By Tracy Riggs
Correspondent, The Alabama Baptist
If comedian Chonda Pierce had a motto it might be “Trust God and keep laughing.”
Calling herself “practically a doctor” because Proverbs 17:22 says “a cheerful heart is good medicine” Pierce has been “treating” audiences for more than 26 years through her stand-up comedy and related books, videos and albums.
The “Queen of Clean,” as she’s often called, will be back in Alabama on Nov. 17 at Samford University’s Wright Center.
Pierce recently spoke to TAB News host Jennifer Davis Rash and co-host Debbie Campbell about the challenges she’s faced along the way and how laughter and the Lord have gotten her through the tough times.
“[Laughter] is absolutely this beautiful release of endorphins [from] a physical standpoint,” Pierce said. “Why not laugh? There’s plenty to cry about.”
Pierce has seen her share of difficult times.
“I always feel like if I’m going through something — since I’m as ordinary as they come — that means somebody else is probably walking down the same path,” she said. “So maybe the good, the bad and the ugly of who I am can save them a few steps or guide them a little bit.”
Early career
Pierce’s career got started because she was “trying to make the choir laugh after choir practice.”
After getting stage experience impersonating Minnie Pearl at Opryland USA, Pierce got invitations to churches to tell her stories and make people laugh.
“I wanted to use comedy as a vehicle to speak truth,” she said.
Pierce’s own story has been painful and messy at times.
Growing up Pierce was part of what she calls a dysfunctional family. She lost two sisters before she left home. Later she lost her mother, her husband and her relationship with one of her two children.
She is the Recording Industry Association of America’s most-awarded female comic in history but at one point she was hospitalized, suicidal and clinically depressed.
Her experiences resonated with her female audience, she said.
“What I thought would be the end of my career became a resurgence of women, crying out to be heard during these dark times of their lives,” Pierce said.
And working so hard, especially when her children were little, took a toll on her family life.
“I have lots of regrets about that. But I can’t linger in the regret because there’s nothing I can do about it now,” she said.
“The best thing you can do is relinquish it all to the Lord — everything good and everything bad. Sometimes that’s a daily thing.”
A bit of advice
If she could go back in time to the early days of her career Pierce said she would tell herself one thing: “Trust God. Just trust God more.
“The times I’ve gotten the idea that I could handle something on my own or straighten something out, it’s been a mess,” she said. “The times I’ve … trusted God to work things out have always worked.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — Listen to TAB News featuring Chonda Pierce at tabonline.org/podcasts.
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