Spoof-religion formed in 1980 by Ivan Stang (b. circa 1953), a conspiracy-minded Texas filmmaker, and Philo Drummond, a rock-musician friend. The Church of the SubGenius was first manifested in a series of mysteriously worded pamphlets whose central tenet was “slack,” a commodity Stang has translated as “perfect luck, effortless achievement.”

The SubGenius icon is J.R. “Bob” Dobbs, a handsome, pipe-smoking cartoon character drawn in the style of ’50s advertising; aliens (X-ists) and a “Space God” (Jehovah-1) also figure prominently. (The self-explanatory “Normals” are considered enemies.) Ministers of the church (who have mailed the church $30) reportedly number over 6,000, and… Continue reading →