9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery Emery: I am not Jewish 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Drew Marks: You are not? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: No. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Drew: Then why's your mom in Florida? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emory: I would be much more successful in entertainment 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emory: Mom, can you hear me? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: Mom? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Red shirt: And what's my excuse? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "It looks like she went away." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: Mom, can you hear me? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Heather: She moved- she went away from the mic for a minute. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: Mom? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "Wow." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: Mom? Can you hear- 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "Yes?" 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: Where were you? I couldn't hear you for a minute and you couldn't hear me. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Mom: "No." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Mom: "I couldn't-" 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: Ok, had you left? Were you leaving or something? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Mom: "Nope." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: Ok, we're about to roll here. Here we go, ok? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Mom: Ok. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: Ready? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "Yeah." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: I'm ready when you are. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "Sorry, can I- Sorry guys. Can I just switch out the batteries real quick?" 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "In, in there?" 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "Yeah." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: We're 3 minutes late starting, guys. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So, we're gonna go ahead and roll. We have an intro to do. You just do that and just try and be quiet, ok? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Here we go. Hit it. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [music plays] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: Hello, and welcome to Skeptically Yours where thinking is free. Today's episode brought to you by The Big Bang. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Heather: Boom. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: Sitting next to me is my co- host and producer, Heather Henderson." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Heather: Hi, everybody. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: You know Heather from the Facebooks, on the intertubes and from the award winning broadcast Ardent Atheist. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You can find links to our guests' websites, join our Twitter and Facebook feeds, subscribe to our premium full length 90 minute episodes and our email at skepticallyyours.net 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Heather: If you'd like to take part in the live chat moderated by Joe Swam go to the YouTube page called Ardent Atheist podcast which we also use for Skeptically Yours and chat us up. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: Do it or you'll disappoint your parents. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Heather: Why would anybody's parents care if their kids chat in the Skeptic tank? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: Parents are all judgy like that, that's why. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Heather: But, you're just making that up. No one cares about who's chatting during our show." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: I care. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Heather: If you really care your daughter chats on the Skeptic- Do you really care if your daughter chats on the Skeptic Tank? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: No. No I don't actually, you jerk. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Heather: That's what I thought. Guess my ???? anything they want between the ??? of Dr. Phil 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: If you're a listener who has ever been duped by anything that has been debunked on Snopes, welcome! Your ordeal is over. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We're coming to you live from E&H studios in Studio City, California. In the studio city today we have Al Lubel, Fred Stoller and Drew Marks as well. On Skype, we have my mom. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You know these folks from the world of reason. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Heather: And show biz! 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: And show biz, yeah. That's true. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: Mom, mom was in show biz. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Heather: Mom was in show biz. She was a singer. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: Hi, mom. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Mom; Hi, honey. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [all laughing] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Drew: I was ready to step in. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: Thank you very much. Drew has his own podcast. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He knows how it goes. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Was the neighbor just shouting through my door during this recording? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Drew: She was. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Heather: Well, the door was open. It was left open. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emory: What was she yelling? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Heather: Can I shut the door? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: Yeah, well shut the fucking door. Jesus God! We all have headphones on. I have the worst neighbors. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Drew: Do you, really? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Yeah. Truly psychotic. You can actually find- on YouTube you can find, not that neighbor that was just yelling, but another neighbor who had passive aggressively, after I had turned on a vacuum one evening and woke her up at 1:30 in the morning... 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [others laughing] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: ...gone downstairs into the garage which is right below- 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Heather: [laughing] I'll just forget about that part. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 No, no. Don't worry about it. You know what? When you- when you live next door to people, on occasion you might have a sound that bothers them. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The next morning you go, "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. I fucking turned that vacuum on to suck up some stuff by the computer. I- I'm sorry." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Drew: At the risk of showing my age, you have a Gladys Kravitz? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: Much worse than a Gladys Kravitz. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Nobody would be stupid enough to call themselves Mr. Kravitz with this woman. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Anyway, she ends up in her garage sweeping angrily, listening to the radio at top- blaring it and singing with it. Yeah. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Red shirt: Wow 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: So I go down, because I'm a filmmaker, and I slide under the SUV in the parking lot there. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I set up a camera and I film the woman. And you can see that up on YouTube. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Search on YouTube for Emery crazy neighbor and you'll find it. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Heather: Awesome! 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Al Lubel: So she was doing that to annoy you, the next day or that night? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: That night. No, I was in bed at 2- I went to bed about 2 o'clock. I'm laying there ready to sleep and then I hear all this downstairs. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I- listen I knew what it was. I mean, the minute I heard it I knew what it was. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Al : But it's not possible at all that maybe she was going to do that anyway? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: [laughs] Yeah, no. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Heather: That's funny. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Fred: He's a skeptic. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: Right! Nicely done, Al. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 She's never, ever done it before so there's no reason to assume at 2 in the morning she would be down there sweeping up angrily. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Al: But it is possible. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: No, it's not possible. She went down there to fuck with me. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Al: Oh, I see. Ok. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: Watch the video. You be the judge. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Heather: You can tell. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Drew: He's trying to stay on, on task here. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: Yeah, I have- listen, one thing about this show: no task. Listen. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 First of all, one of the- we really have one topic. Usually, have a couple. But today's topic- 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We're going to talk about whether or not therapy is good or bad. Is, is it negative or is it positive? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We're going to take a skeptical view of therapy. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Al: Can it also be neutral. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: [laughing] Yes. I know how this is going to go Al. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I know exactly how this is gonna go. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it could be neutral. I think it's gonna be a complex answer. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Not to try and presuppose, but I really think the answer to therapy is complex. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Some people get a lot from it. Some people get nothing from it. Some people get a little from it. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Fred: So it's a nebulous thing. There's a million nebulous things like acting coach, life coach, feng shui... 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I said to the late Warren Thomas, 'Therapy's ok if let's say you touch little- sorry. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [Emery adjusts Fred's mic for better sound] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Fred: ...touch little children or shot your brother or you, you pee in the street. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [laughter] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Fred: He goes, 'I have all three,' you know. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: [chimes in] He has all three! 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Fred: But, yes- But, you know, my analogy- it's like acting class. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it's good to go for a few months or a year to get a foundation 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but you don't want to be a permanent student or a permanent patient. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And any time you see on Dr. Katz this nebulous stuff, you know, written in a script. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It just- I don't know it just seems like this general malaise of life that you've gotta- 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You become dependent on these people. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They're all lunatics. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They all- you'll hear stories that they touch patients or have them sit on laps. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Not all of them. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [laughter] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Fred: I don't know. It's just, it- you know, to the dentist you get a tooth fixed. You don't keep going. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 When we did- I don't want to name names- when we did your art in Atheist, this other guy was on it. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: Name his name! I can't remember who you're talking about. Do you remember? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Fred: He's a good guy. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: All right. Go on. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Fred: His religion was therapy. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Like people wanna be convinced something is the savior. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 'Oh, I want to have the kid. If it wasn't therapy- Therapy showed me this.' 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [laughter] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Drew: It all depends on the individual, though. Some people need that crutch and some don't. it's like religion or anything else. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Fred: It's religion. That's what I'm saying. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's like people wanna think something's the answer. So I think- 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I think it's like astrology. Again, i wish I had more thesaurusesness than nebulous but it's science. It's the opposite of science. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [laughter] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Al: But you're using Dr. Katz as the example? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [more laughter] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Fred: I'm saying, whatever you see on like Bob Newhart or Dr. Katz 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Whenever they- 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Drew: I love how all the people you quote are, are made up, though. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [laughing] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Fred: I'm making my point, that it sort of- like people write filler into a thing. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Therapy is no different when something- some fictional character would say "Well, you need tp like yourself. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Or you need to really take a timeout or' I'm not saying it's the worst thing but it creates a dependency- 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Al: have you gone. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Fred: Yes. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Al: How long have you gone for? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Fred: I went to one guy in- when I was a kid. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He would tell racist jokes- 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [laughter] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: Maybe the problem here is you don't know how to pick a therapist. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Fred: Actually I ended up using in standup one of his jokes. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Like he would do a joke- 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 {continued laughter] All right, you're fucking the line up. He goes, "Superman- 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There's a black guy on a ledge and Superman goes, 'hey jump.'" And the guy jumps. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And the joke was Superman sure hates niggers. So that- 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Drew: That's a horrible joke! 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [laughter] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Fred: And I didn't like that and he's going "You're fucking so uptight." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I end up actually using a version of that where Superman would go "Hee, hee, hee." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Drew: Right, but you were a kid so I'm assuming your parents chose this therapist for you. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Fred: Well, I think therapy is like parents- 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 where you don't know your parents are awful warped because you think this is, this is what the norm is. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Drew: [chimes in] this is what the world is. Sure. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Fred: Yeah, so my- actually I saw another therapist that would set me up on blind dates, go eat with me... 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I swear to God. He was the Comedian Shrink, he was known as. So, you know, and he would, he would try to write scripts 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and send it to other former patients and go "C'mon, don't read the first draft." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [laughter] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: i think you're a victim of the Truman Show. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You must be living some reality that isn't real. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And people are sending you to shitty therapists or something. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Fred: Well, I- Again, I just- 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Al: You used his joke on stage? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [laughter] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Fred: No, no, I didn't use- 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: In addition to not getting better, you're a thief! 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Al's just obsessed with the fact that your therapist is a writer. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Fred: No, no. My version of that joke- No I didn't really- 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I said, if there really was a Superman I forgot- he would- I forgot. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But the tag was "I got you. hee, hee." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Al: I'm assuming this would be your closer. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [continuing laughter] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Fred: I don't remember. I think I did use it- No. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery; Go find the joke. Is it posted anywhere? Did you record it? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 heather: This was s long time ago. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Fred: I'm so old that- 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Emery: How old are you? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Drew: Come on! [laughing] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Fred: Everyone when they do standup goes, "This is my first set at Uncle [made up name]." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They weren't videotaping.