The title of Lloyd Suh’s feeble new comedy accurately sums up its starting point. The 18-year-old Jesus (Justin Blanchard) runs away from home after a blowup with his dad — Joseph, not God. After much camelback traveling, the teen and his friend Abigail (Molly Ward) end up in the place where people traditionally go to find themselves: India.
The journey is “about finding out if you even hafta find out what you gotta know or don’t gotta know,” Jesus explains. Sort of.
Part of the process involves befriending a spoiled young maharaja, Sushil (Neimah Djourabchi), and his dopey sidekick, Gopal (Vedant Gokhale).
“Hit me up with summa that dang patchouli, already,” Jesus tells Gopal, “and let’s get stupid.” The three dudes share a few doobies — and next thing we know, the Son of God is playing bass in Gopal and Sushil’s punk combo.
If only this had been “Harold and Kumar and Jesus Start a Band.” Sadly, the show is never as funny as that movie franchise, just loaded with witless vulgarity.
Like all good aspiring musicians — not to mention deities — Jesus has a groupie of sorts: Sushil’s slave, an untouchable named Mahari (Meera Rohit Kumbhani). Flirtation ensues, and eventually she gets pregnant. Rest assured that this is all so lame that it doesn’t even qualify as sacrilege.
Toward the end, the playwright changes tack and goes philosophical on us: Jesus must grow up and accept his responsibilities. He was more fun when he was just a pothead.