We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Anthony Russo. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Anthony below.

Alright, Anthony thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you feel you or your work has ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized? If so, tell us the story and how/why it happened and if there are any interesting learnings or insights you took from the experience?

Early on in The Bible is Funny project I was accused of hating or being disrespectful to the Bible. The idea of associating comedy and the Bible was immediately unsettling to some, and they had reservations about my intentions. One particularly alarmed DMer went as far as calling me the devil. This sent me into some deep soul-searching, but after quickly noting that I had neither worn Prada nor gone to Georgia with bad intentions, I was in a much better place.

Anthony, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I was raised in a home that prioritized faith but my parents did an incredible job of giving us the space to imagine and develop our spiritual lives in our own, unique, way. So as I started to get into comedy (in my teens), it was probably inevitable that these two great interests of mine would eventually collide, and that’s the very short story of how the Bible is Funny was born. I started this project in 2015 as a way of exploring the Bible and inviting others to do the same.

I’m most interested in giving people the same space and freedom that my parents gave me. I think that the Christian faith can be a safe, inviting, and creative space. I also think, for many people, the experience they have when take any interest in their spiritual life is that they are immediately met with a long list of expectations, rules they have to follow, and things they need to change. The Bible is Funny, for me, is a way to show people that your faith can also be fun and imaginative.

I love it when people reach out to me and say that, by following the page, they now see the Bible differently. That they have unlocked a different kind of joy as they learn and grow. That’s what fills my heart the most.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

There are so many pivots that have been made throughout The Bible is Funny project, but two moments stand out in particular and they both revolve around memes.

When I started this project, I was certain it would be a blog. I spent an absurd amount of time writing blog posts for the first several years. As I was doing that, Instagram was getting more popular so I thought I would get on there and occasionally make jokes, just to provide support for my precious, masterpiece blog posts. Eventually, I realized that the content I was making on Instagram was connecting with people way more than the blog posts and I started focusing more of my attention on that platform.

While I acknowledged that the Instagram platform was connecting better, I still refused to be a “meme page”. For some elitist comedic reason, I was really against making “memes” and instead preferred to make obscure internet jokes that were essentially memes, just presented incorrectly. One day a supportive creator reached out to me and kindly called me out on my weird practice, and so I embraced meme culture and the account began to grow much more quickly.

What I learned from this process was that I need to have the clarity to protect the elements of my project that are the most important and non-negotiable, and the flexibility to adapt to the mediums and the forms that best connect the work with the audience.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I’m sure imposter syndrome is something that people deal with from all walks of life, but I think it’s a uniquely difficult struggle when it pertains to creatives. The practice of creating is such a vulnerable thing and it’s so easy to compare your art, your story, and your perspective with others, and the combined weight of all that can be really difficult to climb out from under. There may be a perception that a certain amount of success or affirmation makes that go away, but it’s a pretty ever-present struggle that you have to continually learn to identify and address.

No outside influence should ever be able to talk you out of creating and, ideally, it shouldn’t be necessary to inspire you to create. Your creativity is worth putting on display. Your song is worth singing. Your story is worth telling. I think people would be surprised to know how many creatives, even “successful” creatives, need that reminder.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @thebibleisfunny

Image Credits
Studio Photography by Rachael Russo