1. Where are you from? Era, TX (Pop. 281 when I was there but I hear rumors that its exploded up to nearly 314 now!)

2. How long have you been performing? since birth but professionally for 10 years

3. What is your education background? Publik Scool plus some college!

4. Where did you study comedy to get started, was it T.V. or formal education etc…It was the dinner table. My dad is very funny so I grew up studying the way he would make people laugh.

5. Who are your favorite comedians of all time and why? Johnny Carson (he was a master of the monologue), Tim Hawkins (his physical stage presence is awesome) and Brian Regan (He's just the best and he works clean in clubs...you got to respect someone like that).

6. Who are your heroes in life and in Christianity, why? In life I have to go with Jesus Christ. Anyone that would die for me so that I can go to Heaven is the type of hero I want. As for in Christianity, I'd probably have to go with Jesus's brother, James. He wrote a great book plus I feel for him because having a perfect brother growing up must have been tough!

7. Who do you model yourself after? As for my body, I'd say Brad Pitt. As for my mind, I'm going with Einstein only better at English. As for my actions, I try to model myself after Jesus but man did He set some high standards.

8. Who are you! Describe what its like to be Bob Smiley for one day! If I'm at home I wake up at the crack of 10am. I go downstairs and drink two to three cups of coffee while reading my bible. Then I play with the kids for about 3 hours...mostly basketball. Then we eat lunch. Then I "work" for an hour answering fan mail or writing a humor article for a magazine or working on new jokes. Then after my long work hour, my wife and I usually take the kids on a long bike ride to the park. Then we come home and eat dinner. Then we start the 3 hour process of putting the kids to bed. Then I'll read or finish up any emails I didn't get to during my "work time". If I'm on the road, I normally get to the airport between 6 to 8AM. Fly to whatever city I'm gigging at, then check into the hotel. Maybe do an interview or two. Then I get picked up at the hotel and taken to the show. I set up my merchandise. I then go on stage and let people laugh at me. Then I hang out with the audience, break down my merchandise table, go to the hotel, sleep a few hours and then catch another early flight to the next city. Wow...I'm tired just typing that kind of schedule out.

9. Who do you look to for advice in tough circumstances? The Bible. I truly believe all the answers to life are found in the Bible. Its just that most people dont take the time to look through the whole bible. Other than that, I still call my dad for advice all though now that he has caller ID I have to rely on the Bible much more.

10. How would you best describe your sense of humor?
Really super awesome with just a touch of humility. :) My stand up style is fast paced story form comedy.

11. What is your favorite venue to perform. I love playing in the round. Having the crowd all around you really adds to that comedy energy.

12. What is your mission? To remind people that they can laugh. The saddest compliment I get is when people come up and say, "Wow, I haven't laughed like that in over 2 years." These people have forgot how to laugh. So my mission is to remind them.

13. What is the one experience where God used you to change someone’s life that is the most prolific to you? Three times I've talked people out of suicide. People I didn't know at all. They were just fans of comedy so they reached out. Two of them emailed me right before committing suicide and I happened to be online at the time so I was able to talk to them right away. The other was walking around her town on a saturday trying to figure out how to end her life when she heard laughing coming from the park in town. She wondered over, I made her laugh for awhile and then she listened to me tell her how Jesus could make her life worth living for. She came to the church that brought me in for the show the next morning and still goes there today. So if nothing else happens, God used me to remind three people that He wasn't done with them yet.

14. What is your heart for Jesus? Hopefully complete. Jesus is my Savior so my heart is tell everyone about Him so that they can meet Him too!

15. How do you deal with being on the road having a family etc..? I limit my shows to 90 shows a year. That way I'm home over 200 days a year and since I dont have a real job those 200 days are like vacation days. Most of my days off the road is just playing with my family. We actually figured it out that I'm home more than most husbands and fathers because when I'm home I'm home all day long. So it really works out opposite of the way I thought it would be.

16. How do you cope when things don’t go your way? When things dont go my way, I still assume they are going God's way. So I try to keep a level head about it. However, when I'm really mad I use words from the Old Testament so it sounds like I'm cussing but I'm not. So when I get mad, I shout, "Shadrack!" It keeps me from cussing but still allows me to get out my frustration!

17. What is the one thing you would tell other aspiring comedians? Write every day. Its the one piece of advice I wish I would follow. Even if you dont feel funny, you should write everyday!

18. What was it like growing up; did you always have a passion to reach people with comedy? I always had a passion to use comedy to make people feel better. However, I never wanted to be a comedian. I never understood why comics would take the chance of bombing in front of people. That just seemed grueling to me. Plus, I didnt know you could do comedy with a message. I didn't know the job "Christian Comedian" even existed. But even as a kid, I liked making people laugh because I could see that their day had just got a little bit better just by that one chuckle.

19. What is your target audience? 70% of my shows is for Youth. I really like doing stand up for High School and college age kids. However, I make sure that my comedy show is funny for any group. A couple of days ago I did a show for High School kids and then for a "Prime Timers" church group consisting of about 30 people over age 70. I did the same show with the exception of two Matlock references and got the same laughs for each group. So my target audience is anyone breathing.

20. What is the most important thing to you right now in this stage of life? My wife and my kids. Everything else is just things I do but being a father and husband is who I am.

21. When was the pivotal moment in your life to choose Jesus? Probably the most pivotal moment came right after college when I realized that I was now truly on my own. I had my own house with my own job. Every choice from hear on would be made by me. And that was when I decided that I would choose to follow Jesus in anything I did. I was all ready a Christian but I remember making a decision to go live for Christ because He died for me.

22. What is the highlight of your career so far? Well, this is going to sound crazy but I never wanted to be a comedian when I was growing up. The only thing I ever wanted to do was write a book that would end up in stores. Sept. 1st Focus on the Family is putting out my comedy devotion book called "Growing Up Super Average: The Adventures of Average Boy". So even though I have a really nice and blessed comedy career going the highlight was of my career was getting the first copy of my new book. I felt like I'd achieved my childhood dream.

Favorite ice cream : Praliens and cream
Cereal : coco puffs
TV Show & Favorite Episode : Uh...I dont watch TV.
Amusement Park : schlitterbahn Water Park
Sport : basketball
Color : red
Song : "Your Love is Better Than Life" Newsboys Go CD track 7
Movie : Brain Donors
Way to spend the day : Playing with my kids, reading, water skiing and answering online interview questions.
Food : Chineese
Place or places : my elbow and Seattle
Comic book hero : Average Boy
Pet : Chocolate Lab named Bailey
Cartoon : Bugs Bunny
Book : The Bible and "Growing up super average: The adventures of Average boy"
Comedian : Bob Sm...uh...Brian Regan
Actor or Actress : John Cleese and madeline kahn

www.bobsmiley.com
Rom 12:1-12

My new comedy Book "Growing Up Super Average: The Adventure's of Average Boy" can now be bought at www.bobsmiley.com or in bookstores on Sept. 1st!

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