[chuck]There’s a thread right now at the Irreligiosophy fan page about favorite episodes, and it got me thinking: now that the show is nearly complete, what were your favorite moments?
To get the ball rolling, I’ll list some of mine: telling my pullup story for the first time to anyone during the “Advice to Young Men” episode (at that point I didn’t think very many people would ever listen to the show), laughing at Hovind’s poem and letter to the editor that he stuck inside his doctoral “dissertation,” interviewing Robert Price about Mormonism, way overpreparing for the second E4F debate (the debate itself was excruciating, but in prepping for it I read a lot of good books and essays), coming up with new ways to annoy and berate our listeners (the Bonerderm commercial comes to mind), and finally just getting to vent publicly about all of my frustrations with religion in general and Mormonism in specific.
It’s been a fun ride.
57 Responses to “Favorite Irreligiosophy Moments”
its gonna take a while to figure out the “best.” going to be hard to pick and choose when they’re mostly all winners. How about going backwards? the only one that comes to mind right off as a “not quite up to par” episode was the hinduism, episode one…I seem to recall that it was a little short on substance when there’s so much to work with there
I have to agree with the Robert Price interview though. That was one of the best.
and the David Silverman one inspired me to go out and send money to the American Athiests and I have never been a “joiner.”
All the mormonism stuff goes without saying, because you guys “know the territory” so well.. and mormonism has to be one of the most interesting of the modern monothieistic juggarnauts because its one of the few cases where you can document the “birth” of a new religion, see it grow and see how this shit really works…
i guess thats a start anyway.
A little background on the Hinduism episode: Leighton got an email from a female listener who mentioned she was interested in hearing about Hinduism. Leighton thought her Facebook profile pic (or maybe it was her forum avatar?) was attractive, so he was set on doing the subject on the podcast. I told him I wasn’t really interested in Hinduism, so he’d be on his own. I thought it might be interesting to do the inverse of what normally occurred in the show: this time Leighton would do all the research and I’d just sit back and comment.
That decision was a huge mistake on both ends (Leighton is not a good researcher and I am not a good color commenter), and led to what came to be regarded as our worst episode ever. I don’t think anything, even our crappy early interviews with fuzzy Christians, came close to rivalling the Hindu episode for sheer, unadulterated awful. When the graph of Irreligiosophy’s glory is set down on stone tablets, or possibly Wikipedia, for future generations, there will be a massive anomalous downturn right around episode 63.
But you followed up shortly afterward with one of my favorite episodes, the PZ Myers interview, and another favorite of mine, actually two episodes, the Hovind exposures. I don’t think the crash will be as massive as you believe. 🙂
I still suspect that you’re selling yourself short. Maybe because you were going through the personal turmoil and that’s what you’re remembering about the latter episodes. While we’re still seeing them as outsiders who were not involved in the behind the scenes turmoil, but still see them as good solid episodes without the personal pain to distort our views.
Still great stuff
The fuzzy Christian interviews were definitely worse than the Hindu episode. I hate fuzzy Christians.
but thats not a reflection on chuck and leighton, thats just what they had to work with 🙂
The best in my heart will always be “Hello my name is Kent Hovind….” and the Book of Mormon stories (complete with musical interludes!)….and the Mormon missionary interviews were kickass.
Mary’s Skepticism doesnt make sense: “Gee, Mary, I dont know. What happens after you get married?!” The nativity episode is probably my favorite.
Definitely Kent Hovind, The E4F with Leighton smoking them near the end, Advice to Young Men, The Podcast Takedown had some super rich stuff like crabby Joyce Myers, “You can’t take my joy!!”…
Fucking ‘ilarious!
The Rudolph and Advice to Young Men episodes. My sister and I loved the shit out of those. Especially the bit about the toothless bumbler.
Oh and the Crazy Bible Stories one with the ‘Emrods’ shit. Oh hell, and Was Jesus a Dick? Man, there are so many.
This feels like a wake.
I may be the only one, but I LOVED the D&D Role-playing games one. Between all the stories of “chester molester moustaches” to the rapid-fire series of one-liners once Leighton admitted to “LARP-ing”… I couldn’t stop laughing my ass off. The Jack Chick discussion afterwards put the icing on top. I’ve listened to it at least 5 times.
Hell, ALL of the Jack Chick ones were *fantastic*. Those and the “podcast” takedown episodes were my favorites (behind RPGs). Robert Price would take the Bronze.
Hovind III, is my favorite, the poem has to be my all time funniest moment of the show. Ahhh… Scottish Hovind, you will no be missed.
P.S. Now that the show is ending do you think you could share how many people downloaded every week. Just curious
Why not?
Towards the end, we saw about 50,000 downloads per episode. The most downloaded episode ever was the John Loftus interview, which clocked in at over 90,000 downloads — that was during our long hiatus where no new content was being put up on the site, and it took three months. I have no idea where that puts us in relation to other podcasts, but I get the sense that we carved out a little niche in the skeptical universe.
that’s the shame of it all, it was like the rocket got to the pad, the engines lighted and as it was just about to roar off the launchpad, the fuel shut off.. it took a lot of work to build up numbers like that and the potential was there for so much more.. just such a shame to lose it at that point. But numbers like that are encouraging. It there’s that many people out there that enjoyed irreligiosophy then I am encouraged anyway.
The good news is that what ever Chuck goes on to produce . . . Unapologetics, etc. I think most of the fans will migrate from here to there. I know that I will be a dedicated listener.
There are a lot of good ones, but generally the ones that stand out for me are the ones that present lots of research and factual information. The two part E4F episode was one of those podcasts from my perspective. The amount of time you guys put into preparing for those debates was impressive, and it shows in the arguments you guys presented. I have listened to that episode multiple times.
For the same reason the Evolution episodes were great also. It is one thing to present the evidence behind evolution in a manner a scientifically minded person can understand, it was even more impressive to present it in a manner that could be sent to a lay person.
The Bob Price, Dan Barker and John Loftus podcasts were great because the conversations you guys were having were so interesting, and they prompted my wife and myself to make a quick trip to the bookstore to read more of what these guys had to say.
On that note I would say that if you have time you should really post a recommended reading list Chuck. The books that you have mentioned have really been both enlightening and great reads.
Oh yeah, you asked for best moments too. 1. The rant you had during the episode with Leighton’s brother, where you basically said you were done showing respect for stupid ideas (I think it was during the second half), and 2. each time during the E4F debates when you gave a well though out premise or argument and had to give a frustrated laugh after the guys gave you back insane responses.
I second the rant about Leighton’s brother. I shouted out “YEA” while I was listening. 🙂
The interview with Bob Price was fun as well as educational.
All the Moron, sorry, Mormon stuff was interesting because I knew very little about what they believed before hearing what you had to say. Of course, I realise that what you said could all have been lies, but heck, who cares.
Feck, 50-90K downloads per episode! That’s a lot of downloads. Considering you were only going for a couple of years and never made appearences at any events, that’s an even more impressive number. You have got to get back in the pod-saddle.
The idea of a reading list and research materials list is a good one. And, some of the “best” of the best episodes WERE the ones that were well researched and provided lots of good solid facts/information as well as good basic entertainment.
It’s interesting because on the facebook thread I have noticed that a lot of the episodes people are pointing out are the Mormon ones, which I have a harder time relating to coming from a Catholic background. It stands to reason there would be a large ex-Mormon following.
As for Chuck’s earlier post regarding the Hindu episode, although the Hindu podcast was maybe not the most well researched episode, the fuzzy Christian episodes were the hardest to listen to due to what I felt was a lack of intellectual consistency on the part of the guests. I wanted to pull my ears off during those ones.
There’s been a lot to like. The Mormon episodes were interesting, because I only knew a bit about the religion when I started listening to the podcast. I enjoyed the Ray Garton interviews. RPGs and Jack Chick were fun as well.
I crack up every time I listen to you tell your pull-up story. LDS Advice to Young Men is my all time favorite, I think. The mormon missionary episodes and the LDS temple ceremony episode are close runners-up. Any time your righteous indignation over other peoples’ stupidity comes through, it’s bound to be a good episode.
I kind of enjoyed hearing Shirley Phelps calling Chuck a dummy.
Hey, the gay penguins at Toronto zoo have split up. Is this in response to Chuck and Leighton splitting up?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16153511
I’d say that Buddy is Chuck, and Pedro is Leighton. The resemblance is uncanny.
Episode 109 was particularly hilarious.
I have a new favorite episode. Maybe just because i listened to it again last night but for now its my favorite and thats the #36 New Testament Morality. Plenty of facts, plenty of laughs, an all around good episode.
My favorite moments were Chuck and Leighton absolutely demolishing the E4F dicks in the redebate. My girlfriend and I listened to episode 100 afterwards and we both agreed that it was the high point in Irreligiosophy.
How could anything top that? Chuck and Leighton were the modern day Simeon and Levi. They circumcised the E4F guys, ripped out their souls and then plundered their b-holes for good measure. Damn, I’ll miss the show!
Crazy Bible Stories and Kent Hovind’s dissertation. I could had done without the intro of episode 96 though.
Gay penguins. Hands down. And Mike (?) the seal. Those little shows were the best, for pure laughter. I was crying by the time you pointed out that the sequestering fence looked damn fine. Besides that going over that so-called dissertation and the E4F episodes where you and Leighton ripped off their heads and skull-fucked them to death with your manly rhetorical arguments were probably the best for content/laughs.
LDS Advice to Young Men is way up there! I received that book after my mom caught me as a young lad with my pants down. I think the book forever scarred me!
“To Young Men Only”?
http://www.salamandersociety.com/sexuality/mword/
This site gives an explanation.
Thanks for the link, Steven. Very interesting read. Some funny,some sad. Great pic of the young boy w/caption “innocent young boy”. Was glad to hear “Today we also know that masturbation is vital to health. New medical studies verify the importance of masturbation to health. Masturbation prevents prostate cancer, and keeps the reproductive system strong and healthy. ” My prostate must be very healthy. I was not raised Mormon, but I was a boyscout, which has some similarities… Best regards, David “Thumper” Harris
I’ve been plowing through the episodes and I’m currently in early 2010. I’ve never visited the web site before, but since the references to it seem to be on the increase I thought that I would give it a look. Oh dear. It seems the end of times is upon us. Far worse is the ostensible breakdown in relations among the hosts. To my ears they were like brothers, and I genuinely valued their ability to relate with each other. It was sort of like a crass version of the Aubrey and Maturin friendship. (I figure that I can make obscure references to intellectual geeks.) I do hope it sorts itself out with time.
Chuck, as a thank you, I am guessing that you return to Phoenix from time to time, and if so I would gladly take you out for Mexican food and beer. My treat. This offer naturally extends to Leighton too, but I suspect he has some things to suss out and he won’t be reading this anytime soon.
Now, as for my favorite episodes so far, I really like the ones that detail the unsavory history of Christianity or the ones that delve into the philosophical responses to religion and religious reasoning.
The Prop 8 podcast was one of my favorites, also any time you mentioned your slave children / Inchul
I am patting myself on the back for the John Loftus interview being the most downloaded podcast… as a moderator on his site, Debunking Christianity, I think I am responsible for the cross pollination. I mentioned that you had mentioned his “outsider test for faith” in one of your podcasts which I believe lead him to get in touch with you and he then mentioned his interview on his much visited website. (I shall let him know that his interview was the most downloaded!)
There were so many great interviews, but I think my favorite was the E4F “debates”… and the subsequent sock puppet letters… I laughed so hard.
The one with Leighton’s brother was very memorable too.
I can’t remember when I started listening, but I’m realizing there are some I missed that I definitely need to listen to.
I was not Mormon, but my closest friends were so I grew up hearing that since I’d been exposed to the true church and didn’t convert, I wouldn’t get to go to the highest heaven. I listen to a lot of skeptical/atheist podcasts– this one was my favorite.
This was already mentioned, but the rant at Leighton’s brother during the “Respect for Other Religions” episode made me want to cheer. It’s been so long since I listened to the early episodes that I’m thinking about re-visiting them. Oh, and the entire “Advice to Young Men” podcast was literally one of the funniest podcast episodes I’ve EVER heard. And I remember getting huge brainboners from the religion and cognitive dissonance episode from way back. And of course, I think your supreme ass-kicking in the E4F debates will always be remembered among the fans.
The missionaries were great because it brought back some forgotten memories from my mission (’01-’03), like “earning wife points.”
Goodbye Christopher, its a sad day…..
Yes, without a doubt my favourite episode was Advice To Young Men. This holds a special place in my little factory because I can still remember getting my “For Young Men Only” pamphlet when I was about 12. I also enjoyed the missionaries episode and I’ve since subscribed to The Church Of Awesome which I’m enjoying very much (perhaps you could do a guest spot).
Podcasts aside, my favourite moment was when I got confirmation that my dissertation had been peer reviewed and I had reached the required standard for my D.Irr. The fact that it was awared with Honours (the only one ever, I think) is one of the greatest achievements in my life. Best $2.55 NZD I’ve ever spent.
So re: the Hindu episode, I actually thought it was cool how the guy who was actually Hindi came on a few episodes later because that was really interesting so at least it allowed that. I actually can remember listening to that in my car and i thought it was interesting how he was almost this ethnic Hindu. I also remember that period of doing a ton of interviews and for some reason I was the only one who liked them. I remember tallpenguin? and the seventh day adventists. The E4F debate was one of my favorite if it counts. I remember having gone to a Christian college then becoming a heathen I felt like I could argue both for and against Christianity better than the people trying to reconvert me just because I uh actually read the Bible and apologetic texts. But man, you really know your stuff. It was kind of a proud moment for team Dr.Irr (i.e, the fans).
Yeah that Hindu episode Susan refers to was a great example of how when you guys made mistakes or got some stuff wrong, you acknowledged it and corrected it. I love that. It’s honest and shows that you’re not only doing this for entertainment value but you care about the accuracy of the information you put out there.
For a show that had racist and homophobic jokes, made fun of women for being unattractive and made light of child slavery and the mentally handicapped you guys had a shitload of integrity.
Just a quick question: Have you thought about joining the Mormon Brothers Chris and Mike on their podcast over at Church of Awesome? I figure since you spent more time with them than anyone else on your podcast (the temple episode was 90 mins and the missionary one was 3 and a half hours), you’d seem like a good fit.
Anyway, my favorite episodes are the mormon ones, being an exmo myself, but the Rudolph one is really funny, probably the best one ever made. It had me gasping for air. Dave Silverman interview was good, as was the 7th Day Advents or whatever they’re called.
The kind hath no clothes!
Damn that kind!
Have you thought about joining the Mormon Brothers Chris and Mike on their podcast over at Church of Awesome?
I’ll be guesting on an episode as soon as we can coordinate our schedules.
One of my favorite moments was Chuck’s advice on how to make Mormon missionaries extremely uncomfortable… most notably, the compulsive masturbation gag.
While I ultimately hope Irreligiosophy isn’t gone forever, I often wished the same of Pink Floyd. It was a good run, guys.
If anyone hasn’t done so already, I urge them to check out Cognitive Dissonance at http://www.dissonancepod.com. Run by two irreverent skeptics/atheists from the Chicago area, the podcast is very similar to Irreligiosophy in content and humor, albeit there is more talk of politics (the hosts are decidedly liberal, so politically conservative atheists will not find it welcoming).
Wow, Chuck. If I recall correctly, that’s a not insignificant chunk of what the Skeptics’ Guide gets. Some favorite moments of mine:
1) All of 2010.
2) The E4F saga.
3) The whole Mims Carter thing.
4) The start of The Second Law (it counts!).
5) Book of Mormon stories.
6) Going to sleep with you two blabbing in the background.
7) Kent Hovind’s dissertation.
8) Fuck You Fans month.
I’m pretty cheesy, I know. I’m really looking forward to the What Is Truth? review. As far as I’m concerned it’ll be the keystone of irreligiosophy. Plus, I like Matt Wakefield.
And for old times’ sake, where’s mah podcast?
And the time the site software thought my 8 next to a
closing parenthesis in an enumerated list was a shades-wearing emoticon.
And for old times’ sake, where’s mah podcast?
That’s on me. We’ve tried to record twice, but there’s so much shit in the book that it’s difficult trying to whittle it down to a reasonable time. I’m going to try a different tack and record again this Thursday. We’ll see what happens.