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Penn & Teller's Bullshit! (TV Show)

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Penn and Teller on Showtime

Penn and Teller have a new show on Showtime called "Penn and Teller: Bullshit!" Saw the episode about alien abductions the other night, pretty funny stuff....

http://www.sho.com/ptbs/

sureshot
 
Penn & Teller's B*llshit

This is on the FX channel now.
Interesting debunking programme of NDEs and Ouija Boards.
 
Telewest sucks!

Being a bloody Telewest customer (big mistake) I can't get FX or loads of other channels(don't remind me)
What did they have to say about ouija boards?
 
They got a group of volunteers to use the board, and then blindfolded them to see if it made any difference. What they didn't tell them was that they'd rotated the board through 180 degrees. Hence when it moved to "Yes" it moved to a big empty space.
 
Dark Detective said:
What about the NDEs?
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Apparantly it's caused by something to do with oxygen loss to the brain. Astronauts training in the spinning thing like James Bond got trapped in near the beginning of Moonraker experience similar effects.
 
DMT

Although maybe not regarding Penn and Teller show, NDE's are probaly due to lack of oxygen, but possibly more to do with the release of DMT from the pineal gland. The spooky thing is; that, does not mean NDE's are just a chemical reaction, it could be still be a "real" event-check out the book, The Spirit Molecule, its like Altered States all over again, its a University Professors study, and a fasinating read.
 
Red_Dalek said:
Apparantly it's caused by something to do with oxygen loss to the brain. Astronauts training in the spinning thing like James Bond got trapped in near the beginning of Moonraker experience similar effects.
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I think that it has been demonstrated that noise on the optic nerve (for example due to anoxia) generates the perception of travelling along a tunnel heading towards a light. Note that this doesn't explain all of the reported features, but it may explain why "the tunnel" is common to many NDEs.
 
Penn and Teller Bullsh*t

Have any American posters caught this show?? I think it's on Showtime East, not that that means anything to me. I've read about it on another messageboard and my mouth is watering being a huge Penn and Teller fan.

(Amazon USA have the first series on DVD and I'm cursing the fact I have a region 2 player).
 
You can hack a DVD player so it does all regions. We've done it. You can get a hack off the 'net. ;)
 
I usually watch it,though I missed it last night.It's an entertaining show,but I don't always agree with them,as they tend to be pretty much doctrinaire CSICOP types.They're good libertarians though,something like myself,and I usually tend to agree with them.
 
I've admired these guys for years, and the show is perfectly acceptable entertainment, however one-sided it may be. Their brief, in short: debunk anything & everything not currently accepted by science, and do so by ridiculing & hollering obscenities over montage shots of this week's featured ghost hunter/UFO believer/etc., etc. Preaching to the converted, really. Those who don't believe in what is commonly referred to as the ''paranormal'' will nod their heads in smug satisfaction, while those with an open ( and dare I say it...scientific ) mind, with an actual grasp of the data pertaining to the subject matter, will realize that no matter the level of insulting invective levelled at the ''true believers'', there is a large body of evidence which indicates that the world view presently preached by the scientific establishment ( ''this is how things are, and that's IT!'') is not, necessarily, the correct one.
 
Re: Penn and Teller Bullsh*t

I'm dying to see this :(

Lillith said:
(Amazon USA have the first series on DVD and I'm cursing the fact I have a region 2 player).
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And now series 1 and 2 are out (but not availble via amazon.co.uk):

Series 1:
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00019P ... enantmc-20

Series 2:
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0006FO ... enantmc-20

----
Their homepage:
www.pennandteller.com

And Bullshit!'s homepage:
www.sho.com/site/ptbs/

Their Wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_and_Teller

[edit: Which reveals that Penn's first child is called: Moxie CrimeFighter Jillette!!!

and:

Teller was born Raymond Joseph Teller on February 14, 1948 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but has since had his name legally changed to Teller
Click to expand...

:lol: ]

and the Bulshit! one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit%21
 
Emps: this week's show was about 'busting' ghostbusters, and featured none other than Nick Redfern at the receiving end of some particularly nasty (though still funny ) insults from Penn...not to his face, of course, but through use of the show's tried and true method of using footage obtained while the subject of said insults either didn't realize they were being filmed, or were standing, waiting for cameras to roll, usually engaged in some entirely idiosyncratic personal habit, unaware that the footage would actually be used in the finished product ( Nick, for his part, likes to pick his thumbnail ).
 
ignatius said:
Emps: this week's show was about 'busting' ghostbusters, and featured none other than Nick Redfern at the receiving end of some particularly nasty (though still funny ) insults from Penn...not to his face, of course, but through use of the show's tried and true method of using footage obtained while the subject of said insults either didn't realize they were being filmed, or were standing, waiting for cameras to roll, usually engaged in some entirely idiosyncratic personal habit, unaware that the footage would actually be used in the finished product ( Nick, for his part, likes to pick his thumbnail ).
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Sounds rather cheap - did they come up with anything good?
 
The episode basically followed two sets of 'ghosthunters' around as they attempted ( using various EMF meters and the like ) to discern whether a location was haunted or if the reports there were merely the result of wishful thinking. At the very least, Nick Redfern's team seemed to go about it with an open mind ( trying to establish if there were an actual reason to believe paranormal activity was present ), as opposed to the show's position, which is to immediately attack the supposed mysteries, regardless of any evidence to the contrary ( and, of course, how could there be any evidence to the contrary since we know that everything that does not fit within the accepted scientific paradigm is ''BULLS***!'' ). Not taken too seriously, it's an entertaining show. Sort of like an angry, hyperthyroid Mystery Science Theater 3000. Without the puppets. ( Not counting Teller ).
 
I watch the show and they dont' jsut debunk the paranormal. The one on circumcision was a real eye opener. Personally i watch them knowing that i won't necessarily agree with them but i will defintiely be entertained.
 
ignatius said:
Their brief, in short: debunk anything & everything not currently accepted by science, and do so by ridiculing & hollering obscenities over montage shots...
Click to expand...
There's a show in the series where Penn 'explains' why they do it this way: apparently (paraphrasing), if they call someone who uses trickery to to convince third parties ('sheep') to believe he/she can contact their dead loved ones, grant them eternal life, book them on a flying saucer to Betelguese (for examples) 'a charlatan', said charlatan can sue and because he/she's got all these nice sheep duped, they'll obediently trot into court and bleat on his/her behalf, help him/her win his/her lawsuit and then carry on fleecing them, and meanwhile Showtime and Penn & Teller are a few million bucks in the hole and have to apologize to the weaself***er as well!

Meanwhile, if they just go ahead and call the same individual a 'weaself***er', it's apparently covered by Freedom of Expression, and the 'charlatan' can't sue for being called a 'weaself***er'. Also, it's more fun.

So there you go. Ain't legal advice grand? :D
 
Looks like they have been faking Bigfoot footage which has got Loren Coleman rolling his eyes:

www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/sononomafake/

He called it as fake at the time and it seems P&T have been trying to get him on their Cryptozoology "special"

www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/cabl ... adhunting/

Seems like he handled things just about right and ha the right to be a little smug (not that he is but I might be tempted if I was in his shoes ;) ).

Makes the BFRO who posted the film (which has mysteriously disappeared) look a little silly:

The BFRO’s immediate jump in conclusions that this videotape is an actual record of Bigfoot seems premature. Their site states that they "are confident the Sonoma footage is not fake (i.e. not animation or a man in a costume). This figure is most likely a real sasquatch — a survivor of the gigantopithecus [sic] line of apes."
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www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/so-no-no-ma/

Although they have since posted saying the fakery is Penn & Teller's claims to faking the film.
 
I'm watching the Cryptozoology episode now... I used to really enjoy this show (social expectations of beauty, circumcision, conspiracy theories, etc), though in later episodes they started going after topics that really didn't need debunking... or rather, they "debunked" things using perverted logic (for example, the fact that PETA is a corrupt evil company, means that vegetarianism and animal rights are BULLSHIT, the fact that there are some crazy people who believe they've been abducted by UFOs means that the search for ET life is BULLSHIT, that there are charlatans claiming to contact the dead means that an interest in the possibilities of an afterlife is BULLSHIT).

At the beginning of the cryptozoology show, Penn implies that people interested in this, or in folklore or myths, have 'too much time on their hands,' which is kind of ironic; I could use that same logic to say he and Teller are wasting time working out elaborate magic tricks when they could have 'real jobs'.

(ps, I have a question: they said the definition of 'Fortean' is 'an interest in all things paranormal'... I was under the impression that being Fortean is to be open to all possible explanations for occurences, paranormal or not. Am I wrong?)
 
emmbob said:
(ps, I have a question: they said the definition of 'Fortean' is 'an interest in all things paranormal'... I was under the impression that being Fortean is to be open to all possible explanations for occurences, paranormal or not. Am I wrong?)
Click to expand...

Ooo we have a number of threads devoted to this - I'd certianly favour your explanation over theirs. I'md throw in something about not ignoring anomalies and by extension not just anomalies in science but those in the paranormal too. ;)

This is all a pity - one wonders if they have run out of material and are taking cheap shots at subjects. They should probably wind this up and pitch another show at the networks. As magicians they are great as debunk shocktroops they might appeal to a certain section of the audience but still..
 
I started watching this show recently, and I must say it does seem a bit like preaching to the converted. I think the show should be an hour instead of half an hour, to give more time to look at evidence. Sometimes they miss out important things both pro and con. But sometimes they seems to just pick a few nutters with a belief, and try to give the impression that because these nutters have that belief, everybody with that belief are nutters. Like the 9/11 conspiracy show.
 
Is the crypto episode avaliable anywhere?
I think that the CFZ who were featured in the episode took it all in stride and had a laugh whilst making some money from the show.
 
Showtime are putting clips of Penn & Teller's show on YouTube as little trailers/tasters and for those (like me) who don't have access to their show it does help gie the idea of what they do:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7vD3c0xzwI
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJUoiCdip7k

Which seems to be a lot of pointing and laughing at people with odd beliefs while playing silly music in the background (with a dash of cunning editting thrown in for good effect).
 
Mighty_Emperor said:
Showtime are putting clips of Penn & Teller's show on YouTube as little trailers/tasters and for those (like me) who don't have access to their show it does help gie the idea of what they do:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7vD3c0xzwI
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJUoiCdip7k

Which seems to be a lot of pointing and laughing at people with odd beliefs while playing silly music in the background (with a dash of cunning editting thrown in for good effect).
Click to expand...
The comments below the clips are interesting. Those are some crazy mixed up kids. Yessirreebob!

Penn & Teller obviously have a real solid fan base out there. It's apparent that many of them value being that much smarter than the subjects of the clips. :roll:
 
Video.Google have <ahem> 30 minute long 'clips' available of this show.

I won't link to them 'cos it might be naughty.
 
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