Friday, August 21, 2009

Penn & Teller On Alien Abductions

The comedy/magic team of Penn & Teller have for several years hosted a half-hour tv show on "Showtime" wherein they debunk various urban legends, challenge conventional wisdom, and shine a spotlight on extremists and their views, frequently betraying strong libertarian sensibilities, all to hilarious and illuminating effect. They have taken on everything from the bottled water and organic food industries to September 11th conspiracy theories, gun control and recycling.

The best episode to date is the one where they meet people who claim to have been abducted by aliens, and then examine the cottage industry of hypnotherapists, book publishers and trinket peddlers that has sprung up around them to cash in on their "beliefs." Embedded below is part 1 (of 3) of this episode, which is 10 minutes long. It starts a little slowly, but gets steadily better as it goes.


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