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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Ye Gods welcomes our first guest from the Sikh faith: author, activist, and founder of The Revolutionary Love Project Valarie Kaur. Scott sat down with Valarie to discuss her new book Sage Warrior where she combines the retelling of Sikh legends with her family’s trip across Punjab, India. Valarie also recounts how a hate crime killing of a Sikh gas station owner in the wake of 9/11 sparked her decades long fight for safety.  Valarie and Scott discuss the tenets and origins of Sikhism and how its focus on justice has informed her work as an anti-hate crime activist. 

Valarie and her organization the Revolutionary Love Project are currently on a nationwide bus tour bringing the immersive experience of storytelling, music, song, ancestral wisdom, and community-building to our divided country. The tour lasts through Oct. 27. For more information on the Revolutionary Love tour visit revolutionarylove.org/tour 

For more information on Valarie’s book Sage Warrior and its accompanying album by trumpeter Sonny Singh go to valariekaur.com/books

Valarie recommends the song Revolutionary Love by Ani DiFranco 

Guest: VALARIE KAUR is a civil rights leader, lawyer, award-winning filmmaker, educator, and founder of the Revolutionary Love Project. Valarie became an activist when a Sikh father and family friend was the first person murdered in hate violence in the aftermath of 9/11. Since then, Valarie has led visionary campaigns to tell untold stories and change policy on issues ranging from hate crimes to digital freedom. Her work ignited a national movement to reclaim love as a force for justice. Today, the Revolutionary Love Project is seeding networked communities of practice across the country to build the beloved community. A daughter of Punjabi Sikh farmers in California, Valarie lifts up her vision for America in her acclaimed TED Talk and #1 LA Times Bestseller See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love. In Fall 2022, Valarie was honored at the White House in the first-ever Uniters Ceremony, recognizing her as a prophetic leader whose work is healing America. Valarie’s book new book Sage Warrior was released in September 2024 and can be purchased wherever books are sold.

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 MegaPhone Music licensed by Epidemic Sound.

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Armin Shimerman may be best known for his role as Quark in the Star Trek franchise Deep Space Nine. But we know him as a highly regarded Shakespearian professor not only at the University Of Southern California but has taught at many theaters around the country. He focuses on scene study and the understanding of the language through the study of Rhetoric and the cultural ethos of the Elizabethan and Jacobean times. He is a professional actor with over 100 roles on camera and nearly 100 on stage, including three Broadway shows: Joe Papp’s Three Penny Opera, Circle-in-the-Square’s St. Joan with Lynn Redgrave, and Richard Rodgers’ I Remember Mama. He has performed in about a third of Shakespeare’s canon, including San Diego’s Old Globe, the Vermont Shakespeare Festival, the Utah Shakespeare Festival, and the American Shakespeare Festival. 

For two years, Armin performed as Count Tolstoy in Scott Carter’s Discord at the NoHo Arts Centre, the Geffen Theater in Los Angeles, and the Arizona Stage Company. 

Armin was nominated for a daytime Emmy for his performance in the web series Red Bird. As a voice-over artist, his work with the Maltese Falcon and Zorro was nominated for separate Grammys. He is a published novelist with a recent trilogy entitled, “Illyria,” an Elizabethan political thriller commingling historical figures with Shakespearian characters. He has directed 5 stage plays and written 6 novels. He also served seven years as a National Board member for the Screen Actors Guild. He was the Associate Artistic Director for the Antaeus Theatre Company in Glendale. Among his many charitable endeavors, he is one of the three founders of Trek Against Pancreatic Cancer, which supports the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. 

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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One day in 2010, Steve Turner was on his way home from work when he ran into an old high school basketball rival, Lewis Brown. They reminisced about old games and how the LA Times once called Lewis “...the best basketball player in the history of the California Interscholastic Federation.” It was like no time had passed at all, except that Stephen was now a successful lawyer and Lewis was living on the street. The friendship that followed, Stephen says “was a miracle from God.”

Guest: Stephen Turner is a lawyer living in the Los Angeles area and an “OG” member of Thad’s Episcopal Church in Culver City. 

Adam Nagourney‘s NY Times article on Lewis Brown.

New York Times obituary for Louis Brown.

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 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. 

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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 Julia Sweeney is a multi-hyphenate performer known for her hilarious characters on SNL and her comedy specials God Said Ha, Letting Go of God, and most recently Older and Wider. This week on Ye Gods!, Julia joins Scott to discuss her devout atheism as well as her feelings on religion, God, the saints and more! Julia explains cultural Catholicism sans a belief in God and how community is central to who we are as human beings.

In My Homily Opinion (IMHO): Inspired by Oscar Wilde’s love of the Catholic ceremony, this week's IMHO Scott asks listeners to send in stories of how religious ritual has affected their lives and if experiencing them can reveal spiritual mysteries.

Email Scott at [email protected]

Guest: Julia Sweeney is an actress, comedian, writer and film director. She was born in the U.S. in Spokane, Washington in 1959. She’s appeared on numerous film and television shows and is well known for her years on SNL in the first half of the 1990s. She has created several comedic one-person shows. In 2014, she released her book “If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Your Mother”, a collection of essays on the complex blessings of motherhood. The latest TV series Julia has appeared in is Shrill and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. 

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.

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 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 Political commentator and founder of The Bulwark, Charlie Sykes joins Scott to discuss judgment, the hereafter, and the state of American democracy. Charlie talks about converting to catholicism in his teens, the influence of his father on his life, and his hopes for his legacy. Charlie recommends The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius.

In My Homily Opinion: 

Viktor Frankl was a Jewish-Austrian holocaust survivor and psychiatrist who wrote that we should decide what gives life meaning, then live life, so that on our deathbed, our memories may match our meaning. Scott doesn't think we need to wait for our death bed to look back. We can do it whenever we pass from one stage of life to another. Father’s Day was one of those moments for Scott. 

Share your regrets and blessings. Email us at [email protected]

Guest: Charlie Sykes is a founder and editor-at-large of The Bulwark, host of The Bulwark Podcast, and an NBC/ MSNBC contributor. He is also the author of nine books, including his most recent book, How the Right Lost Its Mind, published by St. Martin’s Press, released in October 2017. An updated paperback edition was released in October, 2018. Sykes has written for The New York Times, The Atlantic,  The Weekly Standard, The Washington Post, Commentary, The Wall Street Journal, Politico, The Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, Time.com, USA Today, National Review, The New York Review of Books, the New York Daily News,  and other national publications. He has appeared on Meet the Press, This Week with George Stephanopoulos, State of the Union with Jake Tapper, the Today Show, ABC, NBC, Fox News, CNN, PBS, the BBC, and has been profiled on NPR. He has also spoken extensively on university campuses. He is a former contributing editor to the Weekly Standard; he also has served as editor of Milwaukee Magazine; editor of Wisconsin Interest Magazine; and founder and editor in chief of Right Wisconsin. Until he stepped down in December 2016 after 23 years, Sykes was one of Wisconsin’s top-rated and most influential conservative talk show hosts. In 2017, he was co-host of the national public radio show, “Indivisible,” which originated from WNYC. He lives in Mequon, Wisconsin with his wife and three dogs. He has three children, and two grandchildren.

Ye Gods is produced by Efficiency Studios in association with Dossie Media. Special thanks to Associate Producer Robyn Rose Valentine. Hosting services and other fun stuff provided by Podbean. Music licensed via Epidemic Sound.

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ENCORE EPISODE Known for his iconic roles on “The Office” and “Six Feet Under,” actor and author Rainn Wilson joins Scott to discuss his new book Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution. In part one of this two-part interview, Rainn explores his upbringing in the Baha’i faith, his frustration with modern spirituality, and why he believes we need spiritual community now more than ever. Join us next week to hear about Rainn’s new show “Rainn Wilson and The Geography of Bliss, now streaming on Peacock. 

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 on April 25th. 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.

Email us at [email protected]

Ye Gods is produced by Efficiency Studios in association with Dossie Media. Special thanks to Associate Producer Robyn Rose Valentine. Hosting services and other fun stuff provided by Podbean. Music licensed via Epidemic Sound.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices