Overview

The Reverend Billy is a revivalist preacher who leads the Church of Stop Shopping, an anticonsumerist communion devoted to putting the odd into God. Created by the actor Bill Talen, the Reverend first appeared alongside the sidewalk preachers in New York's Times Square during the Giuliani years, bringing his new post-religious theology to eager crowds. Now Reverend Billy has a cult following across the country and was recently featured in a profile in the New York Times Magazine. In these pages we go inside the Disney Store on 42nd Street (""the high church of retail"") to witness staged dramas against consumerism that employ eight hundred Disney characters with their ""reeling eyeballs and sky-cracking grins"" as the mise-en-scene. We encounter the icon-twisting logic of credit card exorcism performed in front of astonished tourists and listen to a gospel choir made up of ""recovered preachers' kids"" singing anti-Starbucks anthems at the cash register of the $5 latte. We watch as the defense of a community garden is turned into an Off-Broadway hit and join with the Reverend as he preaches love and peace to the crowds that gathered spontaneously in Union Square after the attacks of September 11.

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9781565848245

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The collar is fake but the calling is real. &#8212<i>The Village Voice</i> A mind-bending blend of street theater, political grandstanding, and performance art. . . . Talen s act has made him something of a media darling. &#8212<i>San Francisco Chronicle</i> The zeal of a street-corner preacher and the schmaltz of a street-corner Santa. &#8212<i>The New York Times</i> It s a funny rant against developers and supermodels and everything that feeds off authentic humanness. But there s a potent, delicious kernel of truth here. &#8212<i>Los Angeles Times</i>

Treat him as any other customer and do not respond to his or his devotees' antics. Ask him politely to leave the store. Call the police if he does not leave.

Treat him as any other customer and do not respond to his or his devotees' antics. Ask him politely to leave the store. Call the police if he does not leave. The collar is fake but the calling is real. -The Village Voice A mind-bending blend of street theater, political grandstanding, and performance art. . . . Talen's act has made him something of a media darling. -San Francisco Chronicle The zeal of a street-corner preacher and the schmaltz of a street-corner Santa. -The New York Times It's a funny rant against developers and supermodels and everything that feeds off authentic humanness. But there's a potent, delicious kernel of truth here. -Los Angeles Times

The collar is fake but the calling is real. &#8212 The Village Voice A mind-bending blend of street theater, political grandstanding, and performance art. . . . Talen's act has made him something of a media darling. &#8212 San Francisco Chronicle The zeal of a street-corner preacher and the schmaltz of a street-corner Santa. &#8212 The New York Times It's a funny rant against developers and supermodels and everything that feeds off authentic humanness. But there's a potent, delicious kernel of truth here. &#8212 Los Angeles Times

Author Information

Bill Talen is an actor and activist who, as the Reverend Billy, has been feted and arrested in several countries. He lives and preaches in New York City.

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