Bullshit is the longest running series on Showtime and has just been renewed for season 8.
Basically with each episode Penn and Teller take a topic and declare it, or some aspects of it to be Bullshit. For example in the episode hypnosis they seek to debunk some of the more far out things people claim hypnosis can help achieve but never state that hypnosis itself doesn't exist. On the other hand the lie detector show basically said (in no uncertain terms) that polygraphs are completely worthless for detecting the truth or lies.
The typical format of the show is Penn and Teller introduce the topic at hand and then get people to defend the topic and people who think the topic is bs in some way.
The people however do not appear on the set or (with a couple exceptions) interact with each other but instead are just interviews taped for the show. The people that appear can range from pundits, experts, professors, government officials, doctors, political activists, all the way down to people who are just nuts (not as in mentally diseased).
While they show the clips Penn does a voice over and once in a while Penn and Teller interrupt these clips with their own segments. These typically are used to illustrate a certain point or argument that Penn and Teller would like to make, in an amusing way and only rarely go on for pure comedy. For example in the 12 stepping episode Penn reads out loud the 12 steps while Teller 'illustrates' them with a little performance mocking them. In another episode on the idea that video game violence makes people violent they responded to the idea that games can train kids to kill with Teller playing tennis on a video game console. A tennis player comes over and hands Teller a tennis racket saying "you might want to use this" after which he serves Teller a ball from across the room really fast. Teller misses and leaps back a little from fright. These segments can be pretty funny and while the experts have their degrees to give them credibility it doesn't stop Penn and Teller from making good points.
Penn and Teller's style can be best summed up as blunt. For the most part they don't pull punches and are not above insulting their opponents or swearing (as you can tell from the title). They also never insult their audience's intelligence or pretend things need more explaining than they actually do. They also have nudity on the show, so much so that it's become a running gag.
The topics they pick sometimes dwell into religion (they had a whole episode on the Bible and another recently on the Vatican) and politics. Penn and Teller's politics are libertarian so they have no qualms about bashing the mainstream left (including environmentalists) or the mainstream right. They've done shows advocating that prostitution, weed and gay marriage be legalized, and have bashed uber-patriotism they've bashed the Endangered species act, reparations, sensitivity training and wal-mart hatred.
For the most part they're generally hit or miss. When they miss they can still be funny and when they hit they can be truly entertaining and convincing.
I've been a fan for 2 years and I'm excited it got renewed for season 8.
Favorite episodes: Lie Detectors Cryptozoology War on Drugs The Death Penalty PETA Ground Zero
Basically with each episode Penn and Teller take a topic and declare it, or some aspects of it to be Bullshit. For example in the episode hypnosis they seek to debunk some of the more far out things people claim hypnosis can help achieve but never state that hypnosis itself doesn't exist. On the other hand the lie detector show basically said (in no uncertain terms) that polygraphs are completely worthless for detecting the truth or lies.
The typical format of the show is Penn and Teller introduce the topic at hand and then get people to defend the topic and people who think the topic is bs in some way.
The people however do not appear on the set or (with a couple exceptions) interact with each other but instead are just interviews taped for the show. The people that appear can range from pundits, experts, professors, government officials, doctors, political activists, all the way down to people who are just nuts (not as in mentally diseased).
While they show the clips Penn does a voice over and once in a while Penn and Teller interrupt these clips with their own segments. These typically are used to illustrate a certain point or argument that Penn and Teller would like to make, in an amusing way and only rarely go on for pure comedy. For example in the 12 stepping episode Penn reads out loud the 12 steps while Teller 'illustrates' them with a little performance mocking them. In another episode on the idea that video game violence makes people violent they responded to the idea that games can train kids to kill with Teller playing tennis on a video game console. A tennis player comes over and hands Teller a tennis racket saying "you might want to use this" after which he serves Teller a ball from across the room really fast. Teller misses and leaps back a little from fright. These segments can be pretty funny and while the experts have their degrees to give them credibility it doesn't stop Penn and Teller from making good points.
Penn and Teller's style can be best summed up as blunt. For the most part they don't pull punches and are not above insulting their opponents or swearing (as you can tell from the title). They also never insult their audience's intelligence or pretend things need more explaining than they actually do. They also have nudity on the show, so much so that it's become a running gag.
The topics they pick sometimes dwell into religion (they had a whole episode on the Bible and another recently on the Vatican) and politics. Penn and Teller's politics are libertarian so they have no qualms about bashing the mainstream left (including environmentalists) or the mainstream right. They've done shows advocating that prostitution, weed and gay marriage be legalized, and have bashed uber-patriotism they've bashed the Endangered species act, reparations, sensitivity training and wal-mart hatred.
For the most part they're generally hit or miss. When they miss they can still be funny and when they hit they can be truly entertaining and convincing.
I've been a fan for 2 years and I'm excited it got renewed for season 8.
Favorite episodes: Lie Detectors Cryptozoology War on Drugs The Death Penalty PETA Ground Zero