In his decade as a pastor, Mickey Bell often struck comedic gold — he just couldn’t use it at the time.
“I think I’m the envy of a lot of pastors,” said Bell who will bring his Christian comedy to Trinity Baptist Church, 4594 Columbia Rd. Martinez, at 7 p.m. Friday. For tickets, go here. “I can get away with things I never could as a pastor…Things I really wanted to say about Sister Holy Karen, I can actually say now in my shows and not have to worry about it.”
While he’s not preaching any more, Bell still has a message of good news to bring to those dealing with mental illness, and the humor helps in the delivery.
Christians dealing with depression or other mental illnesses sometimes don’t get support from their fellow church goers. Instead of giving support, they offer their advice of praying more or havng more faith, but that only makes matters worse.
“This is not a spiritual issue,”’ he said.
Bell has found that instead of simply not saying anything at all, some people end up saying the wrong thing Mental illness is not a reflection of a person’s faith or lack thereof.
“You don’t tell people with cancer that. I’ve never heard a pastor get up and preach about not taking shots for diabetes because most of them are taking it…I try to debunk what people have been told in church about mental illness and let them know what it really is,” he said.
After he’s delivered his jokes and the audience’s defenses have come down, he can share that message with people. He lets people know that there’s hope, they aren’t broken, and it’s not their fault. What happens next is more satisfying than hearing the laughter.
“As a comedian, I watch the reactions of the people. I can watch the relief hit. You can see it on their face. You can see the peace come over them. It’s the most rewarding thing I see every night. Every night, every show, somebody’s life is changing for the better,” he said.
Bell has been a comedian since 2019. He performs more than 180 dates a year and has been an opener for acts like Jason Crabb, The Isaacs, Chonda Pierce and Mark Lowry. He’ll be with the Isaacs in Martinez.
Bell’s latest comedy album, Live from the Paramount, supported the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and landed at No. 1 on iTunes within 24 hours of its release.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years. She’s won multiple Georgia Press Association awards, is the recipient of the 2018 Greater Augusta Arts Council’s media award and was named Augusta Magazine’s best local writer in 2024 and 2025. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here..
