If life is a mystery, whodunnit? Award winning Hollywood TV producer and playwright Scott Carter (HBO, PBS) discusses personal faith and ethics with a diverse roster of interfaith and non-faith celebrity guests to uncover what we believe and what we don’t. New episodes on Fridays for believers and doubters to follow religiously! Send us your thoughts (and prayers) YeGodsPodcast@gmail.com
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Scott sits down with writer, actress, artist, tea merchant and daughter of Frank Zappa, Moon Unit Zappa to discuss her new memoir “Earth to Moon.” They touch on Moon’s unconventional household in 1970s Los Angeles, coming of age as part of the MTV generation in the 1980s as the “Valley Girl,” and her quest to find herself after losing her father. M…
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Ye Gods welcomes our first guest from the Sikh faith: author, activist, and founder of The Revolutionary Love Project Valarie Kaur. Scott sat down with Valarie to discuss her new book Sage Warrior where she combines the retelling of Sikh legends with her family’s trip across Punjab, India. Valarie also recounts how a hate crime killing of a Sikh ga…
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Armin Shimerman may be best known for his role as Quark in the Star Trek franchise Deep Space Nine. But we know him as a highly regarded Shakespearian professor not only at the University Of Southern California but has taught at many theaters around the country. He focuses on scene study and the understanding of the language through the study of Rh…
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”You Blessed Me, I’ll Bless You” by Stephen Turner
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One day in 2010, Steve Turner was on his way home from work when he ran into an old high school basketball rival, Lewis Brown. They reminisced about old games and how the LA Times once called Lewis “...the best basketball player in the history of the California Interscholastic Federation.” It was like no time had passed at all, except that Stephen …
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ENCORE In part two of our interview with actor and Soul Boom author Rainn Wilson, we discuss his new show Rainn Wilson and The Geography of Bliss, now streaming on Peacock. Rainn shares some of his favorite memories from filming around the world, which places he thinks find happiness best, and where he’d like to go in season two. Rainn also talks a…
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ENCORE Julia Sweeney is a multi-hyphenate performer known for her hilarious characters on SNL and her comedy specials God Said Ha, Letting Go of God, and most recently Older and Wider. This week on Ye Gods!, Julia joins Scott to discuss her devout atheism as well as her feelings on religion, God, the saints and more! Julia explains cultural Catholi…
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ENCORE: Comedian, podcaster and documentarian Hari Kondabolu joins to discuss growing up as a second generation Indian-American and melding the cultural diversity of his hometown Queens, NY with the beautiful Hindu traditions taught to him by his mother while also absorbing through films and the iconic Amar Chitra Katha comic books. Hari and Scott …
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ENCORE conversation with Michael Render, aka Killer Mike: rapper, activist, and host of the PBS talk show Love & Respect with Killer Mike (Executive Produced by Scott Carter) as well as half of the rap duo Run The Jewels. He joins Scott to talk about the influence of his grandmother on his faith, how blackness informed his experience of church and …
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Charlie Sykes: The Diminishing of Decency
53:40
53:40
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ENCORE EPISODE Political commentator and founder of The Bulwark, Charlie Sykes joins Scott to discuss judgment, the hereafter, and the state of American democracy. Charlie talks about converting to catholicism in his teens, the influence of his father on his life, and his hopes for his legacy. Charlie recommends The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. …
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Rainn Wilson: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution
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ENCORE EPISODE Known for his iconic roles on “The Office” and “Six Feet Under,” actor and author Rainn Wilson joins Scott to discuss his new book Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution. In part one of this two-part interview, Rainn explores his upbringing in the Baha’i faith, his frustration with modern spirituality, and why he believes we n…
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Byron Katie, in her first book, Loving What Is, introduced to the world what she calls The Work, which, she claims, can bring an end to suffering. Katie's work uses four questions to examine what vexes us. Is it true? Can you really know that it's true? What happens when you believe that thought and who would you be without it? Then come turnaround…
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Paul F. Tompkins: Wisdom Often Sings, Laughs and Giggles
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ENCORE EPISODE. What Scott loves most about conversations with Paul F. Tompkins is that they can discuss the most serious of topics without either of them ever pulling a long face. And so this quote from playwright and screenwriter Ben Hecht seems apropos: “People who sweat when they think, and to whom an idea comes with all the impact of a toothac…
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Nayyera Haq: There but for the Grace of God go She
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Scott met Nayyera Haq when he produced HBO's Real Time, and she was always a smart and insightful guest on a range of social and political topics. She is a highly accomplished professional (see below), a doting mother, a devoted wife and a proud Muslim American. Her parents – a physician and a public school teacher – immigrated from Pakistan to Sta…
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ENCORE EPISODE Author and Senior Rabbi of Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles, Steve Leder joins Scott to discuss his book For You When I Am Gone; Twelve Essential Questions to Tell a Life Story. Scott asks Rabbi Leder about his path to becoming a Rabbi, his personal struggles with mental health, and how he points people to the light when they…
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Today a conversation of biblical proportions with actress, comedian, author, and producer, Yvonne Orji. Her book, Bamboozled by Jesus: How God tricked me into the life of my dreams is now out in paperback. Scott is someone who's read a lot of celebrity memoirs, some written by friends. This book is different. Yvonne doesn't just recount the peaks a…
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ENCORE EPISODE: Journalist, co-author with Bob Woodward of “Peril”, and Chief Election & Campaign Correspondent for CBS News Robert Costa joins Scott to discuss his Catholic upbringing and how faith brings him a respite from dark times. He muses on his reluctance to talk about himself in his reporting and his dedication to facts and objectivity in …
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On each episode of YE GODS, Scott Carter starts with the same question: If life is a mystery, whodunit? No one knows what happens when we die, neither the devout believer nor the fervent atheist. This special episode presents excerpts from past interviews in which guests have described experiences of forces connecting them to unexplainable energy –…
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ENCORE - Actress and comic Susie Essman from HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm joins Scott to discuss praying to the humor gods, the connections between comedy and Judaism, why Larry David the creator of Curb Your Enthusiasm and co-creator of Seinfeld is a sort of Rabbi, plus remembrances of their mutual friend, the late comic genius Gilbert Gottfried. Gu…
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ENCORE with Comedian-writer-producer Larry Wilmore who has one of the most impressive resumes in TV from In Living Color, to The Bernie Mac Show, The Daily Show to Blackish and HBO’s Insecure. He now hosts the Larry Wilmore: Black on Air Podcast with The Ringer. He stops by to talk about his epiphany as a door-to-door salesman, his Catholic upbring…
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ENCORE EPISODE: Is there a there-there? A place within the mind separate from our thoughts? This week Scott talks to neuroscientist and founder of the Waking Up meditation app, Sam Harris. They discuss how meditation helps us to be happy in the most ordinary of moments and make the most of each moment, vs. the need to extract the greatest pleasure …
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Author and poet Stephen Mitchell has spent a career pursuing life's meaning as taught by history's great spiritual practices. His is a hero's journey, which ends with the presenting of an elixir, a blessing to the world. His gift to the world are his works, which distill his long sought and gained wisdom. Guest: Stephen Mitchell was born in Brookly…
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Today's encore conversation touches on topics that may be sensitive to some including attempted suicide. Life can be hard, but suicide is preventable and free and confidential support is available by dialing 988 or go to 988lifeline.org Guest: Ana Marie Cox is a political columnist and culture critic whose writing has appeared in The New Republic, …
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Michael Patrick King: Part 2 ”Lost in the Painting”
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In the concluding episode of a two-part interview with Emmy and Golden Globe winning television writer-producer Michael Patrick King, we learn where he is today with the Catholic church and how he’s learned that faith, like art, is really about transitioning people out of where they are to someplace they need to be. He tells a moving story about vi…
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Michael Patrick King: Part 1 ”Untangle the Chain of Your Sadness”
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In part one of this two-part interview with Emmy and Golden Globe winning television writer Michael Patrick King, we learn how to be the holiest altar boy. The “Sex and The City” and “2 Broke Girls” showrunner sits down with Scott to discuss how attending Catholic Church made him love performance and influenced his own spiritual play Thorn & Bloom,…
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Tim Gunn: Thou Shalt ’Make It Work’...Again
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ENCORE EPISODE Tim Gunn stars on the hit Amazon series, "Making The Cut," and served as co-host for 16 seasons of the revolutionary fashion competition series, "Project Runway," and he has written best sellers like Tim Gunn's Fashion Bible. But when people respond to his expertise and energy, they are reacting to – in an age of moral relativism – h…
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Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better watch Ken Burns films. His body of work is a moving picture portrait gallery of who we've been as a nation and who we are. No contemporary artist has ever succeeded more by trusting so much in the American public's curiosity and attention span. To paraphrase Ken from his conversation wi…
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Political commentator and founder of The Bulwark, Charlie Sykes joins Scott to discuss judgment, the hereafter, and the state of American democracy. Charlie talks about converting to catholicism in his teens, the influence of his father on his life, and his hopes for his legacy. Charlie recommends The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. In My Homily Op…
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This week Michael Render, aka Killer Mike: rapper, activist, and host of the PBS talk show Love & Respect with Killer Mike (Executive Produced by Scott Carter) as well as half of the rap duo Run The Jewels. He joins Scott to talk about the influence of his grandmother on his faith, how blackness informed his experience of church and why the teachin…
…
continue reading
In part two of our interview with actor and Soul Boom author Rainn Wilson, we discuss his new show Rainn Wilson and The Geography of Bliss, now streaming on Peacock. Rainn shares some of his favorite memories from filming around the world, which places he thinks find happiness best, and where he’d like to go in season two. Rainn also talks about ho…
…
continue reading
Known for his iconic roles on “The Office” and “Six Feet Under,” actor and author Rainn Wilson joins Scott to discuss his new book Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution. In part one of this two-part interview, Rainn explores his upbringing in the Baha’i faith, his frustration with modern spirituality, and why he believes we need spiritual c…
…
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Scott Carter is joined by nationally syndicated conservative radio host Erick Erickson to set their political differences aside and talk about tests of faith, the usefulness of rituals in the passages and celebrations of life, plus the “welfare of your community” and service to its members. In My Homily Opinion (IMHO): For this Memorial Day weekend…
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Julia Sweeney: Atheist in a Catholic Tribe
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Julia Sweeney is a multi-hyphenate performer known for her hilarious characters on SNL and her comedy specials God Said Ha, Letting Go of God, and most recently Older and Wider. This week on Ye Gods!, Julia joins Scott to discuss her devout atheism as well as her feelings on religion, God, the saints and more! Julia explains cultural Catholicism sa…
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Two-time Emmy winner, and two-time Ye Gods guest Patricia Heaton of Everybody Loves Raymond and The Middle shares laughs and tears with Scott in a sort of movie review and personal revelation sparked by the HBO Academy Award nominated documentary God is the Bigger Elvis, a film that tells the true story of a rising Hollywood starlet who traded fame…
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Rabbi Steve Leder: A Shadow is Actually Proof of Light
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Author and Senior Rabbi of Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles, Steve Leder joins Scott to discuss his book For You When I Am Gone; Twelve Essential Questions to Tell a Life Story. Scott asks Rabbi Leder about his path to becoming a Rabbi, his personal struggles with mental health, and how he points people to the light when they are in the val…
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Robert Costa: Work Hard. Trust in God. Have no Fear.
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Journalist, co-author with Bob Woodward of “Peril”, and Chief Election & Campaign Correspondent for CBS News, Robert Costa joins Scott to discuss his Catholic upbringing and how faith brings him a respite from dark times. He muses on his reluctance to talk about himself in his reporting and his dedication to facts and objectivity in every story. Sc…
…
continue reading
Comedian-writer-producer Larry Wilmore has one of the most impressive resumes in TV from In Living Color, to The Bernie Mac Show, The Daily Show to Blackish and HBO’s Insecure. He now hosts the Larry Wilmore: Black on Air Podcast with The Ringer. He stops by to talk about his epiphany as a door-to-door salesman, his Catholic upbringing and his come…
…
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1
Sam Harris: Consciousness and Spirituality without Religion
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Is there a there-there? A place within the mind separate from our thoughts? This week Scott talks to neuroscientist and founder of the Waking Up meditation app, Sam Harris. They discuss how meditation helps us to be happy in the most ordinary of moments and make the most of each moment, vs. the need to extract the greatest pleasure from our greates…
…
continue reading
1
Susie Essman: Yahrzeit for Gilbert Gottfried
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Actress and comic Susie Essman from HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm joins Scott to discuss praying to the humor gods, the connections between comedy and Judaism, why Larry David the creator of Curb Your Enthusiasm and co-creator of Seinfeld is a sort of Rabbi, plus remembrances of their mutual friend, the late comic genius Gilbert Gottfried. In honor of…
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Ana Marie Cox: Easter Eggs of Love & Grace
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Today's conversation touches on topics that may be sensitive to some including attempted suicide. Life can be hard, but suicide is preventable and free and confidential support is available by dialing 988 or go to 988lifeline.org Guest: Ana Marie Cox is a political columnist and culture critic whose writing has appeared in The New Republic, Sports …
…
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Tim Gunn stars on the hit Amazon series, "Making The Cut," and served as co-host for 16 seasons of the revolutionary fashion competition series, "Project Runway," and he has written best sellers like Tim Gunn's Fashion Bible. But when people respond to his expertise and energy, they are reacting to – in an age of moral relativism – his affirmation …
…
continue reading
Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better watch Ken Burns films. His body of work is a moving picture portrait gallery of who we've been as a nation and who we are. No contemporary artist has ever succeeded more by trusting so much in the American public's curiosity and attention span. To paraphrase Ken from his conversation wi…
…
continue reading
Two-time Emmy winner Patricia Heaton of Everybody Loves Raymond and The Middle shares laughs with Scott while reflecting on newfound clarity in their lives, discussing sobriety, Jesus on the beach eating fish with his disciples among other observations of faith, and Father Barry’s (Karl Malden) inspirational monologue and the enduring poetic fable …
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Hari Kondabolu: Hinduism & The Temple of Indian Cinema
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Comedian, podcaster and documentarian Hari Kondabolu joins to discuss growing up as a second generation Indian-American and melding the cultural diversity of his hometown Queens, NY with the beautiful Hindu traditions taught to him by his mother while also absorbing through films and the iconic Amar Chitra Katha comic books. Hari and Scott discuss …
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Jonathan Alter and Ken Burns on Jimmy Carter: Faith Without Works is Dead
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Scott is joined by journalist and historian Jonathan Alter, the author of His Very Best, Jimmy Carter a Life, which is the result of numerous interviews with the most religious of U.S. Presidents and the gold standard for ex-Presidents. (31:54) Afterwards, Scott gets a few thoughts on Jimmy Carter from documentary filmmaker and historian Ken Burns,…
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Anna Deavere Smith: Spiritual Maturity in Knowing What You’ve Done
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Playwright-actress Anna Deavere Smith stops by on occasion of the 30th Anniversary of her groundbreaking play Twilight: Los Angeles 1992 on stage at The Mark Taper Forum beginning March 8 through April 9, 2023. In My Homily Opinion (IMHO): The Academy Awards are Sunday, March 12th and Steven Spielberg is once again nominated, this time for The Fabe…
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Jacke Wilson: Thoughts & Prayers & Purple Rain
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Author Jacke Wilson joins Scott to discuss love and hate cast into the universe…and affirmations of the soul in Prince’s Purple Rain! They also swap stories of life changing events that nudge you over from skepticism to qualified or even unqualified belief in something that cannot in this realm exactly be explained. Guest: Jacke Wilson is the host …
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Paul F. Tompkins: Ash Wednesday (Fasting Optional)
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On Ash Wednesday, writer-comedian Paul F. Tompkins joins to discuss his Catholic upbringing and faith, praying for the Pope, the Golden Rule, the Reckoning and the meaning of living a life full of joy and sorrow…even in Hollywood. Guest: Paul F. Tompkins is best known for voicing characters on The Simpsons, Netflix’s Bo Jack Horseman, for creating …
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Is there a God, Holy Spirit or Force with us? Each Wednesday award winning Hollywood TV producer and playwright Scott Carter holds an open-minded discussion of personal faith and morals with a diverse roster of interfaith and non-faith celebrity guests. If life is a mystery, whodunit? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…
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