Ye Gods! with Scott Carter

Scott sits down with writer, actress, artist, tea merchant and daughter of Frank Zappa, Moon Unit Zappa to discuss her new memoir “Earth to Moon.” They touch on Moon’s unconventional household in 1970s Los Angeles, coming of age as part of the MTV generation in the 1980s as the “Valley Girl,” and her quest to find herself after losing her father. Moon also talks about how that search led her to discover that empathy for one’s self can heal the deepest wounds. 

Earth to Moon was published on 8/20/24 by Dey Street Books and is available on Bookshop.com, Amazon and at your favorite bookstore. She will be appearing at Li Cinema Arts Theater in Huntington, NY on 10/27 and at the Miami Book Fair in Miami, FL on 11/23. You can check out her tea company tea-o-graphy here. 

Guest: Moon Unit Zappa was born in 1967 to legendary musician Frank Vincent Zappa and his second wife, Gail Zappa. At the age of fourteen, Moon Zappa appeared in Frank Zappa’s career defining song, “Valley Girl,” which later helped jump-start Moon’s own career. Since then, Moon has firmly established herself as a writer, actress, comedian, artist, podcaster, and tea merchant. Learn more at MoonUnit.com.

Ye Gods is produced by Efficiency Studios: Creator and Host, Scott Carter; Executive Producer, Dossie McCraw; Co-Executive Producer, Selena Lauterer; Associate Producer, Robyn Rose Valentine. Music licensed by Epidemic Sound.

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ENCORE In part two of our interview with actor and Soul Boom author Rainn Wilson, we discuss his new show Rainn Wilson and The Geography of Bliss, now streaming on Peacock. Rainn shares some of his favorite memories from filming around the world, which places he thinks find happiness best, and where he’d like to go in season two. Rainn also talks about how our culture’s aversion to death hurts our ability to appreciate life.

Rainn recommends this inspiring quote from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin the Jesuit priest: “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”

Guest: Rainn Wilson is an Emmy nominated and SAG award-winning actor, writer and producer who has found himself in a variety of comedic and theatrical roles throughout his career. His first breakthrough role came when he played assistant mortician “Arthur Martin” on HBO’s Six Feet Under, winning him and the cast a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. Wilson is best known for playing the inimitable ‘Dwight Schrute’ for nine seasons on NBC’s Emmy award winning comedy, The Office, a role which garnered him three Emmy Award nominations. Wilson’s book, Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution released April 25, 2023. In this book, he explores the benefits spirituality gives us in creating solutions for an increasingly challenging world. Wilson can be seen in Rainn Wilson and The Geography of Bliss a six-part travel docuseries in which he travels around the world to discover the happiest places on Earth. The series debuted on Peacock on May 18th.

In My Homily Opinion: Scott encourages Rainn to stay weird. The search for meaning cannot be done without our authentic selves. 

Email us at [email protected]

Ye Gods is produced by Efficiency Studios: Creator and Host, Scott Carter; Executive Producer, Dossie McCraw; Co-Executive Producer, Selena Lauterer; Associate Producer, Robyn Rose Valentine. Hosting services provided by Podbean. Music licensed by Epidemic Sound.

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ENCORE: Comedian, podcaster and documentarian Hari Kondabolu joins to discuss growing up as a second generation Indian-American and melding the cultural diversity of his hometown Queens, NY with the beautiful Hindu traditions taught to him by his mother while also absorbing through films and the iconic Amar Chitra Katha comic books. Hari and Scott discuss Indian films including the Oscar nominated RRR, and Hari leaves us with a recommendation to experience a classic film that elicits tears at the same scene every time he rewatches: The Apu Trilogy: Pather Panchali.  Hari's new Special "Vacation Baby" debuts on YouTube April 18th.

In My Homily Opinion (IMHO): Scott Carter delights in hearing the voice of his dear friend and future Ye Gods guest Salman Rushdie on Surviving the Fatwa on New Yorker Radio Hour.

దయచేసి ఆలోచనలు మరియు ఆశీర్వాదాలు పంపండి [email protected]

Guest: Hari Kondabolu is a comedian, writer and podcaster based in Brooklyn. The NY Times called him “one of the most exciting political comics in stand-up today” and described his 2018 Netflix special Warn Your Relatives as “an incisively funny and formally adventurous hour that reveals a comic in command of his powers.” 

In 2017, his HBOMax documentary The Problem with Apu was released to critical acclaim and spurred a global conversation about race and representation. The Nation called it “a devastating critique of the ultimate comedic sacred cow: The Simpsons.” It is now used in high school, college and grad school curriculums around the US.

A regular on the public radio, Hari is a panelist on the NPR game show Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me. As a podcaster, he co-hosted the popular Politically Reactive with dear friend W. Kamau Bell. Additionally, he also co-hosts what he politely describes as a “pop up podcast,” The Untitled Kondabolu Brothers Podcast with his younger brother Ashok (“Dap” from HBO’s Chillin’ Island and defunct rap group Das Racist.)

Hari attended both Bowdoin College and Wesleyan University, graduating from the former institution with a B.A. in Comparative Politics. A former immigrant rights organizer in Seattle who worked under the leadership of now-Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, Hari also earned a Masters in Human Rights from the London School of Economics in 2008. He was the “Artist In Residence” at NYU’s APA Institute for the 2014-2015 Academic Year and at Shangri La Museum in Honolulu in 2018.

Email Scott at [email protected].

Ye Gods is produced by Efficiency Studios: Creator and Host, Scott Carter; Executive Producer, Dossie McCraw; Co-Executive Producer, Selena Lauterer; Associate Producer, Robyn Rose Valentine. Hosting services provided by Podbean. Music licensed by Epidemic Sound.

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ENCORE conversation with Michael Render, aka Killer Mike: rapper, activist, and host of the PBS talk show Love & Respect with Killer Mike (Executive Produced by Scott Carter) as well as half of the rap duo Run The Jewels. He joins Scott to talk about the influence of his grandmother on his faith, how blackness informed his experience of church and why the teachings of Jesus Christ made him a radical in his time and today. Mike’s latest album “Michael” drops June 16th. 

Michael’s recommendation is the 1791 book by Count Constantin-François Chassebœuf, The Ruins of Empires.

In My Homily Opinion:  Scott tells the story of how he and Mike met and asks if we all could use more hugs.

Email us at [email protected]

 Guest: Michael Render, aka Killer Mike, is a Grammy-award winning rapper, businessman and activist. He is one half of the hip hop duo, Run the Jewels, host of the PBS talk show “Love & Respect with Killer Mike,” and co-owner along with Tip ‘T.I.’ Harris of famed Atlanta restaurant, Bankhead Seafood.  A native of Atlanta, Render has released five full-length albums as a solo artist and four albums for Run the Jewels. His latest solo album “Michael” releases on June 16, 2023. He began organizing at the age of 15 and made a name for himself as an activist well before he recorded a single song. In addition to advocating for the decriminalization of marijuana, and restorative justice programs for young people, Render has worked locally with the anti-violence organization, Black Teens for Advancement and the Atlanta/Fulton Commission on Children and Youth through its Kids 4 a Change program. Through his SWAG Shop barbershops, which he co-owns with his wife, he’s held back-to-school events offering free haircuts, braids, and school supplies for Atlanta children. He was named to NME's "The Ten People Who Defined 2020" list for his powerful lyrics and activism, his album, RTJ4, made Variety's "Best Albums of 2020" list alongside Taylor Swift, The Weeknd, and he was named as the recipient of 2020's Billboard Change Maker Award. Of all his roles and responsibilities, recognition and celebration, Mike is most proud to be called “husband” to Shana, and “father” to two sons and two daughters.

Ye Gods is produced by Efficiency Studios: Creator and Host, Scott Carter; Executive Producer, Dossie McCraw; Co-Executive Producer, Selena Lauterer; Associate Producer, Robyn Rose Valentine. Hosting services provided by Podbean. Music licensed by Epidemic Sound.

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ENCORE EPISODE. What Scott loves most about conversations with Paul F. Tompkins is that they can discuss the most serious of topics without either of them ever pulling a long face. And so this quote from playwright and screenwriter Ben Hecht seems apropos:

“People who sweat when they think, and to whom an idea comes with all the impact of a toothache, refuse to believe that gaiety and not pain may be the mark of intellect.”

Amen, Ben. All that's solemn isn't wise. All that's wise isn't solemn. Wisdom often sings and laughs and even giggles.

Guest: Paul F. Tompkins is best known for voicing characters on The Simpsons, Netflix’s Bo Jack Horseman, for creating HBO’s Mr. Show with Bob Odenkirk and David Cross, hosting VH1’s Best Week Ever and myriad podcasts including Stay F. Homekins with Janine Haddad, Threedom with Scott Aukerman and Lauren Lapkus. Check out his live variety show Varietopia. 

In My Homily Opinion (IMHO): Scott Carter reflects on Paul’s broken-hearted mother who, after living her entire life as a devout lamb of the Catholic flock, questions God and flees the fold calling it all BS. She's now passed on, which raises the questions: If there is a God, who does God side with? A woman asking questions in good faith or His church in which she'd stopped believing? Does religion today fail many who come to it with broken hearts and just do not get healed? 

Send your thoughts (and prayers) to [email protected].

Ye Gods is produced by Efficiency Studios: Creator and Host, Scott Carter; Executive Producer, Dossie McCraw; Co-Executive Producer, Selena Lauterer; Associate Producer, Robyn Rose Valentine. Hosting services provided by Podbean. Music licensed by Epidemic Sound.

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Scott met Nayyera Haq when he produced HBO's Real Time, and she was always a smart and insightful guest on a range of social and political topics. She is a highly accomplished professional (see below), a doting mother, a devoted wife and a proud Muslim American. Her parents – a physician and a public school teacher – immigrated from Pakistan to Staten Island, New York and instilled in her a commitment to public service. From an early age, Nayyera has sought to understand how the American Dream worked for her while others around the world struggle. She credits her upbringing and an application of principles from multiple faiths for the enriched life she leads today.  

In My Homily Opinion (IMHO): Scott reflects on the shameful tolerance of child labor for some migrant children in the US today. He recalls the lessons of a 1973 short story, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin, which describes a utopian paradise where everyone's permanent happiness is predicated on one child.

Guest: Nayyera Haq is an energetic and versatile broadcaster. She is a Producer on CommandZ, a social-impact series directed by Steven Soderbergh. She hosts talk radio on SiriusXM where she connects dots for listeners on local and global issues. A storyteller at heart, Nayyera uses her two decades of experience as a senior diplomat and government official to help people make sense of the world today. She launched and hosted the nightly newscast, The World Tonight and was Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent for the Black News Channel. Nayyera’s insights and personal appeal make her a regular television guest of hosts like Bill Maher, Joy Reid, and Jake Tapper. She publishes in outlets as varied as The Daily Beast, The Washington Post, Refinery 29, and The Root. Nayyera previously served as a Senior Director in the White House and Senior Advisor at the State Department, advising our nation’s top leaders on issues of international security and diplomacy.

Email Scott:  [email protected]

Ye Gods is produced by Efficiency Studios: Creator and Host, Scott Carter; Executive Producer, Dossie McCraw; Co-Executive Producer, Selena Lauterer; Associate Producer, Robyn Rose Valentine. Hosting services provided by Podbean. Music licensed by Epidemic Sound.

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ENCORE EPISODE: Journalist, co-author with Bob Woodward of “Peril”, and Chief Election & Campaign Correspondent for CBS News Robert Costa joins Scott to discuss his Catholic upbringing and how faith brings him a respite from dark times. He muses on his reluctance to talk about himself in his reporting and his dedication to facts and objectivity in every story. Scott and Robert also get into his reporting on the religious right and his understanding of the politics of the conservative Christians in the GOP. 

In My Homily Opinion (IMHO): Judge not, lest ye be judged. But sometimes we can’t help it. Scott discusses the final season of HBO’s Succession and how Logan Roy’s “suspicions” about the afterlife sparked comparisons to real life media moguls Rupert Murdoch and Sumner Redstone.

Email your suspicions to [email protected]

Guest: Robert Costa is the Chief Election & Campaign correspondent for CBS News, where he covers national politics and American democracy. Based in Washington D.C., he is a regular contributor to the "CBS Evening News with Norah O'Donnell," "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," "CBS Mornings," and "Sunday Morning," as well as to CBS News Streaming programs such as "Red & Blue." Before joining CBS News in 2022, Costa and reporting legend Bob Woodward co-wrote "Peril," which was published by Simon & Schuster in September 2021. The book documented the tumultuous transition between the Trump presidency and the Biden presidency and was a No. 1 New York Times bestseller. It was also cited in congressional subpoenas issued by the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. From 2014 to 2021, Costa was a national political reporter at The Washington Post. Costa served as the moderator and managing editor of "Washington Week" on PBS from 2017 to 2020. 

Ye Gods is produced by Efficiency Studios: Creator and Host, Scott Carter; Executive Producer Dossie McCraw, Co-Executive Producer Selena Lauterer and Associate Producer Robyn Rose Valentine. Hosting services provided by Podbean. Music licensed by Epidemic Sound.

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On each episode of YE GODS, Scott Carter starts with the same question: If life is a mystery, whodunit?  No one knows what happens when we die, neither the devout believer nor the fervent atheist. 

This special episode presents excerpts from past interviews in which guests have described experiences of forces connecting them to unexplainable energy – some say the work of God, some say maybe something else. But each has an unshakable sense of connecting to a powerful...something. You'll hear from writer producer Larry Wilmore, Emmy winning actress Patricia Heaton, novelist and podcast host Jack Wilson, conservative radio host Eric Erickson,  and journalist Ana Marie Cox.

Why limit the size of the miracle you are willing to accept? If you believe in miracles.  Send your stories of miracles and close encounters with the supernatural to [email protected]

Ye Gods is produced by Efficiency Studios: Creator and Host, Scott Carter; Executive Producer Dossie McCraw, Co-Executive Producer Selena Lauterer and Associate Producer Robyn Rose Valentine. Hosting services provided by Podbean. Music licensed by Epidemic Sound.

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ENCORE - Actress and comic Susie Essman from HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm joins Scott to discuss praying to the humor gods, the connections between comedy and Judaism, why Larry David the creator of Curb Your Enthusiasm and co-creator of Seinfeld is a sort of Rabbi, plus remembrances of their mutual friend, the late comic genius Gilbert Gottfried.  

Guest: Susie Essman has played the sassy Susie Greene for all eleven seasons of the critically-acclaimed HBO comedy series, Curb Your Enthusiasm. Her hilarious bouts of withering sarcasm and uninhibited insults have become her character’s trademark. The Los Angeles Times calls Susie, “The most lyrical purveyor of profanity on television.  She makes the entire cast of  “The Sopranos” look like rank amateurs.  It really is a gift.”  Susie’s streetwise vernacular is perfectly suited for her life in Manhattan where she has been a veteran of the world of stand up comedy for thirty-nine years.  She has appeared in her own half-hour HBO comedy special, made numerous appearances on Broad City, The View, Hacks and The Tonight Show, to name just a few of her many television credits.  She has also acted in numerous films. Susie resides in New York with her husband and one-eyed Shih Tzu.

Send your thoughts (and prayers) to [email protected]

Ye Gods is produced by Efficiency Studios: Creator and Host, Scott Carter; Executive Producer Dossie McCraw, Co-Executive Producer Selena Lauterer and Associate Producer Robyn Rose Valentine. Hosting services provided by Podbean. Music licensed by Epidemic Sound.

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ENCORE with Comedian-writer-producer Larry Wilmore who has one of the most impressive resumes in TV from In Living Color, to The Bernie Mac Show, The Daily Show to Blackish and HBO’s Insecure. He now hosts the Larry Wilmore: Black on Air Podcast with The Ringer. He stops by to talk about his epiphany as a door-to-door salesman, his Catholic upbringing and his comedic love of The Marx Brothers and their 1930 classic vaudeville film Animal Crackers.

In My Homily Opinion (IMHO): Do we all have a reason why we are here? Scott Carter honors his friend the late and great comedic genius Garry Shandling. Scott tells the story of how writer/director Judd Apatow (Knocked Up, 40 Year Old Virgin), while researching for the documentary The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling discovered a note from Garry that only Scott could decipher about Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, and Garry’s legacy as a mentor to Sarah Silverman and many others.

Guest: Emmy Award winner Larry Wilmore has been a television producer, actor, comedian, and writer for more than 25 years. He can currently be heard as host of Larry Wilmore: Black on the Air on The Ringer Podcast Network. The show, which premiered in 2017, features Wilmore’s unique mix of humor and wit as he weighs in on the issues of the week and interviews guests in the worlds of politics, entertainment, culture, sports, and beyond. He can also be seen in the Paramount+ film Jerry and Margo Go Large, alongside Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening. He also serves as executive producer alongside Kerry Washington, in the Hulu legal drama Reasonable Doubt for Hulu’s Onyx Collective. Larry is currently in development on the comedy series Lately for ABC, a behind-the-scenes look at the upstairs-downstairs dynamics of the people who work at a late-night talk show. Wilmore released his first book, “I'd Rather We Got Casinos and Other Black Thoughts”, in January 2009. He lives in Los Angeles.

Send your thoughts (and prayers) to [email protected]

Ye Gods is produced by Efficiency Studios: Creator and host Scott Carter, Executive Producer Dossie McCraw, Co-Executive Producer Selena Lauterer, Associate Producer Robyn Rose Valentine. Hosting services provided by Podbean. Music licensed by Epidemic Sound.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices