The Best (Atheist) Singing Acting Comedian

Photo of Tim Minchin copyright Linzy@angryfeet.com

When I initially watched a video of Tim Minchin performing one of his songs to his own piano-playing, it was love at first sight. His timing is great, his rational philosophy is matchless, he’s delightfully honest about love and human absurdity and parenthood and prejudice and religion. Plus he’s very funny and rather attractive in a self-mocking semi-androgynous way.

Minchin, an Australian, has been touring the world for several years, growing his audience city by city. I saw his act in person in Los Angeles, and it was a terrific show. Let me share a few quotes and links that will demonstrate why Minchin’s popularity is soaring and ought to soar even higher.

You might start with his own site where you’ll find what he’s up to and get a flavor of his personality, as well as some videos and cool photos.

Thirty videos are found on his own YouTube channel.

The intrepid (and most thorough) explorer should search YouTube here.

Among my favorites of his songs are “Not Perfect”; “If You Open Your Mind Too Much, Your Brain Will Fall Out”; “Confessions”; “If I Didn’t Have You;” and

“Storm” is his prose/poem/rant against NewAgey beliefs about medicine, and other sorts of absurd quasi-spirituality.

Minchin’s TV debut is a recurring role in Season 6 of the (unaccountably popular) Showtime program Californication starring David Duchovny. I don’t keep up with musical theater, but he played Judas in the musical Jesus Christ Superstar and wrote the music and lyrics for Matilda the Musical.

Here’s an 11-minute video of Tim Minchin on Religion.

And finally, to get a non-tuneful sense of Minchin’s beliefs, here are a few quotes from various interviews I found online:

“I think [religion is] a bad force but that’s because I’ve never ever had it and I think there’s no need for it. All I see is people not wanting gays and women to have power.”

“These days I’ve refined the way I talk about these things. You won’t see me sort of going ‘you’re an idiot for believing anything!’ I say believe what you like but you’re not special, no one’s special, you have to be accountable for your moral choices.”

“I write about love all the time. It’s one of my favorite topics. I try to address, not love specifically, but in my shows, the misconception that to be skeptical is to be cynical. Or that to have no religious belief is to see no beauty in the world. For me, to observe a sunset and not attach to it any supernatural or mystical significance is to see its true beauty. You can be completely overwhelmed by beauty and the inexplicable nature of a sunset. There [are] degrees to which it’s inexplicable, I mean [there are] the ongoing questions about why.”

If you can’t get enough of Minchin’s gorgeous piano-playing, don’t miss his “Peace Anthem for Palestine.”