#840 - Dogma Debate Reflection

Serious Circus

Serious Circus, Inc

Politics, Religion & Spirituality, News, Society & Culture

4.2 • 997 Ratings

🗓️ 17 June 2026

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

After more than a decade of debates, thousands of hours of conversations, and countless guests, one question keeps coming up:Is Dogma Debate dead?In this episode, David Smalley explains why Dogma Debate slowed down, what changed in the debate landscape, and why stand-up comedy, content creation, and the rise of TikTok debate culture made the original format increasingly difficult to sustain. He shares behind-the-scenes stories about booking guests, producing the show, dealing with debate fatigue, and why so many potential guests stopped accepting invitations.David also discusses possible futures for Dogma Debate, including:

Research-focused conversations instead of traditional debates
Fact-checking and investigating claims together in real time
Reacting to news stories and current events
Revisiting classic Dogma Debate episodes
The challenge of finding guests willing to engage honestly

Most importantly, he reflects on what made the show successful in the first place: a commitment to evidence, critical thinking, and following the facts wherever they lead. Topics Covered:

Why Dogma Debate slowed down
Debate burnout and repetition
TikTok debate culture
Ben Shapiro, Bill O’Reilly, and high-profile guests
The hidden workload behind podcast production
Research vs debate
Future directions for the show
Comedy, purpose, and creative fulfillment

If Dogma Debate returns, it may look very different than before.But the search for truth isn’t going anywhere.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Why did dog my debate stop?
0:02.9	Why did it slow down?
0:06.5	Um,
0:06.9	I just got really, really, uh, busy with, um,
0:18.8	stand-up comedy, with acting,
0:24.2	with doing all parts of it.
0:27.6	I mean, I was the Booker, the camera guy, the lighting guy,
0:32.4	setting up all the mics.
0:34.7	It was a lot of work to even just make it, you get to the point to where we could start having the debate.
0:40.5	And then I had to be on point and correct for the debate.
0:44.8	And then the editing and production and post-production and then the uploading.
0:50.1	And it's hours and hours of work on top of getting asked to come do stand-up comedy all over the country.
0:57.7	It's much better to be able to be in a comedy club and to bring joy to people by the hundreds
1:06.1	than it is to sit and have a physically and mentally exhausting conversation for four hours
1:13.1	with one person who somehow wants to justify why slavery is okay.
1:19.1	I spent so much of my time in studio teaching the other person how to have a discussion.
1:35.9	And I know that sounds arrogant and pompous, but it's the reality.
1:42.7	I would say my part and then their response, the first sentence
1:47.2	out of their mouth would be a straw man fallacy. And I'd go, hold on. I can, no, I let you talk.
1:53.5	I didn't spew out fallacy after fallacy. We have to, we have to, we have to, they don't even
1:58.0	understand it. They don't know what a straw man is. They don't know what an equivocation is. They don't get it. And so I have to, we have to, they don't even understand it. They don't know what a straw man is. They don't know what an equivocation is.
2:01.9	They don't get it.
	...

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