A former Tayport minister who has taken on a new parish in the Mearns is about to unleash his brand of ecclesiastical humour on the general public when he and other vicars appear on a new television programme.
The Rev Colin Dempster, 61, is the only Church of Scotland minister to feature in Some Vicars With Jokes, which will air on Wednesday.
Mr Dempster, who recently took on the Mearns Coastal parish, admitted he has had problems retelling funny stories in the past.
“Every time I tell a joke I can never remember the punchline,” he said.
While the series takes a religious bent this week, it has also featured other recognisable groups of people, such as Liverpudlians, checking out their comic prowess.
Mr Dempster may not have felt too confident as he took to the stage, but it was not his first foray into the world of humorous stories.
Like many ministers he regularly uses jokes and anecdotes to “plough the land before putting the seed in”.
Over the years he has also written many humorous plays and sketches that have been published by the Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh.
These have included McScrooge: A Christmas Carol, The X-Mas Factor and Mary and the Magnificat Seven.
Mr Dempster, who spent 20 years as the minister at Tayport Parish, described the moment he took to the stage.
“They had this stage all rigged up and you couldn’t see a thing out because of all the lights,” he said.
“It was one of the most horrendous things of my life.
“The two guys on before me were like stand-up comedians they were so good.”
But he got through his routine without his notes, telling his favourite jokes.
Some Vicars With Jokes will be shown on BBC 4 on July 10 and 17 at 10pm.