your—in my life, the temptations were different than now.

Now the temptation is being not compassionate, not empathetic, being selfish, being fearful.

That's the stuff I—I that's not like, "Okay, Lord, there's a way of escape."

There's a way to be compassionate to people.

The Lightning Round

Ric Hansen:Very cool.

Ric Hansen here with clean comic Nazareth on Amazing Greats.

So as we wind down, I like to do a lightning round.

I'm just going to give you a line, and your response is all we're looking for—your immediate response.

Weirdest place you've ever performed?

Nazareth:Weirdest place I ever performed?

On top of a table at Denny's, right across from the Comedy Store.

One time I was supposed to perform, and they said, "No, you can't. We don't have room."

So I went to Denny's, stood up on the table and did my show.

And they applauded, and the manager couldn't get me off because people were laughing.

A joke that always works?

Nazareth:I'm from the Middle East, but ever since September 11th, I feel so Mexican.

Ric Hansen:See, there we've got to laugh right there.

Nazareth:Yeah.

The hardest audience you've ever faced?

Nazareth:Six millionaires—probably billionaires—that sat in a room and watched me for about 20 minutes.

When I was done, I thought I bombed.

And they came up.

Each one said, "You're the funniest guy we've ever heard."

I go, "Why didn't you laugh?"

He goes, "Takes my power away."

Closing Thoughts

Ric Hansen:Thank you so much.

You know, we've got to wind this down.

You've just been absolutely incredible to get to know and to hear your stories and make me laugh.

Nazareth:You're a great interviewer, Rick, and it just makes it so smooth, and you allow me to share my life and my ministry.

I appreciate you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

God bless you.

Ric Hansen:God bless you too, brother. Thank you.

And if people want to know more about me, I'm under comedian at NazarethUSA.com.

NazarethUSA.com.

Ric Hansen:Well, thanks for joining us on Amazing Greats.

To the Amazing Greats, another incredible story—this time from Nazareth the Comedian.

If you love what he's doing with Laughter for All and Voice of the Refugees, the two nonprofits we talked about in the show, you can go to the links in the description below and help them out.

And I'd appreciate anything you can do to help grow our show.

You can like it, subscribe, share it with a friend, text it, email it, put it up on Facebook—whatever you can do, we appreciate it.

Thank you and God bless.