👓🎥🐦 On this Bonus-Wag, Paul and Stephen ask Academy Award-winning director Errol Morris about his ground-breaking invention of the Interrotron camera and how it takes the viewer closer to a documentary subject. Also, what John le Carré says in Errol Morris’s film The Pigeon Tunnel that makes Stephen wonder if being a spy is similar to being an actor. And what separates a good actor from a bad one? All this and the Errol Morris STFU school of directing!? Enjoy this week’s Bonus-Wag! Paul...

📽️📽️📽️ Paul and Stephen are excited to meet Academy Award-winning Director and avid book collector Errol Morris. Stephen’s funky blue lighting and Paul’s floatation tank-talk mark the start of this Chinwag and in just a few short turns, the conversation goes from the idea of the bodhisattva in Buddhism to the weirdness of Florida, in particular Vernon, FL (aka “Nub City”). In typical Waggy fashion, they’re on to a shared reverence for American novelist Harry Crews and a fascination with...

🎟️🎟️🎟️ Mark your calendars and set your comedic compass for April 19th Listen my children and you shall hear Of the Chinwag ride of Paul Giamatti, On the nineteenth of April, in twenty-four; Hardly a wagger is immune to the hype Who is present that famous day and year… - Stephen Asma Prepare for a night of hilarious tales and witty banter that'll have you laughing from land to sea. Secure your tickets asap for a comedy voyage through Boston's cultural landscape at The Center for Arts at...

⚔️🇳🇴🦈 Paul and Stephen talk about Stephen’s trip to Norway and his readings from an 8th Century book of spells found in the floorboards of an old church. Is Iceland or Norway known for delicacies like rotten shark? They’re not sure, but still not fans (of the shark meals). And listeners out there, do you want to hear Paul and Stephen explore Berserkers? Let us know! Also, if your genetic analysis says you’re part Viking, you’re actually not. Also not part Berserker, but neither here nor...

👔👔👔 Paul puts Stephen in the hot seat for Part 1 of this rigorous round of “Ask the Philosopher!” This is not just your basic Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. You’ll learn the importance of Pythagoras, besides that theorem you learned in grade school (with an obligatory mention of passing gas). Then, hear about the mindf*ck of Zeno’s paradox, famed thinker and nudist Diogenes, all about cynics, roots of empirical thinking, Roman stoicism and Marcus Aurelius, and why prisoners of war like...

🐙💭🪸 Paul and Stephen have a few more questions for resident Octopus expert, author, philosopher and biologist, Professor Peter Godfrey-Smith. When does consciousness emerge in the evolutionary process and does it exist in every bit of matter - even a grain of sand? Then, do Octopuses have language and what is its function? And controversial questions abound on whether animals dream, the role of memory, and what commonality of sleep phases suggests about our shared evolutionary origins....

🐙🐙🐙 The Octopus is fascinating and mysterious, and as Paul and Stephen discover, a cephalopod that offers incredible lessons in consciousness, intelligence, awareness and being. The octopus might also be the closest we have to studying the alien mind. Peter Godfrey-Smith is an author, Professor of Biology, philosopher of science and skilled scuba diver who’s looked right into the eyes of many an octopus, and they’ve observed him back. Listen as Professor Godfrey-Smith explains how the...

📊🔢🧮📐 Paul and Stephen dig into our Chinwag mailbag for this SETI-inspired question (that’s Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence to any novice listeners). The Drake Equation is explained and let’s just say there’s A LOT of math involved. It’s been 60+ years since last estimates were made on the odds of finding intelligent life in the Milky Way, and Chinwag listener Rick B. wants to know, how long could a civilization broadcast its presence through technology, and what current factors...

🦑🦑🦑 The sea is deep, but it’s no match for Paul and Stephen’s boundless appetite for aquatic mysteries. Follow them as they dip into the strange world of three famed squids: The Giant Squid, the Colossal Squid, and the Bigfin Squid (a BigFoot squid, really??). Then, other Unidentified Submerged Objects (USOs) like humboldt squids, giant albino crabs, boat-attacking-squids (!), megamouth sharks, whale sharks, and the myth of a Japanese moon maiden. And of course, the theory that UFOs...

📫💭📆 We love our loyal Chinwag listeners and we love your letters! Keep ‘em coming and we may respond to them on the air! Miss B Havin wrote to Paul and Stephen and shared a message she received in a recurring dream about Paul. Does Paul understand the message therein? What does water represent in a dream, and what’s the least lucky month of the year? Put your ears on this Bonus-Wag and find out! Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author...

🔱🔱🔱 Paul and Stephen wade through the deep waters and history of such aquatic mysteries as Atlantis and The Bermuda Triangle. Listen in as Stephen details Plato’s telling of Atlantis, with all its craven needs, imperialist ambitions and loss of virtue. The weird link between Atlantis and UFO/paranormal activity is legend, but did you know of the lasers in Atlantis and its connection to The Bermuda Triangle? It’s also a thing! Then Paul introduces Charles Berlitz (yes that Berlitz) who...

👐🏼✝️👐🏼 Paul and Stephen have a few more questions for the "Long Island Medium," Theresa Caputo. Listen in to hear how she learned to interpret the messages she receives from departed souls and spirits? How Catholics respond to her abilities, and do demons and negativity in the spirit world get her down? And does she fear losing her gifts? T his bonus is Medium-well! Get it? Dig in Waggers! Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author...

🐄🐄🐄 Recorded live from the (possibly haunted) Marines’ Memorial Theatre in San Francisco at Sketchfest 2024 with special guest, comedian, writer, and host of the Beautiful/Anonymous podcast, Chris Gethard. Chris heard about a lot of brushes with the paranormal during his time at Weird NJ, and he relays one of the spookiest stories imaginable about a band of silent, menacing cows leading the way to a flannel-clad BigFoot lying supine on a mattress. Was there LSD involved? And what’s more...

🙋🏻‍♂️🍕🖋️ Paul, Stephen, and comedian Christ Gethard answer the weirdly awesome questions from our live audience at Sketchfest 2024. Have you noticed conspiracy theories have gone from “fun” to “crazy”? You have? Perfect segue to Chris’s rumored involvement with Pizzagate and the real reason behind that fake (but really creepy!) satanic ritual on The Chris Gethard Show with Will Ferrell (uh, ratings!?). Paul fields a doozy of an audience question and sidesteps it masterfully. More Norcal...

🗑️🗑️🗑️ Recorded live from the (possibly haunted) Marines’ Memorial Theatre in San Francisco at Sketchfest 2024 with special guest, comedian, writer, and host of the Beautiful/Anonymous podcast, Chris Gethard. Is it possible someone doesn’t find Paul charming? Hear the real story behind how Paul ended up in a dumpster on Chris’s public access series, The Chris Gethard Show. Explore more folklore from Virginia (Bunny Man!) and Ohio (yes there are Melonheads in Ohio too!) and the many legends...

🧟🪦🧟‍♀️ Paul and Stephen learn the history of zombies with spiritualism expert Lisa Morton who shares the influence of these phenomena in popular culture, folklore and horror films. Who brought the idea of zombies to mass awareness and what cultures first wrote about these mythical characters? Also, the impact of Bela Lagosi’s film White Zombie, how it gave way to Voodoo zombies, Sci-Fi zombies, George Romero’s human flesh-eating zombies and Frankenstein. Also why are zombies so popular and...

🖤🖤🖤 Welcome Waggers! Come for the ghosts, stay for the vomiting ectoplasm! Paul and Stephen walk through the myriad ways folks talked to the dead throughout history with spiritualism expert and author Lisa Morton. En route they discuss spirits, mediums, oracles, ouija boards, priming, and rampant charlatanry in the business of ghost-hunting. Hear ghostly experiences from the legendary Stanley Hotel (aka- the Disneyland of ghost hotels made famous in The Shining), the birth of the seance...

🇷🇺😵‍💫🌀 Paul Giamatti shares a crazy Havana syndrome-like experience he had at the Russian Embassy in Budapest, which somehow leads to his love of acting on stage and sharing that mass-delusion with an audience. Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art. 🇷🇺😵‍💫🌀 ========= 📋 Please help us get to know you better by completing our Chinwagger Survey 👉🏼 https://gum.fm/chinwag...

😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫 Paul and Stephen strive to understand the phenomenon of mass panic and incidences of collective delusion throughout history. Learn the difference between mass panic and mass hysteria, how our minds influence our physical reactions, and the power of the media in escalating these events. What caused the hysteria that surrounded the Beatles and Elvis, or the outbreak of panic after the infamous Orson Welles radio broadcast of H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds? Paul knows a thing...

🤠🤠🤠 During Paul and Stephen’s first Chinwag with delightful author and historian Sarah Vowell (go back and listen to that episode from 10/4/23 now!), the term “10 gallon hat” came up. Both hosts, as well as Sarah, were stymied on the origin of the term. What does it really mean? Does it refer to the size of a cowboy hat? A measurement of water? Does it have to do with how much water a cowboy hat can hold, and why would you pour all that water into a hat anyway? Well, Paul and Stephen know...

🌺🌺🌺 Author and historian Sarah Vowell may have spoken a little too soon in her first Chinwag with Paul and Stephen. Behold the incredible tales of coincidence that challenge her literal mind and make Sarah question her woo-woo-ness. From Sacagawea’s chance meeting with her long-lost brother, to John Adams’ and Thomas Jefferson’s shared date of death, and odd details about the Lincoln assassination and the Booth brothers – do serendipitous moments in history actually mean anything?  On to...

👻🥞🥤 Natasha shares her beliefs in the possibility of aliens, ghosts and Bigfoot, introduces the Fermi Paradox to the conversation with Paul and Stephen, enjoys a pancake lunch, and tells the story of her life with Rootbeer the dog.  Bonus: Did Natasha’s dog Rootbeer get plastic surgery or consult a psychic? Tune in to this week’s Bonus-Wag to find out! Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science,...

⚛️⚛️⚛️ Paul and Stephen read a letter from Keith, an airline pilot in Idaho who shares his incredible UFO sighting and belief in Interdimensional Sasquatch Travel. Then.... Natasha Lyonne joins, and that’s when things get weird and quantum-physical. Listen in as Paul and Stephen follow Natasha around her house, feed Rootbeer the dog, and learn why she’s comforted by the dulcet sound of quantum physics audio books at bedtime. Hear why discipline and restraint and the structure of...

🏺🌊🐆 More Cryptid lore for your listening pleasure. Meet one of Stephen’s favorites, the legendary Hodag of Wisconsin. The horned Hodag that never reclines, liked the taste of humans, and just might’ve been a hoax that stoked tourism in 1890s Oneida County. The Hodag conjures Native American folklore of the underwater panther, Mishipeshu, who lives in the water and fights Thunderbirds (a favorite of Paul’s). But have you heard of Thunderbird sightings? They’ve been reported from just about...

🎟️🎟️🎟️ What’s that? You say you want to see your favorite Chinwag hosts live? We thought you’d never ask! Paul Giamatti and Stephen Asma are coming to SF Sketchfest 2024 on January 27th, and they’ll leave no urban myth untold! Join them and special guest, comedian, author and host of the Beautiful/Anonymous podcast Chris Gethard. Explore the weird and wondrous intrigue of the City by the Bay. We’d love to see you and we’ll even take all your weird-ass questions! So, get your tickets to...