Really? no, Really? with Jason Alexander & Peter Tilden

Why do smart people believe things that aren't true? Jason Alexander and Peter Tilden sit down with legendary magician, skeptic, and author Penn Jillette for a fascinating conversation about why we're so easily manipulated—and why it's happening more than ever.

Penn explains how tribalism often beats truth, why persuasion is more powerful than knowledge, how social media algorithms exploit our need to belong, and why curiosity is disappearing. They explore conspiracy theories, misinformation, Wikipedia, loneliness, AI, clickbait, and the surprising role boredom plays in independent thinking.

Along the way, the conversation takes hilarious detours into Joe Rogan, clown college, Siegfried & Roy, magic, wife-swapping jokes, and why Penn believes the greatest illusion isn't on stage—it's the stories we tell ourselves.
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Norwegian soccer superstar Erling Haaland went viral when he walked off a plane carrying a stuffed taxidermied raccoon holding a whiskey bottle that he bought for $750 from Wild Bill's Western Store. His team went in and bought some other stuff sold out of all of their inventory and apparently taxidermy has gone through the roof. They have since defined this as the Haaland Effect. Ace Alexander, a master taxidermist and co-owner of Bischoff's Taxidermy & Animal FX, in North Hollywood, joins Jason and Peter on this episode of Really? no Really? The store has been around since 1922 and they were considered the taxidermist to the stars. Ace dives in on the lost of taxidermy and clears up a few misconceptions.

We'll also reveal which celebrities like to collect stuffed animals.
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Ventriloquist and comedian Jeff Dunham joins us on this episode of the Really? no Really? Podcast. Jeff joins Jason and Peter to discuss his journey from going from getting his first puppet as a Christmas gift to being a smash hit in the comedy clubs to selling out massive arena tours. Jeff also has a lot of great stories about his first time performing on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson to roasting GE CEO Jack Welch. Jeff will also tell us the origins behind his most famous characters and reveal which of his puppets is internationally loved all over the world. He'll also take some time to show us how to finally use our puppets.
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I'm looking at a robotic dog that's freaking me out because it's kind of acting like a real dog in the way it looks at you, the way it responds. And I wasn't sure how I would feel about an animatronic dog design. I think specifically for people who have issues, neurological issues like Alzheimer's disease, dementia, and what this dog can do for those people. And is it for those people, or is it for the family who feels guilty that they have to care, take that person, and that is an intense job in this country: Caretaking. I know too many people who are dealing with parents and family members who have all times, and it is it's horrible for the person, but for the caregiver, it's just an endless 24 hour cycle. Will you get no break? So is this dog really helpful for that? I know that the CEO, Tom Stevens, created the dog for his mom, who had Alzheimer's and dementia because they had to take away her dog.
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We originally wanted to title this episode "How the worst day of life became the best day of life", but we realized it was better to let Pete Holmes explain everything that happened to him leading up to his stand-up career and the creation of his HBO show, Crashing, that he made with Judd Apatow. On this episode of Really? no Really? Jason and Peter do a deep with Pete on how an incident liking catching your wife in an affair with another man can not only serve as comedic and artistic inspiration, they also delve into how you respond or handle such a situation. That's where factors like therapy and spirituality come into play and emphasizes the need for comedy in our lives. We'll also discuss comedy justice, Simpsons jokes that didn't get cut, those College Humor Batman sketches and why we all need a Larry David in our lives.
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