Tim Minchin - The Good Book (Live)

Timothy David Minchin (born 7 October 1975 in Northampton, UK is an Australian comedian, actor, musician, and skeptic.

Image by prokrastinuft via Flickr

He is best known for his musical comedy, which has featured in three CDs, three DVDs and a number of live comedy shows which he has performed internationally. He has also appeared on television and radio in both Australia and Britain. After growing up in Perth, Western Australia, he attended the University of Western Australia and WAAPA before moving to Melbourne in 2002 where he began to develop his act. His breakout show, "Dark Side", launched him into the public eye, achieving critical success at the 2005 Melbourne International Comedy Festival and the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

His shows consist largely of comedic songs and poetry, with subjects ranging from social satire, to inflatable dolls and sex fetishes, to his own failed rock star ambitions. In between songs, he performs short stand-up routines.[10] Several of his songs deal with religion, a subject with which Minchin—an atheist and a fan of Richard Dawkins—says he is "a bit obsessed."

He argues that as one of the most powerful and influential forces in the world, religion should never be off-limits to satirists. He says that his favourite song to perform is "Peace Anthem for Palestine", which reflects his feelings about religious conflict. His comedy also deals with taboos more broadly, a subject which Minchin says interests him due to what he considers the hypocrisy in the things society classifies as appropriate and inappropriate. Ready for This? A prime example of this is the song "Prejudice" which parodies the power awarded to something as simple as a word.

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