In this episode of the Making Sense podcast, Sam Harris gets together with Bill Maher and Larry Charles to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their film "Religulous." They discuss religion, politics, comedy, and other dangerous topics.Bill Maher has set the boundaries of where funny, political talk can go on American television. First on "Politically Incorrect" (Comedy Central, ABC, 1993-2002), and for the last fifteen years on HBO’s "Real Time," Maher’s combination of unflinching honesty and big laughs have garnered him 40 Emmy nominations. Maher won his first Emmy in 2014 as executive producer for the HBO series, "VICE." In October of 2008, this same combination was on display in Maher’s uproarious and unprecedented swipe at organized religion, "Religulous," directed by Larry Charles. The documentary has gone on to become the 8th Highest Grossing Documentary ever.Larry Charles is an American writer, director, and producer. Charles was a staff writer for the American sitcom "Seinfeld" for its first five seasons, contributing some of the show’s darkest and most absurd storylines. He has also directed the mockumentary comedy films "Borat" and "Brüno," the documentary film "Religulous," and comedy film The Dictator.Join neuroscientist, philosopher, and best-selling author Sam Harris as he explores important and controversial questions about the human mind, society, and current events. Sam Harris is the author of five New York Times bestsellers. His books include The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation, The Moral Landscape, Free Will, Lying, Waking Up, and Islam and the Future of Tolerance (with Maajid Nawaz). The End of Faith won the 2005 PEN Award for Nonfiction. His writing and public lectures cover a wide range of topics—neuroscience, moral philosophy, religion, meditation practice, human violence, rationality—but generally focus on how a growing understanding of ourselves and the world is changing our sense of how we should live. Harris's work has been published in more than 20 languages and has been discussed in The New York Times, Time, Scientific American, Nature, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, and many other journals. He has written for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Economist, The Times (London), The Boston Globe, The Atlantic, The Annals of Neurology, and elsewhere.Sam Harris received a degree in philosophy from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA.
