Paul Giamatti’s CHINWAG with Stephen Asma
chin-wag: to have a chat, a friendly conversation. Actor Paul Giamatti and Stephen Asma, author and philosopher, join forces for a freewheeling series of conversations that dive deep (like, really, really deep) into the wilderness of the mind. Featuring prominent guests from diverse fields, Chinwag is esoteric in the best way possible, as Paul and Stephen delve into anything and everything: Are we living in a simulation? What’s the most perfect sentence in literature? Is Bigfoot interdimensional? Science, the occult, philosophy, magic mushrooms… it’s all fair game! Unexpected, hilarious, and maybe even profound — Chinwag is all about having a really, really good chat. Send your stories, Qs, or thoughts to 📧 questions [at] chinwagpod [dot] fm ========= Make sure to follow us @chinwagpod 👉🏼 YT: https://www.youtube.com/@chinwagpod IG: https://www.instagram.com/chinwagpod/ Tik: https://www.tiktok.com/@chinwagpod Website: http://chinwagpod.fm =========
Episodes
May 31, 2024 • 24 mins
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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 science, religion, and art. He al...
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May 29, 2024 • 70 mins
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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 proof of past civilizations hasn’t ...
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May 24, 2024 • 25 mins
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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 many ways folks deign to read th...
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May 22, 2024 • 75 mins
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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 source for enlightenment. This in-dept...
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May 17, 2024 • 16 mins
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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 take this interview to the "Bank...
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May 15, 2024 • 74 mins
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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 Elizabeth’s chilling interaction with t...
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May 10, 2024 • 25 mins
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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. Stephen Asma is a professor and auth...
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May 8, 2024 • 63 mins
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Ever since they tackled the hollow earth, Paul and Stephen have wanted to talk about weird moon conspiracy theories.
Was the Apollo moon landing faked or was it really a movie set? Why does the American flag appear to be flapping on a windless moon? Where was Neil Armstrong’s camera in that famed picture and what about those eyewitness accounts of Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin playing the slots in Las Vegas? And then there’s f...
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May 3, 2024 • 27 mins
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Deep into the Chinwag Mailbag we go!
Caroline writes about an incredible near-death experience that’s left her feeling like a ghost in her own life. Then, how almost dying can alter religious convictions and spiritual reality, DMT, the Bahá’í faith, and Victor Hugo!
Paul Giamatti is an award-winning actor and producer. Stephen Asma is a professor and author specializing in the philosophy of science, religion, and art.
⭐...
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May 1, 2024 • 50 mins
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Part 2 of Paul and Stephen’s Chinwag turns to the religion of baseball with writer, comedian and passionate fan, Alex Edelman.
If Paul is gonna talk sports, it’s bound to be about its spiritual pull and ability to expand space and time. They’ll get into all of it: superstition, Mark “the Bird” Fidrych, the legendary Bart Giamatti, George Grella, how “home” is a concept and not a translatable word.
Then, baseball as a past...
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April 26, 2024 • 27 mins
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We’re diving back into the Chinwag Mailbag!
Billy C. wants to know how Paul would like to see UFOs portrayed in films. Should paranormal encounters be big and fantastical, or what about - no special effects at all? Then, Paul’s got some obscure film recommendations and of course, Betty and Barney Hill, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky make an appearance.
Next, Chip writes in with a st...
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April 24, 2024 • 47 mins
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Paul and Stephen welcome brilliant writer and comedian Alex Edelman for a deep chinwag on spirituality, religion, improvisation, and paranormal leanings.
Listen as they dive right in with why the CIA should use Baby Shark in its interrogation program, the importance and virtue of repetition in the process of joke writing, the Socratic method in comedy, and how AI and Chat GPT will affect the future of humor. The conversati...
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April 19, 2024 • 26 mins
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We’re diving into the Chinwag Mailbag!
Paul in Australia writes to Paul and Stephen with a topic of biblical proportion! He brings to Chinwag the theory known as Paleocontact, which states that our ancient ancestors experienced contact with other non-terrestrial civilizations. Do ancient texts support the idea that paleocontact goes back to the Bible?
Then, Chinwag listeners have asked, so behold, a peak at Paul an...
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April 17, 2024 • 65 mins
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Paul and Stephen are thrilled to talk Bigfoot with acclaimed actor Jesse Eisenberg who stars in the fantastic new movie Sasquatch Sunset.
Sasquatch Sunset is an unprecedented look at a year in the life of a family of Sasquatches, as they forage, mate, and hope to find others like them in the forest. What do Sasquatches do in private, and how do our stories and beliefs about Bigfoot relate to the thoughts of our ancestors?...
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April 12, 2024 • 23 mins
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The origin story of Paul and Justin Theroux’s friendship, formed 30 years ago while messing around backstage and onstage in a depressing Chekhov play.
Justin’s memory is razor sharp and deep, and he shares the moment Paul first experienced fame after his breakout appearance as Pig Vomit in Howard Stern’s Private Parts. Also, theaters are spooky places and Justin reminds Paul of the eerie ghost (with a woman’s enormous b...
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April 10, 2024 • 67 mins
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Paul and Stephen are joined by Paul’s old friend, perpetually youthful actor and screenwriter Justin Theroux.
Learn all you ever wanted to know about the Oakwoods temporary housing in LA from former inhabitants Paul and Justin. Then rattlesnakes in Runyon Canyon, coyotes in Central Park, and how the Lindbergh kidnapping made pitbulls popular and led to Petey the dog on The Little Rascals.
Stephen and Justin...
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April 5, 2024 • 15 mins
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On this Bonus-Wag, Paul and Stephen ask Academy Award-winning director Errol Morris about his ground-breaking invention of the Interrotron camera and how it takes the viewer closer to a documentary subject.
Also, what John le Carré says in Errol Morris’s film The Pigeon Tunnel that makes Stephen wonder if being a spy is similar to being an actor. And what separates a good actor from a bad one? All this and the Errol Morris...
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April 3, 2024 • 61 mins
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Paul and Stephen are excited to meet Academy Award-winning Director and avid book collector Errol Morris.
Stephen’s funky blue lighting and Paul’s floatation tank-talk mark the start of this Chinwag and in just a few short turns, the conversation goes from the idea of the bodhisattva in Buddhism to the weirdness of Florida, in particular Vernon, FL (aka “Nub City”). In typical Waggy fashion, they’re on to a shared rever...
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April 1, 2024 • 1 min
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Mark your calendars and set your comedic compass for April 19th
Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the Chinwag ride of Paul Giamatti,
On the nineteenth of April, in twenty-four;
Hardly a wagger is immune to the hype
Who is present that famous day and year…
- Stephen Asma
Prepare for a night of hilarious tales and witty banter that'll have you laughing from land to sea. Secure your tickets asap for a comedy voyage...
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March 29, 2024 • 13 mins
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Paul and Stephen talk about Stephen’s trip to Norway and his readings from an 8th Century book of spells found in the floorboards of an old church.
Is Iceland or Norway known for delicacies like rotten shark? They’re not sure, but still not fans (of the shark meals). And listeners out there, do you want to hear Paul and Stephen explore Berserkers? Let us know! Also, if your genetic analysis says you’re part Viking, you’r...
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