Trip Uhalt is a clean-mouthed comic. Which, according to Uhalt, means, “all ages can enjoy the humorous content without an awkward ride home in the car.”
When he performs, Uhalt says, “I hope at least one audience member will say, ‘This guy’s funny AND Christian, and a lot like me.’ Maybe I have the wrong idea about what a Christian is.”
But don’t expect him to do comedian Dana Carvey’s famous impression of Enid Strict, better known as “The Church Lady” on the American television show, Saturday Night Live. What you can expect is for him to be “a real and relatable Christian on stage and off stage. I want to show audiences that God is NOT just the God of ‘Thou Shalt Nots’, but also of great joy, happiness, love, and forgiveness through His Son Jesus.”
Oxymorons Comedy with Trip Uhalt
Besides stand-up comedy, Uhalt created a Christ-following improv group like “Whose Line is it Anyway”. Known as Oxymorons Comedy, they perform once a month on stand-up and improv comedy. Uhalt says, during those shows “We give a short two-or-three-minute testimony of what God’s done in our lives.”
Since 2019, Oxymorons have been recognized every year as the best Comedy Improv Group in the readers’ poll of the Colorado Springs Gazette. “We shift back and forth silver and gold award honors.” In 2021, Uhalt won the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region’s Artist of the Day.
Someday, he hopes to perform at the Pikes Peak Center or World Arena. From there, be a guest on “Whose Line is it Anyway,” on the CW network or “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.” Despite Uhalt’s comedic accolades, the part-time comedian and marketing manager for Cave of the Winds, his jokes weren’t always modest.
F-Bombs!
In his early comedy years, Uhalt admits to dropping the f-bomb when he opened shows for stand-up comedians Sinbad, Paula Poundstone, The Amazing Jonathan, Judy Tenuta, and Richard Belzer, a retired actor who’s best known for his notable role as investigator John Munch on NBC series “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”
Uhalt broke into comedy in his 20s. In the summer of 1984, Uhalt did his first comedy set at Jeff Valdez Comedy Corner, which was on Union Boulevard and Platte Avenue. Today it’s known as Loonees Comedy Corner and is on Academy Boulevard.
“For a 5-minute open mic, I did great. The next week I went back to Valdez, with the same material and I totally bombed. The club owner, Jeff Valdez, pulled me aside and said it was my timing and my confidence. So, I took his wise counsel, applied it, and kept moving.”
Being a clean comic was the route Uhalt wanted to go. “Since I didn’t want to embarrass my father as a prominent military commander in charge of Peterson Air Force Base.” But his jokes became increasingly dirty and were not honoring God. “I stopped comedy, and I started my professional career in broadcast TV, where I wrote funny commercials.”
Uhalt left stage comedy but returned to performing in 2016. When asked if it is hard to come up with clean jokes versus dirty jokes. He immediately says, “Not for me.”
“My comedy comes from where and how I live. I try to live like someone who cares for people, who blesses people, and who is kind to people. I try to be an example of Christ and I follow the philosophy of a Boy Scout (or the Scout Law) trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.” Uhalt is himself an Eagle Scout.
He says he is fine with most secular comedy if it’s not vulgar for the sake of vulgarity. However, Uhalt tries to listen to clean comedy, “though it’s not as prevalent.” In his comedy choices, he says, “I am not a prude by any means. I held the record for dropping f-bombs at Jeff Valdez Comedy Corner.”
Once upon a time, he admits to enjoying foul-mouthed comedians Andrew “Dice” Clay and the late Richard Pryor. “But like I said, I want to honor God with my life (and comedy) because my life is not my own. It was bought with the sacrifice and forgiveness of Jesus Christ.” By honoring God with his clean-mouth stance, he’s had the privilege of sharing his comedy knowledge.
Comedic Crossover
In the past, he was hired to teach clean improv. “I usually start the workshops with this line: If you feel like saying something dirty… don’t. It’s a mindset. There is probably a way of saying a joke without being dirty.”
Uhalt shares this marital joke. “My wife and I decided not to have any more children. So, she practices oral contraception—she says, “No!’
According to Uhalt, the impact of clean comedy “has given my heart horsepower to be even more clean.” For comics who want to convert to clean comedy, he says, “Clean comedy comes from the heart. So, surround yourself with what you want to be, how you want to be, and who you want to be, and you’ll grow in that direction.”
Uhalt believes clean comedy is still missing in our comedic world. “It needs to be found more often, in more places: on-stage, on TV, in movies, the workplace, and everywhere else in general.” Uhalt’s Oxymorons Comedy is seeking two more people with stage and experience helpful, but not necessary. And they must be funny.
