Spring and summer in congregations have long been a risk-taking time, especially for holding talent shows. They not only provide entertainment and a way to showcase the diverse skills of members, but the shows commonly are used as surefire fund-raisers.

Over the decades, I have participated in and helped organize a bunch of church talent shows. Sometimes, I have been both a single act and part of others. Talent shows usually bring out good crowds because family and friends of the entertainers come to applaud and encourage performing loved ones who have the audacity and courage to take the stage.

Churches and temples, of course, teem with members and staff who already have more than a modicum of musical, acting, dancing or oratorical skills. The congregation is already using and exploiting those gifts as part of their worship services, programs and activities. The entertainers arent likely to suffer from stage fright, the facilities are equipped with the necessary pianos, instruments and sound systems and the publicity wherewithal. Those choir soloists, bell ringers and children choirs typically provide a good force for the core of the talent show gigs. Often, they get to change their genres of music from religious to Broadway and pop.

Among my favorite shticks over the years has been a Jimmy Durante comedy routine complete with the hat, huge nose, the gravelly voice and a singing of Inka Dinka Doo. Several times, I did Grouch Marx.

Another one that Ive done at least three times is re-creating the popular 1950s and 1960s Old Philosopher comedy routine of Eddie Lawrence. Hed come on TV with his dummy, sad-sack pal, Bunky, then let loose with a litany of woeful stories. Hey, ya, Bunky, you say had mixed emotions when your new Cadillac went over the cliff and your mother-in-law was driving? One depressing thing after another was told to the background of a dreary rendition of Home Sweet Home, then came Stars and Stripes Forever with a joyful comment: but just remember, Bunky, your sweetheart was a moonshiners daughter, but you loved her still!

Ive done Elvis Presley. I did Sonny Bono in a Sonny and Cher routine and a Roy Rogers song along side Dale Evans.

First Christian Church of Mesa, which is getting ready next year to observe its 100^th birthday, is having its Taco Bar Talent Fundraiser 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. May 10. Its billed as an all-ages amateur talent night to raise $2,400 to provide financial support for teens and children to go to church camp this year. It will be used to provide scholarships to cover half the cost of sending them. Keep in mind we use the word talent loosely. The mikes are open to all comers, the promotions say.

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