Menu
Sign In Search Podcasts Libraries Charts People & Topics Add Podcast API Blog Pricing
Podcast Image

Pints With Aquinas

Shayne Smith Reacts to Fellow Comedians | Last Call Ep. 15

21 May 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What are the challenges faced by comedians today?

0.031 - 16.186 Matt Fradd

Colorado is trying to silence free speech again. A state law forces businesses to use customers' preferred pronouns even if they're biologically inaccurate. With the help of Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian bookstore, and a sports apparel company are challenging the law, but a court recently ruled against them.

0

16.486 - 30.038 Matt Fradd

They appealed the ruling, and with ADF's help, they'll keep fighting another attempt by Colorado to skirt the First Amendment. Learn more about how you can support free speech by texting WIRE to 83848 or going to joinadf.com slash WIRE.

0

30.018 - 38.41 Unknown

Some people think God created the universe. Some people think nothing created the universe, which is the funniest guess.

0

38.43 - 48.704 Shayne Smith

He's saying a very deep and philosophical thing about the existence of God, if you really get into it. But the way he's saying it in this moment doesn't give you the opportunity to go, hold up.

0

48.804 - 49.646 Unknown

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Chapter 2: How do Shayne Smith and Matt review TikToks?

49.746 - 70.4 Shayne Smith

You know, you're just in it. Ah, Shane Smith, welcome to The Last Call. Thank you for being on the show. Oh, no problem. No problem to be here. Did I yawn? Are you mimicking me? Yeah. I'm being exhausted slash... Is that what I was doing? Oh, man.

0

Chapter 3: What makes a joke effective according to Shayne?

70.42 - 86.217 Shayne Smith

A little bit. Here, I'll try again. Let's restart. How are you? Hey, man, how's it going? My Aussie accent. It's crazy that you're here right now. Yeah, thank you. Today, we are going to review some hilarious TikToks that have been chosen for us to review. I love hilarious TikToks.

0

Chapter 4: What advice does Shayne give to aspiring comedians?

86.238 - 110.875 Unknown

Let's go. Some people think God created the universe. Some people think nothing created the universe, which is the funniest guess. And then nothing people make fun of the God people. They say God doesn't exist. I'm like, okay, maybe. But you know what definitely doesn't exist? Nothing. That's the defining characteristic of nothing, is that it doesn't exist. So what are we talking about?

0

Chapter 5: How does Shayne feel about being pigeonholed in comedy?

111.235 - 129.077 Unknown

Either you think it's God, something you can't see, touch, taste, photograph, and science can't prove, or you think it's nothing, something you can't see, touch, taste, photograph, and science can't prove. But I think we can all agree, if nothing, if your nothing sometimes spontaneously erupts into everything, that's a pretty magical nothing, you guys.

0

131.048 - 146.095 Unknown

And ask, ask the nothing people, what happens when you die? They'll tell you, nothing. You go into nothing. I'm like, you mean you merge back with your creator? That's heaven, bitch.

0

149.323 - 158.685 Shayne Smith

Oh, that's pretty good. Dude, what's great is that, this is Pete Holmes, what's great about this is that he's not, from what I can tell, a practicing Christian. I think he dabbles in it from what I can tell.

0

Chapter 6: What insights does Shayne share about authenticity in comedy?

158.766 - 179.01 Shayne Smith

Yeah, yeah. I know, so I'm a huge... When I first started comedy, Pete was huge for me. I love Pete Holmes. His podcast was really important to me, and all of his albums. Yeah, he's great. This is a really good pit. He was an evangelical Christian for a long time, and then he became a deist.

0

178.99 - 187.617 Shayne Smith

I want to ask you why that was funny, but I do want to say that first part was absolutely excellent when he closed with pretty special magical effing something. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

0

Chapter 7: How has the comedy scene changed with the rise of AI?

187.657 - 208.955 Shayne Smith

I feel like that should have been the closer. The next bit about prayer, the continuation of the joke, wasn't as good. Really? When he says bitches at the end, that's funny, sure. That's a nice little thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But if, yeah, I just, the first part was so tight, so hilarious. Yeah, it's so good. I think it's too because there's, comedy is the relieving of tension. Right?

0

Chapter 8: What is Shayne's perspective on the future of live comedy?

209.376 - 224.112 Shayne Smith

Okay. It's that you build tension and then you relieve it. Oh, okay. You're like constantly building steam and then releasing the steam. Oh, that's a great way of thinking about it. And so he's building tension as he broaches a topic that is awkward for everyone. It's awkward for God people. What is he going to say? Is he going to be mean to me? It's awkward for atheists.

0

224.212 - 243.593 Shayne Smith

Like, where is he going with this? Isn't he kind of into God? And then he's releasing the pressure. And he's not being mean to anyone necessarily or anything, but he's pointing something out that is... silly, and the immediacy of it doesn't allow you to think about it. The immediacy of it.

0

243.613 - 268.397 Shayne Smith

The immediacy of what he's saying, because he's saying a very deep and philosophical thing about the existence of God, if you really get into it. But the way he's saying it in this moment doesn't give you the opportunity to go, hold up, wait. You're just in it. Return from nothing, that's a pretty magical nothing. You don't have time to dissect what he's doing. You're just in it with him.

0

268.799 - 287.4 Shayne Smith

I think that's why the new atheists, at least Christopher Hitchens, were so good at what he did. Because in a way, he was a comedian. Christopher Hitchens was very funny, very quick. He would say things that if you could pause to think it through, you would realize, oh, none of that's an argument against the existence of God or the truth claims of Christianity.

0

287.68 - 316.216 Shayne Smith

But you're saying it so quickly and with such a beautiful British drawl that Yeah. Do you think that you're the Christian answer to Christopher Hitchens? Me? Yeah. Both of you, funny guys from across the pond on a crusade to get everyone to see the truth that you also see. Both very funny, kind of intellectual, kind of great. A little bit chubby, loves whiskey.

317.257 - 337.6 Shayne Smith

Both very famously said women aren't funny and got in big trouble for it. That's true. No, I definitely don't consider myself the Christopher Hitchens. I can play along with the joke, but that man was far too brilliant. He was a very courageous guy. He actually was. Yeah, he was.

337.64 - 356.704 Shayne Smith

Like when you're up on a stage and you're going, he was talking, I think about the Iraq war perhaps on some late night and everyone turned against him in the crowd and he just gave everyone the finger. Yeah. I thought, well, all right. Debating John Lennox. You got to have big, big cojones to do that. That man is terrifying. He knows what he's doing.

356.684 - 374.045 Shayne Smith

Now, when he debated William and Craig, did you watch that debate? I did. You should. Okay, you have, so I won't tell you. You should. You should watch it again. When I first watched that, I was afraid because I didn't want to see another Christian apologist get destroyed by Christians. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The opposite happened. Craig took him to the woodshed. Yeah, man.

374.145 - 398.183 Shayne Smith

If the new atheists were around today, they'd get eaten alive. I mean, they are getting eaten alive, actually. So, I mean, Sam Harris literally won't even like talk to anyone about apologetics anymore. There are atheists today who are very articulate and intelligent, but they don't have the new atheist swagger. There's nuance, there's vulnerability, there's agnosticism in the mix.

Comments

There are no comments yet.

Please log in to write the first comment.