Tricks, Trolls, and LOLs: Comedy’s Crash Course in Spotting Lies, with Rachel Parris

Intelligence Squared

Arts, News, Society & Culture, News Commentary

4.2 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 25 May 2025

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This event was part of Critical Conversations, a new series on the age of misinformation by Intelligence Squared and Sage & Jester, hosted by Sophia Smith Galer. Sometimes the best way to expose a lie is to laugh at it. Satire is a force to be reckoned with in any democracy and artists are essential in shedding light on the truth. Comedy has long been a way to bring difficult conversations to the fore, and to challenge narratives. At Tricks, Trolls and LOLs, find out how humour and creative expression can serve as a counterbalance to misinformation; how satire can dismantle it, why authoritarian regimes fear comedians, and how art can be a powerful antidote to propaganda. In May 2025, we were joined by host Sophia Smith Galer and comedian Rachel Parris at the Pleasance Theatre in London for the first event in our our Critical Conversations series, in partnership with Sage & Jester. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi, this is Ava from Vanta.
0:02.0	In today's digital world, compliance regulations are changing constantly,
0:07.0	and earning customer trust has never mattered more.
0:10.0	Vanta helps companies get compliant fast and stay secure,
0:13.0	with the most advanced AI automation and continuous monitoring out there.
0:17.0	So whether you're a startup going for your first stock two or ISO-27,001,
0:21.5	or a growing enterprise managing vendor risk, Banta makes it quick, easy and scalable,
0:26.4	and I'm not to say that because I work here. Get started today at banta.com.
0:30.7	I'm making a robot head with an Amazon box. I've painted it silver and Daddy help me make...
0:36.1	At Amazon, we're actually using paper bags for more of our deliveries.
0:39.3	And now I'm making a paper hot air balloon and I even made a little brown basket
0:43.3	and I'm making a dog that looks just like Monty.
0:46.3	Just one of the ways we've reduced the weight of our packaging by more than 40% since 2015,
0:50.3	which is still good for playtime.
0:52.3	Mom! Where's the scissors?
0:56.3	To learn more, visit aboutamson.com.com at UK forward slash sustainability.
1:00.8	Welcome to Intelligence Squared, where great minds meet.
1:04.5	I'm producer Mia Serenti.
1:06.8	Satire is a force to be reckoned with in any democracy, and artists are essential in shedding light on the truth.
1:13.9	Comedy has long been a way to bring difficult conversations to the fall and to challenge narratives.
1:19.3	Today's episode is the recording from our recent live event, Tricks, trolls and lulls, comedy's crash course in spotting lies.
1:26.0	This was the first installment of our Critical Conversations series
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 8 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Intelligence Squared, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Intelligence Squared and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.