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One man's odyssey into the weird world of religious satire
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Tuesday Jan 03, 2017
Tuesday Jan 03, 2017
Today’s epsiode features my conversation with Kevin Downey Jr. I was fortunate to catch Kevin right before he went on stage. We were at the Hollywood Casino in Mahoning Ohio, and that explains the background noise you hear. Because Kevin was soon to take the stage we had to keep it quick, so this interview is a littler shorter than most of the rest of them. Still, I was so excited to catch him for a few minutes.
A seasoned pro and dare I say world class joke-writer, you may know Kevin from his appearances on America’s Got Talent. Also, he has recently entered the rotation of guest panelists on FOX’s Red Eye, so he gives us some insight into what it’s like on that show. He also contradicts my premise about stand up comedy as a venue for religious push back since September 11th, instead he thinks he has seen LESS religious satire in recent years, and I’ll let him explain why. He also tells us why he considers Doug Stanhope one of the best out there today. That is what you can expect to hear on this interview with Kevin Downey Jr.
Interesting Links:
Kevin Downey Jr's website: http://www.kevindowneyjr.tv/
Goerge Carlin Way: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/23/nyregion/honoring-george-carlin-with-his-own-manhattan-block.html?_r=0
A link to the journal that contains the Gregory Paul article, "Cross-National Correlations of Quantifiable Societal Health with Popular Religiosity and Secularism in the Prosperous Democracies: A First Look": http://moses.creighton.edu/jrs/toc/2005.html
You can contact the Comical Heathen at: comicalheathen@gmail.com
Tuesday Jan 03, 2017
Tuesday Jan 03, 2017
This is Dr. Jerry Jaffe and welcome to the first episode of this new podcast, The Comical Heathen. The Comical Heathen is the only podcast to explore the art and craft of religious satire. Every episode will feature an interview with a comedian, or some other interesting person, on the topic of religious satire. This is our very first episode and we are excited to have as our very first guest Steve Hofstetter.
Steve Hofstetter is a YouTube sensation, his videos of him destroying hecklers have had over 60 million views. He is also known as the original host and executive producer of FOX’s Laughs. He is a comic road warrior, doing hundreds of shows every year. I was very thrilled to get this road warrior as he was passing through northeast Ohio to do a show I produce in Mentor, Ohio at Toth’s Place. After the show was over he kindly agreed to sit down with me for a few minutes and discuss religious satire.
Here is a preview of some of the things you are about to hear about. When I brought up the topic of religious satire the very first thing Steve said was the word necessary and I’ll let him explain way. We also talk about his experiences producing Laughs, for FOX, and his experiences as a guest on Fox and Friends. Steve, like your humble host, is Jewish so I asked him whether or not he thinks there's such a thing as a Jewish sense of humour. In fact, Steve, you may or may not know, went to the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City, although he did leave before completing and I’ll let him explain why and what experiences he got out of that. He tells a very interesting if not slightly disturbing story about crossing paths with some card carrying KKK members at a show one time. And when I asked him whether or not he thought there was any change or participation in comedy after September 11 he had some very definite opinions about that. So that is what you can expect to hear on this episode.
Interesing links:
Steve Hoffstetter's website: http://www.stevehofstetter.com/
Steve's YOUTUBE channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/thehofstetter
National Geographic article on the Renovation of the Tomb of the Sepulchre: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/10/jesus-christ-tomb-burial-church-holy-sepulchre/
Wikipedia Page on "Tomb of Jesus": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_of_Jesus
You can contact the Comical Heathen at: comicalheathen@gmail.com