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I have a little bit of time, as I sit here in Terminal One at the Toronto Airport, so I thought I would touch on something that could prove to be very helpful to those not in the know. I, personally, have always walked that fine line between blue and politically correct. I live there. And I guess I’m good at it. Or I should say, I have learned to function there pretty comfortably. It’s what makes me who I am when I perform. And if you aren’t good at walking that ‘fine’ line, … avoid it. Period.
Tim Harkleroad and I live by a rule; “Pretend that that your grandmother is in the audience watching.” That’s a great way of not going overboard. Here’s another broad stroke to informative information that covers a very large group of people in America. (And around the world for that matter.) And understand that this is not about my personal beliefs at all or even religion for that matter. This is about trying not to be offensive. And you may be inadvertently offending people’s cherished beliefs without even realizing it. Scoff all you want, but this is based on fact and common sense learned over 24 years of working in front of real, live audiences from everywhere. Avoid using the Lord’s name in vain. And avoid any passing references to Jesus either. In a nutshell, don’t use the words God or Jesus on stage as an expletive. Why? You may turn people against you, that you had in the palm of your hand, until you ’swore’ in their belief system. There are a lot of Christians in the United States. Think about the world wide grosses for the movie, ‘Passion Of The Christ.’ I don’t care if you believe or not, it’s not about that. It’s about not offending by accident.
Use any different, clean expletives to convey for your feelings or sentiment. The dictionary is filled with alternatives. And if you act is dependent on using those exact words, you might wanna’ rethink your act.
Here’s another great guideline, I touched on this point in my first live performance DVD. Never talk down to a woman on stage. You can lightly poke fun at a female assistant, but call her a ‘bitch’ and watch the audience turn on you. It makes no difference if she is actually a bitch or not, it’s the condescending tone and air it creates that surrounds you in the moment. Granted, a woman can call a man; an idiot, a moron, an ass, a bastard and it’s accepted by society (generally) as OK. No feathers get ruffled. You have to come to understand that it is not about being one sided or fair or equality. In the states, we (in general) have basically lifted our women to a place of assumed importance. They bare our children and they are our mothers. We open doors for them and the lady always comes before the man, so to speak. Therefore, audience members already have a predisposed mind set of ‘what’ is acceptable and what is not tolerated. Remember, it’s not about you and and it’s not about being right, it’s about the light you create for yourself that will allow the audience members to embrace you.