Episode 327 - Welcome To Under-Earth

[DaltonMaltz 1119]

Bobby Moynihan, Dan Lippert, and Betsy Sodaro join Matt Besser for this week’s improv4humans! A singer gets pulled out of retirement to perform a song about her greatest tragedy, a botched visit by the Men In Black has a long-lasting impact, and a boy with two pee holes learns how to use his gift. Plus, a flat-Earther finds himself in a world he never knew existed, and a special Case Closed with a Trump “shithole” defender leads to a scene about a whole economy based around making one building as tall as possible.

 

 

(0:53-9:41)- Intro Discussion- ‘Dolores O’Riodan’- A man is not as moved by a celebrity’s death than his

friends.

 

(9:48-18:35) Let’s Talk Some More About That- ‘Dolores O’Riodan’- A singer ends their retirement early

to perform in a movie about their greatest tragedy.

 

(18:40-34:35) Twitter Suggestion- ‘Sasquatch’- A Man’s strange Men in Black visit has an unforeseen

effect.

 

(36:01-50:47) Questions for Listeners- ‘Have You Ever Been Frighteningly Lost?’- A Boy with two pee

holes learns how to love his abnormality.

 

(50:57-1:05:30) What the Fuck is Going On? - ‘Flat Earthers’- A Flat Earther’s discovers the truth about

the world.

 

(1:06:26-1:49:35) Case Closed – ‘Trump’s Shithole Country Comments Debate with Viewer’- A society

that believes the higher up you are, the smarter you are.

[St.Krebs 52]

"Remember when you got lost in New York?" hahahahahaha

 

And Case Closed was PAINFUL.

[Shampoodler 1489]

Cool, a Trump defender! I'll finally get to hear what THEY think!

[Pretty salad 28]

its frustrating how they wanna trash "shit holes" for corruption without taking any responsibility for western governments propping up dictators so our corporations can fleece their natural resources.

[Mystech 8]

The whole "Case Closed" segment at the end reminded me of a quote by Sartre.

 

"Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past. It is not that they are afraid of being convinced. They fear only to appear ridiculous or to prejudice by their embarrassment their hope of winning over some third person to their side."

 

-Jean-Paul Sartre, Anti-Semite and Jew An Exploration of the Etiology of Hate

 

 

This guy was not arguing in good faith, and was blatantly waffling on the president's clear negative meaning in his comments while he dodges to try and talk about a "merit based" system, and Mattie B didn't have the presence of mind to think to mention that where one is from is not a "merit" etc.

 

I hate to say it, but this is exactly how you DON'T interview fascists and white supremacists. This sort of interview is just what they want - a lot of time for them to spew their contradictory bigoted nonsense, and trying to untie it all to debunk it live and in the moment is damn near impossible. If they come out of things looking even just a bit sillier and dumber than the person trying to argue with them then they have *still* won, and you've done them a service by helping to legitimize their views.

[Trurl 38]

You judge it on the whole, though, and it was an entertaining ep up to the very clear delimitation, which might have been too well produced for its own good. But in all, great chemistry and loved seeing Moynihan tackle the I4H formula, feels like a master returning to his roots.

[Hugg Niceman 107]

I hate to say it, but this is exactly how you DON'T interview fascists and white supremacists. This sort of interview is just what they want - a lot of time for them to spew their contradictory bigoted nonsense, and trying to untie it all to debunk it live and in the moment is damn near impossible. If they come out of things looking even just a bit sillier and dumber than the person trying to argue with them then they have *still* won, and you've done them a service by helping to legitimize their views.

 

 

I disagree. You need to at least expose these people to different ideas and view points otherwise both sides remain in echo chambers. We can't completely ignore and write off these people. Often by letting someone like this guy open his mouth, he will say something stupid. Bill Maher did a good job of this with Milo Y. last year: let him speak and eventually he will say something so dumb it will invalidate all his other points.

 

That said, Besser and the others missed a few opportunities to attack this guy's faulty logic. You point out the contradiction in his merit-based ideas, which definitely should have been hammered home. He should have also been grilled about the African slave trade and western corruption. I really liked Besser's mention of Dubai's tall buildings and wanted him to continue with that line of questioning, i.e., if tall buildings mean the country isn't a shit hole then the U.A.E. and China are the two greatest countries. Why doesn't he want to leave Mississippi and live there? I'm sure he would say something about freedom... so you eventually get him to articulate what makes a great country and what makes a shit hole.