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Promotional art for Be Yourself
Cover image credit: Promotional image via Comedy Dynamics

Be Yourself

Kevin James Thornton

Comedy Dynamics · 2023 · 61 min

Awkward stories of nineties evangelical church youth told through autotune.

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Released , on Comedy Dynamics.

Turning adolescent embarrassment and evangelical terror into auto-tuned confessionals could easily collapse into an online gimmick that wears thin across an hour. Thornton makes the device work by treating pitch correction as an emotional shield, singing about growing up closeted in conservative Indiana with just enough distance to keep the awkwardness funny rather than agonizing.

Filmed at the El Portal Theatre in Los Angeles and directed by Brian Volk-Weiss, the release arrived after an abrupt midlife breakthrough. Thornton spent nearly two decades touring fringe shows, grinding through open mics, and fronting an indie country band before short internet clips about his nineties youth blew up in his forties.

The best material stays trapped in the church basement.

He recounts fundamentalist haunted houses designed to scare teenagers away from sin, the adolescent ritual of discovering waterlogged adult magazines in the woods, and the quiet panic of pretending to speak in tongues at a Wednesday night youth rally.

Notable bits & set list

4 bits

  1. Receiving an unexpected late-night text from an ex from 25 years earlier asking to see his rear end.

    Contrasting the expectations of his 1990s body with his 2023 reality ('two hairy scallops'), punctuated by autotuned declarations and reflections on turning fifty and prostate exams.

  2. Performing in a church youth group 'sinful clown play' taken on a mission trip to Spanish Harlem.

    Recalling the absurdity of twenty suburban white teens dressed as specific sins, including 'Premarital Sex clown' and 'Abortion clown,' being laughed at by locals.

  3. Staging an annual church Halloween haunted house meant to simulate entering hell.

    Detailing the bizarre, traumatizing setup where attendees crawled under a coffin into rooms featuring youth group members acting out graphic eternal damnation scenarios.

  4. Discovering damp adult magazines hidden under a log in the woods.

    Singing a catchy, autotuned jingle about 'dirty magazines in the woods' and recounting how a confusing photograph led him to misinterpret sex and advise a middle-school classmate against losing her virginity.

How it plays

Tone
Warm, nostalgic, reflective, self-deprecating, and heartfelt.
On stage
Warm, witty, disarmingly self-deprecating, and kind, blending honest confessional storytelling with playful silliness.
Pace
Balanced, tight storytelling interspersed with punctuated, autotuned vocal tags and musical punchlines.
About
growing up gay in a strict religious community, religious trauma, life in the 1990s, aging and physical changes near age fifty, adolescent confusion around sex and sexuality

What the critics said

Highlighted for its tender, disarmingly self-deprecating storytelling, radiating warmth and kindness while utilizing autotune to elevate relatable coming-of-age embarrassment and religious trauma.

In the room: Enthusiastic and responsive, laughing and cheering along with the shared acknowledgments of 1990s culture and religious trauma.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: comedydynamics.com, primevideo.com, justwatch.com, narcmagazine.com, weownthelaughs.com, springfieldspringfield.co.uk, imdb.com, blcomedy.com.

Backstory

Drawing heavily from his personal youth in the 1990s in Indiana, navigating growing up gay inside a strict, fundamentalist Christian church youth group.

Details

Released
Taped
El Portal Theatre, Los Angeles
Runtime
61 min
Where
Comedy Dynamics
Director
Brian Volk-Weiss
Topics

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