Sunday, January 04, 2004

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Comedian John Moyer has survived tussles with drunk hecklers, bad movie reviews, and uptight audiences. Now he faces accusations that he went too far and endangered the spiritual welfare of his infant son.

Moyer drew fire from Mormon parents, but the assistant district attorney of Salt Lake City, Hyrum Rigdon McConkie, said no charges would be filed for a stunt in which Moyer went before a rowdy comedy club audience while cradling his month-old son, Jonathan, on New Year's Eve.

"There won't be any charges brought against him; the department of children's services has contacted the family and rebuked them," McConkie said. "They (the Moyer family) have fully repented and assured them that it won't happen again."  

The incident during Moyer's popular "Hand Carts to Whole Wheat" stand up comedy tour caused phone lines and email boxes to be jammed by angry Mormons expressing their outrage.

"I think he's a flippin', fetchin' idiot! To take that precious spirit into a den of iniquity like a comedy club!?" Bishop G. Nephi Tolman of the Kolob Third Ward in Springville told The Daily Herald newspaper.

At a news conference Saturday, Moyer stood firm about the situation with his son.

"I would be considered a softball comedian and bad parent if I did not teach my son how to make fun of Utah. He's going to need to know how to laugh at this place."

He also claimed the danger posed by the worldly audience was exaggerated.

"The kid would have been worse off in front of the Relief Society; having to worry about a bunch of blubbering, weeping sisters spilling germ-invested tears all over him what with this flu season and all."

Moyer has gained Mormon church-wide fame for his movies "The Singles Ward" and "The RM"  which parody the cultural lives of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Last week's footage showed Moyer telling jokes about uptight people in Utah in front of a cheering crowd. "If you're going to mow your lawn on Sunday in Utah," Moyer went on, "You just need to do it when your Mormon neighbors are at church for those three hours. This is your time people! This is the non-Mormon equivalent of adult swim at the community pool!"

Moyer's wife, Melissa, had handed the baby over to Moyer as he was on stage.

"It was a wonderful sensory experience for him (the baby). He was smiling," she said. "At least I think it was because he was on stage with his dad and not making a poop."

Rumors of Moyer's wife doing shots of Jägermeister then nursing the baby into a "buzz" to ease any potential stage fright proved false.

Moyer's local church leaders were investigating if Moyer violated any church policy, which condemns light mindedness.

"I've never approved of him (Moyer) doing stand up comedy," said Moroni Smooch, first counselor in the Temple View Stake Presidency. "And now to encourage his child to do the same? I mean, there's nothing funny about life. It's our opportunity to return to our Heavenly Father. You tell me what's funny about that?"

HaleStorm Entertainment, the production company that has produced Moyer's scripts released a statement criticizing the stunt.

"Based on the footage we have seen, we believe a mistake was made," Executive Producer Dave Hunter said. "But please don't let a little incident like this dissuade anyone from going to see our latest movie "The Home Teachers" which opens in theaters January 9th. The sound track is also in stores."