"Way beyond superficial religious satire... Absorbing, intricately woven, challenging and highly entertaining."                                                  - TimeOut

"Displays superb humanity... Destined to be a Fringe favourite... Miraculous. *****"
- The National Student

"The greatest stand-up story ever told… Funny, thoughtful, impassioned…Abie Philbin Bowman deserves a comic sainthood."                 - The Stage

Jesus: The Guantanamo Years now on iTunes.
Also available, without DRM, here.
Listen to a free clip on YouTube.

Jesus Christ returns to earth, but He doesn't get through U.S. immigration because He's a bearded, Middle-Eastern guy, prepared to die as a martyr. In His first one-man show for almost two millennia, Jesus talks candidly about His time in Guantanamo, His relationship with His Father, and His on-going legal battle with Monty Python’s Life of Brian.

Jesus: The Guantanamo Years was first performed to seven people in Players Theatre in Trinity College Dublin. Three days later it sold out. In August 2006 the show travelled to the Edinburgh Fringe, where it faced stiff competition from 1,800 other performances. Despite this Jesus: The Guantanamo Years secured rave reviews, international media attention and completely sold out. The Scotsman dubbed it’s writer/performer Abie Philbin Bowman "the face of this year's Fringe".

Following its triumph at Edinburgh, Jesus: The Guantanamo Years sold-out throughout Ireland and travelled to London's West End. Its American debut was delayed, ironically, because of a hold-up at US immigration. Ironically, it was in Belfast that the show encountered the fiercest hostility. There was a bomb scare at the theatre and an elected member of Ian Paisley’s DUP called for the show to be boycotted. Abie responded: “since when has the DUP had a problem with people dressing up in orange and talking about Jesus?”

In November 2007, Jesus: The Guantanamo Years represented Ireland at the World Performing Arts Festival in Pakistan. The script was changed to include references to the country's unfolding political crisis, making Abie the only Irish comedian “stupid enough” to perform a religious, political satire in a Muslim country, during a state of emergency.

On March 17th 2008, to mark St Patrick’s Day, Easter week, and the fifth year of War in Iraq, Jesus: The Guantanamo Years was launched on iTunes. Within a month, it entered the iTunes Top 10 Chart for Comedy Albums in the UK, Finland, Belgium, Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden and Japan.

Abie attributes the show’s success to its irreverent take on an important subject. "If you want to understand Guantanamo, imagine a maximum security prison designed by Kentucky Fried Chicken. It has tiny wire-mesh cages, soulless uniforms and most of the staff are teenagers with no other career options.” The Irishman is eager to dismiss charges of blasphemy: "Guantanamo Bay is totally unchristian. I'm not a religious expert, but I'm pretty sure that telling jokes about God is not as blasphemous as torturing His children.”