A Look at Penn And Teller’s Bullshit!

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If you are not watching Penn and Teller’s Bullshit on Showtime, well, then I just pity you. Okay, okay, I understand not all of you people can get Showtime, but, I have to assume, if you have a high-speed Internet connection then you’ve at least heard of them from YouTube. Right? No? Well, I at least hope you know who the incredibly hysterical Penn Gillette and Teller are: magicians who have been putting on their show in Vegas for years. The duo’s magic and illusion performance is second to none; forget that shitty street magic bullshit that those armature acts like David Blaine and Chris Angel do, this stuff is top of the line and as professional as you can get. Be that as it may (and it may), this show really has nothing to do with either of their prestidigitation backgrounds, nor is there really any magic to speak of, at all. What the show is about, however, is debunking a nation (hell, a globe!) full of excessive bullshit.

And let’s face it: Our nation is fully ripe with steaming piles of stinky, horrible bull shit. Subjects the couple have tackled over the past six seasons (they’re mid way through the seventh) include cryptozoology, gun control, second-hand smoke, recycling, astrology, bottled water, and orgasms. Oh yeah, it runs the gamut for sure. The closest show you’re likely to find in context is Mythbusters, mostly because Penn and Teller not only tell it like it is, but dispel the accuracy of the subject at hand so thoroughly that it literally makes you question the reasons why you might have believed it in the first place. Not only do the two find each and every defense and opposing offense to play both sides of the argument, but they do it the funniest possible ways. Check out a few of these clips and you’ll see what I’m talking about:

This one’s about Mad Cow Disease!

How about the FCC attacking Cable?

Oh look! Alien abduction, too!

No, they most certainly are not nice. But you know what? Niceness never made an effective weapon against stupidity. And as I said: this nation is rife with it. Of course there has been a little bit of controversy over the show where, on occasion, they’ve had to retract a word or two… but never in the ways you’d expect. They never apologize for themselves and they never make any qualms about what it is they disprove, find quantifiable, or completely mock as absolute bullshit. So, if this sounds like a show that you, too, might find utterly addicting, tune in to Showtime for new episodes every Thursday at 10pm. Oh don’t worry, they’re played all the time throughout the week. Trust me: nothing says ‘I told ya so’ like discovering just how right you knew you were about some really stupid bullshit. Here’s a few more clips.

Breasts!

Flippin’ off Wal-Mart (you know you’ve always wanted to)!

What? Lie detectors all bullshit, too? No way!

Even on video games! MAN!