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by Bil Lepp
Local liar Bil Lepp brings tears of laughter once again with his new live CD, The Divine Bovine. Hear his tall tales and fantastic lies about Montina the Divine Bovine, and his laughter provoking Behind Thinking, and go armadillo hunting with Bil and his father-in-law in The Armadillo Recon Unit. Bil continues to delight his audiences of all ages wherever he performs.
Bil's funny fibs and down-home delivery will bring a smile to the face of even the most ill humored among us. Following Bil from childhood to adulthood, his stories feature wacky adventures with cows and campers, armadillo hunting and his in-laws, and a deal with a mountain lion. Lepp is the author of three books, four audio collections, and has had stories published in several national magazines.
Duke Divinity Magazine called Bil's stories, "Awe-inspiring cathedrals of flapdoodle and bull."
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote, "The audience could barely stop laughing long enough to catch the next twist in the tale."
REVIEWS
LYING IN STATE BIL LEPP PRACTICES THE ANCIENT ART OF LEG-PULLING
Publication: THE CHARLESTON GAZETTE
Published: 07/12/2006
Byline: RUSTY MARKS
Barring politicians and used-car salesmen, it's hard to find a guy who makes a living by stretching the truth.
For South Charleston's Bil Lepp, it's a full-time job.
"I'm a fairly honest person to be a professional liar," said Lepp, 36, who is five-time winner of the state Liars Contest.
Though he spent four years as a Methodist pastor and did a stint working at the state Cultural Center in Charleston, Lepp spends most of his time these days out on the road, traveling a circuit of storytelling festivals all over the country and selling CDs of his tall tales. The Parents' Choice Foundation recently named his current recording, "The Teacher in the Patriotic Bathing Suit," one of its award-winning CDs for kids.
Spinning yarns was a family affair in the Lepp household. Lepp descended from a Russian immigrant grandfather who spoke five languages and entertained family around the dinner table with tales that tended to become a little more exaggerated with each telling.
"None of them were true, is what it came down to," Lepp recalled. "I was 14 years old and I thought my grandfather had ridden with Lawrence of Arabia."
Bil's brother, the late Paul Lepp, was also a champion storyteller before his death in 1998. Bil Lepp first entered the Liars Contest at the annual Vandalia Gathering in 1990, racking up his own wins before being invited to other storytelling festivals around the country.
"There's a whole storytelling subculture," he said. In 2000, he was invited to a national competition in Tennessee and garnered enough attention that he was able to go into storytelling full time.
Like any good tale, many of Lepp's stories are based on real events and contain at least a grain of truth. "The Teacher in the Patriotic Bathing Suit" is based on one of his elementary school teachers, who looked like Lynda Carter and whom Lepp and his friends really believed was Wonder Woman.
Other stories are based on things Lepp would like to do, or would have done if he thought he could have gotten away with it.
"I exact a lot of revenge in my stories," he said. "If someone ticks me off, eventually they'll get their comeuppance."
Other stories involve Lepp's real-life pet, Buck-dog. Buck-dog, the offspring of a German shepherd mother and a well-motivated basset-hound father, is, by Lepp's description, "One and one-half dogs long but only half a dog high." He is, however, possessed of unusual strength and stamina. Most Buck-dog stories start out plausibly enough but end up with Buck-dog pulling diesel trains or performing other
feats of super-canine ability.
One begins with the simple statement, "I have a dog."
"There are no dog agnostics," Lepp explained. "Nobody's sitting around waiting for proof of a dog. All my stories start out believable. Hopefully they flow into the ridiculous so gradually that folks are pulled along."
Part of the fun of Lepp's stories is the ride. As the tales become more implausible, the audience knows their legs are being pulled, but Lepp is so smooth and skillful they hang on to see how it all ends.
Lepp also likes to dispel Appalachian stereotypes and celebrate the ingenuity and natural intelligence of West Virginians. Some of his characters may start out seeming like simple hillbillies, but it wouldn't be unusual for Lepp to weave quantum physics or other complicated science into one of his stories.
"I may be dumb, but I can work the word 'geomorphology' into my stories," he cracked.
Bil Leppﾠﾠ http://www.buck-dog.com
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