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Penn & Teller: Bullshit!
"We're going to hunt down as many purveyors of bull**** as we can." (Penn Jillette) (Investigator #125, 2009 March)
Penn &
Teller:
Bull****! is an American, ½-hour television
series which debunks nonsense, hosted by comedian-magicians Penn Fraser
Jillette and Raymond Joseph Teller.
The show began in January 2003. It criticises and debunks: •
Pseudoscience (e.g. ESP; alternative medicine;
alien abductions)
• Supernatural beliefs (e.g. ghosts; ouija boards; exorcisms) • Religion (e.g. Creationism; Mother Theresa; the Bible) • Fads (e.g. bottled water; diets; self-empowerment) • Social issues (e.g. gun control; waste recycling; conspiracy theories) • Charlatans (e.g. Hypno-charlatans) Penn
& Teller
presentations are blunt, mocking and aggressive with
expletives such as bull****, ass**** and f*** regularly repeated. In
the show on anger management we're told, "The casual ass****, or just
plain dickhead, might do well in an anger management program…"
Nevertheless, Penn concludes that the "venting" technique for anger
management is actually "bull****" because venting increases
aggressiveness. Sometimes the show attributes ulterior motives (e.g.
easy money) to promoters of misconceptions.
Some of the shows include nudity. In one a group of naked people move around in the background; another includes a waxing scene. Program 6 "Sex, Sex, Sex" examines enlargement products for breasts and penises, concludes they don't work, and declares them "bull****!" Penn & Teller Bull****! achieved worldwide success in democratic countries including five seasons in the USA. In Australia it aired around midnight. Penn explains their choice of the term "bull****" in the opening episode: If they called people frauds or liars they could be sued for slander even if they have overwhelming evidence of chicanery. But vulgar abuse is not legally slanderous — calling people "ass****" or "motherf*****" expresses an opinion, not a fact, and is legally safer. PROGRAM FORMAT
Penn does all the talking and Teller mimes and acts. Most
programs guest-star
famous advocates of various beliefs. We saw
Hal Lindsey, author of The Late Great Planet Earth (Program 4,
End of
the World), and Duane Gish, anti-evolutionist (Program 8 Creationism).
Skeptics and critics also guest-star regularly including Michael
Shermer of Skeptic magazine (Program 19, The Bible: Fact or
Fiction),
and Christopher Hitchens author of God Is Not Great (Program
31, Holier
Than Thou).
Proponents of topics often end up looking silly or deluded. They apparently agree to be on TV, knowing they could be introduced as "Then there's this ass****". Penn has confirmed that interviewees know what program they'll be on. But whether they really "know" may sometimes depend on how observant they are. In one episode the crew enters a building with one member wearing a cap labelled Penn & Teller: Bullshit! And that, apparently, is how the interviewees "knew"! Penn & Teller sometimes include brief scientific explanations of how quacks deceive their subjects. In Episode 1 "Talking to the Dead" they, for example, explain "cold reading" — which is the technique of extracting information by asking questions, restating answers by using other words, guessing, and making general statements. Penn and Teller often conduct informal experiments. In the episode "Bottled Water" diners in a restaurant sample various "bottled water brands" and pick a favourite. Afterwards they find out that all the bottles were filled from the garden hose outside the restaurant. In "Conspiracy Theories" Teller fires a rifle at a melon wrapped in fibreglass tape to demonstrate that a human head will, when shot, jerk in the opposite direction to the bullet trajectory. This demonstration aimed to discredit the conspiracy theory of a second gunman in the President Kennedy killing which argues, from the way Kennedy fell, that he was shot from in front. Penn concludes, "Second gunman, my aching ass." CRITICISM
Many critics accuse Penn and Teller of bias in debunking opponents' arguments and of ignoring information unfavourable to the show's position. In the episode "Family Values" Penn counters with, "We're fair and we never take people out of context. We're biased as all f***. But, we try to be honest." Penn and Teller are skeptics. The show is neither inquiry journalism nor fact-based debunking but one-sided by design. Subjects are rarely confronted with counter-evidence. "Crackpots" are allowed to ramble on while Penn's voiceover rejoinders win without debate. In Program 5 Penn and Teller reject any connection between second-hand smoke and cancer but have since admitted they were "very likely" wrong. EPISODE LIST
Season 1—2003 1 Talking to the Dead 2 Alternative Medicine 3 Alien Abductions 4 End of the World 5 Second Hand Smoke / Baby Bull**** 6 Sex, Sex, Sex 7 Feng Shui / Bottled Water 8 Creationism 9 Self-Helpless 10 ESP 11 Eat This! 12 Ouija Boards / Near Death Experiences 13 Environmental Hysteria Season 2—2004 14 P.E.T.A. 15 Safety Hysteria 16 The Business of Love 17 War on Drugs 18 Recycling 19 The Bible: Fact or Fiction? 20 Yoga / Tantric Sex 21 Fountain of Youth 22 Death Inc 23 Profanity 24 12-Stepping 25 Exercise vs. Genetics 26 Hypnosis Season 3—2005 27 Circumcision 28 Family Values 29 Conspiracy Theories 30 Life Coaching 31 Holier Than Thou 32 College 33 Big Brother 34 Hair 35 Gun Control 36 Ghost Busters 37 Endangered Species 38 Signs From Heaven 39 The Best Season 4—2006 40 Boy Scouts 41 Prostitution 42 The Death Penalty 43 Cryptozoology 44 Ground Zero 45 Pet Love 46 Reparations 47 Manners 48 Numbers 49 Abstinence Season 5—2007 50 Obesity 51 Wal-Mart 52 Breast Hysteria 53 Detoxing 54 Exorcism 55 Immigration 56 Handicap Parking 57 Mount Rushmore 58 Nukes, Hybrids, & Lesbians 59 Anger Management (BS)
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