Funny / The Book of Mormon

Relating to the Broadway Musical

I'm wet with salvation! WE JUST WENT ALL THE WAY!!!

Oh Jesus Christ (of Latter Day Saints), where do we start?

• Jesus in the flashbacks is obviously voiced by Trey Parker doing his Randy Marsh voice.
• In the latest West End production, during "Hello", one of the Mormons bends and says "Hello!" really patronizingly.
• In the Tony Awards version, as the elders visit the celebrities, James Earl Jones answers the door ready to sign a photo of Darth Vader.
• HELLO WOULD YOU LIKE TO CHANGE RELIGIONS I HAVE A FREE BOOK WRITTEN BY JESUS?!
• "You and Me (But Mostly Me)"
  • It's typically staged that at one point, as Elder Price has the spotlight, a bunch of dark walls/curtains cover Elder Cunningham as he tries to peek out of the darkness.
    • Even better, according to the official book, that wasn't planned until Josh Gad got caught behind the closing wall during rehearsal unintentionally and they just had to keep it.
• When Elders Price and Cunningham are waiting for their plane, an African sunset backdrop suddenly falls while a woman dressed in a Lion-King style costume leaps out and sings an Expy of the opening vocals to "The Circle of Life." The curtain then drops to reveal it was just a surprise to send the boys off to Africa.
  • Her lyrics makes this moment even better. Much like The Lion King before her, the lyrics are in actual Swahili. That the lines "Puana uso na kuma jamba, Puana uso na simba shahawah. Ha la la. Puana uso na simba shahawah, ala, na kitako chengelere. Ha la la. Hifadhi: kitako kuma jamba" sound like utter gibberish makes it funny enough, until you realize what they're actually saying.^Translation"Fuckface and pussyfart, fuckface and lion semen. Ha la la! Fuckface and lion semen, oh, and ass dick! Ha la la! Remember: ass pussyfart.".
  • Rema Webb, who played Mrs. Brown in the original cast (the teacher who performs the sendoff for the boys), was also in The Lion King on Broadway. One night, she accidentally sang the actual lines from The Lion King.
• "Hasa Diga Eebowai"—both the reveal that it means "Fuck you God!" and the Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion when Hatimbi introduces Nabalungi.
  • From "Hasa Diga Eebowai":
    Elder Price: You have to stop saying that!
    Elder Cunningham: Hasa diga—
    Elder Price: No! It means something bad!
    Elder Cunningham: What?
    Elder Price: They're saying "F you!" to Heavenly Father!
    Elder Cunningham: "F you to Heavenly Father?!?!" Holy Moley! I said it like 13 times!
  • Before the reveal, Elder Price asks Hatimbi what "hasa diga Eebowai" means:
    Elder Cunningham: Does it mean "there will be no worries for the rest of your days"?
    Hatimbi: ... Kind of.
  • And then there's the climax of the song, where they start singing "Fuck you God in the ass, mouth and cunt-ah!" repeatedly, and then suddenly turn it into a African rhythmic chant with the women singing more rounds of Hasa Diga Eebowai on top of it.
• From "All American Prophet", in the middle of the song...
  Elder Price: Even though people wanted to see the golden plates, Joseph never showed 'em...
  Doctor: [in a deep, operatic voice] I haveeeee maggots in my scrotummmm! [beat]
  Elder Price: Uh, okay. Well anyways...
  • Joseph Smith and the Mormons boogeying it up in the background while Elder Price sings also qualifies.
• All of Elder McKinley's lines in "Turn It Off", but in particular:
  • Elder McKinley and his very obvious Armoured Closet Gay moments.
    Elder McKinley: Imagine that your brain is made of tiny boxes, then find the box that's gay and CRUSH IT! Okay?
  • Another stand-out of "Turn It Off": in the stage performance, the part where they start clapping literally makes the lights go out, plunging the stage into total darkness for a couple of seconds. The second time this happens, when the light comes back up, they're all now wearing sparkly, hot pink vests on top of their normal clothes. Elder Price looks totally confused for a second, before deciding to just go with it.
• After General BFN shoots one of the villagers and Elders Price and Cunningham run into the Mission hut (with Price covered in blood), Elder McKinley tells them that the mission president is asking for a progress report (which is a problem, as there is no progress to report). Elder Price gets the idea to talk to the president and ask for a transfer, grabbing Elder McKinley's face in his excitement. McKinley's reaction is to lean in and try to kiss Elder Price.◊
  • Upon entering into that scene, Elder Price gives out a Brick Joke from earlier in the play by saying "Africa... is nothing like The Lion King!"
• "Man Up", hilarious as it is just on the recording, is 10000x funnier on stage when Elder Cunningham, in his quest to man up, stabs a monster in the face and defeats Darth Vader while declaring he is not his father.
  • From the same song: "Heavenly Father, why do you let bad things happen? More to the point, why do you let bad things happen to me?"
  • And "Watch me man up like nobody else / I'm gonna man up all over myself!"
    • It is important to note that Elder Price sings this while trying to wipe blood off of his previously pristine white shirt.
• I have maggots in my SCROOOOOOTUUUUUUUUM!
• At the beginning of Act Two, it shows a flashback of Moroni getting the golden plates. He lifts them to the sky. We then see Elder Cunningham doing the same gesture with the Book of Mormon. But it turns out that Elder Cunningham is just holding it at arms length to get a good look at the pages.
  Elder Cunningham (groaning): Uhhhh... Okay...
• Elder Cunningham's version of the Book of Mormon (with all the fantasy and sci-fi references). Especially at the end, when it's used to threaten General Butt-Fucking Naked.
  • The chorus to "Making Things Up Again" becomes ever increasingly funnier when Elder Cunningham's conscience takes the form of his father, Joseph Smith and Moroni, Lieutenant Uhura, Sam and Frodo, and Yoda ("Up again making things, you are").
  • From the same song:
    Gotswana: This is all very interesting, but women have to be circumcised if that's what the General wants!
    Elder Cunningham: No, doing that to a lady is definitely against Christ's will!
    Gotswana: How do you know? Christ never said nothin' about no clitoris!
    Elder Cunningham: ... YES! YES HE DIIID!
  • The first time he opens the Book of Mormon to read a random passage to the Ugandans. Which one does he land on? The one that says God cursed people into being black.
• Elder Cunningham's constant mispronunciation of Nabulungi's name—he calls her, among other things, "Necrophilia" and "Nutella."
  • And, notably in the West End production, "Nigella Lawson", "Nigel Farage" and "No-deal Brexit".
  • In the Chicago production he calls her "Nic Rouleau," the actor playing Elder Price at the time.
  • In the production at the Saenger Theater in New Orleans he calls her "Nicki Minaj."
  • The gag has even substituted in "Neosporin" and "Nala".
  • After John Travolta screwed up Idina Menzel's name at the 2014 Oscars, his mangled version, "Adele Dazeem," was added into the joke.
  • A list can be found here.
• "Spooky Mormon Hell Dream"
  • "... Mickey?"
  • "I can't believe Jesus called me a dick!"
  • "Jesus hates you, this we know. For Jesus just told you so."
    • This one is actually a play on a Christian children's song, which begins with the lines "Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so."
  • The spirits of Genghis Khan, Jeffrey Dahmer, Adolf Hitler, and Johnnie Cochran.
  • The SMHD costumes alone are hysterical, from Halloween-style devil outfits with plastic pitchforks to maple doughnut hats to demons wearing giant coffee cups (who torture Kevin by force-feeding him coffee) to sparkly black top hats and waistcoats.
  • Elder McKinley randomly showing up, swanning around in a sparkly turtleneck and feather boa before giving Hitler a blowjob.
  • The transition into "Spooky Mormon Hell Dream", particularly for fans of Inception.
    Elder Price: Wow! I'm in Orlando! It's weird, cause I don't even remember how I got here...
  • When the elders then discuss the Spooky Mormon Hell Dream:
    Elder McKinley: We've all had the Spooky Mormon Hell Dream. Heck, I have it nightly!
  • Leading to the positively wonderful and horrifying Fridge Brilliance that Elder McKinley probably gives blowjobs to Hitler on a nightly basis.
  • Elder McKinley, again, after waking Elder Price from the Spooky Mormon Hell Dream:
    Elder McKinley: You had the Mormon Hell Dream? Was I in it?!
• "I Believe" is a funny enough song as is. The fact that Elder Price is practically prancing up to a maniacal warlord and grabbing his hand, however, makes it priceless—the only reason that the General's men aren't shooting him is because they're too confused by what's going on.
  General Butt-Fucking Naked: ... The fuck is this?
  • "I believe... that in 1978 God changed his mind about black people!" (followed by the choir echoing "black people!").
• Elder Price, after having the Book of Mormon shoved up his ass, gets completely wasted... on coffee.
  • Which becomes a bit of Fridge Brilliance, when you realize that Elder Price is purposely trying to avoid sleeping at all costs, hence the coffee.
    Elder Price: Well, if it isn't Elder Cunningham! The super-Mormon!
  • This is followed up by his monologue on why he became such a devout Mormon. He hoped that when he died, he'd get his own PLANET ORLANDO!
  • The Crisis of Faith gets a moment of Cunningham being Literal-Minded.
    Cunningham: Elder Price, what happened to you?
    Price: I woke up. That's what happened.
    Cunningham: Of course you woke up! You drank twelve cups of coffee!
• "I am Africa" is hilarious, but one line particularly stands out.
  Let us smile and laughrica!
  • There's a brief break in the song where we see Elder Price on all fours on a hospital bed after an... unfortunate incident regarding General BFN and his Book of Mormon.
    Doctor: Something incredible... you've done something incredible! I've never seen a rectal blockage of this kind!
• From "Baptize Me", a song that is basically a massive Double Entendre about virginity loss: "I'M WET WITH SALVAAATIOOON!!!"
  • J. Michael Finley's entire performance in the West End version. At the beginning he speaks throatily when he's nervous.
• It's hard to describe "Joseph Smith American Moses", but... "Joseph Smith, magical AIDS frog! Brigham Young, frog on his clit face!"
  • "Compassion! Courtesy! Let's be really fucking polite to everyone!"
  • Also, the summation at the end of the song: "Joseph Smith, AIDS frog; Brigham Young, clit face; Shit come out the butt; Jesus says 'fuck, fuck,' Mormoooooons!"
  • The entire song, but "Hi, my name is Joseph Smith. And I'm going to fuck this baby," and "Brigham Young! His nose was a clitoris! What will you do, Joseph? Will you fight the clitoris man?"
  • Desperation! Mortality! Loss of faith! I... got the golden plates!
  • The Fridge Brilliance is that the tribe were never told it's not okay to say "fuck." That's why the song is so cuss-filled—they think there's nothing wrong with saying the word.
  • "Compassion! Courtesy! Let's be really fucking polite to everyone!"
  • During the whole ordeal, Elder Cunningham is off to the side, mouth agape and eyes wide in rapt horror, as he realizes the mess he's created.
• The ending with the Ugandan Elders. "Hello, my name is Elder Matumbo..."
  "Hello, my name is Elder Butt-Fucking Naked."
  • In the preview version of the show, he introduces himself as "Elder Warlord".
  • "And if you put that gun down I will—oh, okay, I'll leave!"
• I STILL HAVE MAGGOTS IN MY SCROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTUUUUUUUUUUUUUM!

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