Alistair Williams - Faith and Laughter: A Journey to Authenticity and Truth in a Challenging Industry

Show Notes and Transcript

We are delighted to welcome comedian Alistair Williams to share his journey of remaining authentic in the comedy industry despite pressure to conform to mainstream narratives. 
He integrates his Christian faith into his comedy, prioritizing faith over worldly concerns and uses his talents to spread joy and truth. 
Alistair discusses the impact of satire in conveying truths and highlights the challenges of balancing industry expectations with personal convictions. 
He emphasizes the importance of upholding moral integrity in a secular world, advocating for spreading Christian values through comedic work. 
The conversation delves into societal values, the decline of ethical grounding, and the need to discern biblical truths amidst challenges and industry pressures. 
We end this interview by discussing the struggles content creators face aligning their work with faith and values in the current economic landscape and the significance of staying true to one's beliefs and spreading messages of faith and truth.

Alistair Williams, a self-proclaimed “rambling moron,” emerges as a rising star on the UK comedy scene. He’s soared through the ranks, claiming the Piccadilly Comedy Club’s New Comedian of the Year 2014 award, securing spots in prestigious competitions and recently he was crowned 'British Comedian Of The Year 2023'. 
A firm believer in Free Speech and a fearless ’Soldier of God’, Alistair is a charismatic observational storyteller, combining high energy with a knack for crafting top-tier material. 
Whether winning awards or reaching finals, he’s on a rapid ascent to comedic stardom. 

Connect with Alistair...
X/TWITTER         x.com/awilliamscomedy
RUMBLE              rumble.com/user/alistairwilliams

Interview recorded  27.5.24

Connect with Hearts of Oak...
X/TWITTER        x.com/HeartsofOakUK
WEBSITE            heartsofoak.org/
PODCASTS        heartsofoak.podbean.com/
SOCIAL MEDIA  heartsofoak.org/connect/
SHOP                  heartsofoak.org/shop/

*Special thanks to Bosch Fawstin for recording our intro/outro on this podcast.

Check out his art theboschfawstinstore.blogspot.com and follow him on X/Twitter x.com/TheBoschFawstin

TRANSCRIPT

(Hearts of Oak)

I am delighted today to be joined by comedian Alistair Williams. Alistair, thank you so much for your time today.

(Alistair Williams)

Anytime. Anytime. Good afternoon.

Great to have you on.

Obviously, people can follow you @awilliamscomedy, which is your Twitter or X handle. And, of course, on Rumble, it's just Alistair Williams.

And on it, you talk about, I think, your two phrases, more or less, on your Twitter is, Real comedian.

Soldier of God and I want to delve into both of those which are separate, but you do mix them like asking whether God wants to cut down ULEZ cameras or remember on comedy only, so you do mix them up the times, but you're some of the some of the the comments I've seen about you online Alistair Williams is quickly making a name for himself with razor sharp content and high what charm unafraid of tackling rough subject matter.

He's a passionate health campaigner combining raw personal antidotes on a jam-packed gag count and slick extroverted style. Another one says he is smart, passionate, impressively quick-witted and bursting with infectious confidence. So there you go.

They're just some of the...

Things I wrote about myself off the internet.

That was off your Twitter page, so I didn't want to say that.

Alistair, before we get on to kind of your life in comedy and what that means for you maybe you could just take a moment to introduce yourself especially to our kind of half U.S audience who may not have come across you, so maybe just introduce yourself give us a bit of your background story.

Sweet okay, well I'm a stand-up comedian.

I would say I'm one of, if not the most censored stand-up comedian in the world.

I had a YouTube channel that was pretty popular that got cancelled.

Most of the comedy clubs in UK, the major ones sort of stopped booking me at the same time after I had this really viral piece piece of comedy go viral about Brexit at the time and the whole internet started sharing.

Just at that time, the exact same time the comedy industry decided I did, or this guy has to never be seen again.

You know, I used to have like an agent I used to, I was on the TV, but, I quickly figured out after my first TV experience that it doesn't really matter how funny you are, unless you are willing to be malleable, unless you are willing to change what you're saying to fit in with the narrative of what the television says.

Like you're never going to be, a stand-up comedian, basically comedies, pretty much one of, if not the most controlled medium there is. And people were surprised about that.

There was, I thought you guys would be the main guys who would be allowed to say whatever they want.

It's like, yeah, that's why we're the most policed.

Because, yeah, we would be the guys to say, you know, or during the pandemic, for example, if something was ridiculous and, hey, this is crazy and stupid and laughable, like we should be the people pointing it out.

But where were those famous comedians during the pandemic?

They were out there saying, if you haven't got vaccinated, punch yourself in the face, you know, or the famous musicians, the rock and roll guys, you know, where were they during the pandemic?

You know, the stick it to the man.

They were like, get vaccinated.

You can't come to the show.

Like, you know so very quickly sort of opened my eyes.

Oh okay.

Being famous, I'm such an idiot I'm so naïve I actually thought like being famous was about like being talented or being good at stuff.

But very quickly I figured out; oh that has got absolutely nothing to do it's got nothing literally nothing to do with it, you know.

So, my one and only T.V recording like most of the comedians on there were bombing like they were getting like no laughs they were dying on their ass out there.

And then when I watched the TV recording back, they were just cutting in laughs and images of everyone next to all this awful stuff that died on its ass in the room.

When was that Comedy Central piece you did? How far back was that?

That was; weesh, maybe I want to say like 2017 or somewhere around there, somewhere around there, but I remember at the time the people that were managing me were trying to get me to change and say this and not say that and and I refused basically.

I thought if I'm funny I'm just gonna make it, and that, that is not the case.

So, they actually, if you find the clip, they actually put another comedian's name on my clip.

That's how much they don't want people to know who I am.

They put my piece of comedy out there on the internet.

And then another comedian's name comes up after it.

Because, I remember thinking this comedy is good.

People are going to want to find me after this. And they were like, oh yeah, we thought of that.

Don't worry.

So yeah, you know, and you never saw me on television again.

And at the television recording, like literally I smoked that recording.

Like it was it was clear like: whoa this guy's really funny you never saw me on TV again, because it's not it's not about that.

It's not about it certainly isn't about being funny, hasn't been for a long time.

Well back, it was your, was it the Edinburgh festival 2016 then which is just obviously before that comedy central and you read that was your first debut solo show.

I mean, maybe what led what led up to that, because people have really no idea what happens in the comedy circuit behind the scenes, it is quite cutthroat.

I assume just like probably music a very cutthroat, but what led you to to getting that gig at the Edinburgh festival and then what followed on from there?

Well, it's a good question and this is how they control comedy in this country right.

They say: if you want to be a famous comedian.

If you want to be good you want to be professional.

You have to go to the Edinburgh comedy festival.

Okay, because they tell you this is the only place comedy industry ever go; it's like one week a year or sorry one month a year in August.

I was like, aren't they going to be in the comedy clubs like watching me do really well?

They're: oh no no they're never going to see that.

That's ridiculous, I'm like what do they do the rest of the year apart from August?

Anyway, they say: you've got to go to Edinburgh, right, and that's where the tv people might see you and you have to get a good review, okay.

Then people that write for the newspapers have to like you and this is how they control it, so all the comedians go to Edinburgh and if you're on narrative, if you're like a rabid left wing.

You know, the time when I was coming up, it was like, men are toxic.

You know, if you did a show about, you know, men being rapists or whatever, it didn't have to have any jokes in it.

You know, the, the lady that won one jokes in an hour, all the guardian journalists and stuff were like: Oh, this is incredible.

It's a future in the comedy. You know, this is amazing.

And your agent or manager at the time would tell you to go to Edinburgh and you had to do an hour and they would tell you, you know, what's the worst thing that ever happened to you.

What's the most traumatic thing like, you know, oh your mom died, I said right that's that's your hour, you know, and they turn comedy into like this half drama, half emotion.

They just sort of get the spine and rip it out of there and you know mix it with acting and they just decimate the up comedy industry from Edinburgh, because they pull everyone into Edinburgh and they get all the journalists to review the show.

And if it's anything, you know, right wing or off narrative they either don't come to review it or if they do they give it two stars, and you know, that so they can control it by this small group of journalists who control who gets to be you know a stand-up comedian in the united kingdom.

It certainly doesn't work.

I used to think well if everyone's laughing in the crowd, I'm you know, I'm gonna make it.

And the more I focused on that the more I realized; hey these people in Edinburgh they literally they hate me.

These journalists and stuff they hate me, because I'm not on their narrative and I quickly realized oh they're using comedy to control the way people think.

But, before I was even a Christian, I never wanted to compromise on what I thought, because at the time it was all feminism and racism and stuff.

And basically what I figured out they were doing, it's like, you're getting men to hate women.

You're getting women to hate men.

You're getting black people to hate white people.

You're getting white people to hate black people.

And I never wanted to contribute to that.

Instead, I wanted to try and bring both both sides together, always.

And that just, you know, made me so unpopular with the comedy industry, essentially. They were always telling me to change the way I think, because the way I think was wrong.

You know, and when I wouldn't change, they just sort of kicked me out of the comedy industry.

And, you know, they made it very clear that, you know, you're never going to get anywhere going it this way.

So then I filmed my own stuff, put it out myself, made it go viral myself.

And that's when they were like, okay, now you can't do comedy.

But now we're going to stop you just getting anywhere near the microphone.

If you're going to record it yourself and put it out now, you're not allowed, you're not allowed to work anymore.

So, then I started live streaming and doing YouTube videos for a couple of years.

Built myself up a big YouTube channel.

Then they're like, right: you're not allowed to do YouTube either.

It's like, okay, you guys really, really are a bunch of losers. You know what I mean? Like they can win.

When did you get taken off YouTube?

What was it for?

They never tell you what it's for.

Never ever tell you what it's for.

But what happened was they gave me two strikes for, you know, nonsense.

I think one of them was like cyber bullying or something.

I think i'm out there cyber bullying, something ridiculous, so at that point I would just read the Bible on my live stream every Sunday.

So, it's kind of like; okay so you've got to give me one more strike here, I'm just going to read the Bible.

It's like your move you want to strike me for reading the bible, you know, that'll be why people are like why did you get kicked off YouTube?

I'm like well I was reading the bible they kicked me off, because no one believes that.

Everyone's like no it can't have been, that it's like that bro that's all I was doing on two strikes.

You know and I would just do that every week and that's turned into one of my favourite things that I do now.

Church on Sunday live stream every week.

And it's and it was sort of born out of that, so yeah.

You tube's the same. I mean you're fully aware.

Your audience is probably fully aware that you know they used to control everything on television and then we were like; oh we're on YouTube we're free.

Now, they just control everything on YouTube, you know.

Like everything out there is is controlled pretty much even the alternatives to YouTube, you know, it's very difficult if you want to give people something new to think about to get it out there.

I know, it is and I want to delve into that Christian aspect, because I remember having James Delingpole on talking about; I mean he does regularly does a video on the Psalms going through it.

You do that Sunday evening just reading through scripture and it's something which stands out as something quite different.

I think the only other person I've seen doing it regularly is is dry Sherry Tenpenny and actually fitting that into not a separate thing not this is my Christian persona, but hey, here's my comedy or here's my journalism or here's my activism

But actually, putting that all together is intriguing.

I think, quite different, but I want to delve into that. But I want to ask you more about, just being a comedian, doing the live shows, it must be...

It looks bloody difficult and nerve-wracking.

I mean you're there, you present yourself, you put yourself out there on a live thing in front of the audience.

If they don't find your set funny that's going to be a very long set for you that's going to last for eternity.

Tell me about that, because you're really you're putting yourself out there to be ridiculed and mocked if not then if not laughed at you're going to be ridiculed.

That's the easiest part of the job.

Me, I don't ever worry about that.

You know, I tell people that's the easy bit.

The hard bit is if you make room for people to laugh, it's surviving the attacks that are going to come to knock you out if you're, you know, trying to tell people the truth in today's day and age, which is what comedy is.

Good comedy is true. It always is. People, oh, that's so true, especially if you're coming up with some observation that was right in front of them and they didn't see it before.

Oh, that's so true. Isn't that true?

Everyone's laughing because they're like, oh, what he's saying is true, and we never realized it.

That's what comedy is.

That's what good comedy is.

And if you're actually out there, so much of what people have in front of them now is deception, right?

And if you're actually out there trying to, you know, open people's eyes and show people how they're lying to you about this and they're lying to you about that, you know, you're going to have, I have so much trouble off, off the mic, on the mic.

And it's actually made me better if anything, because I very quickly realized it doesn't matter how much I make these people laugh, you know.

They're never going to let me do this properly.

They're never going to give me a Netflix special.

They're never going to do it.

So, it doesn't matter.

So, I go on there just like, hey, you know, I literally don't care.

I literally don't care.

It's like even like the comedy clubs, I quickly realized it doesn't matter how good I do.

You know, some of the comedy clubs where I used to do my best work, they just never had me back one day.

You know, they just didn't want me back.

And I never upset a single audience member.

You know, I never did anything.

It was right after the Brexit booking thing.

That obviously, there is a single entity somewhere that controls the whole of the entertainment industry.

And you could tell that during the COVID pandemic.

Where was the one person who was famous, who had a slightly different point of view to what the whole world was told was the case?

There wasn't one.

And if there was one, Matt Le Tissier is a good example.

They're straight out of there, and all of a sudden it's a, this guy's a nutcase and he's now a maniac.

And, you know, there's, and that shows you how controlled this whole thing is.

Music, film, comedy, anything like anyone who is not saying what they want.

You just, you'll never hear of them.

You'll never hear of them.

Like there's probably a couple of exceptions, but I can't think of any during the pandemic who put their neck on the line and said, I disagree with what's being done here.

No, but I think people are quick to rewrite history as well, because now you've got many people who say, I was always against the woke agenda.

I was always against the COVID tyranny. And you're kind of thinking, well, you've come at the 11th hour. I'm really happy you've woken up.

This is great.

But I didn't realize you were there in the trenches with us back in the first couple of months. Have you seen that same thing in comedy?

I mean, in comedy, I mean, there was probably a few more people in comedy is with my circle that were like, Hey, wait a minute, something's up with this, you know, Tanya Edwards, Abi Roberts.

There's more, you know, there was probably a few more in comedy, which I would expect. Cause it's like, hey, you guys are supposed to be.

You're observant for a living.

You know what I mean? You're pointing out absurdity for a living.

It's like, come on, it must be a few more of you, who are, like wait a second this is nonsense.

So, I think there was more there was more in comedy than than anywhere else, but it's still very rare for someone to, because they just take everything away from you, you know, in in any walk of life; whether you're a doctor or a policeman or whether you're in the army or the navy or whatever, you know.

Like I heard this chap who's you know a fighter pilot guy on The Delingpod and he started saying.

You know, basically, hey, wait a minute.

We're not really hiring people on, you know, how good they are at flying planes.

We're just trying to get black lesbians in here.

It's like, you're out.

You know, someone who has a genuine concern for like, wait a second, the security of the country might be at risk here.

It's like, right, get him out of there.

You know, and it's not just, that's what I'm saying.

There's one entity that controls it all because the same thing is happening across every single industry.

It can't be possible that the same guy that runs comedy runs the RAF, can it? You know what I mean?

Why are the same things happening everywhere?

Especially as most people that you meet on the street, they don't agree with any of this crap.

It's not like everyone's like, oh, yeah, I totally agree with that.

You've struggled to find one maniac that agrees with 90% of the stuff that's being done, but yet it's all still being done.

People are too cowardly to say, I disagree with that, because they know what happens if they do disagree with that.

Thankfully, being a man of faith, I know that everything I have comes from God's hand and I don't need to worry about what the world wants to scare me we might take away your income or do this.

It's like God gives me that, everything I need comes from him.

So, you know there's nothing you can do to me that he won't allow, so I'm actually just going to do whatever what he wants me to do and, you know, that's why I think you see a lot of people of faith who don't go along with this stuff, because it's it's actually a bit of a paper tiger if you like you know these people.

They're not really as in charge of the world as they pretend hand that they are.

Well, how's that fit? I want to keep until later, but let me just touch on that point, because one of the pastors I really like in the UK, one of his favourite verses is from John, where you seek men who seek the praise of other men, seeking the praise of God.

And everyone wants that public adoration and seems to, as even many Christians seem to forget, that actually you should be looking to God for that praise or that viewpoint, that value. How does that affect you as, again, someone who is out there, who's putting themselves out?

And most comedians, I guess, they live or die on those laughs of an audience or those clicks. But there's a Christian you're enjoying this, but that's not where your value lies.

No, but I've everyone's been given certain talents by god and god is expecting a return on these talents.

I know the talents that god's given me i know which area they're in.

I know what he made me to do and he is expecting a return on this investment.

And one day I will stand before him and all the other work I've done will be burned up apart from the stuff that I did for Jesus.

So, this is one of the reasons I'm so keen on keeping church on Sunday going.

You know what I mean?

I'm keen to use whatever talents I have to let people know about him, basically.

And that's what keeps me going.

Because I've realized it doesn't matter how funny I am or how good I am at this.

They're never going to let me have a career.

That's quite freeing in a way, more than anything else.

It's like, well, then I don't have to worry about it.

I've already burned all those bridges there. You know what I mean?

Like not that they were ever going to let me over those bridges, but you know really sort of on my Brexit Burger King video; I really, I sort of little put little subtitles on there that was like oh the crowd's actually laughing this guy's never going to work at the BBC.

So, I really did sort of just be like, you know, in a slightly sort of childish way I'd give them a bit of a up yours, as you know what I mean? But that's something that I feel quite strongly about, is like that I feel like they're deliberately ruining comedy.

They're deliberately ruining film.

They're deliberately ruining music.

And as someone that believes in God and knows how much God wants joy to be in the world, one of the first things I experienced when I started being a comedian was I was just trying to make people happy.

Literally, that was it.

I was just trying to bring people joy.

And man, they were after me so bad.

And I was like, wait a minute, I'm literally just trying to spread joy.

And I realized how much the world, hates people that are just out there spreading joy.

And that was one of the first things that made me realize, hang on, there's something, something up with this world here.

This is before I even believe in God.

It was like some weirds going on.

Cause I'm just trying to do a nice thing here.

And I'm getting, getting so attacked for this, that there's some evil out here that I haven't really wrapped my head around yet. And then it was a sort of snowball effect from there.

I want to go back and ask you about that. Burger King skit.

And kind of most of public I will think, you know, if you can put forward a good position it's like being part of a debate society.

Maybe in journalism, if you can put forward a rational argument then, you win the day.

We find that not to be the case, but you think then comedy, if you can put forward a position and make it comical make, it humorous, then you should you should really win, because people will laugh and you can put forward any position, whatever it is, as long as you can get people to laugh and you kind of think: well Brexit that skit.

There's no way you can say: oh you're racist for that you're xenophobic for that, you hate this, you hate that.

Actually, it's funny and you're making a point, but that wasn't good enough, I mean tell us about that and why simply putting forward a position no matter what people think.

Even if it's funny it doesn't necessarily hit the mark and doesn't accept it.

Well, the funny thing about that is it's like, people watch that and they go, but you're not even really picking a side here.

You're just, you know, people that voted remain laughed and people who voted to leave for it was funny.

And that's sort of what I was told in the beginning.

I'm always looking for just down.

How can I get everyone in this room?

How can I get two people that should hate each other based on this?

And it's all cooked up, dude.

It's all, oh, I'm a remainer.

I'm a leaver, dude.

They come up with these things to make you hate each other.

I'm pro-vaccine, I'm anti-vaccine, we hate each other.

It's like, I'm white, I'm black, we hate each other.

It's like, they will give you a million things.

You know, Ukraine, Russia, Israel, Palestine, just go on and on and on.

It's the oldest trick in the book, you know, divide and conquer.

So, I was like, let me see if I can come up with something that's going to get the whole room okay.

But the reason it wasn't allowed is because it wasn't on the narrative.

It wasn't, if you voted to leave, you hate black people.

You know that was and that's what every comedian was doing at the time.

On the BBC ad nauseum, you know, just terrible comedy like that, and it's like if comedy, and the reason why I got in so much trouble Brexit isn't working is exposed the whole industry as being a fraud.

You know, it's like you're all you're doing is comedy on Brexit all the time and everyone hates it it's dead.

And then I come along explode a room with Brexit which every comedian there's just mind to death and everyone hates it.

And boom I blow it up.

I should have been everywhere.

They should have been like, oh get him on the BBC get him here this guy can make Brexit funny.

No you never saw me again.

They were like bury this guy.

He's doing comedy properly, because if you put someone like me out there that's doing it properly it makes it even more obvious that the rest of them are just, you know, there's: oh here's another joke about how people are racist.

It's like oh dude everyone hates this is stop, stop, please stop, you know, throw bread rolls at them now they do, stop, you know.

So it's really...

They can't let me anywhere near being a widely known comedian now, because it just, it really does expose how fake the industry is.

Because if you're, if you're really out there looking for funny comedians and you know, you watch that and that's, that's the reason why I lost my career.

That, that joke, it's not even someone who's offended.

I'm pretty special in that I'm cancelled and you can't even, they can't even get me on: well you said this and that was wrong ,you know what mean?

They can't even get me on that, so they just sort of silently cancel you they just remove all your live work slowly and cancel your YouTube channel and when they really want to cancel you you just, bro, you just fade away, and silently.

They don't, you're like Andrew Tate where it's like: "I'm cancelled, and he's everywhere.

You know what I mean?

It's like I'm cancelled I'm going live on Piers Morgan to talk about it.

Dude, if the establishment hated you you would not be on Piers Morgan, you're mad. Like the whole; oh Piers Morgan uncensored.

Bro who is censoring you?

You spend your whole career on like CNN and stuff.

If there's anyone who's more of an establishment toady, it's you.

You know the whole thing of like, oh we're cancelled but everyone knows our name. It's like that's not the thing.

The real cancel people, you never heard of them, that's how it really works.

But I know of the two very high profile comedians that always tell us how they're against the system in every way.

I look at two Netflix specials.

And I wonder how that kind of, just like those who have massive YouTube channels now, I wonder, how is that possible if you're being restricted?

Something doesn't add up.

You know their name, they're in the game.

That's the way it works.

But the enemy is very clever.

There's always going to be a counter-narrative.

There's always going to be people who I don't agree with the official narrative and I want something else.

It's like, oh, cool, we got that for you.

We got someone, we got that for you as well.

You know what I mean?

It's like, they're not dumb, and they're not going to give you any real dangerous opposition, but they will give you some people that, 'hey, we're the opposition,' you know.

But for people with discernment, you know, it's not hard to figure out who those people might be or what's going on.

But also, you know, you look at some incredibly famous comedians, you know, and you think, well, why is this guy allowed?

Like Ricky Gervais at the Golden Globes or whatever.

You remember that?

And he was like: hey you guys are all paedophiles you've been having sex with children, and they were all just like.

You know there's all these clips of them being like..

We'll bring you back next year.

Yeah , yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's like, do you honestly think that they didn't know he was gonna say that, and you know what I mean?

And they're like: you understand how dead you would be if they really didn't want that information getting out there and you just jumped on the mic and just blasted them, you know, but when you look at the, you can always look at like what was the reaction from that? People were like: oh, they got what they deserved.

He roasted them. ]

It's like, bro if what he was saying is true, these people need to be in jail.

It's not like they, got roasted, take that.

It's like, they've sort of normalized it with that move you, know what I mean.

It's like, they were ridiculed, they've served their time. It's like, hang on a minute. Like, do you really stop and think about that: it's like you can't go to this.

This is an industry awards thing right you.

Can't say if I'm booked to do the policemen's thing of the year, whatever all the policemen, and I jump on the mic like, hey you guys we're all having sex with children.

Do you think like that's gonna be allowed, or like you know, I would get shut down, and be like throwing stuff. But that didn't happen there, did it?

Why?

Because everyone knows it's true.

Everyone knows that like, oh yeah, Weinstein and this and that, you know.

Everyone knows it's true, but nothing happens.

So, it's just been sort of normalized in a way.

So, sometimes the things it looks like, hey, this guy's really sticking it to the man. But on closer inspection, what's the results of this sticking it to the man?

In this case, you know, nothing.

Yeah.

No, it's exactly the same as alternative media.

I think we're all seeing that as well.

How do you pick, I mean, you've got so toxic masculinity, Brexit, the food industry, which is a bit different, the whole woke agenda, what I mentioned before, what's God's view in smashing up ULEZ cameras or gender study, it's one way to get screwed.

All those kind of hot-button topics that are in the middle of this, I guess, this gender war and culture debate that we are seeing.

Hardy, do you have a list of go-to topics?

Because, I guess some comedians will just, hey, whatever the hell, if it makes people laugh, I don't give a damn, because I actually don't have any beliefs or guide in life.

You do, but do you have kind of areas you think, I understand that or how does it work?

I just, I just want to tell people the truth.

If you go out there and tell the truth, you'll, you'll find that you're, you know, against all different kinds of things, but down to like, you know, if you want to go out there and tell people there's only men and women in the world, like, you know, it's a controversial figure, you know, like, yes.

Okay. Sure.

You know what I mean?

Like it's not, it's not any sort of deliberate.

I'm going to go after this.

So, I'm going to go after that, but...

I really would just like to use; when you when you make people laugh they'll actually they'll listen to what you're saying, you know.

That's a that's a good opportunity to, you know, let people know like what's really going on in the world which is where my sort of Christian faith comes into it, and you know, that this is the only thing that I see as being important anymore.

Like everything else in the world seems fake and corrupt and controlled.

But this is telling people about Jesus is what one area where it's not.

And what one area where there is hope and one area where there is, you know, success to be had, if you know what I mean.

Whereas, you know, trying to climb up the career pole of the entertainment industry is, is just not, it's not one thing.

It's not possible for me anymore, And it's, it's not exciting either, you know.

But it must cause you…

There are awards in the industry.

And I saw you got an award, I think, last year for being the most popular comedian in the UK.

It was the Comedy Club.

That, obviously, it is good to get recognition.

You realise, actually, I am hitting the mark in some areas.

That's good.

So, I get those things are important. But, I guess there are not many awards like that, that are actually possible for someone like yourself.

Well, the British Comedian of the Year is the award that I won in November.

And the only reason I even entered that is because it's voted for by the audience.

So, there's only one way I'm going to win a competition if it's voted for by the audience.

So, because that one's voted for by the audience, I'm like, let me, let me go and get this one, you know?

And the finals that these sort of big established comedy clubs where I don't, I don't perform anymore.

So, it's quite fun for me to walk in there and be like, Hey, this is what I'm up to.

And then walk back out of there with a great big check, you know?

So, that was, but that was really God's hand in that.

You know, he, I lost my career, you know, they took everything away from me for trying to do the right thing, essentially.

And, you know, God likes to, likes to test your faith, wants to see like, okay, let's see, I'm going to take this away from you.

And this is going to be taken away from you.

And, you know, you like to send you into the wilderness.

And, and then at some point, and in my case, God was like, okay, at that point, when I won that award, God was like, okay, you can have, you can have this back now, you know, You know, you can have, you know, the recognition that....

It's quite hard when you're doing something like comedy and your friends and your family.

You can tell them, like, oh, I'm cancelled.

No one really believes it.

It's like, oh, you must be terrible. You know what I mean?

It's like, oh, I have my YouTube channel. You got taken away.

Oh, yeah, right, I suppose.

You know what I'm saying?

It was nice for me to have, like, okay, are you actually good at this?

Okay, fine.

Most people just thought you were crazy or whatever.

So, yeah, that was good.

But you know that there's no there's only really one award like that that's voted for by the audience and that's it, so you know it's not gonna i'm gonna go any further than that, if you know what I mean.

I've mentioned the the beginning of the show you have Soldier of God.

Unpack that, it's a it's an interesting phrase people describe themselves themselves, their Christian faith in all different ways or none, depending on how they want to do it.

But you put up there, soldier of God.

Why do you describe yourself as a soldier of God?

I'm in the joy division.

Okay.

I'm in the soldier of God.

I'm in the joy division.

God made me with these abilities to make people laugh and cheer people up.

And that's literally what I'm out there doing, you know, and there's more people need to be.

You know, out there trying to do God's work in this world.

And, you know, I think all the problems we have are from a sort of degradation of, of human character.

I don't think there's any sort of political thing going on.

You know, I don't think it's anything like that. It's just human characters sort of eroding, but becoming more sort of selfish.

We're more concerned about the things that we have and now how many followers we have and, you know what I mean, our social how we look to the outside world.

And there's so many problems that we have in the world that they're all as a result of this sort of falling away from a sound position of, you know, a Christian faith.

The people in this country they used to read the Bible all the time and they used to be concerned with loving your neighbour and you know following the ten commandments and treating other people as you want them to be treated.

And we had this great society where you could walk down the street safely and top of the morning, sir.

Good morning, sir.

Good morning, Mr. Chubb.

No, no, no.

You know, we had all that going on.

Right.

But it was based on people talk about all the fall of Western society.

There's no such thing as Western. You know, it's not like we have Western values.

So, give me, you know, what are you talking about?

Western?

What do you mean is Christian countries that began following Christ and trying to imitate what Jesus were like, started doing really well.

Started having really nice countries.

It's almost like treating other people as you would have them treat you as a basic principle results in a really nice place with everyone, you know, enjoying their life isn't it?

And you know this is what's built this country up and made it great, and now no one believes in it anymore, no one reads the bible.

They watch Netflix and Love Island, right?

And we wonder why everything's going to S.H.I.T, you know what I mean?

We wonder why?

It's like, you still read, we used to read the Bible all the time and try to be like Jesus.

And now we've thrown the name of Jesus Christ in the bin, and you want to wonder why the place is falling apart, and you want to try and fix it by voting for someone with a blue tie or a red tie. like, it's insane.

It's no one with a special coloured tie is going to save you, you know.

It's God is the only person can save this country and this world.

That's what the Bible teaches you, and that's what the truth of it is.

And I've got no interest anymore in, you know, really telling anyone about anything else other than that, because it's the only solution.

And because it's the only solution, you know, I can't really get excited about anything else, you know?

You're 100%.

I was trying to explain to someone today where we are in Europe and the UK in regards to the church and Christian belief compared to the States.

And the States are in a mess, but we are much further gone.

And it's quite difficult to explain the situation we find ourselves right on a precipice of chaos and probably oblivion.

Tell me about your faith story.

Was that was a light bulb moment? Was your background connected to church?

Not at all.

How did you come to Christ?

Not at all.

l was walking down the street and somebody sent me a message.

It's actually, I think it was a Muslim guy sent me a message: salaam Alaikum, or something, and I was like I wonder what that means.

And I googled what it meant, and it meant he was greeting me with the peace of God.

And I asked myself for the first time, I was like I wonder what what the peace of god feel like, and it just hit me washed over my soul my first encounter with the holy spirit.

And I was like, whoa!

It was crazy. I was like; whoa God is real.

And that was when god first sort of revealed himself to me, and then I just started reading the Bible.

I'd just been cancelled at the time, I just sort of lost everything so I came to the bible like thinking; wait a minute

When was this like 2018, 2019, when was this?

Yeah, about then.

I think so, about then.

So, I came to the bible trying to understand why the world hated me, because if you've been cancelled you lost everything, you're like: hey, and I know my own heart.

I know I'm trying to do the right thing and I'm trying to bring people together and I've lost everything.

That doesn't seem correct to me so, I started reading the Bible looking for answers for that.

And Jesus said: if the world hates you, remember it hated me first.

And I was like: hey, wait a second, that's that's true, because most people they don't even investigate Jesus.

They don't think that he's a significant person.

And someone like me who's always looking for the truth, I'm like, let me read every word that Jesus said, and let me see if I can find where he's wrong or where he's lying or what I don't agree with.

I'm like, wait a second. Everything this guy says is true.

Everything this guy says is incredible.

You know, I came to the Bible feeling that the world hated me.

I read one line, the world hates you.

Remember, it hated me first.

I'm like, whoa, I'm just on the right path as Jesus.

And immediately I cheered up. I was like, the world hates me.

This is horrible. I'm like, wait a minute.

The world hated Jesus first.

And you think that you've got some sub story like, oh, I'm just trying to be a good person and this bad thing happened to you.

There's no better example of that than Jesus who just walked around healing sick people and performing miracles and just helping everyone.

And then they nailed him to a cross and tortured him to death for three days.

It's like Jesus didn't deserve any of that.

And he's showing you the way the world really works.

Like if you really go out there and show love and the world will hate you.

And that's the exact time we're living in today, dude.

If you really want to go out there and tell people the truth and make a difference, and take a stand, and do the right thing, and live a righteous life; the world will hate you.

But if you want to go out there and have pride and celebrate pride, the world will love you.

You know, everything is inverted from how it used to be.

We used to think that pride is the sin that God hates the most, the Bible says.

And what a coincidence. We spent a whole month celebrating it.

You know, they didn't pick pride, you know, by accident.

They didn't pick the rainbow as a symbol by accident.

There's a biblical symbol, you know, everything.

The more you read the Bible, the more you'll realize all of this stuff in the world is from the Bible.

You know, like all of the things that they're pushing are the exact opposite of what God says to do.

Like the exact opposite.

It you, know having pride being a great example of that you know.

That god made them male and female, you know, that's under attack.

Like anything god says in the bible our modern culture hates, you know, and it's as simple as that.

No, 100 percent.

And the rainbow is a perfect example of God making a promise and man taking that and twisting it and making it as perverse as possible.

And that shows the state we are in.

Whenever you want to take something which is good and godly and twist it and make it as disgusting and perverse as possible.

I mean, I really feel sympathy for the people that are involved in this movement, because they're being deceived in a very...

They're being encouraged to antagonize God.

The rainbow is the symbol that God sent that said, I will never destroy the world again, no matter how much you disobey me.

So, they've got them out there holding that symbol of, God says you won't destroy the world, and at the same time saying, and I'm disobeying you, God.

They're provoking God, whether they know it or not. But that's the point of that movement, if you ask me.

It's leading people to rebel against God, and not only that, to spike the football, if you like, right in the face of the Almighty, you know.

And I don't think the rainbow symbol, I don't think it's an accident that they picked that one.

You know, most people are being misled in these days, but Jesus did say that's what we'll categorize the final days, which is believe where they are, take care that no man deceives you, you know.

I think we're living in the age of deception, but the more people read the Bible, the more you'll understand that this is all in there.

Everything that's happening now is in there, you know, down to cashless society and, you know, all the stuff the Bible says will happen towards the end is happening.

Especially, what I'm talking about a lot, which is the degradation of human character, the falling away from a standing position of Christianity.

You know, so much of what we're told to expect towards the end of this age is happening out there right now.

And it's one of the reasons why God tells you the future in the Bible thousands of years ago is so that you'll read it and go, oh, wow, this really is God chatting here.

Because, everything he said that would happen 2,000 years ago, I can see happening outside of the window if people want to go and examine the Bible.

But, you know, they got people pretty much convinced that they don't want to do that, so people don't.

But if you did, you'd find out what was going on.

Yeah, you can read as many books, watch as many podcasts, but you can short circuit the path to truth and just pick up a Bible.

Yes.

It's a lot quicker and you'll get there much sooner.

Alistair, what was your background?

Was it against God?

Was it against Christianity or was it just indifference?

Just complete, no idea about that at all, you know.

Interestingly when I did my food show, when I started telling people to eat real food, is the first time when I sort of really noticed: hang on a minute.

Because, I was just I was just telling people to eat like normal.

I noticed that all the food that's just on the earth is so good for you, right?

And it just falls off the trees and grows out of the ground and, you know, just replicates itself through seeds and animals giving birth to other animals. I'm like, and all that's really good for you, right?

And all the food that men touch that we create kills you, like processed food.

And I very quickly sort of figured out, like, oh, it's almost as if the stuff that's here on the earth has been created and is incredible and everything that we tamper with turns to, you know, death.

And you know, it's interestingly, it's I first saw God in an apple, you know, which is like where original sin comes from.

But that's where I first realized: oh people.

And I was trying to tell people the truth about food.

And they were trying to wipe me out for that, you know.

And that was again: I was just telling people like, eat celery, and they're like get rid of this guy, you know, because most people are dumbed down into, you know, drinking sugar and sweetness and just they're being poisoned to death, most people, with the food.

And I was trying to just let people know, hey, there's an easy way to be healthy. You just eat the food that's lying around.

And it was like, right, make sure he's never seen from again.

And that's when you sort of realize how evil the world actually is.

You're like: well there must be an opposite to this, right?

So, that was, yeah, so lots of my life you can look at and go: oh this is this has led, me to God this has led me to God, but I was never...

My family were never, you know, really religious, or whatever I was never brought up on it or anything like that.

It's just, you know, God chose to reveal himself to me. It's like nothing that I did or you know.

Well, that's the I think the frustrating part; that those of us who are Christians feel that and we've seen actually through the Covid tyranny that people just don't ask. People don't think.

People are sheep and all they all the Bob Moran cartoons are so true that people are sheep and they just follow that pathway and you have a conversation and they look at you blankly, but you're right mention Love Island or something and suddenly they're alive.

And you think there's a disconnect that you've actually been dulled into a place of not questioning anything and just believing what you're told and that's difficult.

That gap is a massive gap to bridge.

Yeah, I mean most people, they watch the television right?

They figure out what's going on from the television, you know, that's what they do.

And you know, you figure out the way my life's gone, I quickly figured out, oh, the television is just one giant deception.

When you just have a little peek behind the curtain at the television, it's like, oh, this is awful.

Even like adverts these days on the television, they're so awful, man.

Everything's so zany.

You know, it's always just like, oh, it's got a real sort of satanic vibe to it.

Even like adverts, it's all sort of close zoomed in on the face and quick cuts everywhere.

Like they don't even, new music's the same.

It's so jarring and it's just, ugh, like everything that is of the world just really stinks to me now.

You know, so entertainment especially, I mean they're not even really trying to hide it in entertainment anymore; like and young people are sort of picking up on this.

You can see some interesting TikTok videos where people are sort of mimicking, like you go to a rap concert and it's just a satanic ritual and the people are looking around; it's like, hey wait a minute what did he say?

It's like, you know, the demons in me, is like what?

Young people are starting to figure out like, hang on a minute, this is a bit sinister like what we're being what we're being fed here.

And don't get me started on children's entertainment and how you know the occult has repackaged itself.

Like you pick up any children's movie and stuff, I bet you it's about magic and spells and and unicorns and you know, and people don't realize like how much you know, the the occult has repackaged itself to children and it's really disgusting when you really sort of look into that.

I mean, the Disney and how that all works.

You know, there's endless rabbit holes that people can go down that I've been down, and they're very eye-opening when you realize the sweet stuff that you thought was so innocent, and you realize how much of it is of the enemy.

And you can find God through this, which sounds crazy, but the Antichrist points the way to Christ because he's the opposite.

So, whenever you see him work and you're like, oh, okay, well, I go to the opposite of that. I'll find Jesus, which is pretty much what happened to me.

Tell me, just finishing off on the on the comedy side, for you, are there like red lines, because you think where does a comedian go; every comedian is different, because we are who we are and we reflect what we what we see around us, but for you are there red lines, are there areas you don't go, how does it work?

I mean I try not to swear very much anymore.

So, you're not Not like I'll be then?

No, no, no, no, no.

And I try, I get convicted of that sort of stuff.

I still do swell.

I try not to, you know what I mean?

I try not to, just because, you know, I'm very big on this sort of, you know, I'm going to be called to account for everything that I've done or not done.

So, you know, I have a responsibility to try and do things the right way.

And I, you know, that's my red lines.

Basically, I try to not talk about anything that I don't think Jesus would talk about or want me to talk about.

And that is very much like swearing loads or another one that's possibly I'm out being sort of unforgiving of people.

It's very sort of easy these days.

But these people have done this and they've done that.

And they're the evilest people in the world.

We need to get them all and blah, blah, blah.

This is not a Christian doctrine, is it?

It's supposed to be the opposite of that.

So, that's somewhere else where I really have to rein myself in.

Like a lot of the times, these people we talked about earlier, these sort of fake content creators that are the opposition, but they're not really the opposition.

You know, I find it quite easy to show the content that they're putting out and sort of ridiculing it or sort of, you know, exposing like, well, hang on a minute. Is this really the opposition?

And just trying to do that in a sort of Christian way, you know,

Without being mean, without being, you know, insulting, but still trying to make it amusing.

Things so they're it's pretty boring red lines.

I'm sure it's not, you know, really what that sort of question was implying but that's that's pretty much where they are, yeah.

Can I just ask you about, actually, how you actually fund yourself.

I mean how do viewers listeners, they're always looking for I guess no only subscribing or supporting on the social media side, but actually just how they financially support.

How does that work for you and how do the public kind of support what you do to make sure you keep going?

Well, that's it, I just put my content out there for free.

I put my live streams out there for free, and I put little links where people can support me on subscribe star or locals and stuff like that and there's a really sort of core group of people that do that.

And they give me the ability, you know, to keep going essentially, you know, I do, I do a lot more live comedy now and, you know, that, that helps. But that's pretty much it.

I got no one, you know, supporting me apart from.

You have no sugar daddy.

No.

So, if people don't want me to keep going, you know, people don't want me to keep going.

And it's hard, because most people are broke these days.

You know, people are being, people are being attacked in, in a lot of ways economically these days, you know.

It's very difficult for people to have excess money to throw at someone like me, you know, but I'm in a sort of really good position where I can literally say whatever I want, because the people that support me; I don't have a I don't have any sponsors or anything like that. So, I can literally just, be a voice out there that's just coming at it from a place that, you know, I will say, you know, exactly what I think. And that's, that's pretty rare these days, you know? So, I mean, yeah, that's, that's pretty much it. I'm just supported by, by the regular people.

Do you do many live shows?

Cause I know you've done some comedy on leash, but I, I don't fall over closely necessarily, but do you do live shows that

people can come along to or other clubs?

I do.

There's clubs, but the the television controls most of the comedy circuit in the UK right, because you can't get past a certain level before it's like: well, we need someone for with T.V credits for this, you know what I mean.

Must have been on the TV, you know, otherwise you're just in this sort of layer below, you know, it doesn't matter how funny you are.

If you haven't been on the TV, or you've not been on TV, so you know, what I'm saying, so that's the the way that the TV companies sort of control even, even who gets to do sort of live comedy, but there is, there's a lot of work out there for someone like me who can do the job well, and you know, I can, scratch a living, you know, from the sort of the gigs in the sort of mid tier.

But you know what you're saying before, like, isn't it difficult to make people laugh?

Like, I shouldn't be at the mid tier anymore, but they've got me in the mid tier.

So, it's like, you know, it's so, I don't want to say it's easy for me, but it is it's.

Like they got me instead of on the mid-tier and it's like: okay, I'll sit here, I'll sit here on the mid-tier.

You know, I'll go on before the last guy who's going to be so incredible, okay.

You know what I mean?

So, it's fine, but it takes you know it takes all the pressure off to be honest, it takes all the pressure off ,you know.

But, it's fine, you know, I'm just, I'm not happy to be happy to be doing the job, bear in mind I'm not doing this for fame or money anymore, I'm doing this for the opportunity to tell people about Jesus so, you know, it's fine just to be able to do it it's fun, you know.

Well, you're doing that, and as your teacher says, God wins in the end, so that's the end of the story. Alistair, really appreciate you coming on.

I've loved your skits, love following you on Twitter, so thanks so much for coming on and sharing your story, not only of comedy, but of faith with our audience.

Thank you.

Hey, any time.

Thanks for having me on.

Really appreciate it.