George Carlin on religion

George Carlin is one of the most well known stand-up comedians. In this scene, taken from the DVD Jamin’ in New York, George Carlin talks about the religious dogma of all organized religions. He criticizes and pokes fun at many holy books such as the Bible, Torah, and Koran. He satirizes the basic idea of organized religion by mocking all religious figures as the kings of “crap”, and mocking the idea of god as both a loving figure, and one who will banish you to hell. George Carlin is known for the emotion that he puts behind his jokes. Carlin’s jokes cover a wide range of themes, from religion, to drugs, sex, politics, fame, society, language, and the events of everyday life. George Carlin often did stand-up in front of a diverse audience. Even after his death, Carlin’s humor is watched by many.

Jamin' in New York. Prod. Jerry Hamaz and Brenda Carlin. Perf. George Carlin. DVD. Atlantic/WEA, 1992. YouTube. 07 Feb. 2009. 31 Mar. 2009.

Richard Dawkins reads his hate mail

In the above clip, Oxford University professor reads his hate mail out loud. Richard Dawkins is a well-known atheist and avid defender of Darwin’s theory of Evolution over the theory of creationism. This has brought him a lot of hatred from religious clergy and pro-religious organizations. In the clip, Richard Dawkins reads outs some of the most comical attacks he has received in his email. The clip deals with the eternal struggle between religion and science. Each side seeks to explain the mysteries of the universe, while trying to disprove the other side’s arguments. In this clip, the two extremes of the spectrum, with Dawkins advocating for science and the e-mailers advocating for religion. Dawkins makes frequent visits to universities around the world and gives lectures on evolution to students.

Richard Dawkins reads hate mail. Perf. Richard Dawkins. YouTube. 30 Aug. 2008. 31 Mar. 2009 .

Margaret Cho Christians have Lost Their Minds

Margaret Cho is a female actor whose main focus of comedy is based on religion. Her inspiration for making fun of Christianity is based off of Bill Hicks. Her audience is typically middle aged people with a diverse ethnic background of White, Asian, Hispanic, and African Americans. Margartet starts off her stand-up talking about how "Christian family groups are out of control, they have lost their minds" because the only reason they voted for George Bush was to make sure that gay people would not get married. She makes the joke afterwards by saying that even satanists are calling these people really mean. She also backs up her point about how Christians are crazy when they started to complain about how spongebob is gay and the show shouldnt be on TV. Margaret after wards in an angry voice screams...Spongebob is a SPONGE. Her main arguments in this joke come from her anger at how stupid these religious followers are and that they cannot think for themselves. They only beleive in what they were raised by and how this is screwing up society.


Margaret Cho. Assasins. Dir. Konda Masson. Washington DC. 2005