111. Ari Shaffir (Comic) – The Golden Age of Trolling

Think Again - a Big Think Podcast

Big Think / Panoply

Arts, Society & Culture

4.6 • 594 Ratings

🗓️ 12 August 2017

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Since 2008, Big Think has been sharing big ideas from creative and curious minds. Since 2015, the Think Again podcast has been taking us out of our comfort zone, surprising our guests and Jason Gots, your host, with unexpected conversation starters from Big Think’s interview archives. Today's guest Ari Shaffir is a stand-up comic and the host of Skeptic Tank – a super popular weekly podcast that’s on its 299th episode (at this writing). Ari grew up orthodox Jewish, spent two years in a yeshiva in Israel, and then turned into an atheist comedian who did an outrageous web video series called “The Amazing Racist” and runs a yearly “Shroomfest” where he’s like a benevolent Dionysus, presiding over a worldwide three-day celebration of psilocybin mushrooms. He co-created and hosts Comedy Central’s storytelling series “this is not happening”. And he got a two part comedy special on Netflix called “Double Negative”. Ari and Jason talk about outrageousness in comedy, bipartisan e-rage on social media, growing up and growing out of bad habits, the transgender bathroom debate, and much, much, much more. Surprise conversation starter interview clips in this episode: Barbara Oakley on the rigidity of geniuses’ thinking and Elijah Nealy on the transgender bathroom debate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Huh, have you ever wondered what a sandwich sounds like?
0:04.0	Not much to it, is there?
0:06.0	Unless, of course, it's a Walker's sandwich.
0:11.0	Mmm, that is good.
0:13.0	Now that's what Asani should sound like.
0:15.0	Go all crisp in with walkers.
0:18.0	Delicious.
0:20.0	Hey there, I'm Jason Gatz and you you're listening to Think Again, a Big Think podcast.
0:29.4	Started in 2008, Big Think is a kind of online think tank of big ideas from some of the most
0:34.6	creative thinkers on the planet.
0:36.6	On Think Again podcast, we revisit
0:38.3	these ideas in new and unpredictable ways. Our producers surprised me and my guests with short
0:43.3	interview clips from Big Thinks archives, ideas that we didn't come here expecting to discuss.
0:48.3	Today, I'm very, very happy to be joined by Ari Sheffir. I'm saying that right now.
0:53.3	Yeah, you're not. Yeah, the Gats is Jewish, isn't it? Yeah, there's there's a chutz back in the old country. There's no way they would let you have that else. They'd be like, come on, do something else. Exactly. Ari here is a stand-up comic and an actor. He's the host of Skeptic Tank, which is a super popular weekly podcast. It's on its 299 episode.
1:14.4	Ari grew up. comic and an actor. He's the host of Skeptic Tank, which is a super popular weekly podcast.
1:11.6	It's on its 299th episode. Ari grew up Orthodox Jewish. He spent two years in Yeshiva in Israel,
1:18.0	and then he turned into an atheist comedian who did an outrageous web video series called The Amazing
1:23.6	Racist. And he runs a yearly shroom fest where he's like a benevolent Dionysus
1:28.9	presiding over a worldwide two-day celebration of psilocybin mushrooms.
1:32.9	Three days.
1:33.9	Three days, my bad.
	...

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