Penn's Sunday School

I'm going to share something special with you, dear reader. This podcast I'm about to review is from a small artist, kind of indie, that hasn't quite made his name known. I don't know if it's humility, or a bashfulness that comes from not knowing how to market himself, but I'd love to give him whatever signal boost I can to get his work out to more people.

Let us review Penn Jillette's Penn's Sunday School.

Penn Jillette is, according to Wikipedia, a " Magician, illusionist, writer, actor, and inventor", not that he's going to brag about it. He has a simple, understated approach to his public appearances and doesn't like to make a big fuss. So far his reach has only extended to Broadway shows, Off Broadway Shows, The Simpsons, Dancing with the Stars, The Apprentice, films and all the books he's written.

And now he has a podcast. He already had a previous audio show called Penn Radio which ended in 2007, but we're here to talk about the shiny new audio show!

Penn:

Relevant Links:
Main Site
Subscribe via iTunes and there are plenty of other options on the main site for you to choose from
Ustream.tv Channel, where you can watch LIVE!!!
Episode Archive

Content Rating: Explicit.

Average Episode Length: A little glance at the episodes show me that they're about 90 minutes, give or take about 10 minutes either way.

Here's the pitch Penn's Sunday School has to offer:

Join us as Penn Jillette, Michael Goudeau, and YOU discuss the news of the week. We'll examine religious news, talk about monkeys, and anything else that seems funny or makes us mad. We'll also take your suggestions for things you feel like talking about.

This translates more or less into "whatever Penn feels like" and that works surprisingly well. Maybe there will be a guest, or a listener will chime in, and every once and while Penn's wife calls him to let him know what happened during the day. Topics wander as much as they stay on course, but when a subject grabs Penn's attention, the discussion to follow is interesting.

Co-host Michael Goudeau managed to find time away from doing this:

To jump in with Penn on the podcast and provide another voice to Penn's Sunday School. I like him! He is clever and is not just a sounding board for Penn to talk at. Both Penn and Goudeau work together very well to bring funny and interesting conversations to the fore. Celebrity guests occasionally join the in-studio crew and add to the mayhem.

Drinking Game: Take a drink each time-

Penn talks about Debbie Gibson
A magic trick is referenced
Someone tells a story involving bodily harm
Monkeys are mentioned
Penn gives a "seamless" segue into mentioning his advertisers

Release Schedule: Every Sunday. You can watch the podcast live on a video feed via their UStream channel, if that is your kind of thing.

Music: There is an opening and ending theme and that's all save for some silly intros for topics.

Unintentionally Good Part: Monkey Tuesday.

Unintentionally Bad Part: If you are of a skeptic mindset, and wish for others to consider your viewpoints, this would not be a good starting point. Penn is a gentleman and is more than willing to allow/consider/discuss alternate viewpoints on pretty much whatever, but this podcast is not a delicate place, and if he gets abrasive, it might turn people away without hearing any of your points.

Unrelated rating: Three minutes of Penn's laugh out of four.

Humor! Magic! Celebrities and listener contributions! It's a cavalcade of awesome, go listen!

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