HAND TO GOD's Bob Saget Makes a Comedy Transition With Pastor Greg

It isn't every season that a popular comedy and television star like Bob Saget accepts a supporting role in a Broadway play for what has already been announced as the last two months of its run.

It helps when one of the producers, Kevin McCollum is a friend, but what really sold Saget on a quick stint in Robert Askins' subversive comedy HAND TO GOD is that he was "blown away," as he explains on a Huffington Post blog, by the cast, the hilarity and the poignancy.

"It shines a comedic light on how twisted a broken family can be," the actor notes. "I don't come from a broken family, but we certainly weren't fixed by any means, having lost two of my sisters by the time I was in my late thirties."

Saget stepped into the role of Pastor Greg when its originator, three-time Tony nominee Marc Kudisch, left to begin production on his own musical project, BARITONES UNBOUND, and the new guy can't hold back praise for his cast mates when explaining the plot: "The play is about a young man, Jason, acted astonishingly by Steven Boyer, who has a puppet on his hand named Tyrone. Tyrone has satanic qualities. His mother, Margery, is played by the amazing Geneva Carr, whose husband in the play has died. Two other brilliant actors complete the ensemble -- Sarah Stiles and Michael Oberholtzer, who play two students of Margery's along with Jason in this puppet workshop run by Pastor Greg's ministry."

Saget sees himself as an actor going through a career transition, and sees playing this role as a transitioning experience.

"Playing Pastor Greg, a Lutheran minister who attempts to have good human values, is a full 180 from my stand-up persona, as well as from other parts I have played over the years. The demeanor of this Pastor, when he is, for the most part, a good man, is opposite anything I have played -- being from a small town in Texas and believing the bible to be the book that you take with complete seriousness -- to give your life rules to live by. It is refreshing and eye opening for me to embody this role, and gain a certain amount of respect for those who chose clergy of any kind as their purpose in life."

For a comic whose persona revolves around sarcasm, Saget has had to shift gears considerably for this job.

"The interesting part for me is that this play embodies all of my comedic and hardcore serious sensibilities, and yet, the comedy does not come from my character. It comes from the writing and the play itself. And from Tyrone, the devil of a puppet, who could do a great solid five minutes in any comedy club in the English speaking world."

With news of shootings and terrorists threats dominating the headlines every day, Broadway houses have been implementing extra security measures recently and though theatre helps provide an escape from the outside world, Saget acknowledges the extra concern for safety.

"I only have four weeks left of this Broadway experience, which had moments of clouds over it at times -- as we all feel the pain of the world. But doing a good Broadway show as I am so fortunate to do at this moment in time, is impossible to do unless you go out there with no fear. And it helps that an army of police envelop Times Square."

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Hand to God plays at the Booth Theatre (222 West 45th Street) through January 3, 2016 before immediately transferring to London's West End, with performances beginning on February 5, 2016 at the famed Vaudeville Theatre.

Playwright Robert Askins goes for the jugular-by way of sock puppet-in his hilarious and heartbreaking new comedy Hand to God. In it, a shy teenager named Jason is surprised when his Bible School project-a puppet named Tyrone-takes on a shocking, truth-telling personality all its own, forcing everyone in its path, especially Jason's mother Margery, to confront their own demons as they search for redemption through a mix of riotous laughter and genuinely shocking twists.

Moritz von Stuelpnagel directs. The design team for Hand to God includes scenic design by Beowulf Boritt, costumes by Sydney Maresca, lighting by Jason Lyons, sound by Jill BC Du Boff, puppet design by Marte Johanne Ekhougen, and fight direction by Robert Westley.