A Few of My Favorite Comedians...On Religion

It will come as no surprise to readers (there's no good reason for 'reader' to be plural other than to not damage my fragile self esteem) that I am an atheist. Atheism and skepticism are two of my favorite topics to think about, read about, or talk about. Comedy, though, is my favorite topic of all. Fortunately, many of my favorite comedians are also atheists and have provided us with a lot of really funny bits on religion. Here's just a few of my favorites:

Doug Stanhope

Doug is known by many for his time on Comedy Central's "The Man Show". I didn't watch much of "The Man Show". It's Doug's stand up act that speaks to me. Not just an atheist, Stanhope is also known as a libertarian and an anarchist. In his book, Satiristas, Paul Provenza says of Stanhope: "From his outsider vantage point, we see the forest, and the questions about where we stand among the trees can often be unsettling". In the bit below, Doug riffs on an idea I think about often; making your own version of Christianity.

 



George Carlin

Carlin is considered by many to be the greatest standup comedian of all time. His "Seven Dirty Words" comedy routine was central to the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court case F.C.C. v. Pacifica Foundation, in which a 5–4 decision by the justices affirmed the government's power to regulate indecent material on the public airwaves. Carlin was one of our finest social critics and he didn't shy away from the topic of religion. In this bit, well...Carlin comes right out and calls religion bullshit.

Jim Jefferies

Australian comedian Jim Jefferies has used his confessional style to become one of the most popular and acclaimed comedians in the world. No subjects are off limits when Jefferies is on stage. In this clip, he starts off talking about having no fear of death...but he doesn't stop there.

Jimmy Carr

Jimmy Carr is an English comedian with a deadpan delivery and a fondness for dark humor. No joke is too offensive for Carr. In 2006, Jimmy wrote a book titled, "The Naked Jape: Uncovering the Hidden World of Jokes". The clip below is just a small sampling of some of Carr's most offensive jokes, including some about religion. 

Tim Minchin

Minchin has been performing his unique brand of musical comedy all over the world since 2005. His songs cover topics such as rationalism, prejudice, logical fallacies, and...you guessed it...religion. Here, Tim talks about religion and finishes up with a lovely little song called, "If You Open Your Mind Too Much, You're Brain Will Fall Out."

 

 Ricky Gervais

 

Ricky Gervais took a different route to success in the comedy world. Gervais worked a number of odd jobs and tried his hand at music and radio before having success as a writer on a number of British television shows; the most famous being "The Office". He's continued on to have many other successful television projects. Ricky has also become a very popular and well respected stand up comedian. Ricky is very public about his atheism; talking about it on The Piers Morgan show and writing a piece about it in the Wall Street Journal. Here he is talking about religion and the accuracy of the Bible. 

 



 

 Paul Provenza

 

You didn't think I would write a post like this and not include Provenza, did you? I've written about Provenza a lot on this blog (here and here and here and here...is that awkward?), but that's because I agree with Penn Jillette, who said that Paul is the greatest mind in comedy today. The Aristocrats...The Green Room...Satiristas...Set List...you get the idea. Here's two clips of Provenza talking about religion. (When I first heard the "clerical error" bit on The Green Room, I laughed so hard that I cried). 

 

 

 

 

Well? What do you think of my list? Did I miss some of your favorites? If I did, post them in the comments. Until next time...

UPDATE

How the fuck did I forget Anthony Jeselnik?!?



You're BLOCKED! I've Told Everyone. Now I'm Sharing Your Posts (That I Blocked).

I can understand blocking someone on a social network. I've done so myself, but it's rare. I can even understand (in some weird section of my brain) creating a list of people you've deemed "block worthy"; although (is this the right place for a semi-colon? I never know) I really struggle with the idea of sharing that list with people so they can uncritically decide to block the same people (not taking into consideration any biases you may have against this "awful" person) but, whatever. That's their choice. What I don't understand (and likely wont understand) is blocking someone...adding them to your bullshit "block worthy" list...and then writing a blog post containing 200 (2000? do you think I counted them?) tweets that this "horrible" (actually...WONDERFUL) person sent. What sense does it make to block someone, tell the entire world you've done it...and then share a bunch of that person's tweets (which you've blocked!) on your blog?!? I don't know why I'm even saying anything about this. You should probably block me for even posting about it. It only matters to me because EVERYONE I met at TAM talked about how "lack of community" was the most difficult part of "losing their faith". It's tough to feel like you're the only one (I know. I felt this way for years). I'm sorry. This post is rife with babble, odd punctuation, and likely typos. It's the only time I'm going to post about any of this. I really do understand blocking/deleting/unfollowing me for it. I hope you don't. Ok...I got it out of my system. I hope some small piece of it made sense.

A Skeptical Look at Pseudoneuroscience

One of the best books I've read lately is "Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me)" written by Carol Tavris (along with Elliot Aronson). The subtitle of the book is, "Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts". I was hoping that Carol would be at TAM this year so I would have a chance to tell her how much I enjoyed it, but she was not. Fortunately, the JREF not only puts on a truly AMAZING meeting, they also post videos of all the great talks that take place there. Here's a talk that Carol Tavris gave at TAM 2012, titled "A Skeptical Look at Pseudoneuroscience"(definitely worth a watch):

 

I just wanted to include quickly a quote by Lenny Bruce that Tavris shared in her great book. The following was said by Bruce after watching the Presidential Debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960:

 

I would be with a bunch of Kennedy fans watching the debate and their comment would be, “He’s really slaughtering Nixon.” Then we would all go to another apartment, and the Nixon fans would say, “How do you like the shellacking he gave Kennedy?” And then I realized that each group loved their candidate so that a guy would have to be this blatant – he would have to look into the camera and say: “I am a thief, a crook, do you hear me, I am the worst choice you could ever make for the Presidency!” And even then his following would say, “Now there’s an honest man for you. It takes a big guy to admit that. There’s the kind of guy we need for President.”

 

Pretty great, huh?

How Great is Kyle Hill?

I've been a big fan of science writer and JREF Research Fellow Kyle Hill for awhile now. I first discovered his writing at his blog "Science Based Life", but he now writes a blog at Scientific American (Overthinking It) as well. His writing has been featured in Pop Sci, WIRED, the JREF Swift blog, and Slate. Basically, you can find him anywhere they are willing to talk science. You'll even find him popping up in places that you don't normally associate with science. Fox News, for example. Here's a video of him on Fox and Friends talking about the Kopp-Etchells Effect.

I was fortunate enough to meet Kyle at TAM. I attended a workshop he gave with Barbara Drescher titled, "How Rational Are You?". Also, Kyle and Sara Mayhew recorded a GREAT episode of Skeptically Yours. The episode also featured John Whiteside (affectionally dubbed John the Super Atheist by Penn Jillette). John founded the United Church of Bacon and is a member of the MRFF (Military Religious Freedom Foundation) Advisory Board. I'll post a link to the podcast once it's available. 

Ardent Atheist - Episode 115

Here's the link to the episode of Ardent Atheist that I was a guest on. Oh yeah...Paul Provenza and Father Guido Sarducci were on it, also. (This is a really short and lazy blog post. Whatever. You're not paying for this. Fuck you!)

 

 

If you like what you hear during the free portion, sign up for a premium subscription and listen to the whole damn thing! It's only $10 a year. That's cheap! Go here now.