Tyler Measom and Justin Weinstein are the producers and directors of An Honest Liar, a documentary about James “The Amazing” Randi.
Jessica spoke with them about the movie, the archival footage they found, and Randi “victims” psychic Uri Geller and televangelist Peter Popoff.
James Randi is the legendary investigator of paranormal and pseudoscientific claims and the namesake of the James Randi Educational Foundation. Banachek is the mentalist who created the “bullet catch” trick made famous by Penn & Teller and the director of JREF’s One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge.
Jessica spoke with them about the difficulties of testing so-called supernatural powers, performing mentalism and fooling people, and what they still love about watching magic shows.
Seth Andrews was not just a Christian for more than 30 years, he was a religious broadcaster and professional video producer as well. Since becoming an atheist, he has put those talents to use on The Thinking Atheist YouTube channel (if you haven’t seen his videos, they’re just inspiring and beautiful). His podcast of the same name is currently the most popular show on Blog Talk Radio.
Dr. Karen Stollznow is a linguist with a background in history and anthropology. She is also the author of God Bless America, Haunting America, and her newest books Language Myths, Mysteries and Magic and Not What The Dr. Ordered. She has contributed to several publications including Psychology Today and Skeptic, and she is a research fellow of the James Randi Educational Foundation.
We spoke with Karen about “foreign accent syndrome,” speaking in tongues, and her exploration of different kinds of believers (from Quakers to Satanists).