Paul Giamatti’s CHINWAG with Stephen Asma

☄️🔭👽 Paul and Stephen are joined by illustrious theoretical physicist, Harvard Professor and space detective, Avi Loeb. And if you think you know his POV already, you may be surprised! Get ready for a cosmic journey as Professor Loeb shares his insights on the mysteries of the universe and the search for extraterrestrial life.  Why, pray tell, isn’t Professor Loeb thrilled about eclipses? And ar...

🔪🔪🔪 This week, one of Paul and Stephen’s favorite Chinwags: Killer Psyche podcast host, Candice DeLong. Candice spent two decades in the FBI as a criminal profiler tracking serial killers and working such notorious cases as the Unabomber and the Chicago Tylenol Murders. Paul and Stephen explore the terrifying and tactical world of tracking murderers with Candice and learn that even psychopaths...

🛸🛸🛸 Paul and Stephen are joined by intrepid investigative journalist Leslie Kean — the very journalist who broke the groundbreaking 2017 UFO story to The New York Times and introduced the world to the Pentagon’s UFO videos. Leslie unveils the intriguing story of Luis Elizondo, the former head of the Pentagon program responsible for the investigation of UFOs—now known as Unidentified Anomalous P...

🐺🐺🐺 Under the shadow of the full moon at the Boston Armory, Paul and Stephen tackle beastly audience questions in this live recording of Chinwag. Ever wondered why cats are such mysterious predators, or if Bela Lugosi really donned werewolf fur? The conversation shifts to popular culture’s take on werewolves, the impact of Twilight on werewolf culture, and Paul's musings on whether his role in...

🐺🌖🐺 Recorded live at the historic Boston Armory, join hosts Paul and Stephen for a thrilling conversation on werewolves, from ancient myths to modern interpretations. Go back in time to break down the great werewolves of the past: Jan Thys of Livonia, Peter Stump, and of course…the Beast of Gévaudan, a mysterious creature in 18th-century France. Later, Paul and Stephen dive into were-hyenas, we...

🧿🧿🧿 More Chinwag with DEVO’S co-founder, and author of the beautiful new book “Apotropaic Beatnik Graffiti”, Mark Mothersbaugh. Mark shares his earliest memory of AI which happened to involve Timothy Leary’s AI therapist! Then, DEVO’s frontman takes us back to a memorable church trip when he hears people speaking in tongues. And what’s all that got to do with The Flintstones? What’s the importa...

🤖🖼🎸 This Chinwag welcomes Mark Mothersbaugh, DEVO’s co-founder and author of the fascinating new book “Apotropaic Beatnik Graffiti.” Come along and reminisce about DEVO’s first live appearance on SNL, thanks to the legendary Blues Brothers, Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. Mark is tickled to learn Paul and Stephen were spooked by DEVO as kids, and Mark explains why he thought rock ‘n’ roll was dead...

🦾🐕‍🦺🦻🏼 On this riveting Chinwag, Paul and Stephen speak to Riva Lehrer, an award-winning artist, writer, and curator with an unconventional approach to portraiture. Together they explore the nuances of living with a disability, stigma, defining beauty, and the complexities of human interactions. Riva shares the importance of representation and the burden of standing out in a world that often...

📰🛸🕵🏼‍♀️ Fortean Times has been bringing weirdness into people’s lives for over 50 years and Paul’s been reading its pages since he was a mere Chin-cub. Now join Paul and Stephen as they meet the man behind the mag, esteemed News Editor, Ian Simmons. What follows is a mind-bending exploration of the weird and wonderful including a colorful sketch of the life and work of Charles Fort—a guiding sp...

👨🏼‍🏫🍏🕰️ The Professor is in for Chinwag Office Hours! Professor Stephen Asma offers his rarefied time and detours into more of the unusual topics you crave. This week on Office Hours, Stephen drops his knowledge on the Mothman and the psychology of creepiness. What is the purpose of creepy feelings and eerie sensations? Are they interdimensional beings of energy that exist to warn and protect...

🏐🏐🏐 Paul Giamatti and Stephen Asma were delighted to speak with the wonderful Kathryn Hahn in this early Chinwag gem. They were fascinated by Hahn's deep knowledge of cults, con men, hypnosis, brainwashing dogs, and the power of late night volleyball sessions. Hear about Travis the chimpanzee, radical nuns, lice couches, whether the Popes "Netflix and chill," and that time Paul fought off kidna...

📚🧐🏛 Paul’s been studying up on Western philosophy and has even more burning questions for our exceedingly patient resident expert, Professor Stephen Asma. Lean in to these bite-sized lessons about rationalists, empiricists and idealists, and Stephen’s explanation of the notoriously difficult to understand German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Then it’s on to romantic thinkers like Ar...

😊🎙️👽 It’s the audience’s turn to ask Paul, Stephen and the hilarious Bill Hader anything at this Chinwag recorded live from Dynasty Typewriter in L.A., and things go off the rails pretty quick! If aliens land on Earth, what movie would this trio show them first? Then at the audience’s prodding, hear their favorite alien abduction movies, which cryptids they’d most want to be, and their most comm...

🎬🍿🎞 Recorded live at Dynasty Typewriter in Los Angeles, Paul and Stephen are joined by comedy legend Bill Hader for a night of hilarious and obscure impressions, a rundown of insane B- movies, their shared fear of the school bus, and so much more! What did Hader overhear director Sam Raimi say walking out of a screening of Cannibal Holocaust? What advice did Arnold Schwarzenegger offer young pro...

📓✍🏽🛢️ In this captivating Bonus-Wag, hosts Paul and Stephen sit down with investigative historian David Grann for a cerebral exploration. Grann’s journey began as a journalist with an insatiable passion for storytelling. How did he transition from reporting facts to weaving gripping narratives? Then, imagine a man unfairly sent to death row, despite evidence screaming his innocence. How could pr...

🌊🏴‍☠️⚓ Paul and Stephen embark on a deep-sea exploration of maritime history with David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower Moon, The Lost City of Z, and most recently, The Wager. The trio unravel tales of mutinies, scurvy, and the enigmatic allure of failure.  Did you know most seamen couldn’t swim? How were sailors selected or found aboard these vessels? David shares how kidnappings were c...

 ☠️🤝☠️ Join Paul and Stephen for a special bonus episode as they sit down with investigative journalist Leslie Kean. The topic? Spirit hands—ethereal entities that connect the living and the dead.  Leslie describes witnessing famed British spirit medium Stewart Alexander conjuring spirit hands seemingly from nothing – conjuring a black amorphous goo into undead hands. But…these experiences are no...

🎺🎺🎺 Open your mind as Paul Giamatti and Stephen Asma talk about accessing the spirit world with investigative journalist Leslie Kean — the very journalist who broke the groundbreaking 2017 UFO story to The New York Times and introduced the world to the Pentagon’s UFO videos.  The trio delve into the esoteric world of ectoplasm and explore its weightlessness, spider-webby texture, and the peculi...

🪐🕰️💫 Paul, Stephen and Chuck Bryant on being a strict materialist, natural evolution, Olaf Stapledon, and more Stuff You Should Know. Plus, Chuck shares a creepy ghost story that challenges his skeptical nature to this day.    Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer, and the self-proclaimed Emperor of Neptune. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of...

☢️☢️☢️ Paul and Stephen are joined by Stuff You Should Know’s Chuck Bryant for a deep wag on lizard people, the importance and impermanence of what we leave behind, the rarity of finding dinosaur bones, nuclear semiotics, and of course, the Silurian Hypothesis. How do we know advanced civilizations didn’t exist before us and what does that mean for life on other planets? How can we be sure that pr...

📻✋🏼♆ It’s back to the WagBag we go! This week, Chinwag listener Scott S. writes in with an account of his grandfather’s panic during Orson Welles’s famed 1938 The War of the Worlds broadcast. Paul recalls his own grandfather’s memory of that fateful broadcast, as well as that of the Hindenburg! Then, Barbara C. writes us with a fascinating tutorial of different types of intuitives. There are so...

📿📿📿 Paul and Stephen are honored to welcome the esteemed Dr. Khy Sovanratana, dear friend of Dr. Stephen Asma, and former monk in the Theravada tradition in Cambodia. After 34 years as a monk, Dr. Sovanratana removed his robe and left the monastery to become the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Cambodian government. Many think they know Buddhism, but Paul and Stephen go straight to the sourc...

🤖🌭🏦 Recorded at Spotify Studios... Elizabeth Banks reflects on her collegiate aspirations to become the next Diane Sawyer, and whether AI could make its own Everything Everywhere All At Once. But…could it replicate the hot dog fingers fight scene? Among other topics, our hosts and Ms. Banks ponder why so many actors are introverts? And what does checking “I’m Not A Robot” really mean? You can t...

❄️🐻👻 Recorded at Spotify Studios... Join Paul and Stephen as they sit down to discuss death and their paranormal encounters with Paul’s Fred Claus co-star Elizabeth Banks. They discuss what drove Elizabeth to make her 2023 hit film Cocaine Bear, the omen of the white owl on her doorstep, and how they would all like to be buried or in Stephen’s case— shot into space!  Prepare yourself for Elizabe...

🧀🌝🛰️ Paul and Stephen explore more moon theories…is the moon made of cheese? Might the moon be a spacecraft? Are we all descendants of moon-people? And can someone claim the moon? All this and H.P. Lovecraft, burgeoning schools of space law, and real estate on the moon (not to mention Pluto!!) Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer, and the self-proclaimed Emperor of Neptune. Steph...