This past Saturday, Calvin had the privilege of having Preacher Lawson perform at the Covenant Fine Arts Center. Preacher Lawson, a comedian by profession, found his claim to fame as one of the finalists on the 12th season of America’s Got Talent (AGT). He is said to be one of the funniest comedians to grace AGT’s stage in all 12 seasons of the show.

Lawson’s brand of comedy included broad but light-hearted strokes on racially dynamic situations he’s been privy to as well as commentary on his seemingly dysfunctional life and family. Selvi Bunce, a Calvin student in attendance, made the distinct observation that Lawson strayed noticeably from the discussion of politics, specifically Trump.

“I did notice that he didn’t make any Trump jokes. I feel like, especially with comedians that are either black or more generally people of color, Trump has been an easy target for relatable humor within the last couple years,” she noted.

One might assume that he simply assessed his predominantly white crowd and decided not to open that can of worms, but looking at his other performances online, it seems he generally never goes there. This is a breath of fresh air for the comedic world and a relief that there are still comedians who know how to make us laugh without launching grenades across party lines.

One topic he did not shy away from was general humorous stereotypes related to gender and race. At one point, he shared a story about a girl he once dated who had no qualms climbing up a mountain that casually happened to have mountain lions. In this funny anecdote, he implied that these sorts of activities were reserved for white people, and, most decidedly, not him.

In talking with one of the audience members about this particular source of humor, an anonymous Calvin student of color said that although she found that skit funny, she cringed in her seat as he told his other anecdotes that related to slavery and Harriet Tubman, as well as stereotypically common forms of disciplinary action in black households (i.e. “belt whoopings”).

She found herself wondering why she was so uncomfortable with this sort of humor and came to the conclusion that while it is perfectly reasonable for a black comedian to find humor in those sorts of scenarios, she did not know how to feel about it being delivered to a majority-white audience, nor could she fathom their reactions; she did not think that they had the right to laugh at those experiences in the same way black people and other people of color can and do.

On the other hand, another Calvin senior, also of color, saw no problem with it and thought it was all funny. Upon interviewing her, she said that she hadn’t known what to expect and was interested to see whether he would keep his act clean. Daniel Hickey of the Student Activities Office (SAO) was able to confirm that this was one of the criteria they made sure Preacher Lawson fulfilled before hiring his performance. They knew that he was “100 percent clean and that was likely an attractive factor” in the department’s choice to hire his act. SAO doesn’t frequently hire comedy acts, but the massive success of Preacher Lawson‘s performance just might change that.

The audience was so full that the show did not start on time because there was still a long line of people waiting to buy tickets. It was only uphill from there once Preacher Lawson started to perform. He was able to draw laugh after laugh after laugh from the crowd and at the end held a Q&A with Ken Heffner that retained one of the largest audiences at a Calvin Q&A.

Might this signify a shift in the number of comedy acts that Calvin chooses to hire? Will we be seeing more comedy acts discerned from a Christian perspective? Regardless of what emotions the show might have brought out of everyone in attendance, its success was indisputable, and if you weren’t there you missed out on a beautiful hour of laughter and reflection on the role of comedy in today’s political setting.