The Comical Heathen Podcast

The Comical Heathen Episode Four: Emily McManus

This is our fourth episode, with many more to come, and I am personally very psyched about today’s interview. Do you TedTalk? I have a lot of friends who like to binge watch Ted Talks. There are over 2000 Ted Talks available for free over a range of platforms including YouTube and Netflix, and their videos have been watched world wide over a billion times. 

 

Well, "Ted" is not just some anonymous entity, it are run by people, and as it happens an old college chum of mine is the Managing Editor over at TED. Her name is Emily McMananus, and we first met in a class at the University of Toledo in the 80s on, of all things, satire! It got me thinking, I wonder what kind editorial processes TED uses, how they curate their videos, and how they incorporate or manage controversial topics, things like religion or psychics or other pseudoscience and just stuff like that? TED’s motto is “Ideas worth spreading” and I wondered, how do they decide which ideas are the ones worth spreading and which are too fringe, or too unscientific, to be worth not spreading. So, Emily and I had a great talk, including her involvement in trying to help TEDx event organizers have some standards and a controversial memo she helped pen. She also gives us a run down of how TED started, and tells us about some of her favorite talks.  Please enjoy my conversation with the managing editor at TED, my friend Emily McManus.

Some Links:

Emily's contact page at TED:  https://www.ted.com/profiles/20

The TED "pseudoscience" memo:  http://tedx.tumblr.com/post/37405280671/a-letter-to-the-tedx-community-on-tedx-and-bad

 

PEW research on the rise of the "nones":  http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/05/13/a-closer-look-at-americas-rapidly-growing-religious-nones/

 

Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie's essay "There are no Irreligious People":  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-eric-h-yoffie/there-are-no-irreligious-people_b_1418945.html

 

The Turbo Encabulator:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLDgQg6bq7o

 

Kevin Bacon & Newton's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kevinythebunbunandnewton/

 

The TED Talks mentioned in the episode:

Richard Dawkins:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxGMqKCcN6A

Michael Shermer:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T_jwq9ph8k

Reggie Watts:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJvW32FS8Z8

Will Stephen:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S0FDjFBj8o

Contact the Comical Heathen:  comicalheathen@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

The Comical Heathen Episode Three: Ken Evans

Welcome to The Comical Heathen. The Comical Heathen documents my investigations into the art and craft of religious satire.  Today’s episode features my conversation with Ken Evans.  Ken and I were performing at the Historic Holly Hotel in Holly, Michigan. The Holly Hotel is a great comedy venue known throughout the region.  When you work the Holly Hotel, between shows they provide the comics with a meal (the food there is delicious, by the way!). During this meal break in the green room, I set up some mics and Ken and I talked about religious satire. There is some crowd noise in the background, as the crowd for the second show began showing up.   It gives this conversation a little more of that green room feel, and I want to warn my listeners that there is some adult language in this episode.

A delightful raconteur with 30+ years experience in comedy, Ken had a lot to say on the topic of religious satire. Ken has appeared on Comedy Central and performs often in Las Vegas.  Our conversation included many anecdotes about humorous encounters with religion in real life, and some of the difficulties of using them as material on stage. He ranks Sam Kinnison as one of the best comedians who do religious satire. Ken tells a really good Doubting Thomas joke and also tells the story of when someone actually said to him “Thou art Satan.” He also brings up the irony of religious satire being a god-given talent. And now, my conversation with Ken Evans.

Intersting Links:

Ken Evans website:  http://kenevanscomedy.com/

Ken's haunted house:  http://www.slaughterhouseadventure.com/

The US Constitution on Wikipedia:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Constitution

Stress bonding bunnies:  http://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Bonding_rabbits_together#Stress_bonding

The Holly Hotel:  http://www.hollyhotel.com/comedyclub.html

Contact the Comical Heathen:  comicalheathen@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

The Comical Heathen Episode Two: Kevin Downey Jr

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 11^th, 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

 

 

The Comical Heathen Episode One: Steve Hofstetter

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