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An Act of God
1 hr and 11 mins
The One with the first and last word on everything has finally arrived to set the record straight. After many millennia, and in just 90 minutes, God (assisted by his devoted angels) answers some of the deepest questions that have plagued mankind since Creation.Written David Javerbaum
Performed Sean Hayes, Cheyenne Jackson, and Colman Domingo
Sound Design Fitz Patton
© 2019 David Javerbaum (P) 2019 AO Media LLC
1 pages, Audible Audio
First published May 1, 2019
4 people are currently reading
64 people want to read
About the author
David Javerbaum
21 books27 followersDavid Javerbaum (born David J. Javerbaum) is an American comedy writer, lyricist and librettist. Javerbaum was a former head writer and executive producer of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. His work for the program won 11 Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, two Peabody Awards and Television Critics Association Awards for both Best Comedy and Best News Show.
Some of his wellknown works are What to Expect When You're Expected: A Fetus's Guide to the First Three Trimesters (2009); The Last Testament: A Memoir by God, (2011); and The Book Of Bieb (2014). He also coauthored the show's textbook parody America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction, which sold 2.6 million copies and won the 2005 Thurber Prize for American Humor. The book spent a year in The New York Times Bestseller List (including 15 at #1) and was named Publishers Weekly's 2004 Book of the Year. He became a consulting producer at the start of 2009 and spent the next 18 months spearheading the writing of the book's sequel, Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race, which was released in September 2010; his co-production of its audiobook earned the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Spoken-Word Album.
David Javerbaum is a graduate of NYU's Graduate School of Musical Theater Composition and Harvard University where he wrote for the humor magazine The Harvard Lampoon and served as lyricist and co-bookwriter for two productions of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals. Later he spent three years contributing headlines to The Onion, and is credited as one of the writers for Our Dumb Century.
Some of his wellknown works are What to Expect When You're Expected: A Fetus's Guide to the First Three Trimesters (2009); The Last Testament: A Memoir by God, (2011); and The Book Of Bieb (2014). He also coauthored the show's textbook parody America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction, which sold 2.6 million copies and won the 2005 Thurber Prize for American Humor. The book spent a year in The New York Times Bestseller List (including 15 at #1) and was named Publishers Weekly's 2004 Book of the Year. He became a consulting producer at the start of 2009 and spent the next 18 months spearheading the writing of the book's sequel, Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race, which was released in September 2010; his co-production of its audiobook earned the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Spoken-Word Album.
David Javerbaum is a graduate of NYU's Graduate School of Musical Theater Composition and Harvard University where he wrote for the humor magazine The Harvard Lampoon and served as lyricist and co-bookwriter for two productions of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals. Later he spent three years contributing headlines to The Onion, and is credited as one of the writers for Our Dumb Century.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
June 25, 2019
What a disappointment.
March 26, 2021
This seemed funnier on stage. Maybe it needs to be seen. Or maybe Jim Parsons was a better God. It’s still worth listening to.
April 22, 2020
Almost saw this on Broadway when it was making its rounds a few years ago. It's short, irreverent, decently funny, worth a few laughs. You'll forget about it after you're done
January 28, 2025
Barem ateisti imaju materijala da budu smisni
Read
December 3, 2023This is too American for me
December 22, 2021
Free | Sean Hayes did just fine with the material, but the material was derivative five years ago. So very many comedians have made these same jokes, more needed to be added to do anything with it. I could have sworn that I had seen video clips of Parsons doing it, and the bits I thought I remembered were not in this Audible production, so it's possible Hayes is performing an edited version, I don't know and don't care enough to look into it.
January 27, 2025
2018 52 Book Challenge - 21) A Book That Makes You Laugh Out Loud
This is funny and irrelevant. I had expected it to be better after it went on Broadway. Honestly, it's one of those things that you forget ten minutes after reading it.
This is funny and irrelevant. I had expected it to be better after it went on Broadway. Honestly, it's one of those things that you forget ten minutes after reading it.
September 10, 2025
Divinely funny.
August 5, 2024
Entirely offensive
January 13, 2020
I read this play, and the "memoir" it was based on, a few years ago, when the Sean Hayes production was making its way (back) to Broadway. It was a delightfully charming play; short, effective, hilarious. As is often the case when I read a good play, I found myself longing for it to be filmed and released in some manner - just so I could see and hear Sean Hayes reading this engaging dialogue. Imagine my surprise when, three years later, I heard Audible was going to turn it into one of their Audible Originals, bringing Sean Hayes back into the fold and finally recording this fantastic play so those who couldn't make it to Broadway (or LA, where Hayes had previously done the show) could hear his take on it. And, I gotta say, it's so nice getting to hear these words read aloud.
(This review will cover both the script itself and the Audible adaptation.)
First things first, I really love this play. There's something really nice about a piece of theatre that knows exactly what it's trying to be, is tightly written, and gets to the point in a quick, succinct, and entertaining way. An Act of God is a tight, 80-minute play (give or take) and it manages to be one-part tell-all, one-part a dishing out of a new set of Commandments, and one-part confessional. And it's devilishly funny, too.
I will always deeply enjoy stories where God is depicted as either A) Totally uncaring or B) just so utterly and totally exhausted with the whole being a God thing. There's something so interesting about a deity who's sick and tired of being a deity. It's one of my favorite things about the first season of Miracle Workers and it's something An Act of God does very well. This God isn't quite as done with humanity as the Steve Buscemi God is, but he's pretty close. He's dealt with years and years of people misinterpreting His word and killing in His name (He doesn't need any help killing, thanks) and He's finally decided to come back down, inhabiting the body of a famous actor (in the case of the Audible adaptation, Sean Hayes), and deliver unto humanity a new set of Commandments for a modern age. The God of An Act of God is also a troubled God. He's grown a bit insecure, feeling as though there is something wrong with Him, and some of the best parts of the play are those moments where God gets to be introspective about His actions and what He's done or hasn't done to help humanity over the years.
On that note, I think it's rather impressive how well the play threads the line between being written from a clearly atheistic point of view and being respectful towards Christianity. Obviously, Javerbaum has some opinions on Christianity - most notably the hypocrisies found within many major sects of the religion - but he takes care not to be too dismissive of the whole thing, or of those who believe in it. His God is not one who hates humanity, just one who feels His message has been misunderstood. Sure, An Act of God is highly irreverent - but it's also surprisingly meaningful. Throughout the play, God responds to various questions from humanity (delivered to Him by one of His angels, Gabriel and Michael) and it's in those responses where we get some insight into Javerbaum's opinion on both God and the stories found within the Bible. These questions also give us the chance to finally hear God answer some of the questions we've all wanted answers to over the years - and there's something cathartic to hearing God, even an obviously fictional representation of Him, atone to the things He's done or hasn't done to help humanity. All in all, this play is surprisingly deep for something so satirical on the surface.
As for Audible's adaptation of it? It's very good. Sean Hayes is excellent as God - though, technically, he's playing God as though God took over the body of Sean Hayes; it's a funny joke in context, I promise. Hayes brings just the right amount of sass, irreverence, and power to his portrayal of God. He excels in the moments where God has to be vulnerable and he frightens in the moments God has to be scary. This kind of role seems tailor-made for an actor like Hayes to inhabit. The Audible version also changes very little of the script from its previously published edition. A few jokes have been tweaked, a few of the more overt references to this story normally happening on the stage in a theatre have been cut or changed, etc. Although, there are still times where the dialogue refers to the play taking place on stage, so it is a little confusing why they'd change some of those jokes but not all of them. But, regardless, it's nice to have the vast majority of the text carried over verbatim here. Perhaps the most notable part of the Audible adaptation, aside from Hayes' acting, is the sound design. Fitz Patton does an excellent job of keeping the long stretches of monologues interesting by infusing them with sound effects and music, as needed. It's never distracting and it only serves to enhance the overall listening experience. Overall, it's a pretty stellar adaptation.
All in all, An Act of God is an excellent play. It's tightly-written, well-paced, extremely funny, and surprisingly poignant. It manages to both criticize organized Christianity while still being respectful to its core values. It calls out what needs to be called out and lifts up those elements worth celebrating. Its depiction of God is both interesting and relatable and it's just such a joy to read. The Audible adaptation of the play is similarly great, filled with a truly superb performance from Sean Hayes (and Cheyenne Jackson and Colman Domingo as Michael and Gabe). While there are a couple of inconsistencies in what got changed between the stage script and the audio script, it's really nice to have some way of experience the play (other than reading it). It's no substitute for a DVD of the play or, preferably, a live performance of it, but it's still a very good way to experience this superb play. I fully recommend both the script and the Audible adaptation.
(This review will cover both the script itself and the Audible adaptation.)
First things first, I really love this play. There's something really nice about a piece of theatre that knows exactly what it's trying to be, is tightly written, and gets to the point in a quick, succinct, and entertaining way. An Act of God is a tight, 80-minute play (give or take) and it manages to be one-part tell-all, one-part a dishing out of a new set of Commandments, and one-part confessional. And it's devilishly funny, too.
I will always deeply enjoy stories where God is depicted as either A) Totally uncaring or B) just so utterly and totally exhausted with the whole being a God thing. There's something so interesting about a deity who's sick and tired of being a deity. It's one of my favorite things about the first season of Miracle Workers and it's something An Act of God does very well. This God isn't quite as done with humanity as the Steve Buscemi God is, but he's pretty close. He's dealt with years and years of people misinterpreting His word and killing in His name (He doesn't need any help killing, thanks) and He's finally decided to come back down, inhabiting the body of a famous actor (in the case of the Audible adaptation, Sean Hayes), and deliver unto humanity a new set of Commandments for a modern age. The God of An Act of God is also a troubled God. He's grown a bit insecure, feeling as though there is something wrong with Him, and some of the best parts of the play are those moments where God gets to be introspective about His actions and what He's done or hasn't done to help humanity over the years.
On that note, I think it's rather impressive how well the play threads the line between being written from a clearly atheistic point of view and being respectful towards Christianity. Obviously, Javerbaum has some opinions on Christianity - most notably the hypocrisies found within many major sects of the religion - but he takes care not to be too dismissive of the whole thing, or of those who believe in it. His God is not one who hates humanity, just one who feels His message has been misunderstood. Sure, An Act of God is highly irreverent - but it's also surprisingly meaningful. Throughout the play, God responds to various questions from humanity (delivered to Him by one of His angels, Gabriel and Michael) and it's in those responses where we get some insight into Javerbaum's opinion on both God and the stories found within the Bible. These questions also give us the chance to finally hear God answer some of the questions we've all wanted answers to over the years - and there's something cathartic to hearing God, even an obviously fictional representation of Him, atone to the things He's done or hasn't done to help humanity. All in all, this play is surprisingly deep for something so satirical on the surface.
As for Audible's adaptation of it? It's very good. Sean Hayes is excellent as God - though, technically, he's playing God as though God took over the body of Sean Hayes; it's a funny joke in context, I promise. Hayes brings just the right amount of sass, irreverence, and power to his portrayal of God. He excels in the moments where God has to be vulnerable and he frightens in the moments God has to be scary. This kind of role seems tailor-made for an actor like Hayes to inhabit. The Audible version also changes very little of the script from its previously published edition. A few jokes have been tweaked, a few of the more overt references to this story normally happening on the stage in a theatre have been cut or changed, etc. Although, there are still times where the dialogue refers to the play taking place on stage, so it is a little confusing why they'd change some of those jokes but not all of them. But, regardless, it's nice to have the vast majority of the text carried over verbatim here. Perhaps the most notable part of the Audible adaptation, aside from Hayes' acting, is the sound design. Fitz Patton does an excellent job of keeping the long stretches of monologues interesting by infusing them with sound effects and music, as needed. It's never distracting and it only serves to enhance the overall listening experience. Overall, it's a pretty stellar adaptation.
All in all, An Act of God is an excellent play. It's tightly-written, well-paced, extremely funny, and surprisingly poignant. It manages to both criticize organized Christianity while still being respectful to its core values. It calls out what needs to be called out and lifts up those elements worth celebrating. Its depiction of God is both interesting and relatable and it's just such a joy to read. The Audible adaptation of the play is similarly great, filled with a truly superb performance from Sean Hayes (and Cheyenne Jackson and Colman Domingo as Michael and Gabe). While there are a couple of inconsistencies in what got changed between the stage script and the audio script, it's really nice to have some way of experience the play (other than reading it). It's no substitute for a DVD of the play or, preferably, a live performance of it, but it's still a very good way to experience this superb play. I fully recommend both the script and the Audible adaptation.
December 5, 2022
I'm sure this text creates A LOT of issues among the faithful and real believers. I love that. Oh well, it's pretty accurate in many, many things. I've been a Catholic for most of my life, and I've had most of the same doubts, so it's always refreshing and wildly entertaining when someone comes up with the answers... From God himself!!!
Sean Hayes is hilarious, there's no doubt about. And here, he is absolutely brilliant! I laughed out loud many times, and it's just not because of the text, is the delivery. Hayes has this kindness that turns into evil when he raises his voice and starts speaking so fast, and I just can't help but loving him. I have not seen the Broadway show or Jim Parsons' version, I'm sure he's hilarious as well.
This thing is absolutely brilliant, wildly creative and entertaining. I'd definitely listen to it more than once, and I'll start looking for the text once I finish this review. This is my kind of comedy!
Sean Hayes is hilarious, there's no doubt about. And here, he is absolutely brilliant! I laughed out loud many times, and it's just not because of the text, is the delivery. Hayes has this kindness that turns into evil when he raises his voice and starts speaking so fast, and I just can't help but loving him. I have not seen the Broadway show or Jim Parsons' version, I'm sure he's hilarious as well.
This thing is absolutely brilliant, wildly creative and entertaining. I'd definitely listen to it more than once, and I'll start looking for the text once I finish this review. This is my kind of comedy!
April 4, 2023
The book explores the concept of God and faith in a refreshing and unique way, offering new perspectives on age-old questions such as why bad things happen to good people, and what the purpose of our existence might be. The writing is clever and often laugh-out-loud funny, with Javerbaum infusing the script with plenty of pop culture references and contemporary jokes. While the play's central conceit of an omnipotent deity may seem blasphemous to some, it is executed with a light touch and a healthy dose of self-awareness.
December 29, 2020
A verbal recreation of Life. Some things that were brought out where nice, and causes one to think.
It wasn’t horrifying.
God is telling us we don’t need Him. He’s off to do another project and we need to look inside ourselves to continue with our lives.
It was a good satirical discussion of this life and the silly things we do that may provoke God.
It was an accomplishment. Need to think things through and not waste His time squabbling, but do the things we think are good.
Recommend. Need to be willing to accept , and not too offended by some of the things heard.
It wasn’t horrifying.
God is telling us we don’t need Him. He’s off to do another project and we need to look inside ourselves to continue with our lives.
It was a good satirical discussion of this life and the silly things we do that may provoke God.
It was an accomplishment. Need to think things through and not waste His time squabbling, but do the things we think are good.
Recommend. Need to be willing to accept , and not too offended by some of the things heard.
July 5, 2022
The version I listened too was read by Sean Hayes. Because of his familiar voice-I had a vision of him as God in my mind while I listened which was odd. This was humorous and on point for many of the 10 commandments. Probably not for those who can't see the humor.
I can see where this would be better as a play but I enjoyed it as a short story.
I can see where this would be better as a play but I enjoyed it as a short story.
April 22, 2021
It was okay. It was meant to be funny but some of the jokes just fell flat. I think I chuckled maybe once. I'm just glad I didn't have to pay to listen to this audible. Of course Sean Hayes was good as one of the narrators.
September 17, 2024
Sean Hayes was great, but I’m glad this was a freebie. I’d be really annoyed if I’d paid for it. It wasn’t bad, but I thought it would be funnier. It just seemed like God was having a whine about how hard his ‘life’ was.
May 17, 2020
Not bad. Background effects loud
July 22, 2020
Funny and irrreverant to a point even a little offensive but Sean Hayes brilliantly cuts to the heart of what it is to live in the 21st century as a Christian
September 8, 2020
Highly Entertaining!
November 12, 2020
Meh. So forgettable and not as entertaining as I had expected.
November 18, 2020
Hysterically funny!
December 5, 2020
Audio. Funny and very well done.
January 20, 2021
Hilarious! I don’t recommend for the super religious though.
February 7, 2021
Funny and quick. Perfect for a Sunday afternoon.
March 5, 2021
Sean Hayes is hilarious and I would listen to him narrate the phone book. This was a funny and enjoyable audio book perfect for a quick listen (not safe for work).
April 10, 2021
Hilarious and profound
Gotta lighten up about this stuff and they did a great job!
Gotta lighten up about this stuff and they did a great job!
July 5, 2022
Wonderful performances of a very funny play!
April 21, 2023
It’s just funny goddamnit
June 21, 2023
God has rewritten the 12 Commandments and is sharing this in person. This is completely hysterical and a fun listen.
December 25, 2024
This was short and strange. Seth MacFarland plays God.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews