Geduldig's Muslim-Mormon-Jew comedy tour is just one of several similar groups making the rounds nationwide. There's also the "Allah Made Me Funny: The Official Muslim Comedy Tour"; Comedy's Oddcouple (Rabbi Bob Alper and one of three Muslim comics); and perhaps the most ambitious, The Coexist Comedy Tour (a Muslim, Christian, Jew, Hindu and atheist).

The Coexist Tour's Tissa Hami, who grew up Muslim, says she has only occasionally gotten flak for her jokes — for instance a bit about why women don't mind being relegated to the back of the mosque, behind the men who are bending over to pray: "We like the view."

But really it's only a handful of people who have complained, even when she has performed the joke at Islamic centers, Hami says, whereas hundreds of audience members have laughed and applauded. "And who's right?" asks Hami. "You can't please everybody. No matter what you do, somebody's going to be offended."

One of the most famous modern religious satires, Monty Python's "The Life of Brian," can still make people hot under the collar nearly 30 years after its release; on the other hand, British churches have been known to show the film.

We know about the Catholics who complained about the Huckabee "family recipe." We don't know how many Catholics heard it and shrugged it off, or even heard it and thought it was funny.

· · · · ·

Four days after the Huckabee skit aired, "Fair Game" excised it from the show's podcast. Host Faith Salie read a brief apology on the air and wrote a long e-mail to one of the people who had originally complained.

"I am proudly a Christian and, specifically, a Catholic," she wrote. "I'm a big fan of transubstantiation: It's a miracle. My name is Faith, and I am honored to carry it."

She went on to say that she grew up in the South, among people of many religions. Humor, she said, can be a tool to bridge and embrace our differences.

"Our intent," she said, "was not to offend you but to make you laugh."

---

E-mail: jarvik@desnews.com