chin-wag: to have a chat, a friendly conversation.
Actor Paul Giamatti and Stephen Asma, author and philosopher, join forces for a freewheeling series of conversations that dive deep (like, really, really deep) into the wilderness of the mind.
Featuring prominent guests from diverse fields, Chinwag is esoteric in the best way possible, as Paul and Stephen delve into anything and everything: Are we living in a simulation? What’s the most perfect sentence in literature? Is Bigfoot interdimensional? Science, the occult, philosophy, magic mushrooms… it’s all fair game!
Unexpected, hilarious, and maybe even profound — Chinwag is all about having a really, really good chat.
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The podcast Paul Giamatti’s CHINWAG with Stephen Asma is created by Treefort Media & Touchy Feely Films. The podcast and the artwork on this page are embedded on this page using the public podcast feed (RSS).
🧜♂️👻👹
Paul and Stephen hit Town Hall in Seattle for a wild audience Q&A. Paul’s crowned King of Neptune, a Brooklynite gets deep with hardcore Buddhist philosophy, and Bigfoot? He’s back—and Stephen’s sure he’s still out there, buried somewhere. Fans fire off questions about ghosts, cryptids, mermaids, and Guillermo del Toro…
Later, Stephen drops a demon-hunting masterclass in Office Hours, featuring St. Anthony, St. Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and Heinrich Kramer, the Inquisitor.
Buckle up, Waggers—this one’s a ride!
Paul Giamatti is a Golden Globe award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
🧜♂️👻👹
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🧜🦕🦇
Live from Town Hall Seattle, Paul and Stephen venture into the Pacific Northwest’s strangest and creepiest cryptids. What’s the deal with Batsquatch, the massive winged terror spotted near Mount Rainier? Or the Gumbaroo, a rubbery bear-like creature rumored to explode during forest fires? They also unearth the legend of the dog-headed saint—how does it stack up on the ultimate creepiness test? And let’s not forget "Caddy," the mysterious sea serpent lurking in Puget Sound. Packed with weird tales, sharp insights, and a dash of humor, this episode is a thrilling exploration of the eerie unknown.
Paul Giamatti is a Golden Globe award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
🧜🦕🦇
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🎆🎆🎆
To ring in the New Year, we’re celebrating with a special encore featuring Natasha Lyonne, where the conversation takes a wonderfully strange and quantum-tinged turn. Paul and Stephen read a letter from a very interesting Wagger before they follow Natasha around her home, feed Rootbeer the dog, and uncover her unusual bedtime habit: falling asleep to quantum physics audiobooks. Hear why discipline and restraint and the structure of mathematics is grounding and leads to talk of Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, and Peter Sellers.
Paul quotes French writer Gustave Flaubert and kills the vibe, and this is before he reveals his desire to try cat food. Natasha’s man of choice is a doomsday prepper and there’s a crisis in American masculinity (ask yourself men, can you fix a toilet?) Next they go deep into body horror films, and Natasha goes down a Google search rabbit hole about the movie Slither (not a Cronenberg picture). Existentialism is definitively defined (thanks Stephen!), Russian Doll is unpacked, along with Kierkegard, Ted Chiang, and Albert Camus. That’s a LOT - thanks Natasha! And have a happy New Year!
Natasha Lyonne, an actress, writer, and producer, is best known for her roles in Poker Face, Orange Is the New Black and the acclaimed Russian Doll, which she co-created and stars in.
Paul Giamatti is a Golden Globe award winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
🎆🎆🎆
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🥳🎁🎄
This holiday season, we’re looking back at one of our favorite guests of 2024, with an encore incomparable Paul Rudd recorded live from Brooklyn! Two Pauls and one Stephen dive into fears, phobias, and weird childhood memories, exploring everything from stage fright to public speaking. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Chinwag without creepy puppets, recurring nightmares, and tales of real-life bears on a movie set. Ring in the joy, laughs, and a touch of weirdness—perfect for the holiday season!
Paul Rudd is an American actor known for films like Clueless, Anchorman, and his role as Ant-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Paul Giamatti is a Golden Globe award winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
🥳🎁🎄
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🐰👣😱
Paul and Stephen welcome back Ian Simmons from the Fortean Times for another dive into the eccentric, the uncanny, and the downright bizarre. In this episode, the trio explores everything from conspiracy theories’ transformation from quirky fun to dangerous obsession, to the KLF’s wild antics, including burning a million pounds and wielding fake machine guns.
They also venture into giant rabbit sightings, Taylor Swift’s rumored occult connections, and the enduring weirdness of Aleister Crowley’s alleged descendants. They dive deep into the mysteries behind Havana Syndrome and explore the strange intersections of social panics, urban legends, and technological anomalies. From phantom jetpack sightings and the eerie behavior of drones near military sites, they weave through bizarre contemporary events with the precision of conspiracy theorists—minus the paranoia.
It’s a freewheeling Chinwag filled with folklore, conspiracies, and questions best left unanswered. Wag on, weirdos!
Ian Simmons is the News Editor of Fortean Times, the world's leading magazine for weird news. He has written for Fortean for over 30 years.
Paul Giamatti is a Golden Globe award winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
🐰👣😱
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🤖🎞️🧬
Transcend into Office Hours with Professor Asma as he breaks down the consciousness of artificial intelligence through the lens of iconic films. He examines how movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Ex Machina, and After Yang tackle the question of whether AI can truly possess consciousness—or even the will to exist—delving into emotions, desires, and memory.
Do you need language to be conscious? Could we one day upload our consciousness to the internet? These questions and more are explored in this thought-provoking dive into the intersection of cinema, philosophy, and the science of artificial intelligence.
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
🤖🎞️🧬
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📺🤖🧐
We’re dipping into the Wagbag as Paul and Stephen kick off a fascinating journey into the Twilight Zone, sparked by a letter from Christopher! Join the lads as they share their favorite episodes like “Time Enough at Last,” “To Serve Man,” and “The Eye of the Beholder,” and celebrate the genius of Rod Serling. The conversation broadens to explore early Hollywood television, highlighting Serling's cultural impact through works like Requiem for a Heavyweight and Planet of the Apes. This is classic Chinwag: part Hollywood history, part existential rabbit hole, all fascinating.
Plus, Paul reminisces about his early days in soap operas: why are they called that, anyway? And what made Dark Shadows such a cult gem? With a dash of TV oddities—from Ed Wood to the rise of reality shows—this segment is a smorgasbord of nostalgia, oddball trivia, and quirky asides.
Then, we’re stepping into Office Hours with the professor, where he unpacks the daunting question: are we living in a simulation? Can AI, alien civilizations, or an evil genius be behind the game we call life? And even if we are in a simulation, does that strip away meaning—or open new ways to find it? Tune in for an eye-opening journey through philosophy, science fiction, and the unexpected twists of reality.
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
📺🤖🧐
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🦃🎞️⏳
As we approach Thanksgiving, we're revisiting one of our favorite conversations with the legendary Tom Hanks. Paul, Stephen, and Tom discuss the speed of information, ChatGPT, cognitive dissonance in AI, and even question the use of Waze to beat traffic. How have our memories changed since the advent of cell phones? Are acting skills useful when it comes to writing a book?
Plus, Tom still recalls his Bosom Buddies co-star Peter Scolari’s lines from 1980 and shares a baseball/acting analogy that puts it all in perspective. Why are time travel fantasies the perfect escape, and where does Tom dream of going? What’s the logic of time travel, and what would be better: going back to the past or moving forward into the future?
Tom shares cautionary food for thought from Thornton Wilder and Charlton Heston, along with lessons gleaned from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes. Also, what are the rules of infidelity in time travel, and has there ever been a true golden age? Tom explains what it means to be a “presentist,” why he’s a bit of a skeptic, and joins the guys in exploring whether or not human nature has really changed over time.
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Tom Hanks is a 2-time Academy Award winning actor, writer and author. His novel The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece is a New York Times Best Seller. His charitable coffee line, Hanx: For Our Troops, can be found at givehanx.com or on instagram @givehanx. All profits go to those who serve, and their families.
🦃🎞️⏳
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🤖🔭😱
Join Paul and Stephen for a double feature that kicks off with a captivating letter from Bree, who’s asking a question that takes us back in time: What happened to the Neanderthals? Were they victims of cannibalism, or was it something else entirely?
Then, as a bonus, they continue their mind-expanding conversation with Harvard astrophysicist Dr. Avi Loeb! Together, they dig into how artificial intelligence is reshaping our approach to the universe and the mysteries of the cosmos. Dr. Loeb explains how AI and machine learning are transforming astronomical research and even hints at the ethical and philosophical challenges AI might soon bring to light. From ancient mysteries to futuristic marvels, this episode is a journey through time, space, and thought that you won’t want to miss!
Paul Giamatti is a Golden Globe award winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. Avi Loeb is a renowned astrophysicist and author of the groundbreaking books Extraterrestrial and Interstellar, exploring the scientific search for alien life. He is a Professor of Science at Harvard University, founding director of The Black Hole Initiative and has published over 700 research articles.
🤖🔭😱
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🌌☄️☠️
In this third and final installment, Paul reads aloud the eerie saga of The Colour Out of Space, one of his favorite stories from the master of cosmic horror, H.P. Lovecraft.
So far in our reading, we felt the creeping dread as the Gardner farm transformed under the influence of a sinister meteorite. Strange colors, twisted vegetation, and a growing sense of madness gripped Nahum Gardner and his family. But the worst is yet to come. In Part Three, the horrors deepen. A member of the Gardner family vanishes without a trace, and what Ammi Pierce discovers will leave you questioning reality itself.
What unspeakable secrets lie in the well? What force drives the cursed light spreading through the trees? As Ammi Pierce faces the final horrors of the Blasted Heath, prepare for a chilling conclusion that will haunt you long after the episode ends. What is lurking in that ancient well... and will anyone escape its grasp? Tune in for the epic finale of The Color Out of Space. You won't want to miss it.
Paul Giamatti is a Golden Globe award winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
🌌☄️☠️
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🌌☄️☠️
In this second of three hair-raising installments, Paul continues reading the eerie saga of The Colour Out of Space, one of his favorite stories from the master of cosmic horror, H.P. Lovecraft.
As we return to the shadowed countryside west of Arkham, the strange events at the Blasted Heath intensify. Following the meteorite crash on Nahum Gardner's farm, unnatural transformations have begun to infect the land, twisting the environment in terrifying ways. The creeping dread grows as Paul’s captivating performance pulls you deeper into the unsettling mystery—revealing horrors that defy explanation and bend the very laws of nature. Tune in as the chilling story unfolds, and brace yourself for what lies ahead!
Paul Giamatti is a Golden Globe award winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
🌌☄️☠️
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🌌☄️☠️
In this first of three spine-tingling installments, Paul reads aloud the eerie saga of The Colour Out of Space, one of his favorite stories from the master of cosmic horror, H.P. Lovecraft.
Set in the remote, shadowed countryside west of Arkham, the story takes us to the desolate Blasted Heath, where strange things have begun to take root. After a mysterious meteorite crashes on Nahum Gardner's farm, unnatural transformations spread across the land, and the creeping dread of the Heath deepens. With Paul's fantastic performance bringing the chilling atmosphere to life, this episode is one you won’t want to miss—tune in as the mystery unravels, revealing horrors that defy explanation and bend the very laws of nature.
Paul Giamatti is a Golden Globe award winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
🌌☄️☠️
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👽🤖👀
Get ready for a mind-bending special episode of Chinwag, where Paul Giamatti and Steven Asma dive deep into the future and the search for alien life with Harvard astrophysicist Dr. Avi Loeb!
But that's not all—Dr. Loeb also takes us on a cosmic journey through his cutting-edge research on interstellar objects and alien space trash. Could we be on the verge of discovering ancient tech from another civilization? Is a "first contact" with extraterrestrial life closer than we think?
It’s a thought-provoking mix of aliens and imagination, sprinkled with humor and wild ideas about our future. Don’t miss this exciting chat that could change how you think about science, technology, and our place in the cosmos!
Paul Giamatti is a Golden Globe award winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Avi Loeb is a renowned astrophysicist and author of the groundbreaking books Extraterrestrial and Interstellar, exploring the scientific search for alien life. He is a Professor of Science at Harvard University, founding director of The Black Hole Initiative and has published over 700 research articles.
👽🤖👀
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🧙♀️🐈⬛🧪
What kind of mischief were the Windsor witches into? Were they shapeshifters? And what’s the deal with black cats? Professor Asma dives into the infamous stories of witchcraft and witch trials, exploring the dark, mysterious history behind them.
The Professor sheds light on the use of Voodoo dolls within witchcraft, while also breaking down real-world, practical theories about the Salem Witch Trials—could lead poisoning have driven some of the hysteria?
Plus, we tackle the big questions: Why do witch scares keep surfacing? Why are witches such easy scapegoats throughout history? Come by for a spellbinding discussion, and get ready to be bewitched!
Paul Giamatti is a Golden Globe award winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
🧙♀️🐈⬛🧪
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🪄🪄🪄
Recorded live at Spotify Studios: get ready for a spellbinding adventure as Paul and Stephen dive into the mystical world of alchemy and black magic with Lodge 49 creator Jim Gavin! Ever heard of the shadowy figure Comenius or the immortal legends of like Joan of Arc and Saint Germain?
Well, buckle up because we’re throwing in scorpios, the mysterious Voynich Manuscript, and, of course, a dash of sexy black magic. And what’s trending among the youngins? It might just be Wiccan Paganism making an epic comeback!
History, mystery, and a splash of imagination collide as you’ll be left wondering: who really was Fulcanelli? Tune in for the answers!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
🪄🪄🪄
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🧙♂️✨👺
Join Paul and Stephen on a wild ride through forgotten lore, secret societies, and the mystical world of alchemy recorded live at Spotify Studios in Los Angeles! Our hosts join forces with special guest Jim Gavin, creator of Lodge 49 and novelist extraordinaire. The trio unravels the hidden links between the Masons and the Templars, delving into their evolution from Europe’s first bankers to whispered accusations of witchcraft and Satanism.
But that’s just the beginning! Jim sheds light on the two faces of alchemy—philosophical and chemical—guiding us through the quest for the legendary Philosopher’s Stone. Plus, meet Paracelsus, the eccentric Swiss wanderer who swapped cow dung for cleanliness in medicine and became a pioneer of modern hygiene.
And if you think that’s wild, wait until you hear about the bizarre first step to creating life—using petrified sperm, a gourd, and a horse’s womb to make a homunculus! Curious? You should be.
Chin-Word of the Week: ROSICRUCIANISM
Paul Giamatti is a Golden Globe award winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
🧙♂️✨👺
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🐲🐲🐲
Join Paul and Stephen for a wild, off-the-rails Q&A session at their live taping in Portland! Brace yourself as they tackle burning questions like: What will future myths look like? What exactly is a eunuch? And which creature made its debut in cave paintings?
Things get Freudian fast—yes, that kind of Freudian—and just when you think it can’t get weirder, the conversation turns to John Mack’s mind-bending book Passport to the Cosmos. Oh, and dragons! Because, obviously, dragons. But wait…is that David Lynch in the audience, or are we all just collectively hallucinating?
Hold onto your seats, because this Q&A is about to go sideways!
Paul Giamatti is a Golden Globe award winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
🐲🐲🐲
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👿👿👿
Recorded live from Portland’s Revolution Hall, Paul and Stephen are back with part two of their deep dive into myth and mayhem!
This time, they unravel the wild legend of the Minotaur. Starting on the ancient Island of Crete, they trace the rise of King Minos, Queen Pasiphae’s bizarre infatuation with a divine bull, and the birth of the fearsome Minotaur, Asterius. You’ll get the full story of how Daedalus crafted the labyrinth to imprison the beast. Later, our hosts chase after other mythical beasts like the Aspidochelone, chat a bit about dragons, and even take a detour into the chilling world of H.H. Holmes and his notorious murder castle.
We’ve got dark myths, strange creatures, and endless intrigue—you won’t want to miss it!
Chin-word of the week: ASPIDOCHELONE
Paul Giamatti is a Golden Globe award winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
👿👿👿
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🦄🪄🦏
Welcome to another thrilling episode of Chinwag recorded live at Portland's Revolution Hall! Today, Paul and Stephen dive into the enchanting world of magical creatures and cryptids. We're talking platypuses, narwhals, and, of course, unicorns!
Paul reveals the unicorn’s ancient roots, the laziness of the chimera…and that unicorn horn was the first Viagra (really!?) And….is the narwhal’s horn really just a tooth growing out of its head?
Join us for this CHINWAG LIVE into the unknown!
Chin-word of the week: BLEMMYES
Paul Giamatti is a Golden Globe award winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
🦄🪄🦏
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☄️🔭👽
Paul and Stephen are joined by illustrious theoretical physicist, Harvard Professor and space detective, Avi Loeb. And if you think you know his POV already, you may be surprised! Get ready for a cosmic journey as Professor Loeb shares his insights on the mysteries of the universe and the search for extraterrestrial life.
Why, pray tell, isn’t Professor Loeb thrilled about eclipses? And are aliens actually more advanced than us? Here’s a thought: if they find us first, they're probably the smarter ones! And later, what’s the deal with the mysterious space object Oumuamua? What could explain an object with no evaporation, gas, or dust around it, seemingly pushed by a mysterious force from another solar system?
All this and a download of Loeb’s books Extraterrestrial and Interstellar. Why does the idea of intelligent life beyond Earth challenge conventional thinking and spark such intense debate in the scientific community? Tune in for a galactic Chinwag that will leave you starstruck!
Chin-word of the week: SPECTROMETER
Paul Giamatti is a Golden Globe award winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Avi Loeb is a renowned astrophysicist and author of the groundbreaking books Extraterrestrial and Interstellar, exploring the scientific search for alien life. He is a Professor of Science at Harvard University, founding director of The Black Hole Initiative and has published over 700 research articles.
☄️🔭👽
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🔪🔪🔪
This week, one of Paul and Stephen’s favorite Chinwags: Killer Psyche podcast host, Candice DeLong. Candice spent two decades in the FBI as a criminal profiler tracking serial killers and working such notorious cases as the Unabomber and the Chicago Tylenol Murders. Paul and Stephen explore the terrifying and tactical world of tracking murderers with Candice and learn that even psychopaths suffer career burnout.
Bonus: learn about predictive behaviors of serial killers (bed-wetting?!), Ted Bundy’s prison romance, and a key negotiating tip that could save your life!
Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer.
Candice DeLong is a former FBI criminal profiler. Listen to her podcast Killer Psyche anywhere you get your podcasts.
And check out Candice’s latest podcast, Natural Selection: Scott v. Wild Bill.
It is the true story of a wealthy American retiree framed for multiple murders in the tropical expat hideaway of Bocas Del Toro, Panama. His accuser? A fugitive con man turned serial killer named William “Wild Bill” Holbert. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
🔪🔪🔪
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🛸🛸🛸
Paul and Stephen are joined by intrepid investigative journalist Leslie Kean — the very journalist who broke the groundbreaking 2017 UFO story to The New York Times and introduced the world to the Pentagon’s UFO videos. Leslie unveils the intriguing story of Luis Elizondo, the former head of the Pentagon program responsible for the investigation of UFOs—now known as Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP).
Elizondo released groundbreaking videotapes of pilots' first-hand encounters with UFOs, including the white “Tic Tac” shaped unidentified flying object the public often sees alongside news stories of UFOs. Leslie recounts how Elizondo actually found documentation from the 1940s and 50s that describe the same Tic-Tac shaped objects, and discusses the existence of underwater submerged objects, adding a whole new depth to the UFO narrative. And did you know that official, legislated language has expanded to include sightings of this broader phenomena? Then, Jacques Vallee’s and Carl Jung’s perspective on extraterrestrials, and does anyone think these are literally aliens or another unexplained psychological phenomenon? Famed UFO expert Budd Hopkins and Harvard Psychiatrist John Mack get their due, and where does Leslie stand on alien abduction phenomena?
Later, the trio dive into accounts from individuals who claim to have had extraterrestrial experiences. Is whistleblower David Grusch more reliable than Bob Lazar? And what motivated the Department of Defense to create the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO)?
Tune in to this thrilling Chinwag with Leslie Kean and dive into the ocean of UAPs and soar high into the cosmos of possibilities!
Chin-word of the Week: ANOMALOUS
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Leslie Kean is an investigative journalist who co-authored a series of groundbreaking stories on UFOs for The New York Times from 2017 to 2022. She is the author of two books: UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record and Surviving Death: A Journalist Investigates Evidence For An Afterlife which was turned into a Netflix docuseries.
🛸🛸🛸
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🐺🐺🐺
Under the shadow of the full moon at the Boston Armory, Paul and Stephen tackle beastly audience questions in this live recording of Chinwag.
Ever wondered why cats are such mysterious predators, or if Bela Lugosi really donned werewolf fur? The conversation shifts to popular culture’s take on werewolves, the impact of Twilight on werewolf culture, and Paul's musings on whether his role in The Holdovers is a reverse werewolf. And which of Paul’s roles stands as his all-time favorite?
Later, Paul and Stephen dive into national park disappearances and bizarre phenomena like feet washing up on the shore. Check for the full moon and stash your silver bullets because this is an episode you’ll want to sink your teeth into.
Paul Giamatti is a Golden Globe award winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
🐺🐺🐺
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🐺🌖🐺
Recorded live at the historic Boston Armory, join hosts Paul and Stephen for a thrilling conversation on werewolves, from ancient myths to modern interpretations. Go back in time to break down the great werewolves of the past: Jan Thys of Livonia, Peter Stump, and of course…the Beast of Gévaudan, a mysterious creature in 18th-century France.
Later, Paul and Stephen dive into were-hyenas, were-crocodiles, and a man who thinks he transformed into a buffalo! And of course, it wouldn’t be a Chinwag without getting a little philosophical! Are werewolves just an allegory for puberty? For addiction?
Find out in this special live edition of the Chinwag!
Chin-Word of the Week: LYCANTHROPY
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer, and the self-proclaimed Emperor of Neptune. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. He also is the acting Minister of Triton for the Chinwag.
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🧿🧿🧿
More Chinwag with DEVO’S co-founder, and author of the beautiful new book “Apotropaic Beatnik Graffiti”, Mark Mothersbaugh. Mark shares his earliest memory of AI which happened to involve Timothy Leary’s AI therapist! Then, DEVO’s frontman takes us back to a memorable church trip when he hears people speaking in tongues. And what’s all that got to do with The Flintstones?
What’s the importance of collecting stuff, and how does it contribute to AI? Also, a discussion on the significance and symbolism of the evil eye, which is the most reliable and important sense, and Mark’s incredible personal mail art collection. Paul reveals his recurring dreams while Mark wraps up this Chinwag with a wild tale of a 12-movie acid trip. Get on board!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer, and the self-proclaimed Emperor of Neptune. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. He also is the acting Minister of Triton for the Chinwag.
Mark Mothersbaugh is an artist, composer, and co-founder of the influential rock group DEVO. His latest art book titled “Apotropaic Beatnik Graffiti” is a collection of neo-dada streams of conscious visual poetry.
Note: Headshot for this week's cover art is courtesy of Brent Broza 📸
🧿🧿🧿
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🤖🖼🎸
This Chinwag welcomes Mark Mothersbaugh, DEVO’s co-founder and author of the fascinating new book “Apotropaic Beatnik Graffiti.”
Come along and reminisce about DEVO’s first live appearance on SNL, thanks to the legendary Blues Brothers, Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. Mark is tickled to learn Paul and Stephen were spooked by DEVO as kids, and Mark explains why he thought rock ‘n’ roll was dead by 1964. Then, the art movements that inspired DEVO, and Mark shares a pivotal moment during the Kent State protests that gives a heartfelt glimpse into DEVO’s roots.
So what is it about DEVO’s unique flair that sets them apart? And is that really Mark as the art teacher on Yo Gabba Gabba!? Things get deep as Mark talks devolution, science vs. religion, early Homo sapien artifacts, and the eerie reasons behind holes in ancient skulls. The conversation then shifts to AI and we’re off to the Chinwag races!
Chin-word of the Week: APOTROPAIC
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer, and the self-proclaimed Emperor of Neptune. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. He also is the acting Minister of Triton for the Chinwag.
Mark Mothersbaugh is an artist, composer, and co-founder of the influential rock group DEVO. His latest art book titled “Apotropaic Beatnik Graffiti” is a collection of neo-dada streams of conscious visual poetry.
Note: Headshot for this week's cover art is courtesy of Brent Broza 📸
🤖🖼🎸
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🦾🐕🦺🦻🏼
On this riveting Chinwag, Paul and Stephen speak to Riva Lehrer, an award-winning artist, writer, and curator with an unconventional approach to portraiture.
Together they explore the nuances of living with a disability, stigma, defining beauty, and the complexities of human interactions. Riva shares the importance of representation and the burden of standing out in a world that often overlooks diversity. Talk then turns to “inspiration porn”, reclaiming narratives, and an overview of what language is pejorative when discussing the disabled population.
In true Chinwag fashion, the conversation moves to Frankenstein, and Riva’s connection with Mary Shelley's monster and the concept of the golem, a protective creature made from clay. And of course, stay tuned for an incredible ghost story from Riva’s haunted school-hood days. We’re Chinwaggin’ over here!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer, and the self-proclaimed Emperor of Neptune. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. He also is the acting Minister of Triton for the Chinwag.
Riva Lehrer is an award-winning artist, writer and curator who focuses on the socially challenged body. She is the author of the memoir Golem Girl, and her work has been featured at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, Yale University, and The United Nations. For more information, visit rivalehrerart.com.
🦾🐕🦺🦻🏼
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📰🛸🕵🏼♀️
Fortean Times has been bringing weirdness into people’s lives for over 50 years and Paul’s been reading its pages since he was a mere Chin-cub. Now join Paul and Stephen as they meet the man behind the mag, esteemed News Editor, Ian Simmons.
What follows is a mind-bending exploration of the weird and wonderful including a colorful sketch of the life and work of Charles Fort—a guiding spirit of this humble Chinwag podcast. Fort, known for his unique style of collecting and presenting ‘damned data,’ delved into phenomena excluded by mainstream science. Hear Fort’s own words about outcast phenomena and delve into the positivism movement and notable figures like Ken Campbell.
How has a narrow view of science shaped our understanding of the unexplained? Will mysterious occurrences like rains of blood, fish, and frogs ever find a place under the umbrella of respectable sciences? Ball lightning and cryptids also get their time in the sun, as do vomiting pelicans, Bigfoot’s petrified poop, and more and more obscure poltergeist outbreaks. And don’t miss Gef—the talking mongoose—a particular favorite of Paul’s! Plus, we explore Fort’s connection to Jacques Vallee and bizarre outbreaks like the Goblins in Zimbabwe. This Chinwag explores the delicate balance between skepticism and belief, the joy and complexity of embracing strangeness, and all from a Fortean point of view!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer, and the self-proclaimed Emperor of Neptune. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. He also is the acting Minister of Triton for the Chinwag.
Ian Simmons is the News Editor of Fortean Times, the world's leading magazine for weird news. He has written for Fortean for over 30 years.
📰🛸🕵🏼♀️
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👨🏼🏫🍏🕰️
The Professor is in for Chinwag Office Hours! Professor Stephen Asma offers his rarefied time and detours into more of the unusual topics you crave.
This week on Office Hours, Stephen drops his knowledge on the Mothman and the psychology of creepiness. What is the purpose of creepy feelings and eerie sensations? Are they interdimensional beings of energy that exist to warn and protect us? Hear the first sightings of the Mothman, classic stories of Mothman, and question whether this legend is a cryptid or a demon or something else entirely?
Maybe it’s really a creature developed in human imagination, as posited by Fortean author John Keel. And what’s the connection to Jacques Vallee, UFOs and fairies? Are Mothmans just the domain of human thought, products of collective consciousness or ultra terrestrials? Brace yourself for firsthand accounts of Mothman that may make you rethink your skepticism! Or maybe the Mothman is just a Blue Heron…either way, we’re glad you swung by the Chinwag basement for our inaugural Office Hours!
Chin-word of the week: TULPA
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer, and the self-proclaimed Emperor of Neptune. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. He also is the acting Minister of Triton for the Chinwag.
👨🏼🏫🍏🕰️
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🏐🏐🏐
Paul Giamatti and Stephen Asma were delighted to speak with the wonderful Kathryn Hahn in this early Chinwag gem.
They were fascinated by Hahn's deep knowledge of cults, con men, hypnosis, brainwashing dogs, and the power of late night volleyball sessions. Hear about Travis the chimpanzee, radical nuns, lice couches, whether the Popes "Netflix and chill," and that time Paul fought off kidnapping Krishnas in Northern Ireland!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer, and the self-proclaimed Emperor of Neptune. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. He also is the acting Minister of Triton for the Chinwag.
Kathryn Hahn starred in Hulu’s Tiny Beautiful Things and next she’ll reprise her iconic role as Agatha Harkness in the Marvel Disney Plus series Agatha All Along.
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📚🧐🏛
Paul’s been studying up on Western philosophy and has even more burning questions for our exceedingly patient resident expert, Professor Stephen Asma.
Lean in to these bite-sized lessons about rationalists, empiricists and idealists, and Stephen’s explanation of the notoriously difficult to understand German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Then it’s on to romantic thinkers like Arthur Schopenhauer, or as Paul describes him “the pessimist.” Next are key figures in the philosophy of existentialism like Kierkegaard, Jean-Paul Sartre and Nietzsche, and don’t forget that famous nihilist Albert Camus. All that and Martin Heidegger, the they-self, and a discussion of what it means to be authentic in the world.
If you have even a passing curiosity of philosophy, even in the name of dinner party fodder, this is the Chinwag for you. It’s Ask the Philosopher: Part Deux!
Chin-word of the week: PHENOMENOLOGY
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer, and the self-proclaimed Emperor of Neptune. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. He also is the acting Minister of Triton for the Chinwag.
📚🧐🏛
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😊🎙️👽
It’s the audience’s turn to ask Paul, Stephen and the hilarious Bill Hader anything at this Chinwag recorded live from Dynasty Typewriter in L.A., and things go off the rails pretty quick!
If aliens land on Earth, what movie would this trio show them first? Then at the audience’s prodding, hear their favorite alien abduction movies, which cryptids they’d most want to be, and their most common soup order. Is it Split Pea? Tomato? Borscht? You know you want to know! Also the guys meet a surprising number of fans sporting their faces on T-shirts.
Later, Bill and Paul discuss working with legendary makeup artist Rick Baker— and Bill admits he did Men in Black 3 just so he could ask about the transformation scene in An American Werewolf in London. And stick around ‘til the end to uncover the truth: did Ryan Gosling steal Bill’s Elephant Man story?
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer, and the self-proclaimed Emperor of Neptune. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. He also is the acting Minister of Triton for the Chinwag.
Bill Hader is an actor, comedian, writer, producer, and director. He rose to fame on "Saturday Night Live" and co-created and starred in the acclaimed, Emmy Award-winning series "Barry."
😊🎙️👽
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🎬🍿🎞
Recorded live at Dynasty Typewriter in Los Angeles, Paul and Stephen are joined by comedy legend Bill Hader for a night of hilarious and obscure impressions, a rundown of insane B- movies, their shared fear of the school bus, and so much more!
What did Hader overhear director Sam Raimi say walking out of a screening of Cannibal Holocaust? What advice did Arnold Schwarzenegger offer young production associate Bill Hader? You know you’re dying to know - and hear Hader’s uncanny Schwarzenegger impression too!
Then, Paul and Stephen probe Bill’s past, asking the first moment in a film that left an indelible mark - the eerie disappearance of a bus in The Children. Armed with his dad’s camcorder, Bill tells how he unleashed his own version of the cult classic Evil Dead, chasing his sisters and summoning the undead. And when the conversation turns to forgotten classics, Bill conjures the ghost of Shirley Temple, while Paul reveals his dream of starring in Chainsaw Massacre 4. Then it’s on to a dissection of the old studio system—actors plugged into roles, shifting from westerns to bellhops overnight - and a mini-cinema master class on The Wolf Man, Spider Baby, Caligula, The Seventh Victim, and The Beastmaster.
So put your feet up, grab your popcorn, dim the lights, and behold this Chinwag Live that transcends the silver screen!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer, and the self-proclaimed Emperor of Neptune. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. He also is the acting Minister of Triton for the Chinwag.
Bill Hader is an actor, comedian, writer, producer, and director. He rose to fame on "Saturday Night Live" and co-created and starred in the acclaimed, Emmy Award-winning series "Barry."
🎬🍿🎞
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📓✍🏽🛢️
In this captivating Bonus-Wag, hosts Paul and Stephen sit down with investigative historian David Grann for a cerebral exploration.
Grann’s journey began as a journalist with an insatiable passion for storytelling. How did he transition from reporting facts to weaving gripping narratives? Then, imagine a man unfairly sent to death row, despite evidence screaming his innocence. How could prosecutors ignore the truth? Paul, Stephen, and Grann dissect this real-world mystery, questioning justice and human fallibility. Paul asks about Grann’s process and the fragment of a photograph which led him to embark on a five-year odyssey to write Killers of the Flower Moon. Discover how Grann selects stories worth dedicating years of his life to—unearthing truth, layer by layer.
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer, and the self-proclaimed Emperor of Neptune. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. He also is the acting Minister of Triton for the Chinwag.
David Grann is a journalist and author renowned for his investigative work and captivating storytelling. He has written for The New Yorker as well as several acclaimed books, including The Lost City of Z, and Killers of the Flower Moon, which was adapted into a Martin Scorsese’s Oscar nominated film. The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, will also be adapted into a film.
📓✍🏽🛢️
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🌊🏴☠️⚓
Paul and Stephen embark on a deep-sea exploration of maritime history with David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower Moon, The Lost City of Z, and most recently, The Wager. The trio unravel tales of mutinies, scurvy, and the enigmatic allure of failure.
Did you know most seamen couldn’t swim? How were sailors selected or found aboard these vessels? David shares how kidnappings were common too—people snatched and pressed into service aboard these floating wooden death traps. Join Paul, Stephen, and David as they navigate the treacherous waters of history, literature, and human nature. It’s a Chinwag like no other—come aboard!
Chin-word of the week: DICKENSIAN
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer, and the self-proclaimed Emperor of Neptune. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. He also is the acting Minister of Triton for the Chinwag.
David Grann is a journalist and author renowned for his investigative work and captivating storytelling. He has written for The New Yorker as well as several acclaimed books, including The Lost City of Z, and Killers of the Flower Moon, which was adapted into a Martin Scorsese’s Oscar nominated film. The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, will also be adapted into a film.
🌊🏴☠️⚓
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☠️🤝☠️
Join Paul and Stephen for a special bonus episode as they sit down with investigative journalist Leslie Kean. The topic? Spirit hands—ethereal entities that connect the living and the dead.
Leslie describes witnessing famed British spirit medium Stewart Alexander conjuring spirit hands seemingly from nothing – conjuring a black amorphous goo into undead hands. But…these experiences are not just anecdotal. As Leslie explains, the proof lies in the pudding, which, in this case, are hot wax molds that reside in the Institut Métapsychique International in Paris. Did somebody say European vacation?
As the conversation unfolds, Paul, Stephen, and Leslie discuss the resurgence of psychedelic culture and…sensory deprivation tanks.
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer, and the self-proclaimed Emperor of Neptune. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. He also is the acting Minister of Triton for the Chinwag.
Leslie Kean is an investigative journalist who co-authored a series of groundbreaking stories on UFOs for The New York Times from 2017 to 2022. She is the author of two books: UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record and Surviving Death: A Journalist Investigates Evidence For An Afterlife which was turned into a Netflix docuseries.
☠️🤝☠️
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🎺🎺🎺
Open your mind as Paul Giamatti and Stephen Asma talk about accessing the spirit world with investigative journalist Leslie Kean — the very journalist who broke the groundbreaking 2017 UFO story to The New York Times and introduced the world to the Pentagon’s UFO videos.
The trio delve into the esoteric world of ectoplasm and explore its weightlessness, spider-webby texture, and the peculiar sound it emits through spirit trumpets. But the questions don’t stop there. Can spirits possess a man’s vocal cords and speak through him? Leslie shares her firsthand account of witnessing such phenomena, including the levitation of a man and objects in a room.
Join Paul, Stephen, and Leslie on this metaphysical journey where reality crosses into the ethereal!
Chin-word of the week: AMORPHOUS
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Leslie Kean is an investigative journalist who co-authored a series of groundbreaking stories on UFOs for The New York Times from 2017 to 2022. She is the author of two books: UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record and Surviving Death: A Journalist Investigates Evidence For An Afterlife which was turned into a Netflix docuseries.
🎺🎺🎺
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🪐🕰️💫
Paul, Stephen and Chuck Bryant on being a strict materialist, natural evolution, Olaf Stapledon, and more Stuff You Should Know. Plus, Chuck shares a creepy ghost story that challenges his skeptical nature to this day.
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer, and the self-proclaimed Emperor of Neptune. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. He also is the acting Minister of Triton for the Chinwag.
Chuck Bryant is the co-host of the award-winning podcast Stuff You Should Know.
🪐🕰️💫
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☢️☢️☢️
Paul and Stephen are joined by Stuff You Should Know’s Chuck Bryant for a deep wag on lizard people, the importance and impermanence of what we leave behind, the rarity of finding dinosaur bones, nuclear semiotics, and of course, the Silurian Hypothesis.
How do we know advanced civilizations didn’t exist before us and what does that mean for life on other planets? How can we be sure that proof of past civilizations hasn’t decayed without a trace? And why does it even matter if intelligent life was here billions of years ago? What counts as a sign of intelligence and can you build technology without thumbs?
Paul and Stephen are all too happy to not be considered experts, or even factually accurate, but if there’s one podcast future generations discover, THIS is the Wag that could help define our civilization’s legacy. Or not. Get on board Wagoneers!
Chin-word of the week: THE ANTIKYTHERA MECHANISM
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer, and the self-proclaimed Emperor of Neptune. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. He also is the acting Minister of Triton for the Chinwag.
Chuck Bryant is the co-host of the award-winning podcast Stuff You Should Know.
☢️☢️☢️
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📻✋🏼♆
It’s back to the WagBag we go!
This week, Chinwag listener Scott S. writes in with an account of his grandfather’s panic during Orson Welles’s famed 1938 The War of the Worlds broadcast. Paul recalls his own grandfather’s memory of that fateful broadcast, as well as that of the Hindenburg!
Then, Barbara C. writes us with a fascinating tutorial of different types of intuitives. There are so many ways folks deign to read the future, including tarot cards, palms, crystal balls, and yes, penis shapes. And can you guess the most asked question by women to psychics? It might not be what you think!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer, and the self-proclaimed Emperor of Neptune. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. He also is the acting Minister of Triton for the Chinwag.
📻✋🏼♆
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📿📿📿
Paul and Stephen are honored to welcome the esteemed Dr. Khy Sovanratana, dear friend of Dr. Stephen Asma, and former monk in the Theravada tradition in Cambodia. After 34 years as a monk, Dr. Sovanratana removed his robe and left the monastery to become the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Cambodian government.
Many think they know Buddhism, but Paul and Stephen go straight to the source for enlightenment. This in-depth Wag explores Buddhism’s Four Noble Truths, the five different buddhas, the definition of karma, the causes of suffering, Buddhist beliefs in death, reincarnation, souls, spirits, ghosts, the difference between the Buddha and Bodhisattva, and so much more.
What motivates a young man of 17 years old to become a novice Buddhist monk anyway, and what’s a day in the life like? What were the political forces that tried to destroy Buddhism, and how is Dr. Sovanratana using Buddhist teachings in Cambodian diplomacy? If you want to really know the teachings of Buddhism from a master, this Chinwag brings the “bhodi”!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer, and the self-proclaimed Emperor of Neptune. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. He also is the acting Minister of Triton for the Chinwag.
Until recently, Dr. Khy Sovanratana was one of Cambodia’s most senior monks in the Theravada tradition. Currently, Dr. Sovanratana is the Secretary of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Cambodia in the new cabinet of Prime Minister Hun Manet.
📿📿📿
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🤖🌭🏦
Recorded at Spotify Studios...
Elizabeth Banks reflects on her collegiate aspirations to become the next Diane Sawyer, and whether AI could make its own Everything Everywhere All At Once. But…could it replicate the hot dog fingers fight scene?
Among other topics, our hosts and Ms. Banks ponder why so many actors are introverts? And what does checking “I’m Not A Robot” really mean?
You can take this interview to the "Banks"! Tune in, Chinwaggers!
🤖🌭🏦
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❄️🐻👻
Recorded at Spotify Studios... Join Paul and Stephen as they sit down to discuss death and their paranormal encounters with Paul’s Fred Claus co-star Elizabeth Banks.
They discuss what drove Elizabeth to make her 2023 hit film Cocaine Bear, the omen of the white owl on her doorstep, and how they would all like to be buried or in Stephen’s case— shot into space!
Prepare yourself for Elizabeth’s chilling interaction with the ghost of the woman in the black dress, while Paul shares what he found in the creepy attic of his childhood home. What does Stephen think about all these ghost encounters? It may have something to do with the common thread within all the tales— napping!
Chin-word of the week: HYPNAGOGIC
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer, and the self-proclaimed Emperor of Neptune. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. He also is the acting Minister of Chinwag of Triton.
Elizabeth Banks is an American actress, director and producer known for her roles in The Hunger Games and The 40-Year-Old Virgin as well as producing the Pitch Perfect franchise.
❄️🐻👻
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🧀🌝🛰️
Paul and Stephen explore more moon theories…is the moon made of cheese? Might the moon be a spacecraft? Are we all descendants of moon-people? And can someone claim the moon?
All this and H.P. Lovecraft, burgeoning schools of space law, and real estate on the moon (not to mention Pluto!!)
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer, and the self-proclaimed Emperor of Neptune. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. He also is the acting Minister of Chinwag of Triton.
🧀🌝🛰️
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🌒🌒🌒
Ever since they tackled the hollow earth, Paul and Stephen have wanted to talk about weird moon conspiracy theories.
Was the Apollo moon landing faked or was it really a movie set? Why does the American flag appear to be flapping on a windless moon? Where was Neil Armstrong’s camera in that famed picture and what about those eyewitness accounts of Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin playing the slots in Las Vegas? And then there’s filmmaker Stanley Kubrick’s interview with T. Patrick Murray that cast doubt on the whole thing.
Then, Stephen digs into the historical context of the moon and tells of a Syrian named Lucian who imagined a civilization of people on the moon who were at war with folks who lived on the sun! And then the centaurs come in! German astronomer Johannes Kepler and the Copernican view get a mention, ice on the moon, folklore connections from different cultures, legends like the Zulu story of reptilian men bringing the moon to Earth, and yes of course - hollow moon theories are explored.
Chin-term of the week: LUNAR PAREIDOLIA
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
🌒🌒🌒
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⭐️📬🌎
Deep into the Chinwag Mailbag we go!
Caroline writes about an incredible near-death experience that’s left her feeling like a ghost in her own life. Then, how almost dying can alter religious convictions and spiritual reality, DMT, the Bahá’í faith, and Victor Hugo!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
⭐️📬🌎
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⚾️⚾️⚾️
Part 2 of Paul and Stephen’s Chinwag turns to the religion of baseball with writer, comedian and passionate fan, Alex Edelman.
If Paul is gonna talk sports, it’s bound to be about its spiritual pull and ability to expand space and time. They’ll get into all of it: superstition, Mark “the Bird” Fidrych, the legendary Bart Giamatti, George Grella, how “home” is a concept and not a translatable word.
Then, baseball as a pastoral game and touchstone of American roots, and why the sound of baseball’s distinct silence on the radio is akin to a religious experience. Later, NASCAR and its roots in moonshine, hockey, boxing, bullfighting, and why sports today are like Bravo Housewives. All this, and the harrowing story of the time Paul saw The Palio, the legendary horse race in Siena.
Chin-word of the week: SISYPHEAN
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Alex Edelman is a writer and comedian whose acclaimed Broadway one-man show Just For Us is now streaming on HBO Max.
⚾️⚾️⚾️
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💬🛸🩻
We’re diving back into the Chinwag Mailbag!
Billy C. wants to know how Paul would like to see UFOs portrayed in films. Should paranormal encounters be big and fantastical, or what about - no special effects at all? Then, Paul’s got some obscure film recommendations and of course, Betty and Barney Hill, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky make an appearance.
Next, Chip writes in with a story about what happened in the ER after President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. And somehow we’re onto Plato and off to the Chinwag races!
Don’t forget to Wag On!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
💬🛸🩻
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🦈🦈🦈
Paul and Stephen welcome brilliant writer and comedian Alex Edelman for a deep chinwag on spirituality, religion, improvisation, and paranormal leanings.
Listen as they dive right in with why the CIA should use Baby Shark in its interrogation program, the importance and virtue of repetition in the process of joke writing, the Socratic method in comedy, and how AI and Chat GPT will affect the future of humor. The conversation then turns to Romanian religious historian Mircea Eliade and the importance and need for rigor in religion. Then, the disappointing physical location of Armageddon, Jewish belief in an afterlife, why murder is mentioned in the commandments, and Alex’s biggest Judaism pet peeve.
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Alex Edelman is a writer and comedian whose acclaimed Broadway one-man show Just For Us is now streaming on HBO Max.
🦈🦈🦈
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📖🫱🏽🫲🏾👽
We’re diving into the Chinwag Mailbag!
Paul in Australia writes to Paul and Stephen with a topic of biblical proportion! He brings to Chinwag the theory known as Paleocontact, which states that our ancient ancestors experienced contact with other non-terrestrial civilizations. Do ancient texts support the idea that paleocontact goes back to the Bible?
Then, Chinwag listeners have asked, so behold, a peak at Paul and Stephen’s favorite sci-fi novelists. Piers Anthony, Ursula K. Le Guin, Philip K. Dick, Arthur C. Clarke, and so many more! Get waggin’ Waggers!
Chin-word of the week: HERMENEUTICS
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
📖🫱🏽🫲🏾👽
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🐒🐒🐒
Paul and Stephen are thrilled to talk Bigfoot with acclaimed actor Jesse Eisenberg who stars in the fantastic new movie Sasquatch Sunset.
Sasquatch Sunset is an unprecedented look at a year in the life of a family of Sasquatches, as they forage, mate, and hope to find others like them in the forest. What do Sasquatches do in private, and how do our stories and beliefs about Bigfoot relate to the thoughts of our ancestors?
Then, Jesse details the day he spent with the smartest animal in the world, a 43-year-old Bonobo monkey named Kanzi who lives in an ape initiative in Des Moines, Iowa. Evidently, there was plenty of incredible Bonobo behavior on display, including a lot of explicit, quick sex. Then, the physical achievement of capturing the Bigfoot strut, going to Sasquatch boot camp, and learning the “language” (OK, just 10 words). What’s the purpose of wondering about Sasquatch, what does its myth represent to our species, and how does Sasquatch relate to the definition and function of monsters in our society?
Wag on Waggers - there’s prime Chinwag material afoot!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Jesse Eisenberg is a talented actor and writer who’s appeared in such films as The Squid and the Whale, Adventureland, Zombieland, The Social Network, Now You See Me, and Batman V. Superman. His latest movie is the Sundance hit Sasquatch Sunset - go see it!
Note: Headshot for this week's cover art is courtesy of Wikipedia under the (CC) license.
🐒🐒🐒
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🎭👻👯♂️
The origin story of Paul and Justin Theroux’s friendship, formed 30 years ago while messing around backstage and onstage in a depressing Chekhov play.
Justin’s memory is razor sharp and deep, and he shares the moment Paul first experienced fame after his breakout appearance as Pig Vomit in Howard Stern’s Private Parts. Also, theaters are spooky places and Justin reminds Paul of the eerie ghost (with a woman’s enormous bloody head!) that may or may not have found a home in that Chekhov theater.
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Justin Theroux is an actor, producer, director and screenwriter who’ll next be appearing in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the long-awaited sequel to Beetlejuice.
🎭👻👯♂️
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🧘🏻♂️🧘🏻♂️🧘🏻♂️
Paul and Stephen are joined by Paul’s old friend, perpetually youthful actor and screenwriter Justin Theroux.
Learn all you ever wanted to know about the Oakwoods temporary housing in LA from former inhabitants Paul and Justin. Then rattlesnakes in Runyon Canyon, coyotes in Central Park, and how the Lindbergh kidnapping made pitbulls popular and led to Petey the dog on The Little Rascals.
Stephen and Justin reveal a few delicacies they’ve enjoyed overseas, like coffee made from civet cat poop and bird’s nest soup. Then, Justin on living in China, Buddhism, his experience learning meditation from David Lynch, dyslexia, and how breathwork can help prevent forward-thinking anxiety. All that and the question of preserving isolated cultures or introducing them to life-changing medicine and say, Ranch dressing. Dive in! This one reaches peak Chinwaggin’.
Chin-word of the week: PERSEVERATION
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Justin Theroux is an actor, producer, director and screenwriter who’ll next be appearing in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the long-awaited sequel to Beetlejuice.
🧘🏻♂️🧘🏻♂️🧘🏻♂️
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👓🎥🐦
On this Bonus-Wag, Paul and Stephen ask Academy Award-winning director Errol Morris about his ground-breaking invention of the Interrotron camera and how it takes the viewer closer to a documentary subject.
Also, what John le Carré says in Errol Morris’s film The Pigeon Tunnel that makes Stephen wonder if being a spy is similar to being an actor. And what separates a good actor from a bad one? All this and the Errol Morris STFU school of directing!?
Enjoy this week’s Bonus-Wag!
Paul Giamatti is a Golden Globe Award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Errol Morris is an Academy Award-winning filmmaker whose films include Gates of Heaven, The Fog of War, The Thin Blue Line, A Brief History of Time, American Dharma, and many more. He’s also authored two New York Times bestsellers, Believing is Seeing and A Wilderness of Error and his latest documentary, The Pigeon Tunnel about the storied life and career of spy novelist John le Carré is streaming on Apple TV+.
👓🎥🐦
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📽️📽️📽️
Paul and Stephen are excited to meet Academy Award-winning Director and avid book collector Errol Morris.
Stephen’s funky blue lighting and Paul’s floatation tank-talk mark the start of this Chinwag and in just a few short turns, the conversation goes from the idea of the bodhisattva in Buddhism to the weirdness of Florida, in particular Vernon, FL (aka “Nub City”). In typical Waggy fashion, they’re on to a shared reverence for American novelist Harry Crews and a fascination with notorious serial killer Ed Gein (whom Errol actually met and misses!?).
Anyway, Errol Morris talked to Gein about Sigmund Freud and somehow Gein is responsible for Errol’s long and successful marriage. Lots of talk about sociopathy, psychopathy and multiple personalities follows and Paul and Stephen wonder if everything is a sort of a function of imagination and fantasy. Then, why this celebrated documentarian is fed up with the medium, and the flack he caught for doing a film on Steve Bannon. And now of course the big questions - does Errol believe in UFOs, and how does that relate to his first colonoscopy? You know you want to know – it’s all in this close-up Chinwag with Errol Morris!
Bonus: What reality TV series does this legendary filmmaker watch?
Paul Giamatti is a Golden Globe Award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Errol Morris is an Academy Award-winning filmmaker whose films include Gates of Heaven, The Fog of War, The Thin Blue Line, A Brief History of Time, American Dharma, and many more. He’s also authored two New York Times bestsellers, Believing is Seeing and A Wilderness of Error and his latest documentary, The Pigeon Tunnel about the storied life and career of spy novelist John le Carré is streaming on Apple TV+.
📽️📽️📽️
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⚔️🇳🇴🦈
Paul and Stephen talk about Stephen’s trip to Norway and his readings from an 8th Century book of spells found in the floorboards of an old church.
Is Iceland or Norway known for delicacies like rotten shark? They’re not sure, but still not fans (of the shark meals). And listeners out there, do you want to hear Paul and Stephen explore Berserkers? Let us know! Also, if your genetic analysis says you’re part Viking, you’re actually not. Also not part Berserker, but neither here nor there. Stephen explains in this week’s Bonus-Wag!
Chin-word of the week: GRIMOIRE
Paul Giamatti is a Golden Globe Award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
⚔️🇳🇴🦈
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👔👔👔
Paul puts Stephen in the hot seat for Part 1 of this rigorous round of “Ask the Philosopher!”
This is not just your basic Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. You’ll learn the importance of Pythagoras, besides that theorem you learned in grade school (with an obligatory mention of passing gas). Then, hear about the mindf*ck of Zeno’s paradox, famed thinker and nudist Diogenes, all about cynics, roots of empirical thinking, Roman stoicism and Marcus Aurelius, and why prisoners of war like Senator John McCain passed around the stoic text, Enchiridion of Epictetus.
All that plus the news that Epicurean philosophy doesn’t come from a love of great food, infinite regress, Stephen shines a much-needed light on great female philosophers like Hildegard von Bingen, and the intermingling of religion and philosophy in the Western tradition. So grab a cocktail, as Socrates would, and settle into Part 1 of “Ask the Philosopher!”
Bonus: Did you know René Descartes invented the necktie? Stephen didn’t, but Paul’s running with it…
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
👔👔👔
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🎟️🎟️🎟️
New live taping alert!! CHINWAG is coming to Boston on Friday April 19th
Tix on sale ➡ https://chinwagpod.fm/boston
🎟️🎟️🎟️
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🐙💭🪸
Paul and Stephen have a few more questions for resident Octopus expert, author, philosopher and biologist, Professor Peter Godfrey-Smith.
When does consciousness emerge in the evolutionary process and does it exist in every bit of matter - even a grain of sand? Then, do Octopuses have language and what is its function? And controversial questions abound on whether animals dream, the role of memory, and what commonality of sleep phases suggests about our shared evolutionary origins. Dream on Chinwaggers!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Peter Godfrey Smith is a Professor of Biology in the School of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Sydney. He’s also a very accomplished scuba diver and the author of many books including “Metazoa: Animal Life and the Birth of the Mind” and the best-seller “Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness.”
🐙💭🪸
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🎟️🎟️🎟️
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Tix on sale ➡ https://chinwagpod.fm/boston
🎟️🎟️🎟️
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🐙🐙🐙
The Octopus is fascinating and mysterious, and as Paul and Stephen discover, a cephalopod that offers incredible lessons in consciousness, intelligence, awareness and being. The octopus might also be the closest we have to studying the alien mind.
Peter Godfrey-Smith is an author, Professor of Biology, philosopher of science and skilled scuba diver who’s looked right into the eyes of many an octopus, and they’ve observed him back. Listen as Professor Godfrey-Smith explains how the octopus’s unique brain architecture raises questions about the self.
What’s the difference between consciousness and sentience, and does the ability to feel pain change our view of an animal? What about plants? Do sea squirts eat their own brains, and why would they do that? Is there a lights-on moment, or can one be half-conscious (like babies perhaps)? Then, is sentient AI possible, and how important is language to sentience?
On to smart insects like bees and flies, and a discussion of whether brain size is a predictor of intelligence. A lot to unpack here…if you want to know what the octopus can teach us about our own minds, you’re Chinwagging in the right place!
Bonus Chin-Word: PANPSYCHISM
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Peter Godfrey Smith is a Professor of Biology in the School of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Sydney. He’s also a very accomplished scuba diver and the author of many books including “Metazoa: Animal Life and the Birth of the Mind” and the best-seller “Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness.”
🐙🐙🐙
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🎟️🎟️🎟️
New live taping alert!! CHINWAG is coming to Boston on Friday April 19th
Tix on sale ➡ https://chinwagpod.fm/boston
🎟️🎟️🎟️
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📊🔢🧮📐
Paul and Stephen dig into our Chinwag mailbag for this SETI-inspired question (that’s Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence to any novice listeners). The Drake Equation is explained and let’s just say there’s A LOT of math involved.
It’s been 60+ years since last estimates were made on the odds of finding intelligent life in the Milky Way, and Chinwag listener Rick B. wants to know, how long could a civilization broadcast its presence through technology, and what current factors might affect a civilization’s ability to remain detectable? Is there a ticking clock to our existence, and what’s Twinkie-lung got to do with all this?
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
📊🔢🧮📐
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🦑🦑🦑
The sea is deep, but it’s no match for Paul and Stephen’s boundless appetite for aquatic mysteries.
Follow them as they dip into the strange world of three famed squids: The Giant Squid, the Colossal Squid, and the Bigfin Squid (a BigFoot squid, really??). Then, other Unidentified Submerged Objects (USOs) like humboldt squids, giant albino crabs, boat-attacking-squids (!), megamouth sharks, whale sharks, and the myth of a Japanese moon maiden.
And of course, the theory that UFOs originate from the deep blue. Yes, it all goes back to the hollow earth! We only know 2% about the ocean, but after this, perhaps even less!
Bonus: Another story about Paul getting peed on!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
🦑🦑🦑
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Bonus Chin-Word: PANSPERMIA
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📫💭📆
We love our loyal Chinwag listeners and we love your letters! Keep ‘em coming and we may respond to them on the air!
Miss B Havin wrote to Paul and Stephen and shared a message she received in a recurring dream about Paul. Does Paul understand the message therein? What does water represent in a dream, and what’s the least lucky month of the year? Put your ears on this Bonus-Wag and find out!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
📫💭📆
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🔱🔱🔱
Paul and Stephen wade through the deep waters and history of such aquatic mysteries as Atlantis and The Bermuda Triangle.
Listen in as Stephen details Plato’s telling of Atlantis, with all its craven needs, imperialist ambitions and loss of virtue. The weird link between Atlantis and UFO/paranormal activity is legend, but did you know of the lasers in Atlantis and its connection to The Bermuda Triangle? It’s also a thing!
Then Paul introduces Charles Berlitz (yes that Berlitz) who popularized The Bermuda Triangle myth, and the fact that no one actually has the vaguest sense of where the Bermuda Triangle begins or ends! Hear tales of disappearing ships like the USS Cyclops that helped build the mythos of the Bermuda Triangle (and its sister ship that also went missing years later - creepy!). Paul reveals a Speilberg Easter egg, many tales of boats and planes gone missing without a trace, and the unusual case of Donald Crowhurst, amateur sailor.
Are these unexplained occurrences due to human error, magnetic fields, harsh weather, or a hoax? And our new tagline “Chinwag: Bear with Me” is born! Would you buy the t-shirt?? Ahoy! It’s a veritable Chinwag ahead!
Bonus: Paul’s dramatic reading of the 1950s NY Times piece that first mentioned the mysteries surrounding the massive, mysterious swath of land later known as The Bermuda Triangle.
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
🔱🔱🔱
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Bonus Chin-Word: SARGASSUM
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👐🏼✝️👐🏼
Paul and Stephen have a few more questions for the "Long Island Medium," Theresa Caputo.
Listen in to hear how she learned to interpret the messages she receives from departed souls and spirits? How Catholics respond to her abilities, and do demons and negativity in the spirit world get her down? And does she fear losing her gifts? T his bonus is Medium-well! Get it? Dig in Waggers!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
The Long Island Medium Theresa Caputo is on tour. Check out www.TheresaCaputo.com for more information.
👐🏼✝️👐🏼
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🐄🐄🐄
Recorded live from the (possibly haunted) Marines’ Memorial Theatre in San Francisco at Sketchfest 2024 with special guest, comedian, writer, and host of the Beautiful/Anonymous podcast, Chris Gethard.
Chris heard about a lot of brushes with the paranormal during his time at Weird NJ, and he relays one of the spookiest stories imaginable about a band of silent, menacing cows leading the way to a flannel-clad BigFoot lying supine on a mattress. Was there LSD involved? And what’s more terrifying, encounters with man, or the supernatural? You decide Chinwaggers!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Chris Gethard is a comedian, author, actor and host of the Beautiful/Anonymous podcast which was recently adapted into a 4-part series streaming on Topic. He also wrote the book “Weird New York” and hosts the podcast New Jersey is the World, a celebration of his home state. If you want to see Chris live, check out his tour dates on chrisgeth.com.
🐄🐄🐄
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Bonus Chin-Word: ONG'S HAT
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🙋🏻♂️🍕🖋️
Paul, Stephen, and comedian Christ Gethard answer the weirdly awesome questions from our live audience at Sketchfest 2024.
Have you noticed conspiracy theories have gone from “fun” to “crazy”? You have? Perfect segue to Chris’s rumored involvement with Pizzagate and the real reason behind that fake (but really creepy!) satanic ritual on The Chris Gethard Show with Will Ferrell (uh, ratings!?).
Paul fields a doozy of an audience question and sidesteps it masterfully. More Norcal weirdness, Mount Shasta and its one-footprint inhabitants. Then, get to know Stephen better with a story from his sordid high school days (pointillist poison pen!). And a fan’s very close-call with Paul and his weirdest fan encounter involving, what else, a psychic goldfish.
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Chris Gethard is a comedian, author, actor and host of the Beautiful/Anonymous podcast which was recently adapted into a 4-part series streaming on Topic. He also wrote the book “Weird New York” and hosts the podcast New Jersey is the World, a celebration of his home state. If you want to see Chris live, check out his tour dates on chrisgeth.com.
🙋🏻♂️🍕🖋️
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Bonus Chin-Word: SCIAPODS
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🗑️🗑️🗑️
Recorded live from the (possibly haunted) Marines’ Memorial Theatre in San Francisco at Sketchfest 2024 with special guest, comedian, writer, and host of the Beautiful/Anonymous podcast, Chris Gethard.
Is it possible someone doesn’t find Paul charming? Hear the real story behind how Paul ended up in a dumpster on Chris’s public access series, The Chris Gethard Show. Explore more folklore from Virginia (Bunny Man!) and Ohio (yes there are Melonheads in Ohio too!) and the many legends of Northern California’s Mount Shasta and the Lemurians rumored to live within its hollow core.
Then, talk of the I Am Temple church, Alcatraz’s haunted past, and thoughts on why people need to believe in the unknown and unexplained. Also Valiant Thor, Bigfoot, religious impulses and ascended masters. And what’s this all have to do with the Avengers movies?
Finally, it’s what you’ve all been waiting for - Paul on the theremin and Stephen on guitar!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Chris Gethard is a comedian, author, actor and host of the Beautiful/Anonymous podcast which was recently adapted into a 4-part series streaming on Topic. He also wrote the book “Weird New York” and hosts the podcast New Jersey is the World, a celebration of his home state. If you want to see Chris live, check out his tour dates on chrisgeth.com.
🗑️🗑️🗑️
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🧟🪦🧟♀️
Paul and Stephen learn the history of zombies with spiritualism expert Lisa Morton who shares the influence of these phenomena in popular culture, folklore and horror films.
Who brought the idea of zombies to mass awareness and what cultures first wrote about these mythical characters? Also, the impact of Bela Lagosi’s film White Zombie, how it gave way to Voodoo zombies, Sci-Fi zombies, George Romero’s human flesh-eating zombies and Frankenstein. Also why are zombies so popular and what do they suggest we’re really afraid of? All that and yes, vampirism!
BONUS BONUS: In traditional folklore, what do zombies eat to cause them to regain consciousness and rebury themselves? The answer in this Chinwag!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Lisa Morton is a screenwriter, author, 6-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award, and a renowned expert on Halloween and the paranormal. Her recent books include Calling the Spirits: A History of Seances and The Art of the Zombie Movie. She also hosts the weekly podcast “The Ghost Report with Lisa Morton.”
📋 Please help us by completing our Chinwagger Survey 👉🏼 https://gum.fm/chinwag 📋
🧟🪦🧟♀️
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🖤🖤🖤
Welcome Waggers! Come for the ghosts, stay for the vomiting ectoplasm!
Paul and Stephen walk through the myriad ways folks talked to the dead throughout history with spiritualism expert and author Lisa Morton. En route they discuss spirits, mediums, oracles, ouija boards, priming, and rampant charlatanry in the business of ghost-hunting.
Hear ghostly experiences from the legendary Stanley Hotel (aka- the Disneyland of ghost hotels made famous in The Shining), the birth of the seance and the impact of the Fox Sisters in popularizing spirits and the supernatural - and which body part was the real secret to their success. Also hear about exploits in levitation by D.D. Hume and famed apporter Agnes Guppy.
Were any of these true believers or were they just putting on a show? But then there’s the medium who claimed to communicate with great artists of the past - who’s now credited with the beginning of surrealism. All this, and the one who could regurgitate ectoplasm, the matter of the spirits, at will. And did you know wars and mass traumatic events like Covid trigger a rise in paranormal beliefs? Now you do!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Lisa Morton is a screenwriter, author, 6-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award, and a renowned expert on Halloween and the paranormal. Her recent books include Calling the Spirits: A History of Seances and The Art of the Zombie Movie. She also hosts the weekly podcast “The Ghost Report with Lisa Morton.”
📋 Please help us by completing our Chinwagger Survey 👉🏼 https://gum.fm/chinwag 📋
🖤🖤🖤
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Chin-word of the Week: NECROMANCER
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🇷🇺😵💫🌀
Paul Giamatti shares a crazy Havana syndrome-like experience he had at the Russian Embassy in Budapest, which somehow leads to his love of acting on stage and sharing that mass-delusion with an audience.
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
🇷🇺😵💫🌀
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😵💫😵💫😵💫
Paul and Stephen strive to understand the phenomenon of mass panic and incidences of collective delusion throughout history.
Learn the difference between mass panic and mass hysteria, how our minds influence our physical reactions, and the power of the media in escalating these events. What caused the hysteria that surrounded the Beatles and Elvis, or the outbreak of panic after the infamous Orson Welles radio broadcast of H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds?
Paul knows a thing or two about the “Mad Gasser of Mattoon” (look it up!), dancing manias in the Middle Ages, uncontrollable contagious laughing bouts, ergot poisoning, and the little-known Seattle windshield-pitting epidemic of 1954. Stephen takes a left turn into porn (we’ll let him explain) and flexes theoretical causes like socio political stressors, media and cultural influence, and of course, mirror neurons. It all comes back around to Havana Syndrome, psychogenic phenomena, and wait for it, PENIS THEFT.
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
😵💫😵💫😵💫
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🤠🤠🤠
During Paul and Stephen’s first Chinwag with delightful author and historian Sarah Vowell (go back and listen to that episode from 10/4/23 now!), the term “10 gallon hat” came up.
Both hosts, as well as Sarah, were stymied on the origin of the term. What does it really mean? Does it refer to the size of a cowboy hat? A measurement of water? Does it have to do with how much water a cowboy hat can hold, and why would you pour all that water into a hat anyway?
Well, Paul and Stephen know when they’re licked, so they went straight to the source - to you, our loyal fans. And you responded in droves! And again, Paul and Stephen are schooled at the knee of you all-knowing Chinwaggers. Listen in and learn this special nugget of knowledge, and then feel free to drop it into conversation at your next dinner party! You’ll look wicked smart and be sure to be asked back!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Sarah Vowell is an author, journalist, essayist, social commentator and actress. She has written seven nonfiction books on American history and culture including Assassination Vacation, The Wordy Shipmates, and The Partly Cloudy Patriot. She was also the voice of Violet in the 2004 animated film The Incredibles and its 2018 sequel.
🤠🤠🤠
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🌺🌺🌺
Author and historian Sarah Vowell may have spoken a little too soon in her first Chinwag with Paul and Stephen. Behold the incredible tales of coincidence that challenge her literal mind and make Sarah question her woo-woo-ness.
From Sacagawea’s chance meeting with her long-lost brother, to John Adams’ and Thomas Jefferson’s shared date of death, and odd details about the Lincoln assassination and the Booth brothers – do serendipitous moments in history actually mean anything?
On to Ancient Rome and how renowned classicist Mary Beard’s approach to the Roman everyman is why she’ll win any debate. Also, what writing about Hawaii taught Sarah about herself, and convinced her she may not want to tackle Rome in a future book. And what’s the use of all this history anyway? Let us know what YOU think -- Chinwaggers, we want to hear from you!
Vocab Chin-Word of the Week: KUMOLIPO
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Sarah Vowell is an author, journalist, essayist, social commentator and actress. She has written seven nonfiction books on American history and culture including Assassination Vacation, The Wordy Shipmates, and The Partly Cloudy Patriot. She was also the voice of Violet in the 2004 animated film The Incredibles and its 2018 sequel.
🌺🌺🌺
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👻🥞🥤
Natasha shares her beliefs in the possibility of aliens, ghosts and Bigfoot, introduces the Fermi Paradox to the conversation with Paul and Stephen, enjoys a pancake lunch, and tells the story of her life with Rootbeer the dog.
Bonus: Did Natasha’s dog Rootbeer get plastic surgery or consult a psychic? Tune in to this week’s Bonus-Wag to find out!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Natasha Lyonne is an actor, director, writer and producer whose recent projects include Netflix’s Orange is the New Black and Russian Doll, which she also co-created, wrote, produced & directed. Next she’ll appear in the film His Three Daughters and the 2nd season of Peacock’s Poker Face. She also directed the new Netflix comedy special Jacqueline Novak: Get On Your Knees!
👻🥞🥤
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⚛️⚛️⚛️
Paul and Stephen read a letter from Keith, an airline pilot in Idaho who shares his incredible UFO sighting and belief in Interdimensional Sasquatch Travel.
Then.... Natasha Lyonne joins, and that’s when things get weird and quantum-physical.
Listen in as Paul and Stephen follow Natasha around her house, feed Rootbeer the dog, and learn why she’s comforted by the dulcet sound of quantum physics audio books at bedtime. Hear why discipline and restraint and the structure of mathematics is grounding and leads to talk of Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon, and Peter Sellers. Paul quotes French writer Gustave Flaubert and kills the vibe, and this is before he reveals his desire to try cat food.
Natasha’s man of choice is a doomsday prepper and there’s a crisis in American masculinity (ask yourself men, can you fix a toilet?). Next they go deep into body horror films, and Natasha goes down a Google search rabbit hole about the movie Slither (not a Cronenberg picture). Existentialism is definitively defined (thanks Stephen!), Russian Doll is unpacked, along with Kierkegaard, Ted Chiang, and Albert Camus. That’s a LOT - thanks Natasha! And you’re welcome Chinwaggers!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Natasha Lyonne is an actor, director, writer and producer whose recent projects include Netflix’s Orange is the New Black and Russian Doll, which she also co-created, wrote, produced & directed. Next she’ll appear in the film His Three Daughters and the 2nd season of Peacock’s Poker Face. She also directed the new Netflix comedy special Jacqueline Novak: Get On Your Knees!
⚛️⚛️⚛️
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🏺🌊🐆
More Cryptid lore for your listening pleasure.
Meet one of Stephen’s favorites, the legendary Hodag of Wisconsin. The horned Hodag that never reclines, liked the taste of humans, and just might’ve been a hoax that stoked tourism in 1890s Oneida County. The Hodag conjures Native American folklore of the underwater panther, Mishipeshu, who lives in the water and fights Thunderbirds (a favorite of Paul’s).
But have you heard of Thunderbird sightings? They’ve been reported from just about every state in the union, and are rumored to fly down and steal children! In fact Thunderbirds have been shot down, and there are photos!
Maybe you’ve seen them…or is it the Mandela Effect that makes you only think you’ve seen one of these famed winged creatures? What say you Chinwaggers? Let us know!
🏺🌊🐆
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Bonus Chin-Word: MISHEPESHU
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🫎🫎🫎
Paul and Stephen reveal some of their favorite American cryptids.
Skip by the oft-told stories of Sasquatch and Chupacabra and follow Paul into the dark primeval forests of Maine to meet the Spectre Moose. Hear the legend of this mysterious prehistoric-looking giant of the Maine woods. Some sightings recall the Spectre Moose’s faint white glow and an ability to walk through solid objects.
And if that’s not trippy enough, Paul recalls the time he took elk velvet to add some pep to his step. Next are sightings of the Big Muddy Monster of Illinois complete with actual police reports, but this cryptid has a sci-fi twist including epic screaming and slime residue. But was it all a hoax? Shout out to Ricky Kells to come forward and spill the tea about the Big Muddy Monster that hasn’t been seen since 1976.
Then the legendary Melon Heads of Connecticut - not to be mistaken for the Wobbleheads of Michigan - make an appearance. All this and cannibalistic, inbred witches. Are these more urban legends than cryptids? And what’s the reason for our fascination with mythical, marginalized creatures? You decide, Chinwaggers!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
🫎🫎🫎
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Vocab Chin-Word of the Week: TERATOGEN
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🦬🦬🦬
Paul and Stephen’s interest in history is deep and windy, so who better to get a riveting lesson from than award-winning documentarian, Ken Burns.
Hear why the master auteur has wanted to tell the tragic story of the American Buffalo for 30 years, and trace the path of its near extinction in the late 19th century. Was the buffalo saved by the captive gates of zoos? What is man’s moral responsibility to nature in its quest towards advancement and a global economy? And as savior and destroyer, is man truly the most dangerous species on earth? And it wouldn’t be a Chinwag without a detour into obscure presidential facts, conspiracy theories, philosophical musings on certainty and doubt, and why skepticism is as necessary to storytelling as faith. And of course, what is history anyway?
Bonus: What quote has Ken Burns used in 3 films?
Extra Bonus: Stay tuned ‘til the end to hear Paul’s eerie encounter with a herd of buffalo as he changed a flat tire in Custer State National Park.
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Ken Burns has been making documentary films for almost fifty years. He’s been honored with dozens of major awards, including sixteen Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards and two Oscar nominations. American Buffalo, and all of Ken's films, are available to stream on the PBS app.
🦬🦬🦬
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Vocab Chin-Word of the Week: TRAVOIS
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🕯️⏳🚇
Recorded live from the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), Paul and Stephen field questions from our brilliant and inquisitive Chinwag audience.
Paul and Stephen offer insights on precognitive dreams, past lives and reincarnation. The chains of causation and LaPlace’s Demon gets a mention, and what do prophecies in art and science fiction actually reflect?
Paul and Stephen talk about their visit to the creepy Hoosac Tunnel of North Adams, MA (also known as the “bloody pit” with a reputation for ghosts). The latest viral BigFoot video, what Jane Goodall thinks of the existence of Sasquatch, Nostradamus, Rasputin and cryptids - it’s all here!
Plus, can AI predict the future? Paul and Stephen answer all!
🕯️⏳🚇
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Bonus Chin-Word: PYROMANCY
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🔮🔮🔮
Recorded live from the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), Paul and Stephen discuss the power and historical impact of Nostradamus, prophets and clairvoyants.
Who was Nostradamus and how did his vague predictions make him a legend in his time? Paul and Stephen reveal his cure for the plague and explain Nostradamus’s popularity in times of crisis. Was he just a shitty astrologer and what’s he got to do with Hitler? What’s the difference between clairvoyance and prophecy, and does a good con artist actually believe his own bullshit? Plus, Paul explains different methods of divination, the age-old tradition of tripping on nutmeg, and the real meaning of “mellow yellow.”
Bonus: Jackie Stallone’s theory of rumpology (it’s exactly what you think)
🔮🔮🔮
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Vocab Chin-Word of the Week: SCRYING
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☸️🙃⚛️
Paul, Stephen and fiction writer Ted Chiang discuss the pros and cons of our fallible memories and the human technological interface.
Is that fight with your partner about “who said what” an essential part of developing a human relationship, or is none of that even the point? Is adopting a pact of truth and reconciliation the path forward in relationships as it is in some countries’ politics? Ted discusses the question of self-identity; are we defined by our memories and shared experiences, and how is the “self” affected by changing technology? Does Chiang believe in an immaterial soul or are we only a collection of atoms? And why do many believe materialism implies nihilism when we can make meaning with our own guiding morals?
All this and more on existentialist thought, karma, AI, and moral philosophy! What else could you want? Dig in Waggers!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Ted Chiang is a fiction writer whose works have won him four Hugo, four Nebula, and four Locus awards. He has been featured in The Best American Short Stories and has authored two collections, Exhalation and Stories of Your Life and Others. The title story from Stories was adapted into the feature film Arrival. Chiang is also a frequent non-fiction contributor to the New Yorker Magazine, most recently on topics related to computer technology, and artificial intelligence.
☸️🙃⚛️
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BONUS Chin-Word of the Week: OMPHALOS
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🦾🦾🦾
In this Chinwag, Paul and Stephen are thrilled to be subject to fascinating thought experiments by award-winning fiction writer Ted Chiang. Up for the discussion?
The difference between fact and fiction when it comes to the existence of alien life, and whether Paul is indeed an assassin because he played one in an action film Ted once saw. Imaginations are running amok and people can’t differentiate between what’s real and what isn’t. Is social media to blame or was The National Enquirer the social media of yester-year? Online echo chambers and the dangerous speed of information may be a culprit for conspiracy theories. And is belief in aliens and monsters in pop culture a direct response to higher anxiety levels and an externalization of neuroses? Then, what is singularity and was it born with the invention of the wheel?
Paul and Stephen are happy to learn that Ted’s not afraid that AI will take over, but the natural desire to do less work may lead to more romances between humans and AI robots. So buckle up and plug in your lady-cyborg and get ready for an all new fascinating Chinwag!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Ted Chiang is a fiction writer whose works have won him four Hugo, four Nebula, and four Locus awards. He has been featured in The Best American Short Stories and has authored two collections, Exhalation and Stories of Your Life and Others. The title story from Stories was adapted into the feature film Arrival. Chiang is also a frequent non-fiction contributor to the New Yorker Magazine, most recently on topics related to computer technology, and artificial intelligence.
🦾🦾🦾
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Vocab Chin-Word of the Week: OMPHALOS
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🏴✍🏼🇺🇸
Welcome to the Bonus-wag with Neil Gaiman!
Neil's got a needy actor story that Paul relates to and understands. How being a Brit helps Neil write about America with the perfect amount of detachment to see it clearly. And is America the land of the trickster and huckster? How are George Santos and Donald Trump perfectly American creations and why are they celebrated?
All this and John Wayne Bobbitt comes up (Google him, ywsm!).
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Neil Gaiman is an award-winning, New York Times Best Selling author and prolific creator of prose, poetry, film, journalism, comics, song lyrics, and drama. His works include the comic book series The Sandman and the novels Good Omens, Stardust, Anansi Boys, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book. Neil is also a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN refugee agency UNHCR and his latest book What You Need To Be Warm is available now and every copy purchased helps refugees stay warm this winter.
📸 credit: Beowulf Sheehan
🏴✍🏼🇺🇸
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BONUS Chin-Word of the Week: APOTHEOSIS
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🎄🎄🎄
Wanna go on a tour of fringe places to visit with Paul, Stephen, and award-winning author Neil Gaiman?
Paul, Stephen and Neil love a weird outing and this episode introduces you to a bevy of greats. From Wisconsin’s own House on the Rock, to the Winchester Mystery House. Hear about the Museum of Jurassic Technology in LA, the Soviet Arctic Exploration Museum in St. Petersburg, and the Museum of Old and New Art in Tasmania. If these sound like a dream vacation itinerary, then this is the Chinwag for you!
Plus, Neil recalls the time someone tried to sell him Tang Dynasty antiquities from a museum in China…but at rock bottom prices! Dramatic readings of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and why the Brits love a good, creepy ghost story at Christmas time. Also, Norse Mythology, trickster gods, and why it’s healthy for children to be scared. Also, Gaiman on ghosts, the real definition of bravery, and which body part most helps Paul get into character. It’ll surprise you!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Neil Gaiman is an award-winning, New York Times Best Selling author and prolific creator of prose, poetry, film, journalism, comics, song lyrics, and drama. His works include the comic book series The Sandman and the novels Good Omens, Stardust, Anansi Boys, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book. Neil is also a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN refugee agency UNHCR and his latest book What You Need To Be Warm is available now and every copy purchased helps refugees stay warm this winter.
📸 credit: Beowulf Sheehan
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Vocab Chin-Word of the Week: LIMINAL
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🏦 💰 🚔
More behind-the-scenes chat and wisdom with actor, filmmaker, and author Bruce Campbell!
Bruce’s Christian Science upbringing and how it led him on his own spiritual journey. Why humor and horror are a winning combination, and old school Hollywood yarns about Lee Majors, Larry Fine, the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, Harry Houdini, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis (including impressions).
Paul and Bruce lament their many close-calls on TV and film sets, and why they’ve reluctantly stopped doing their own stunts. All this and Bruce’s silent but almost-deadly turn on Xena Warrior Princess and that time he robbed a bank and drove the getaway car himself.
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Bruce Campbell is an actor and filmmaker who played Ash Williams in the hit horror cult franchise Evil Dead. He’s also a prolific author who wrote back-to-back New York Times Best Sellers, If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor, and Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way.
🏦 💰 🚔
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🌌🌌🌌
Paul and Stephen are joined by raconteur, actor, author and Hawaiian shirt expert, Bruce Campbell.
Tune in to hear about the first time he smoked weed on the set of Evil Dead (yes he got high), how moonshine was used to keep warm, and how Bruce keeps himself amused at horror film conventions. Plus, that time he went in search of the BigFoot trap near his house in Oregon, and heard an eyewitness account from a Sasquatch true believer (he met in a bar).
Go deep with our hosts as Bruce explains how perception is changed by shape-shifting realities, and hear the precise moment Bruce found cosmic wisdom while sitting in an epic LA traffic jam. Oh yes and that time Bruce saw a UFO during a phone interview! Stay tuned for tales of the paranormal and ghostly entries from Bruce’s grandfather’s WWI diary. It’s all on this week’s Chinwag with The Chin himself!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Bruce Campbell is an actor and filmmaker who played Ash Williams in the hit horror cult franchise Evil Dead. He’s also a prolific author who wrote back-to-back New York Times Best Sellers, If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor, and Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way.
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Vocab Chin-Word of the Week: TRANSCENDENTALISM
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⏳⏳⏳
Part 2 of Paul and Stephen’s chat with Academy Award winning actor, writer, and author Tom Hanks.
Why are time travel fantasies perfect escapes and where does Tom dream of going?
What’s the logic of time travel and what would be better: going back to the past or going forward into the future? Tom shares cautionary food for thought from Thornton Wilder and Charleton Heston, and lessons gleaned from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes. Also, what are the rules of infidelity in time-travel and has there ever been a real “golden age”? Tom explains what it is to be a “presentist”, why he’s a bit of a skeptic, and the guys chew on whether or not human nature has changed over time.
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Tom Hanks is a 2-time Academy Award winning actor, writer and author. His novel The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece is a New York Times Best Seller. His charitable coffee line, Hanx: For Our Troops, can be found at givehanx.com or on instagram @givehanx. All profits go to those who serve, and their families.
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Vocab Chin-Word of the Week: PRESENTIST
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🍠🍠🍠
Academy Award winning actor, writer, author and all-around wonderful human Tom Hanks joins Paul and Stephen to help unload specious facts about Quebec, Canada (lowest marriage rate in the world!), Blue Zones and the importance of purple yams.
Paul, Stephen and Tom discuss the speed of information, Chat GPT, cognitive dissonance in AI, and question the use of Waze to beat traffic. How have our memories changed since the advent of cell phones? Are acting skills useful when it comes to writing a book? Plus, Tom still recalls his Bosom Buddies co-star Peter Scolari’s lines from 1980, and a baseball/acting analogy that puts it all in perspective.
Stick around to hear about Tom’s debut fiction novel The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece, the ecosystem and unsung heroes of the Hollywood movie set (focus pullers!) and the thing MOST discussed on set? It’s not what you think!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Tom Hanks is a 2-time Academy Award winning actor, writer and author. His novel The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece is a New York Times Best Seller. His charitable coffee line, Hanx: For Our Troops, can be found at givehanx.com or on instagram @givehanx. All profits go to those who serve, and their families.
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Vocab Chin-Word of the Week: SPECIOUS
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☥🪦🍕
Bonus time with comedian, writer, director and author Mike Birbiglia.
The guys discuss their thoughts on leaving a legacy, art as a path to immortality, and the enduring comedy of Charlie Chaplin and W.C. Fields. Also, what’s the career advice one should never pass on to others? Lastly, Mike’s love of pizza (and the word “plaza”) leads to the end of the debate on the country’s best pizza. Is it New Haven, NYC, or Chicago? And what’s the correct amount of pizza for one person? Hint: it’s not the whole pie.
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Mike Birbiglia is a comedian, actor, storyteller, director, producer, and writer. His podcast Working It Out is available wherever you get your podcasts, and his hit Broadway show Old Man & The Pool is now his latest Netflix Comedy Special of the same name.
☥🪦🍕
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🤳🏽🤳🏽🤳🏽
Also, why is TikTok so addictive, and which host shares this obsession with Birbigs and 420 million Gen Zers? Then, how to talk to your kids about death and scary stuff (hint - don’t ask Paul!). Hear about Birbigs’ new Netflix special Old Man & The Pool, his sleepwalking disorder, and his fascination and fear of bears. And don’t sleep on his beliefs surrounding all things paranormal. Hint: Ghosts, UFOs, aliens, Sasquatch, and Nessie. It’s all in the realm of possibility!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Mike Birbiglia is a comedian, actor, storyteller, director, producer, and writer. His podcast Working it Out is available wherever you get your podcasts, and his hit Broadway show Old Man & The Pool is now his latest Netflix comedy special of the same name.
🤳🏽🤳🏽🤳🏽
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Vocab Chin-Word of the Week: TETRAPODS
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✨🤩🌟
Recorded live at the Murmrr Theater in Brooklyn, NY on Oct 17th with the incomparable Paul Rudd.
Chinwag’s studio audience jumps in on the action with their burning questions. More in-depth answers about fears, recurring dreams, pretend play and how improv plays a role in one’s success.
Plus: Does I Love You Man mirror real life? And what’s its connection to Only Murders in the Building? Which Paul is actually a fan of the Almond Joy? What are Rudd’s favorite tunes from his Bar Mitzvah DJ days? And after retirement, would either Paul consider a career as a professional team mascot?
It’s all in this Bonus Chinwag. And stay ‘til the end to learn Paul Rudd’s favorite social media meme!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Paul Rudd is a beloved actor and comedian whose held a variety of odd jobs, including glazing hams at the Holiday Ham Company in Overland Park, KS and working as a DJ at Bar Mitzvahs.
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🛋️🛋️🛋️
Recorded live at the Murmrr Theater in Brooklyn, NY on Oct 17th.
Paul and Stephen welcome Paul Rudd to discuss the genesis of his childhood fears, the difference between fears and phobias, and list all the things that give them the willies (puppets, clowns, and cockroaches OH MY!).
Join our rapt studio audience as Rudd regales with his creepy childhood bedroom decor (velvet Charlie Brown portrait anyone?), explains why his recurring nightmares always took place in grocery stores, and how he got swallowed up by a sofa bed at 9 years old (thanks, Traymon Stampley)!
Also, the 2 Pauls and Stephen recall growing up without seatbelts, debate if the world is actually more dangerous today, the many, many primates Paul has worked with, and consider the benefits of cloning and stuffing your pets.
Bonus: Paul’s love of tight spaces, facial casts, and that time a dog relieved itself on his leg.
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. Paul Rudd is a beloved actor and comedian whose held a variety of odd jobs, including glazing hams at the Holiday Ham Company in Overland Park, KS and working as a DJ at Bar Mitzvahs.
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Vocab Chin-Word of the Week: HIPPOPOTOMONSTREOSESQUIPPEDALIOPHOBIA
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🏛️🏛️🏛️
Like the popular TikTok meme says about men, Paul thinks about Ancient Rome every 7 seconds. Stephen’s never counted but nonetheless our Chinwag hosts love to talk about the Roman Empire, and there’s one heralded scholar they’ve been wanting to meet: Professor Mary Beard.
Sure, Dame Mary Beard has debated former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, but now she enters the Chinwag! How much power did Emperors like Caesar, Caligula, Severus, and Nero, actually wield? And how much was just imagined? Hint: many Emperors weren’t even known by name back then! So how much of a role does our imagination play in our fantasies when recounting these legends? And what can these fantasies reveal about ourselves?
Also, what did Emperor Tiberius get up to in the swimming pool? (We’re asking you dear listener! Please write in and tell us - we never found out!)
But Paul and Stephen DO hear which Emperor suffocated his dinner guests with mounds of rose petals. Creative! And, where else but on Chinwag will you learn the hierarchy of the Emperor’s official food tasters? It’s all here!
🏛️🏛️🏛️
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Vocab Word of the Week: PRAEGUSTATORES
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🌺💀🌹
Paul and Stephen are into learning about death. Not just what happens after one departs, not just about ghosts and spirits and the afterlife, but what happens in the days that follow - to the bodies, and to the workers in the trenches of the death industry.
Enter journalist and author Hayley Campbell, who after a lifelong fascination with death, sought these answers from the hardworking people who make their living working with the dead. Learn about alkaline hydrolysis (water cremation), cryogenics, the euphemisms for embalming, crime scene clean up, and how women and men process death differently. Join Paul and Stephen as they dig into the different cultural traditions and attitudes around death, and discuss the merits of facing death directly as a means of fearing it less.
BONUS: Why Paul prefers female crime-writers to men!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Hayley Campbell is a journalist and author whose work has appeared in WIRED, The Guardian, GQ, Empire, Vice, New Statesman, McSweeney’s, and more. Her books include All the Living and the Dead and The Art of Neil Gaiman. She lives in London with her cat, Ned.
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Vocab Word of the Week: ALKALINE HYDROLISIS
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🎴🎴🎴
THIS IS PART 2 of Paul and Stephen’s wild time with Amy Sedaris -- which finds them debating the definition of a few choice sexual terms, discussing their love and appreciation of the grotesque, and hearing about the southern charm she’s cultivated in her home of New York City. Her thoughts on Marie Kondo’s book, which she ALSO got rid of during her great purge to raise money for Diabetes research. Explore the reasons behind Paul’s manic collection of books and why he wants a human skull.
Also learn what she thinks of astrology, psychics and talking to dead people, and how she fact-checks brother David Sedaris’s stories.
BONUS: Amy’s two favorite movies (both animal-themed!), and oh yeah, that time she took speed and learned to read tarot cards.
BONUS #2: Paul’s sports-phobic except for one sport - can you guess which? Hint - it’s really violent!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Amy Sedaris is a comedian, writer, talented crafter and actress. She appears in the Disney+ series The Mandalorian, Amazon Prime’s Somebody I Used to Know, Ghosted on Apple TV+, and the feature film Theater Camp.
DISCLAIMER: THIS EPISODE WAS RECORDED PRIOR TO THE SAG STRIKE.
🎴🎴🎴
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Vocab Word of the Week: KINTSUGI
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🐦🐦🐦
David from Burlington, VT writes in about Paul and Stephen’s obsession with the famed Loch Ness Monster but elevates the discourse to regale us with the lore of his local lake monster, Champ.
This Chinwag explores various theories on cryptids and ponders: has there been a fold in time and are these sea creatures ghostly time-jumpers from the future? Or are they from the past? What’s the famous Mansi photo?
Stephen invokes Occam’s razor and for some reason Paul relates all this to the poor vision of chickens and pigeons.
Don’t miss this Chinwag, it’s clucking fun!
🐦🐦🐦
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Vocab Word of the Week: PROGNATHISM
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🍄🍄🍄
Ever wonder about the real medicinal uses of psychedelics? Wanna hear tales from the guy who did time training in the bad trip tent at Burning Man? Paul and Stephen do, so they go to the tip of the spear - straight to Johns Hopkins’ foremost psychedelics expert, Dr. Matthew Johnson.
In this mind-expanding chat, hear about Dr. Johnson’s trailblazing work to help advance the therapeutic use of psychedelics to treat depression, addiction, cancer, trauma, and PTSD.
Find out how psychedelics act as lubricants to the brain to change unwanted behavior, and finally learn the difference between a heroic dose, a moderate dose, and a micro-dose! Also - what’s the deal with sensory deprivation tanks, and why do the CIA, Cary Grant, and Nazis come up? Can Paul actually sign up to be a test-subject?
Settle in and relax as Paul and Stephen hold your hand on this trip through the very important and fascinating study of psychedelics!
BONUS: The stoned ape theory explained! (You know you want to know!)
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Matthew W. Johnson, Ph.D., is The Susan Hill Ward Endowed Professor of Psychedelics and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins. Working with psychedelics since 2004, he is one of the world’s most widely published experts on psychedelics. In 2021 he received the first grant in 50 years from the US government for a treatment study with a classic psychedelic, specifically psilocybin in treatment of tobacco addiction.
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Vocab Word of the Week: HYPNAGOGIC
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✍🏼✍🏼✍🏼
Paul and Stephen love their history, so who better for this Chinwag than brilliant essayist, author and historian, Sarah Vowell?
Listen in as they contemplate the tricky business of retelling history that doesn’t live up to the current moral code. Which President is the biggest zero? The least sexy? And what did Benjamin Harrison – our 23rd president – actually do while in office? You know you want to know!
All that and a front row seat to Sarah’s midlife crisis spent watching a difficult camel birth. Not enough? Well Sarah’s not into all that “woo woo stuff”, but a chance moment at the town pump in Ennis, Montana challenges her literal mind.
BONUS: Sarah’s unvarnished thoughts on cowboys and why they call it a “10 gallon hat” (no one actually knows - write in and tell us your theory!)
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Sarah Vowell is an author, journalist, essayist, social commentator and actress. She has written seven nonfiction books on American history and culture including Assassination Vacation, The Wordy Shipmates, and The Partly Cloudy Patriot. She was also the voice of Violet in the 2004 animated film The Incredibles and its 2018 sequel.
✍🏼✍🏼✍🏼
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Vocab Word of the Week: UNGULATES
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🧙🏻♂️🧙🏻♂️🧙🏻♂️
Catch PART 2 of Paul and Stephen’s dip into the profoundly thoughtful mind of Mr. Stephen Colbert.
Explore the power of prayer and magical thinking, the importance of unlearning what you know, and Paul and Colbert’s shared love of sci-fi, or as Stephen Asma calls it, “Gandalf and sh*t.” What’s the difference between sci-fi and fantasy, and can Lord of the Rings help process one’s grief?
Tune in for musings on improvisation, zen master Amy Sedaris, and the fantastic conclusion to Colbert’s inspirational chance meeting with astronaut, Orly.
Stephen Colbert is an Emmy award winning writer, performer and late night host who also loves to fish. Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
🧙🏻♂️🧙🏻♂️🧙🏻♂️
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A special shout out to Mary Ellen Matthews, who provided such a beautiful headshot of Mr. Colbert for the episodic artwork. More on MEM's portfolio here: https://www.instagram.com/maryellenmatthewsnyc/
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🐟🐟🐟
Paul and Stephen get their daily dose of happiness during PART 1 of this illuminating and hilarious chat with writer, comedian, late night host, Mr. Stephen Colbert.
Have you ever wondered why some spell Stephen with a V, while others with a PH? No? It’s great party fodder, trust us!
Mr. Colbert captivates with his love of fishing, the evolution of the flounder, the consequences of unaddressed grief, and the religious sermon that changed him forever. Stay tuned for talk of Jungian archetypes and two transformative stories from Colbert’s Northwestern University days. Also on the docket: some causes of atheism, Paul’s affinity for contact guilt and contact sin, G.K. Chesterton and the difference between belief and faith. All this and Talking Heads make an appearance. It’s too much, yet it’s all in this week’s Chinwag!
Bonus: you might’ve been saying Colbert wrong all this time.
Vocab word of the week: Orthographically
Stephen Colbert is an Emmy award winning writer, performer and late night host who also loves to fish. Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
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And, a special shout out to Mary Ellen Matthews, who provided such a beautiful headshot of Mr. Colbert for the episodic artwork. More on MEM's portfolio here: https://www.instagram.com/maryellenmatthewsnyc/
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🪐🪐🪐
Welcome to Paul’s happy place, discussing the ins and outs of the Hollow Earth Theory!
Listen in as Paul and Stephen go deep to the chewy center of this fringe theory that the earth is not a solid sphere but a hollow shell with its own universe living within it. This is not your mama’s flat earth theory, or any of that fake moon landing stuff – welcome to the Hollow Earth.
And what’s all this got to do with Nazis, UFOs, AI and the Imp of Perversity? Learn about Cyrus Teed (the hero of the hollow earth theory), and the rectilineator - a contraption he built with his cult! It’s ok - he’s in good company - Charles Manson also believed the earth was hollow.
Bonus: Hear about the controversial theory that Shakespeare might not have written Shakespeare - WHAT?!? Also - sit at Paul’s knee and learn a bunch of new SAT words, like claustrophilic and chthonic (not a typo!)
🪐🪐🪐
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Vocab Chin-Word of the Week: CHTHONIC
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🪄🪄🪄
Paul and Stephen are fascinated by magic and the art of deception and they’re thrilled to take this extraordinary ride into the wondrous mind of master illusionist Derek DelGaudio.
Listen in as they explore themes of reality, deception, imagination, morality, manipulation, and belief with the sleight of hand maestro. Is authenticity even possible anymore? Is Tik Tok just a series of mini-Shakespearian tragedies? And what’s the fix for the absence of human connection in an online world
Bonus: Learn about Plato’s allegory of the cave and why children are more difficult to deceive than adults.
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Derek DelGaudio is a writer, performer and sleight-of-hand artist. He created the award-winning theater show and film, In & Of Itself and wrote the acclaimed book, AMORALMAN. DelGaudio also served as the artist-in-residence for Walt Disney Imagineering, and co-founded the performance art collective A.Bandit. He is currently an Affiliate Scholar at Georgetown University and co-conspirator at Deceptive Practices, a creative firm that provides “Arcane Knowledge on a Need-to-Know Basis.”
🪄🪄🪄
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🎥 CATCH A LIVE RECORDING OF CHINWAG 🎥
🎟️ Buy Tickets before they sell out! 🎟️
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New episodes of CHINWAG drop Wednesdays for free... n(🧊)
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📯📯📯
Your fan mail gets answered this week!
Your takeaway? As usual, none of us really know sh*t.
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Note: This episode was recorded prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike.
📯📯📯
=========
🎥 CATCH A LIVE RECORDING OF CHINWAG 🎥
🎟️ Buy Tickets before they sell out! 🎟️
=========
New episodes drop Wednesdays for free... n(🧊)
Make sure to follow us @chinwagpod 👉🏼
For Treefort details 🏄♂️ on over here
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
👨🏻🚀👨🏻🚀👨🏻🚀
Paul and Stephen are obsessed with UFOs and life beyond earth–so who better to add to the conversation than a guy who’s been to space twice?
This week, our intrepid Chinwaggers are joined by former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino, a man who decided that a fear of heights would be best overcome by a trip to space. In this week’s classified file: space toilets, robot arms, and why there should never be more than one comedian per space shuttle.
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Mike Massimino is a former NASA astronaut and a professor of Mechanical Engineering at Columbia University. Mike is also the author of a new book, Moonshot: A NASA Astronaut’s Guide to Achieving the Impossible.
👨🏻🚀👨🏻🚀👨🏻🚀
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🎥 REMINDER: Our first ticketed event is coming October 14th to North Adams, MA @ the MASS MoCA Museum 🎥
🎟️ Buy your tickets here before they sell out: https://massmoca.org/event/chinwag/ 🎟️
=========
New episodes of CHINWAG drop Wednesdays for free... n(🧊)
Make sure to follow us @chinwagpod 👉🏼
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🌍📚✍🏾
Award-winning science fiction writer Nnedi Okorafor, who coined the term "Africanfuturism" joins co-hosts Paul Giamatti and Stephen Asma on this episode of CHINWAG.
Tickling mice, javelin-throwing nuns and making friends with sentient AI are just some of the detours their conversation takes this week. Can Stephen and Nnedi finally bridge the gap between cat people and dog people and bring long-lasting peace to civilization?
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Nnedi Okrafor is the winner of Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Locus and Lodestar Awards. Her works include WHO FEARS DEATH and the BINTI novella trilogy.
Note: This episode was recorded prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike.
🌍📚✍🏾
New episodes drop Wednesdays for free... n(🧊)
Make sure to follow us @chinwagpod 👉🏼
For Treefort details 🏄♂️ on over here
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📨📨📨
Paul Giamatti and Stephen Asma asked for your thoughts, your burning questions, your weirdest musings, and you responded - in droves!
Stephen from St. Louis asks, do watershed moments exist and is the term actually overused and misunderstood? Paul and Stephen discuss and wonder what history actually IS after all? And somehow, American soldier Boston Corbett makes an appearance.
Then - are you superstitious? Anna from Belfast writes in about the Irish Fairy Thorn Tree which some believe to be the gateway between a mortal world and the other-world. You asked, Chinwag answered, and that (of course) led to even more questions! Enjoy!
Note: This episode was recorded prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike.
📨📨📨
New episodes drop Wednesdays for free... n(🧊)
Make sure to follow us @chinwagpod 👉🏼
For Treefort details 🏄♂️ on over here
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
💭💭💭
Paul Giamatti and Stephen Asma are fascinated and confounded by dreams and the act of dreaming. Enter renowned dream and hypnosis expert, Dr. Deirdre Barrett and hear Paul and Stephen question the very meaning and purpose of dreams.
Are they precognitive? Can dreams tell of past lives? Does imagination and intuition play a role? Do recurring dreams help protect us? What is dream incubation and can we manipulate our dreams to find answers to life’s pressing questions? Answers are revealed during this lively Chinwag.
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Deirdre Barrett, Ph.D. is a world-renowned dream specialist and psychologist who teaches at Harvard Medical School. She has written five books including The Committee of Sleep. Dr. Barrett is also an artist whose works are inspired by her own dreams. For more information check out deirdrebarrett.com.
Note: This episode was recorded prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike.
💭💭💭
New episodes drop Wednesdays for free... n(🧊)
Make sure to follow us @chinwagpod 👉🏼
For Treefort details 🏄♂️ on over here
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
🦶🏽🦶🏽🦶🏽
Paul Giamatti and Stephen Asma go deep with Don Cheadle and explore the importance of improv to combat aging, miming to Zapruder films, religion to tame the ego, gorilla trekking, and Paul’s desire to be considered for foot fetish sites.
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Don Cheadle is an award-winning actor, director, activist, musician and golfer. His new Marvel spy series Secret Invasion is streaming on Disney+.
Note: This episode was recorded prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike.
🦶🏽🦶🏽🦶🏽
New episodes drop Wednesdays for free... n(🧊)
Make sure to follow us @chinwagpod 👉🏼
For Treefort details 🏄♂️ on over here
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
👹👹👹
This week, Paul Giamatti and Stephen Asma go down a wild rabbit hole on Satanism, a topic they find endlessly fascinating. They ruminate on everything from atheism to Aleister Crowley, pentagrams to Frankenstein. Also hear about sex magick (with a "K").
Bonus: Jimmy Page’s purported Satan worship! You don’t want to miss this deep dive into the diabolical.
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
👹👹👹
New episodes drop Wednesdays for free... n(🧊)
Make sure to follow us @chinwagpod 👉🏼
For Treefort details 🏄♂️ on over here
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
🚇🚇🚇
Paul Giamatti and Stephen Asma host a candid chat with the always effervescent and inventive Amy Sedaris. Hear about Amy’s love of Japanese subways, why she finally broke down and got a phone, her impression of Dolly Parton, and love for the artistic works of George W. Bush, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr.
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Amy Sedaris is a comedian, writer, talented crafter, and actress. She is currently appearing in the Disney+ series The Mandalorian, Amazon Prime’s Somebody I Used to Know, Ghosted on Apple TV+, and the new feature film Theater Camp.
🚇🚇🚇
New episodes drop Wednesdays for free... n(🧊)
Make sure to follow us @chinwagpod 👉🏼
For Treefort details 🏄♂️ on over here
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
🎭🎭🎭
An encore presentation of Paul Giamatti’s and Stephen Asma’s chat with Patton Oswalt recorded at SXSW 2023 in Austin, TX. Paul and Stephen learn about Oswalt’s current obsession with the Mandela Effect and take an unexpected wild detour through Shakespeare, demons, horror movies and goo pods. Bonus: Paul and Stephen read fan mail and debate a suggested explanation for the Mandela Effect.
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. Patton Oswalt is a stand-up comedian, actor and writer. The Vol. 1 collection of his comic MINOR THREATS is available in bookstores and comic stores nationwide (and major retailers like Amazon).
🎭🎭🎭
New episodes drop Wednesdays for free... n(🧊)
Make sure to follow us @chinwagpod 👉🏼
For Treefort details 🏄♂️ on over here
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
🛸🛸🛸
More shocking revelations from Paul Giamatti’s and Stephen Asma’s chat with Mutual UFO Network’s (MUFON) Star UFO investigator Katie Paige.
What IS Project Looking Glass, and has this secret operation been part of a cover-up? Hear more about the trauma associated with the purported alien abductions of Whitley Strieber and Betty Andreeason. Bonus: Paul and Stephen learn about the hat man, shadow people, alien cadavers and lizard people.
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Katie Paige is Colorado MUFON’s State Director. She is a STAR Investigator for MUFON and is the team lead/administrator for MUFON’s MARRS Team. She’s the host of MUFON What’s Up Radio Broadcast on KGRADB and is the author of Letters of Love & Light - Four Decades of UFO Encounters, Experiences & Sightings Shared with Ufologist R. Leo Sprinkle Ph.D. Katie is currently writing her second book: High Strangeness on a Colorado Ranch; The Colorado “Skinwalker” Ranch – Craft, Cattle, Copters, Cryptids, and Cover-Ups.
This episode was recorded in part thanks to the assistance from Denver Community Media. They are on a mission to build and strengthen community through media by providing and safeguarding affordable access to tools, training and a creative space, to enable free expression and digital equity.
🛸🛸🛸
New episodes drop Wednesdays for free... n(🧊)
Make sure to follow us @chinwagpod 👉🏼
For Treefort details 🏄♂️ on over here
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
👽👽👽
Katie Paige, Mutual UFO Network’s (MUFON) Star UFO investigator, joins Paul Giamatti and Stephen Asma for an enthralling, deeply weird chat on paranormal unknowns like Travis Walton’s alien abduction, crop circles, and cattle mutilation. Bonus: Government involvement and cover-ups, Skinwalker Ranch, disembodied electrical voices, and a connection between UFOs and Bigfoot!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
Katie Paige is Colorado MUFON’s State Director. She is a STAR Investigator for MUFON and is the team lead/administrator for MUFON’s MARRS Team. She’s the host of MUFON What’s Up Radio Broadcast on KGRADB and is the author of Letters of Love & Light - Four Decades of UFO Encounters, Experiences & Sightings Shared with Ufologist R. Leo Sprinkle Ph.D. Katie is currently writing her second book: High Strangeness on a Colorado Ranch; The Colorado “Skinwalker” Ranch – Craft, Cattle, Copters, Cryptids, and Cover-Ups.
This episode was recorded in part thanks to the assistance from Denver Community Media. They are on a mission to build and strengthen community through media by providing and safeguarding affordable access to tools, training and a creative space, to enable free expression and digital equity.
👽👽👽
New episodes drop Wednesdays for free... n(🧊)
Make sure to follow us @chinwagpod 👉🏼
For Treefort details 🏄♂️ on over here
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
🍴🍴🍴
More lively excerpts from Paul Giamatti’s and Stephen Asma’s chat with Academy Award winner and musician, Billy Bob Thornton. This time Billy Bob talks about his psychic mom, his intense dislike of old silverware, Fettuccine Alfredo, and the genesis of Paul’s childhood bug phobia.
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. Billy Bob Thornton is an Academy Award-winning actor, screenwriter, and musician who will be touring the US and Europe summer 2023 with his band, The Boxmasters.
🍴🍴🍴
New episodes drop Wednesdays for free... n(🧊)
Make sure to follow us @chinwagpod 👉🏼
For Treefort details 🏄♂️ on over here
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
🐿🐿🐿
Paul Giamatti and Stephen Asma have their first-ever readings with the Long Island Medium herself, Theresa Caputo. Join as they post-game about everything from intuition to the afterlife, and hear how Theresa can not catch a break from the spirits, despite her dad’s pleading. Bonus: which pet animal visits from the other side the most? Hint, it’s not Fido.
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
The Long Island Medium Theresa Caputo is on tour. Check www.TheresaCaputo.com for more information.
🐿🐿🐿
New episodes drop Wednesdays for free... n(🧊)
Make sure to follow us @chinwagpod 👉🏼
For Treefort details 🏄♂️ on over here
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
🌟🌟🌟
Recorded Live in Denver at SeriesFest 2023, Paul Giamatti and Stephen Asma talk to a live audience about the trendy topic of Starseeds, a cosmic mystery whose content has over 1 billion views on TikTok. Also in this episode: the reading of Akashic records, and Exorcism: is this still a thing? Bonus: Paul is left utterly baffled by the coronation of King Charles.
Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer.
🌟🌟🌟
New episodes drop Wednesdays for free... n(🧊)
Make sure to follow us @chinwagpod 👉🏼
For Treefort details 🏄♂️ on over here
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
💊💊💊
Killer Psyche podcast host Candice DeLong spent two decades in the FBI as a criminal profiler tracking serial killers and working such notorious cases as the Unabomber and the Chicago Tylenol Murders. Paul Giamatti and Stephen Asma explore the terrifying and tactical world of tracking murderers with Candice and learn that even psychopaths suffer career burnout. Bonus: learn about predictive behaviors of serial killers (bed-wetting?!), Ted Bundy’s incarcerated romance, and a key tip when negotiating to save one’s life.
Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Candice Killer Psyche DeLong is a former FBI criminal profiler. Listen to her Treefort/Wondery podcast Killer Psyche and Killer Psyche Daily anywhere you get your podcasts.
💊💊💊
New episodes drop Wednesdays for free... n(🧊)
Make sure to follow us @chinwagpod 👉🏼
For Treefort details 🏄♂️ on over here
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
🌼🌼🌼
Paul and Stephen engage with Preet Bharara on some unlikely topics: UFOs, conjugal relations with chickens, flowers on Mars, the opposable thumbs of aliens, stamp collecting, and the poetry of law.
Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Preet Bharara is a former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the host of the podcast Stay Tuned With Preet.
🌼🌼🌼
=========
New episodes drop Wednesdays for free... n(🧊)
Make sure to follow us @chinwagpod 👉🏼
For Treefort details 🏄♂️ on over here
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
🏐🏐🏐
Paul Giamatti and Stephen Asma are fascinated by Kathryn Hahn’s deep knowledge of cults, con men, hypnosis, brainwashing dogs, and the power of late night volleyball sessions. Bonus: Travis the chimpanzee, radical nuns, lice couches, do Popes Netflix and chill, and that time Paul fought off kidnapping Krishnas in Northern Ireland!
Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Kathryn Hahn is an accomplished actress currently starring in Hulu’s limited series “Tiny Beautiful Things.”
🏐🏐🏐
New episodes drop Wednesdays for free... n(🧊)
Make sure to follow us @chinwagpod 👉🏼
For Treefort details 🏄♂️ on over here
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
🖖🏽🖖🏽🖖🏽
Stephen Asma and Paul Giamatti are giddy to speak with lifelong hero and Star Trek alum William Shatner on tequila tastings, space travel, bum drug trips, holding on to your inner child and that time he beat up an Australian Olympic swimmer on stage.
Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. William Shatner is an Emmy award-winning actor, writer, recording artist and director whose new documentary You Can Call Me Bill premiered at SXSW 2023.
🖖🏽🖖🏽🖖🏽
New episodes drop Wednesdays for free... n(🧊)
Make sure to follow us @chinwagpod 👉🏼
For Treefort details 🏄♂️ on over here
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
👺🤠🎸
Recorded live at SXSW 2023, Paul Giamatti and Stephen Asma have a spirited conversation about werewolves, Godzilla, the Loch Ness Monster and Sasquatch – and their cultural impact. Chaos ensues in the Q&A with audience.
Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer.
👺🤠🎸
New episodes drop Wednesdays for free... n(🧊)
Make sure to follow us @chinwagpod 👉🏼
For Treefort details 🏄♂️ on over here
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
🌅🇪🇬🌅
Stephen Asma and Paul Giamatti get to the bottom of all your burning questions on Ancient Egypt with UCLA Egyptologist Dr. Kara Cooney. They go deep into mysteries surrounding pyramids, death cults, aliens, mummies and cats from that time period, as well as unexpected topics, like the significant role self-fellatio played in ancient Egyptian religious practices and beliefs. They also hit on Pharaoh Akhenaten and the challenges faced by female rulers in Egypt, as well as their lasting impacts on society.
Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Dr. Kara Cooney is a professor of Egyptian Art and Architecture at UCLA and she’s also the author of 3 books including 2 new ones: The Good Kings & When Women Ruled the World.
🌅🇪🇬🌅
New episodes drop Wednesdays for free... n(🧊)
Make sure to follow us @chinwagpod 👉🏼
For Treefort details 🏄♂️ on over here
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
😈😈😈
Recorded live in Austin at SXSW, Stephen Asma and Paul Giamatti learn about Patton Oswalt’s current obsession with The Mandela Effect and take a wild detour through Shakespeare, demons, horror movies and goo pods.
Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Patton Oswalt is a stand-up comedian, actor and writer.
😈😈😈
New episodes drop Wednesdays for free... n(🧊)
Make sure to follow us @chinwagpod 👉🏼
For Treefort details 🏄♂️ on over here
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
👻 👻 👻
Stephen Asma and Paul Giamatti host a wild conversation with Academy Award-winning actor Billy Bob Thornton that meanders through uncanny and unexplained tales of the paranormal, encountering everything from ghosts, psychics, bad feng shui, sleep paralysis and shimmering blobs.
Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Billy Bob Thornton is an Academy Award-winning actor, screenwriter, and musician who will be touring the US and Europe this summer with his band, The Boxmasters.
👻 👻 👻
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A Philosopher, Actor, and Monsters Join Forces in an Unconventional Podcast = CHINWAG!
Join award-winning actor Paul Giamatti and writer/philosopher Steven Asthma in their intriguing new podcast "CHINWAG" as they explore the depths of esoteric topics from altered states of consciousness to monsters in a search for the unexpected.
"It's not an interview show - it's a conversation with a weird bent on things."
** New episodes drop Wednesdays for free starting April 5th **
Make sure to follow us on YT, IG & Tik @chinwagpod or at http://chinwagpod.fm
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
*** First episode launches on April 5th ***
chin-wag: to have a chat, a friendly conversation.
Make sure to follow us on YT, IG & Tik @chinwagpod
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
En liten tjänst av I'm With Friends. Finns även på engelska.