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| About
Steve... |
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 Who is Steve
Durkac? The man, the myth, the legend, a
human being not quite right, a
damn Yankee who won't go back North, a
father of three daughters, one who sends him photos
of a grandson, a dad to a left-brain son who
is smarter than him in mathematics, a husband of
a very pretty Southern Lady whom he hopes never
notices that he is way beneath her league, a
former pastor with a ministry of mirth,
an ordained minister who talks openly about
redneck weddings and Revelation's Irish beer, a
hospital chaplain who succumbed to the brutal turn
of life events and a final break with his own
adulthood to walk unto the stage of a world of
laughter where he shares funny stories and
hilarious thoughts from anything that surfaces
from his life, past or present, ...or to what we
have come to know as... The Twilight
Zone.
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| Thanks Rod, but I'll
take it from here... |
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 One
day in 1998, after preaching what I thought was a
divinely inspiring sermon, I was approached by a
few of my most "spiritual" parishioners who
scolded me for my seemingly unbridled use of humor
in the pulpit. So rather than being
defensive, I decided to recognize their "gift
of discernment" and I picked up my mic and walked
straight to the nearest comedy
stage.
As a child, I would dream of
performing comedy on stage. I grew up at a time
when comedians like George Carlin, Cheech and
Chong, and Bill Cosby were on the top. I can
remember listening to their comedy records over
and over, reciting line after line. Now, 20 years
later I was starting realize that perhaps my
parishioners were right, after
all.
I joined Toastmasters and enrolled
in the Sandy Shores Comedy Workshop program,
and started performing here and there over the
following years. It hasn't been untill recently
that I took the full-time dive into the funny
business, and that was in part to an experience I
had working as a hospital
chaplain.
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"A hospital chaplain turned
stand-up comedian and therapeutic laughter
leader! - Steve has answered his
true uniquely
gifted calling!" |
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- Rev. Jack Giddens, D.Min.,
Hospice
Chaplain | |
A Ministry
of Mirth
 While working with Hurricane Katrina
victims, as a hospital chaplain, I was struck
by the guick turn-around one patient took, when he
suddenly found something to laugh about. He lost
everything he owned and after a week of reflection
he was reminded of an old George Carlin comedy bit
on "Stuff." We both laughed in his hospital room
as we recounted the comedy bit.
I was amazed by the emotional and physical
healing that took place for for him after that
unscheduled encounter with humor. That encounter
set me off on a two year study of laughter and its
place in our emotional, physical, and
even our spiritual life.
I learned that not only is
there awesome medical research available on the
positive effects of laughter upon health, but
there is also personal testimonies of peaceful,
content, and happy people who intentially make
time to laugh! I went on from that event to become
a Certified Laughter Leader in
the administration of therapeutic laughter
programs and turned my full focus on a ministry of
mirth through stand-up comedy and laughter
programs.
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"Steve Durkac is a very
funny man, he's a stand-up comedian, an ordained
minister, and a hospital chaplain in
Mobile, Alabama - he's the Chaplain of
Comedy!" - Christian Television
Network | |
My
Comedy
 While competing in a Toastmaster
International state-wide humorous speaking
contest, one of the judges refered to me as
"America's Funniest Reverend." I have since
performed clean comedy for both corporate and
church groups with material that has come from my
real-life experiences as a minister, a
parent, a middle-aged Dad with toddlers, an
survivor of the 70's classic rock culture, raised
Catholic, being Baptist, etc. Visit myStand-Up Comedy page for more
information.
I have also had the fun
opportunity to play actor, as a priest, a
minister, and a business person in a few TV
commercials. I am involved in drama and acting at
my church and have done voice accent
talent.
Comedy has molded my
perspective on life since those early 70's
Thursday evenings in front of the little black and
white TV, with my Dad and two brothers, watching
"Monty Python's Flying Circus." Till this day, I
can still mimick all the accents and many of the
classic skits!
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"Steve Durkac will have you laughing
so hard you won't believe that he is actually an
ordained minister - infact, he is the
only minister we know who has braved the
comedy stage on purpose!" - The Comedy
Zone | |
My
Writing
If I can't be running my jaws
to an audience from a stage, I can be found
pushing my pen to reach them from the power of the
written word. I publish a monthly humor paper
in Mobile, Alabama called The Funny
Paper .
 I am the
author of "Our Greatest Need: Isn't it time to
answer God's call to effectual prayer?" and
am
the author of "21 Motivational Insights on
Leadership Enrichment" and
"Five Steps to Writing Memorable
Wedding Vows ."
"A Time to Laugh :: Funny Stories
and Hilarious Thoughts from the Chaplain of
Comedy!"
will be released in January 2009. It promises
to be a hilarious book filled with bits from my on
stage somedy!
My
Family
My beautiful wife,
two of my four children, and I, live
in Mobile, Alabama with our family pet
dachshund "Keef" and photos of my grandchild,
Boo.
We are happy members
of First Baptist
Tillman's Corner.
For fun, we frequent the nearby Gulf
Shores beaches, follow Alabama Crimson Tide
football, love vacationing at Disney
World, and periodically evacuate our home
in fear of impending hurricanes.
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Member of the...
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Alabama Conference of Southern Baptist
Evangelist
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First
Baptist Tillman's Corner
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Tillman's Corner Chamber of
Commerce |
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