Stand-Up, Interactive, Message

Thor Ramsey is a standup comedian and first-time author, which he is hoping to parley into a career of walking from the bed to his laptop.

He is best known for the best-selling Thou Shalt Laugh DVDs and the Sony-owned comedy series Bananas, which he hosts. His first book Fundamental Disturbances: A Comedian’s Guide to Theology (Regal Books) will be available March 2008.

Thor had entertained thoughts of being a comedian since high school, thoughts he shared with a high school friend. "She had a dream one night that I did The Tonight Show'," he said. She told him that he "had a good set, which always stuck with me. I thought, 'Well, if you're not going to follow your own dreams, you might as well follow somebody else's.'"

So, he followed her dream!

Thor now travels around the country sharing his smart, loud and always straightforward brand of comedy, laced with a compassionate sarcasm reflecting his passion for truth and the Person of Jesus Christ.

Thor loves to poke fun at the stereotypes people have about Christians and the evangelical subculture while exposing much of pop culture for what it really is--ripe comedy material! Thor picks on fashion models, the Atkin's diet and greeting cards with just the right words and timing.

His unique observations dispel cultural and social myths as he gives the audience his extremely permanent cure for a neighbor's barking dog, a recap of the Left Behind series and why single people shouldn't marry someone they love. His is a brand of truly alternative comedy--hysterically funny without being vulgar.

"There was a time in my life when I thought all Christians were dumber than I was, which is pretty amazing because Christian television didn't even exist yet.

"I grew up in a nominally Christian home. We attended church now and then. However, I did learn the various Christian prayers such as the Lord's Prayer and the morbid 'if I should die prayer.' You know, 'Now I lay me down to sleep, pray the Lord my soul to keep.' Which is a great prayer to teach your kids. 'If I should die before I wake . . . Goodnight, Timmy. Hope you're alive in the morning.'

"I must have been around ten years old when my parents went to Rochester, Minnesota to see if my dad could have open-heart surgery. I stayed with relatives.

"Well, I said my bedtime prayers that night, said a little prayer for my dad, and then I said the bless-ems. You know, 'Bless mom, bless dad, bless my sister.' Whoever was on my good side at that point."

"The next morning I awoke and the only way I can describe it is that the presence of Christ was there in a way that I knew that Jesus loved me. So, as a ten-year old boy I got down on my knees for the first time in my life I told Jesus that I loved him.

"Now I don't remember the particulars of that day, but I remember walking home from school with a peace that I haven't known to this day.

"Shortly thereafter I entered puberty, discovered girls and that was the end of that. That's pretty much my testimony-I like girls. (Thank you, goodnight.)

"Actually, by the time I entered college I didn't believe in morality. I didn't believe there was such a thing as right or wrong, (unless you were my girlfriend and then you were always wrong). Morality to me was just culturally imposed values. People made the rules and people can change the rules. This was my code of ethics.

"My earlier encounter with Christ was dismissed as an emotional experience. This is why I thought all Christians were dumber than I was. In my mind, I intellectually outgrew the Christian experience or so I thought. (That's the problem with arrogance-it doesn't know what you don't know yet.)

"The short version is that it's hard to live without values-absolute values. I knew that the holocaust was wrong. I knew that lying was wrong. It seemed to me that the laws of God were written upon our hearts. It's just that we had silenced them by turning our hearts to stone.

"One day in college what happened to me is described perfectly by a man named Cyprian: 'I made that single, simple, necessary step toward God. I humbled myself before him and like a child said, "I believe." My darkened heart was infused with His presence and I knew . . . I knew . . . that the spiritual barrier between myself and God was gone. Our two hearts were reconciled. Presently, I was aware of the Spirit-the very breath of the Father-coming into me from beyond this world.'

"These words are from 258 AD, but how accurately they describe my childhood memory of that Presence that has kept me coming back day after day, year after year."

"Thor Ramsey was the best!! He was wonderful to work with and very funny."

- Pastor Scott, Northwoods Baptist

"Thor was a class act, adapting excellently to the environment and to the people in the audience. He was genuine, real and genuinely hilarious!"

- Brian Richardson, Weekend Event Director, "The River" Community Church

"His blend of comedy and ministry was both entertaining and profound."

- Ron, Senior Pastor, Calvary Chapel Pacific Coast

"Thor is hilarious... comedy at it's best... clean, wholesome, fun... never a dull moment... Thor's comedy behind the prison walls of this nation gives hope to many who believe life to be hopeless... Thor shines the light, life and love of Jesus and makes people who haven't smiled for a long time really laugh."

- Leslie, National Events Manager, Prison Fellowship Ministries

Thor's Comedy has received critical acclaim from such newspapers as the Los Angeles Times, The Cleveland Plain Dealer and The Washington Post which state respectively, "Hilarious...Kept a crowd of hundreds rolling...Clever and pointed."

Television
- A&E's Evening at the Improv
- Pay-per-view's Now That's Comedy
- PBS's The Comedy Shop
- Host of the PAX TV comedy series, Bananas

Comedy Clubs, Churches & Ministries
- Chuck Colson's Prison Fellowship Ministries
- Operation Starting Line
- Pure Comedy Concerts
- Since he began performing standup comedy in

  1987, he's played hundreds of comedy clubs

  around the country and has been the featured

  comedian at numerous church events.

Performed with
- Thor has toured nationally with Mark Lowry and

  Chonda Pierce on the Outrageous Comedy Tour.
- He has been seen in concert with comedians such

  as Drew Carey.

Performer: Thor Ramsey

Travels from: Southern California

Performance Fee: Call for quote

Travel Requirements: Airfare and Hotel for (1)