Adrian and Jeff’s first Seriously Funny book was backed up with their live tour of the same name. Celebrating the launch of the second book, the two friends are on the road again presenting evenings of live chat, discussion, conversation and banter, all around the UK. With their combined wit and wisdom, the second tour promises to be not just an entertaining way to pass a couple of hours, but genuinely thought provoking too. Musical input to the tour comes from Nicki Rogers, a talented musician and singer whose work is also known for that duality of seriousness and fun. Her albums, ‘Colour Scheme’, ‘Feeder Lane’ and ‘Once in a While’ - exploring the complexities of the life of faith, have been well received on both sides of the Atlantic, adding to the artist’s compatibility with her tour partners.
The complexities of life, especially in relation to faith, are at the heart of Adrian and Jeff’s source material for the 'Seriously Funny 2' book and tour. This is what brings the two men together and puts them, if not exactly on the same wavelength, then at least trying to tune in to the same broadcast. Both men acknowledge that faith works really well in isolation from life. And both know that, in theory, it should work brilliantly when actually applied to life. Yet somehow it never seems to work out like that for many – even most, if not all Christians, if they were honest about it. Honesty; that’s another feature of the writings and public musings of the two men. Their honesty, like their humour is refreshing and liberating, but also disturbing and unsettling. Lucas and Plass, individually and together, tend to say the things that all of us feel, or have felt at sometime.
What Adrian and Jeff do best is to reassure us that we are normal; that all Christians are, underneath and behind the scenes, just like us. They tell us that even the greatest and good of our faith have those internal conflicts. That they too wrestle with the inconsistencies between faith and life. That they also struggle with who they are and what they seem to be. The funny side of the title comes from those incidents where we Christians refuse to admit to this inner battle. Where, in presenting a paper thin false façade to each other, we are suddenly and unexpectedly exposed as pretentious frauds. The serious side – the side that makes us think and seriously reassess ourselves, is when the opposite happens. When the one we never expected to have any great revelation of faith within them suddenly proves us wrong. Then we are put in our place and we realise we’re not doing quite as well on the inside as we like to show on the outside.
But there’s more to the writing of Jeff and Adrian than merely pointing at their fellow Christians as if to say, ‘Aha, not as good as you think you were, are you?’ There’s an underpinning love of people; especially people who strive despite knowing their aiming impossibly high. Their humour never treads on the downtrodden, or tears at the torn. In a way most unlike the coarser ‘comedy’ of secular entertainers, they somehow get alongside the subjects of their humour. They understand what it’s like to be one of these failed individuals because that’s exactly what they are themselves. Their humour is encouraging. It’s uplifting, compassionate and restorative. If there is a ‘Christian Humour’ brand label, then the combined minds of Adrian Plass and Jeff Lucas, their laughs and tears, winces and smiles, are probably its most seriously funny definition. – Les Ellison