I’m your nerd host, Chris Hardwick
Nerdist is a place where we nerds come together and share the nerdery that we find. It's also my home to various elements of the Nerdist Empire. You might recognize me from TV. You don't realize that's where you know me from, but it is. You think you went to college with me or I look like your cousin's friend, but that is not the case. At one time or another you stumbled upon me on your moving picture box in such cerebral gems as MTV's "Singled Out" and Noam Chomsky's "Shipmates." and so much more...
Say hello to the contributors.
Oh man this gets wild. I LOVE IT PETE!
Yet another great episode. It’s like a life jacket in the harbor of sarrows. Thanks, Pete.
Also Harbor of Sorrows. ^
I love these amazing gents. Tantalizing conversation. Come join the family forum!
Great episode as always! I just wanted to say in response to Duncan needing to debate Kumail or TJ on “coincidences are bullshit” to me it sounds like they’re in agreement on the topic. Whether you say coincidences are your brain finding patters or are outward reflections of an internal state of being they still come from inside you and not the universe putting things in order for you. Perhaps the only difference is whether you choose to perceive coincidence as gorgeous or just a trick (I think it can be a gorgeous trick).
I hope any of that made sense!
Holy Shit! Happy Birthday to you/and Happy Birthday to me!
Jesus man-GREAT EPISODE!!! **Thank You**
[thanku4theconvoPete/thanku4Duncan]
[see you 4/3]
So Much Love Right Now,
JB
OMG.. Pete please write the occam’s razor sketch.
best. episode. ever.
can I make it weird?
I want to make brain love to duncan. sap him of all his knowledge.
o dear god no…. I’m a vampire.
VAMPIRE RANT FOR THE WIN FOREVER!
This is pretty much the best. Duncan doesn’t downplay existence. I’m for that. I hope that babies keep smiling at you guys, this was great.
Btw, Paul got a really bad rap through some jerk translators/transcribers 500 years after he died. It’s a whole thing that just makes me sad for Europe. Not dwelling on it. This podcast put me in a really good mood. Like drinking with friends. At work.
I actually feel lighter after listening to this. Just an awesome way to start the weekend. Thanks for doing what you do, Pete (and Duncan)!
I totally agree with Rachel – my soul feels lighter after listening to this. I always enjoy the podcast, but this one was truly awesome.
I never believed you could use the internet to actually spread positive energy physically. Yet here I am practically high on truth and positive energy getting blasted through these speakers.
I did not like this episode.
The super spiritual stuff is just absurd, about time there was an ep I didn’t enjoy.
Yeah I stopped listening once Duncan said we all had amnesia. In order to have amnesia there would have to be something before the moment you were born. So when he later says maybe there wasn’t anything before being born, he clearly doesn’t mean it. Terrible logic with big words that he drops to mask the craziness. Look I’m a physicist so my job requires me to think outside the box but this was just crazy hippy shit.
I don’t trust any religious or secular group built up around cult of personality. And I’m a rabbi! Still, this episode was wonderfully weird — regardless of whether or not the things said enlightened my soul. I just love the passion we humans apply to our search for deeper meaning — you know, truth or whatever. It’s great to hear!
There are lots of different ways to the same conclusion. And there are lots of different conclusions that can co-exist harmoniously. Maybe you’re a physicist. Maybe you’re a religionist. Whatever it is, let’s all just say: Big ups to the seekers.
No
Notes:
Pyramids weren’t built by slaves. They were a massive public works effort, build by farmers and free laborers financed by the king.
In that interview with Seinfeld, he never said that he was an adherent of Zen. He stated that he did yoga, but not zen buddhism.
I enjoyed this episode.
Yes! I love all this. Even the people who thought it was nuts. It was nuts! Delightfully nuts. Thank you for all the notes, thoughts, reactions, support, love, weirdness and seek-celebration!! Keep it up, weirdos! It’s incredibly crisp.
No no, YOU keep it up, Pete Holmes! You’re like dried fruit, that’s how crispy you are — like dried banana crisps. Filled with fiber. Crispy, crispy fiber. You give some of us diarrhea, but you’re delicious! Can’t get enough!
(Listened to both podcasts in a row, btw — in chronological order. That’s the only way to do it for this one!)
To those of you who didn’t enjoy this episode cause you think it’s “crazy hippy shit” then you are the vampires he was talking about.
Screw you vampires!! Get out of here!
Yeah, this episode was definitely weird, haha. First episode of the podcast that I’ve been at all conflicted about.
On the one hand, Duncan was very interesting and articulate. On the other hand, I disagreed with a huge amount of what he said and took issue with the way he said some of it. I’m an ex-Mormon turned atheist and skeptic, and I’ve actively excised a lot of spirituality from my life and tend to have an aversion to it, so I’m definitely more TJ/Kumail than I am Duncan. I feel like a lot of his logic was flawed, and there were some statements that I actually bristled at a little bit and wanted to debate. But it was never less than entertaining, and I always enjoy listening to Pete’s conversations with guests no matter where they go.
Lets just ignore facts and all that stuff that explains things. Who needs that…..
Just call people vampires and bury you head. Much easier.
Wow.Just Wow.
Listening to this REALLY helped me. I listen to all your shows and this one hit me pretty hard. I have had the same type of outlook/mindset that Duncan has for a while now and I have been REALLY down in the dumps lately. I really needed this – It lifted me up and I am trying to push all the negative away and replace it with positive.
Thanks to both of you wonderful gentleman. Keep doing what you are doing.
This episode was pretty entertaining, but I agree that the majority of Duncan’s ramblings were nonsensical. None of the stuff he talked about is testable or falsifiable. However, it is vastly preferable to fundamentalists (of any religion).
Yay, Duncan! We need more of the “yes, and” people.
While I was astonished and confused by everything Duncan said, I was smiling the whole time so it’s an a++ from me !
Fuck vampires and yay vagina.
*but I was smiling
I thought Duncan was glib. This was my least favorite episode.
It’ll be fun to get Duncan and Kumail/TJ on together so they can debate the things that frustrated some of y’all.
Duncan: “You’re a vampire.”
TJ: “YOGI BEEEARRR! DENNNNVER!”
Kumail: “Oh, God, Emily, dannnnce.”
Maybe just kumail.
DEENNNNNVER!
great episode. launched my boat right out of the harbor of sorrow.
interesting ideas and will be thinking about them and trying hard to appreciate life.
thanks Pete and Duncan!
Yes to the Tj Vs. Kumail Vs. Duncan idea! MAKE IT WEIRD. At the very least though have Duncan back on at some point. He’s INCREDIBLY interesting. I’ll have to check out his podcast.
It’s hard to hear a Buddhist draw lines in the sand concerning who is or isn’t practicing spirituality the correct way.
Duncan’s dumping on fundamentalists while talking like one isn’t the best way to sell his ideas.
Otherwise I got a kick out of this conversation!
I really liked this episode. Duncan seems like a great guy. You guys need to take the things he says with a grain of salt. It’s more about the idea than the literal things he says.
Think outside the box and MAKE IT WEIRD.
Also this conversation of Kumail vs. Duncan reminded me of the movie I saw this weekend called I Heart Huckabees. Check it out if you haven’t.
I just googled “Transdimentional Portal” and found way less vaginas than i expected.
Pete’s impressions still crack me up, even when they’re typed as comments.
Maybe it’s just some sort of cultural difference, but Duncan Trussell comes off as some sort of paranoid psychotic teetering on the verge of going over the cliff into outright delusional insanity. Also, I would really like to enjoy listening to Pete interview people, but I just can’t. His entire persona — his voice, his cadence, his way of expressing himself, his overall outlook — makes my skin crawl.
But, having said all of that, I nevertheless find this episode to be oddly, oddly compelling.
Absolutely fascinating.
Yeah, I love this podcast in general, but this was painful to listen to. I wish Pete would question and challenge the guests and their opinions more.
fuck. . . i would hate to be a vampire
Your eyes can only see what the mind knows man.
LET DUNCAN DEBATE!
Crazy ep, man. I hope Kumail doesn’t listen to it.
When you guys were talking about “coincidence” it provoked a reaction: I think many people criticize “coincidence” from the viewpoint of “nothing is a coincidence because everything happens for a reason” and I think that immature POV is how we get conspiracy theories: by making conclusions
too quickly, by shutting our thinking minds off before all the evidence is in. Conspiracies may exist, and so may coincidences, but what does it matter if they do? Those are just labels for things that happen that we can’t control. What we can control is so limited in the grand scheme of the universe–errr, multiverse, but so crucially important in the scheme of our own existence: ourselves.
Guys. Guys! I just realized Duncan is the guy from the drunken history video.
I’m in high school, which sucks. When I listen to these, I’m reminded that the world isn’t made up completely of shit-smearing vampires and it does my heart good. Thanks for being such a delight, Pete. Keep it crispy.
Everything duncan said was total nonsense. The most ridiculous thing he said was that he doesn’t take hallucinogens that often, which was followed by the qualifier “only a hundred times a year”. Does he realize that that’s roughly every 4 days? That’s more than every weekend. If anyone who might disagree with his nonsense is automatically a vampire, then anyone who takes that many mushrooms is an idiot.
The tree of liberty must sometimes be watered from the blood of bad relationships, indeed! Cheers to aspiring to living in technicolour and filling our cuboards with lurve! Bobobos are super vegan monkeys, so let’s not take anything away from them.
I need a Duncan Trussell in my life.