Pen & Teller

[B5Maniac]

http://www.videosift.com/story.php?id=20111

Check it out. I never actually realized Reboo & Zooty from Babylon5 were actually comedians. Funny stuff

[Karachi Vyce]

http://www.videosift.com/story.php?id=20111

Check it out. I never actually realized Reboo & Zooty from Babylon5 were actually comedians. Funny stuff

Bullshit is a pretty solid show. They're not unbiased themselves, but it is very entertaining to see them take certain "progressive" groups / ideologies and politically correct schools of thought and just trash them.

Like the PETA episode. In my book, no one can shit on PETA enough.

[B5_Obsessed]

http://www.videosift.com/story.php?id=20111

Check it out. I never actually realized Reboo & Zooty from Babylon5 were actually comedians. Funny stuff

FYI: They're first and foremost magicians, and have been for probably 20 years. It's guerilla magic, in the same vein as the Amazing Jonathan, with lots of comedy sprinkled in. Penn Gillette is also very outspoken on political and sociological subjects (Teller is not ), so I'm sure this was the basis for Bullshit (I've never seen it).

[SmileOfTheShadow]

FYI: They're first and foremost magicians, and have been for probably 20 years. It's guerilla magic, in the same vein as the Amazing Jonathan, with lots of comedy sprinkled in. Penn Gillette is also very outspoken on political and sociological subjects (Teller is not ), so I'm sure this was the basis for Bullshit (I've never seen it).

Zoot Zoot!!!

[Capt.Montoya]

Bullshit is not only incredibly entertaining but very well produced, amusing and sometimes even educational.

I love how they take on lots of... well... BULLSHIT!

Because the world is full of BS, and sometimes calling a spade a spade, even if vicariously, is deeply satisfying.

BTW, I also loved the PETA episode. The one about conspiracy theories was great too.

Great show.

[AmyG]

I used to really love Penn and Teller...that is, until "Penn & Teller's Bullshit!" I'm all for calling a spade a spade, but I felt they were a little hard on the guy in the secondhand smoke episode, when frankly, I don't know that their scientific evidence was any better than the people who are anti-secondhand smoke. Also, I did not like Penn's stunt of manufacturing tiny, metal versions of the Bill of Rights for people to carry through airport security, in order to cause them to be stopped and (presumably, attempted to be) searched. We have enough crap to deal with at airports, we don't need to be further slowed down by devotees of Penn's ³ber-libertarian antics.

[Dr Maturin]

I may not agree Penn Jillette on everything, but I'll be shitted if he doesn't try to be fair on everything.

[Karachi Vyce]

He is very libertarian. I'm not, so some of the stuff he does I don't agree with. And yes, he (and Teller I suppose by default) has his own biases. However, I think that his being a libertarian is, in the end, a plus, because it does allow him to just go after everyone. Sometimes that means taking on more conservative schools of thought, such as creationism / intelligent design, or tackling the Bible, or "family values"......but sometimes it means taking on liberal schools of thought, such as the secondhand smoke episode, or global warming / "environmental histeria", or gun control. You really don't have too many other people out there willing to do that (except maybe Matt & Trey of South Park, who will gleefully shit on EVERYONE). Far too often with the media these days it's just one wet, sloppy blowjob of "progressive" philosophies after another.

[Harrdy]

I *like* the show. I mean, yes, I was swallowing some bile when they made this "ecological bullsh*t" episode, but the reasoning they gave was open, while the greens where just... stupid. It hurt, I thought: But there are good reasons for the green approach... but none of the persons was in ANY way able to tell ONE of them. They where the "followers", who think it "cool to be green". To be honest, I think they exist in EVERY political movement, but I was blending them away, until that moment. So yes, I think their show is an eye-opener. I don't agree with every argument they bring forward, but I *really* appreciate their "open for opinions" style.

And come on, the episode with the snails on the face was just hilarious! To what lengths people will go just to be "better". The "sex, sex, sex" episode was kinda the same direction. People living of the low self esteem of poor Mr. and Ms. "Everybody". Got me thinking that we tend to look *to much* to other people for directions and try to use our impaired knowledge to "enhance" ourselfes. Does a bigger/longer wang make me a more attractive person? Maybe it isn't the size but the love that counts. Ok, enough hippie crap from a post 68 guy 8-)


AmyG: We have enough crap to deal with at airports, we don't need to be further slowed down by devotees of Penn's ³ber-libertarian antics.

Well, wasn't it one of your great man who said: "The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either". (Benjamin Franklin)

[AmyG]

AmyG: We have enough crap to deal with at airports, we don't need to be further slowed down by devotees of Penn's ³ber-libertarian antics.

Well, wasn't it one of your great man who said: "The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either". (Benjamin Franklin)

What I said, as far as I can tell, isn't in conflict with Franklin's statement. I'm not saying I agree with the way airport security is currently being handled, I think the Patriot Act should go, and I strongly decry the recent loss of habeas corpus here. But how does causing airport security to slow down to handle a spurious alarm -- and this is with the ordinary metal detector that airports have been using for decades, not any new search technology -- make a statement about that? It doesn't. It just annoys ordinary people, people for whom an airline ticket is a significant expense (i.e. not successful television personalities like Penn), who are trying to get somewhere on time. Maybe for a job interview, maybe for a family funeral. How would you feel you missed your plane because of someone pulling that stunt?

[Karachi Vyce]

More importantly......it's just a BAD joke. Seriously, I know it's probably more of a political protest than comedy, but still. It utterly FAILS as comedy. I would probably get a bigger laugh if someone were to try it and then get tasered by airport security.

I think the Patriot Act should go, and I strongly decry the recent loss of habeas corpus here.

Oh, I didn't realize you were an alien (non-U.S. citizen) terrorist.

Because if you really aren't one, your habeas corpus rights are still safe. People who claim that habeas corpus is dead know absolute jack-shit about the real legal effect of the Hamdan decision or the Military Commissions Act, and instead just spew a lot of bullshit (frequently liberal) rhetoric about the issue. U.S. citizens are safe. Bottom line, if you're a non-citizen, and you commit an act of terrorism against the U.S., you're fucked. As you should be.

[David Panzer]

While I don't have Showtime, thanks to Google Video and Youtube, I've seen some of the episodes. I enjoy them greatly. I've been a skeptic since birth and a cynic since I was 11. It's perfect for me.