Banned Camp: Banned Books, Comedy, and Free Speech vs. Censorship

Holden Caulfield got kicked out of his fourth prep school and refuses to tell us his whole "David Copperfield kind of crap" autobiography. Instead, he stands on a freezing hill watching a football game he's not allowed to play in anymore, trying to feel some kind of goodbye before heading to see his old teacher. It's December, it's cold as hell, and Holden keeps feeling like he's disappearing ever...

Season 10 Book Reveal: The Catcher in the Rye | Banned Books Comedy Podcast The votes are in, scary book people. After a nail-biting finish where Kite Runner seemed like the clear winner, Catcher in the Rye surged past overnight to claim the Season 10 spot. Dan's never read it. Jennifer's ready to find out if there's a lighthouse involved. Banned Camp is a comedy podcast where we read banned books...

The season finale is here. John has retreated to his lighthouse seeking solitude, but solitude isn't what he finds. A filmmaker captures his self-flagellation and turns it into entertainment. Helicopters descend. Crowds gather demanding "the whipping stunt." And when Lenina arrives with tears in her eyes, everything falls apart. This is how Brave New World ends...  and it's not what you expect. Ba...

John has finally escaped to his lighthouse—complete freedom, everything he wanted. So naturally, he spends his time making weapons, planning a garden, and whipping himself bloody every time he accidentally feels happy. When he catches himself singing while carving a bow, he punishes himself with mustard water and a knotted cord. The World State doesn't need to control him anymore. He's doing it to...

Happy New Year! Dan's sick, 2025 can go straight to hell, and we're taking a break from Brave New World to read your reviews—the good, the bad, and the "keep politics out of it" crowd who somehow missed the entire point of a banned books podcast. **VOTE NOW: We're finishing Brave New World in 2-3 episodes and YOU get to decide what we read next!** Email your vote to pod@bannedcamppodcast.com withi...

We start the final chapter of Brave New World and John immediately decides civilization has poisoned him… so he purifies himself the old-school way. Then he heads off to a lonely lighthouse “hermitage,” where he tries to earn the right to beauty through pain, shame, and some extremely intense main character energy. Banned Camp is a comedy podcast where we read banned books chapter by chapter, we d...

In this festive holiday episode, Jennifer and Dan celebrate Christmas Banned Camp style. The episode’s highlight is a surprise guest reading ofa special Holiday poem favorite poem. Expect a lively discussion about its meaning and political undertones. Jennifer and Dan wish all listeners a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a restful break from the chaos of the world. They sign off with gratitude...

John and Mustapha Mond go head-to-head over the weirdest argument of all, whether a “perfect” life is worth the price of your soul, your freedom, and your right to feel anything real. Along the way we detour through King Lear, religion, pleasant vices, and the phrase “Christianity without tears,” which is either brilliant… or horrifying… or both. Banned Camp is a comedy podcast where we read banne...

Mustapha Mond opens his literal vault of “smut”… and it’s the Bible, William James, and a bunch of old religious philosophy that the World State treats like porn. John tries to argue for God, solitude, and death, and Mond basically says: we engineered a world where you never have to be alone, lose anything, or grow old… so God becomes “incompatible.” Banned Camp is a comedy podcast where we read b...

In Chapter 16.2 of Brave New World, the World Controller finally explains the system without euphemisms. Truth is dangerous. Science has to be restrained. And happiness, especially other people’s happiness, comes at a cost someone has to pay. Jennifer and Dan unpack the idea that stability matters more than meaning, that pleasure replaces happiness, and that a society can function smoothly as long...

The Controller finally steps into the room, and everything shifts. John speaks his mind, Bernard panics, and Mustafa Mond lays out the tradeoffs that built this so-called perfect world. Shakespeare, happiness, censorship, and the entire machinery of the World State collide. Banned Camp is a comedy podcast where we read banned books chapter by chapter, we don't read ahead, so you're discovering the...

John the Savage storms into the hospital and starts a one-man revolution, flinging soma into the courtyard while screaming about freedom. The Deltas lose their minds, the police show up with drug mist and lullaby propaganda, and Bernard once again proves he’s the world’s most indecisive liability. Banned Camp is a comedy podcast where we read banned books chapter by chapter—we don’t read ahead, so...

John leaves his mother’s deathbed only to walk straight into a crowd of Deltas lining up for their Soma ration. Surrounded by identical khaki-clad twins, grief turns into fury, and he snaps...  interrupting the Soma handout with a desperate plea for freedom. Banned Camp is a comedy podcast where we read banned books chapter by chapter. We don’t read ahead, so you’re discovering the story with us....

John sits at his mother’s deathbed in a hospital designed to make dying as cheerful and efficient as possible. Linda drifts in and out under a haze of soma while a group of tiny khaki Deltas wander through the ward eating éclairs like it’s a field trip. John can’t find a moment of dignity or privacy… even at the end. Banned Camp is a comedy podcast where we read banned books chapter by chapter......

In this chapter, John visits his dying mother in a 60-story hospital that looks more like a high-end spa than a place where anyone should be facing the end of their life. Linda is drugged, the twins swarm like a nightmare daycare field trip, and the World State’s approach to death gets more disturbing the longer you sit with it. Banned Camp is a comedy podcast where we read banned books chapter by...

Lenina finally makes her move and John… absolutely implodes. What should’ve been a tender moment spirals into rage, Shakespeare, slapping, terror, and a near-homicidal meltdown. It’s the chapter where everyone realizes John is not the tragic outsider... he’s the actual walking red flag. Banned Camp is a comedy podcast where we read banned books chapter by chapter, reacting in real time and trying...

Lenina is quietly falling apart and John is loudly falling in love. Chapter 13.1 puts two people raised in two completely different emotional universes into the same room… and the results are chaotic, awkward, and very funny. Banned Camp is a comedy podcast where we read banned books chapter by chapter, discovering the story right along with you. Things To Listen For: Dan and Jennifer try to decod...

Bernard’s crash back to reality continues as jealousy, insecurity, and Shakespeare all collide. John and Hemholtz bond hard over forbidden ideas, Bernard sulks, and Jennifer and Dan try to untangle what friendship even means in a society terrified of individuality. Banned Camp is a comedy podcast where we read banned books chapter by chapter, discovering the story with you as it unfolds. Things To...

Today’s episode is something different — an essay written and narrated by Jennifer. It’s about growing up believing America was the good guy, watching that belief crack, and trying to hold on to hope anyway. If you’ve ever looked at someone you love and wondered how they became a stranger, this one’s for you. We’ll be back next week with the usual literary troublemaking and dystopian nonsense.

In this chapter of Brave New World, everything falls apart for Bernard. The Savage refuses to attend his party, Lenina wrestles with rejection, and the façade of happiness starts to crack. Meanwhile, Mustapha Mond quietly decides which ideas are too dangerous for the public to read. Banned Camp is a comedy podcast where we read banned books chapter by chapter. We don't read ahead, so you're discov...

Death gets candy, love gets awkward, and everyone gets soma. In Chapter 11, Lenina tries to connect with John after a night of “feelies,” while Bernard basks in borrowed fame and Robot fact-checks everything from chocolate-cream conditioning to Clarence Thomas’s butter-dish rumors. Banned Camp is the comedy podcast where we read banned books chapter by chapter... we don’t read ahead, so you’re dis...

Linda returns to “civilization,” but comfort comes at a cost. While Bernard basks in sudden popularity, Linda disappears into her drug-induced haze...and her son John the Savage starts to see what happiness looks like when it’s manufactured. Banned Camp is a comedy podcast where we read banned books chapter by chapter—we don’t read ahead, so you’re discovering the story with us. Things To Listen F...

It’s our third annual Halloween special, and this year we invited librarian, author, and cosbrarian extraordinaire Liz Gotauco to read two classics from Alvin Schwartz’s notorious collection. Liz gives “The Hook” a modern twist, then serves up “Just Delicious,” a grim little tale with perfect spooky-season karma. Banned Camp is a comedy podcast where we read banned books chapter by chapter… and so...

The Director plans to humiliate Bernard in front of thousands of workers… until his own secret explodes in public. Meanwhile, Linda makes her shocking return, John calls someone “father” in a world where that word doesn’t exist, and the whole society short-circuits from embarrassment. Banned Camp is a comedy podcast where we read banned books chapter by chapter—we don’t read ahead, so you’re disco...

Lenina crashes on a Soma holiday while Bernard hatches a plan... and John breaks into her room in a lovesick spiral that’s equal parts Shakespearean and creepy. Robot fact-checks the chaos, Jennifer calls out Huxley’s lazy racism, and Dan coins “the shark rule” for slur warnings.  Banned Camp is a comedy podcast where we read banned books chapter by chapter—we don’t read ahead, so you’re discoveri...