Review: Slacking Towards Bethlehem: J.R. ‘Bob’ Dobbs and the Church of the SubGenius (2019)

Back in the days before being even slightly nerdy, geeky, or into non-mainstream things was considered remotely ‘cool’ or valid, there existed a particular form of ‘us and them’ in society.  There was a mainstream, with a certain amount of conformity, and then there were the others who felt different, but who had no way of finding likeminded souls.  Some of these people only went against the flow in small ways, as everyone does, while others wanted to express themselves more overtly.  It was in this world that two individuals amused themselves and created the ‘Church of the SubGenius’ along with its prophet J.R. Bob Dobbs.   A grand joke that became bigger than they ever imagined.

A crowdfunded documentary, newly on Amazon Prime, ‘Slacking Towards Bethlehem: J.R. Bob Dobbs and the Church of the SubGenius’, examines its life and how things have progressed, from the simpler beginnings in the 1970s to today’s enduring worldwide iteration.  Using a mixture of home movie footage, TV news reports and new interviews, director Sandy K. Boone has gathered a compelling tale that reveals the truth behind the curtain for the first time, as for many years, the founders refused to do any serious interviews.

Rev. Ivan Stang (born Douglas St Clair Smith) and Philo Drummond (Steve Wilcox), two self-confessed weirdos, were inspired by their love of fringe pamphlets, as well as a mischievousness born of boredom and irreverence, to mash together all the things they loved into one big idea.  This became the Church of the SubGenius, a place for weirdos, run by weirdos.  Starting with the renowned Pamphlet #1, this gathered some interest with artists, musicians, writers, and many people who felt marginalised by society in general, who liked the freedom of thought, humour, and satirical mockery of the mainstream.

Over the years the Church gained many well known figures as members who equally felt like outsiders, including Robert Crumb, Frank Zappa, Mark Mothersbaugh (Devo), Paul Reubens (Pee-Wee Herman), David Byrne (Talking Heads), Jon Stewart, Alex Cox (Repo Man), David Letterman, Negativland, Matt Groening (The Simpsons, Futurama), and Jonathan Demme, with some like Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation, Axe Cop, Fargo), Penn Jillette (Penn and Teller), Gerald Casale (Devo), and Richard Linklater (Slacker, Dazed and Confused, School of Rock) being interviewed here.

What followed was a somewhat anarchic, creative, inside joke, that was never meant to be taken seriously, which is definitely a recurring point made during the documentary.  Starting in a pre-internet era and working with a lot of physical print media and traditional mediums such as radio, the Church went ‘viral’ in a much more word of mouth manner than we would expect with an internet phenomenon nowadays. 

Like most things that expand beyond their initial idea and gain followers though, there was a darker side, with a number of people coming into the ‘movement’, for want of a better word, that didn’t entirely gel with the original ethos.  Some took it too literally and others pushed the envelope of what was the joke way too far.  This caused a number of issues over the years and to a degree this kind of thing is never going to go away.  It was interesting to note how this affected the Church as time went on, and critically how Ivan Stang and Philo Drummond reacted to it, as they were horrified that people took their stoned ramblings to heart.

As we now have moved into a period of time where the old notion of the mainstream versus the weirdos no longer totally applies, the documentary looks at whether the satire is now entirely pointless and whether it is even safe to continue.  With so many grasping onto half-truths and the thin line between joke and reality being worn away, there isn’t quite the target there once was.  This is probably a driving force behind Stang and Drummond wanting to talk about it now, so that they can put on record what the whole escapade was about, and to underline its nature as an inside joke.

In the interests of full disclosure, I joined the SubGenius in 1992, and found ‘Slack towards Bethlehem’ to be a fascinating documentary that brought together all the definitive ‘behind the curtain’ statements that have been suggested previously, but here makes it clear.  The Church of the SubGenius was a deliberately confusing mess of ideas and nonsense, that you either understood or found bewildering.  Or both.  That was its inspiring beauty, that brought people together in a sense of creative irreverence summed up by the key phrase “F**k ‘em if they can’t take a joke”.

This documentary fully recognises that, detailing the madness in a coherent way, and critically puts into context a lot of the events of the 1980s that probably wouldn’t gain as much notoriety now as they did then.  This it backs up with a lot of footage that helps cement that time in the minds of many who are viewing it through a post-internet lens.

From those early days of posting out pamphlets in exchange for a few loose dollars mailed to a PO Box, to the still active, but ramshackle website, the people and ideas behind the ‘Church of the SubGenius’ continue to endure.  It may have become more niche over the years, but also more accessible than ever.  If you’re new to the idea of praising J.R. ‘Bob’ Dobbs, the ultimate salesman, gaining slack, or just reclining in the glory of bulldada, this is an excellent starting point.