Christian nationalists want to turn America into a theocracy, a government under biblical rule.

If they gain more power, it could mean fewer rights for you.

I'm Heath Drusen and on the new season of Extremely

American I'll take you inside the movement. Listen to Extremely American

from Boise State Public Radio, part of the NPR Network.

Bullseye with Jesse Thorne is a production of maximum fund.org

and is distributed by NPR. It's

Bolesi, I'm Jesse Thor.

My guest Paul Sheer is in his late 40s. He's an actor who's seen him on the league Black Monday, fresh off the boat. He's a founding member of the Sketch Comedy Group Human Giant who had their own show on MTV.

He also hosts the monstrously huge podcasts, How Did This Get Made and Unspooled?

And as I said, in his late 40s, prime book writing age for established comedy performers.

So that's what he did. But he didn't write the kind of book you might expect.

Are there bonkers stories about celebrities in this book?

Yes, there are bonkers stories about celebrities in this book,

including Barbara Streisand, Eddie Eddie Murphy and Christopher Walken. But that's not really what the book is about.

Paul Shear spent his childhood on Long Island in New York. His parents split when he was young. His mom eventually remarried.

Paul's stepfather abused and neglected him. The home he grew up in was often chaotic,

frightening, and sometimes violent.

Sheer became a successful performer despite those circumstances.

He became a husband and a parent, he started seeing a therapist,

and for a long time he didn't really talk about his childhood

with friends and family, not the traumatic parts anyway. But when he started writing the book, those

...