In a world of fake news, this is news you can trust, it's the only news source, one hundred percent approved by snopes dot com, you're listening to the Babylon Bee podcast. Yes, this is the Babylon Bee Podcast and I am Kyle Man, the editor in chief of the Babylon Bee. I'm even Nicole, and they call me the creative director creative director, a photo shop slave yeah, and I do some writing. I deserve some credit for some writing there's a little bit of writing, but I edit it all- and I make it beautiful all- goes through Kyle. So yeah this might be weird for you, if you're listening to this, to actually hear audio when you're thinking of the Babylon Bee ' 'cause we're usually not audio, we're, usually not talking out loud back. We rare

really hear our that's voices, you know. Maybe you may be wondering what the heck like. Why am I listening to the Babylon Bee? I could just read the Babylon, the yeah and you and you're also like. Why isn't this some snarky headline and some satirical story? So we have been wanting to the Babylon Bee podcast for a while, and we tried a lot of different different methods. We tried scripting out some satire. We tried faking news. We tried them have like going halfway between scripted and kind of goofing off, and we also tried some conversational stuff in stuff for was just asked. His kind of talking about stuff, just kind of like being ourselves felt the best

not saying it is or that you're gonna like it. But ah I don't know what you think Kyle this is. Ah, this is a good way to introduce a podcast is to tell you that you probably won't like it. My only thing I just want to warn people, because I know that, like like, I was a big fan of Miss for science theater growing up and it's puppets right. The first time I saw Kevin Murphy who played Tom Servo the Puppet Gumball Machine Puppet if threw me off, because it is like suddenly the vision of who I thought he was this whole look for years. It didn't quite match up, and so it's joke morning I just trying to be sympathetic to like people listening now. They're hearing these, like guys like the reality, is going to

sink into them. That, like the Babylon Bee, is a couple dorky guys in a garage yeah. This is how the Babylon Bee ends. This is how it goes down in flames, people hear voices and they were just a couple of nerds. Nobody ever what's the Babylon Bee ever again, we're going to shed all of our social media followers it everything's going to go down in flames right so, but you get to witness the very end of the Babylon Bee with the one in the first episode and the last episode of the.

Let me podcast right now, but I would remind you if you are one of the people is listening and hates this, that it

is optional. Listen to that's true! You can just ignore it and just read the stories and just read the stories yeah. So what we I want to do in the Babylon Bee Podcast, rather than replicating what we have on the site, which is stories that are

hilarious, whole entire content very funny and and are done in a satirical style. We wanted to provide kind of. It is a supplement to that- and this is this- is kind of a behind the scenes of

what we do on the Babylon Bee behind the scenes with two e's. You know every time we say the syllable be on this podcast rear. Go we're coming Thio to make some kind of a pun yeah so yet, but we're gonna cover the week's news in this is a great way we were. You know. I see a lot of people on our in the comments on like our Facebook page say that they get their news from the Bible and the that's horrible yeah. Well, not not not that they think it's real, but that they don't know what the story is about. Yeah. I don't really pay attention and then the CS, joking about us and they go look it up yet to see one of our satirical pieces and then they go that something was to happen and then they go go and there's a large large amount of news that I wouldn't know about. If I wasn't doing this too yeah, I think I think the worst decision I've made in my life was like I'm going Teoh, I'm gonna take a job where now I have to read the news every day, because it's just so depressing yeah some,

but I cover the week. Snooze am going to do that by eight by referencing some of our stories that we've written over the week and we're going to we're going to a little little bit of discussion about it, you're going to get kind of the behind the scenes of of what the power of the Babylon Bee you put stuff together and and yeah. Hopefully, a little bit of commentary

on current events, yeah yeah, we'll talk a little more later, going to also do a main topic, and I think that for the first episode we're going to talk a little bit about the actual history of the b and I'm who to the Babylon Bee compared to Kyle's, been here from like day one but one. I was telling him that I that I knew I love listening to a Babylon Bee podcast back when I was just a fan of the be because it was like we made this comparison to me. It was like Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. I didn't know what was going on in. There is like this big monolithic, concrete box of silence that I didn't know. It's just there's just stories coming out. You send the messages they don't reply back. You don't know who it is, and maybe that was part I don't know, but I think there's people that want. You know what's going on behind the scenes and like some of the funny stories of

angry mail we get and just all of this tax stuff. This is the golden ticket into the Babylon Bee, Satire factory, right yeah. So each episode of the way that it's going to work is we're going to answer for a couple of minutes. Then we're going to go into our top stories of the week and then we're going to our topic of the week. And after that we have a special treat where we read you some hate mail from our inbox, which is filled with hate mail. All right. Let's get to our first story that I'm this podcast comes out. This is going to be old news, but sports illustrated this year in their swimsuit edition. They featured a woman in a burkini, a burqa teeny, a burka keeney. I don't like a dad joke word. I you like put two words together and look at your kids like clever yeah, it's funny the burkini thing. It almost sounds like something that it almost sounds like something that some guy who's like really islamophobic.

I have made up these Muslims, they're gonna be coming here wearing Burkinis hey. He doesn't even know that the word is so the Babylon. The article we did in reference to this was sports, illustrated swimsuit issue features. First, ever Baptist model in floor length, denim skirt and ah so, have you ever been in the giver been in the Baptist community, especially like the independent from Middle Baptist Movement eat now Eaton said he wasn't really familiar. I didn't know about this. When Kyle asked me to the first photo shop, I got it all wrong. It is it's like a whole thing of like denim skirt and sneakers and polo shirts and, like the pulled back here in a pony tail, it's all it's kind of a part of like modesty and purity culture, but just like taking to its extreme and, like turn into uniform yeah. That's why I was wondering is the original thing that I based my photo of my first photo shop on that got rejected that I spent way too much time on where the the D flds, ladies, that have

their hair in that crazy wave and they would have a big fluffy dress. Somebody made a dent in one because I like how weird they look, but I wonder how that that involved in what

more like a weird evolution that happens, and I was like yeah we're going to have to be popping each other. The whole family tree purity, culture and figure out where all those who cop he will baptise eventually look like the F l d S, women. If they just keep going down this path. Ah yeah the F l d S style evolved from the from the start. It was baptised stack in the back in the nineteen fifties. History lesson: you know it is funny because you look at an article like this and we were trying to figure out how what our angle would be. Thio make fun of the burkini. You know, because it's something where it's it's almost a parody in itself, in all ways yeah I saw the pictures they're so weird like it just looks like a woman in a burqa laying in the water stunning and bring it, but it's kind of weird, because it's like it's something that I like it

they're doing it for the fame yeah there. They didn't sit around a table back on we're gonna take a hit on this one, but we got to do this because we're kind of brave some market analysts went out there and figured out that the issue would sell better. Well, I think what did I think that it? I think it's very similar to what happened with Gillette with their are, like you know, taking a stand whatever. It was. The the masculinity thing I think, but right now a lot of companies are struggling to get attention and creating some kind of outrage or taking a stance of

kind is what gets cut through the noise on the internet. That's what it is. You divide people in half and then that gets people share your thing, even if they're mad about it they're sharing it so like. I do think, there's a huge amount of motivation for companies to take stances

right now, because that's the way the internet works yeah. I think you've said before that, like social media, and it is really funny image to me. Social media is like this room where everybody's just shouting, nothing like Twitter is because you think about what twitter is everybody standing, not looking each other in the eyes and they're just saying stuff, and some people have bigger and louder megaphones in other people, but it is like

it's a place where you're encouraged to just blurt out your thoughts, no matter what anybody else is saying: yeah you have to have a take on everything and yeah. You want to cut through the noise and and the way that some companies do. That is by creating a buzz reading, a controversy you had to cut through all that. Knowing staff for sure the other funny thing about this sports illustrated thing is that a lot of kind of Christian's looks kind of E. I don't know if this would be christian, necessarily but kind of real conservative like people that are really afraid that any day now Muslims are gonna take over the country. You know. Obviously they had this like this, like major over reaction to this one like sports, illustrated you know, and so uh, and the funny thing about the christian response is that a lot of those people that

are Christians also are are um. You think This'Ll no editing show a lot a lot of the people who a lot of the Christians who are critical of it are like mad at this magazine that usually features women and skin people like you are, is featuring a modest, but it's because you think it because they like take it as a sign that Muslims are taken over yeah. It's kind of it's a kind of all ties in with that, like xenophobia and stuff. So, and so that's kind of what we wanted to do was to do an article. That kind of plays on both sides of that yeah yeah. I was, I have to admit, there's articles we do where I think I don't get it so I think no one's going to get it and I didn't really get it on this one. But though I think once it like, once the headline in the image were all right up there and altogether at something got it and it went Cray.

The huge viral isn't saying you never question my my wisdom, anything when it comes to like Baptist culture 'cause I get it. Man yeah, I guess yeah, that's the thing that you know. One thing on one question: one you didn't grow up like in any kind of purity, culture or anything, so you didn't know no. I grew up in really weird, like floozy culture. My parents were like. Strangely, they were hippie, weird hippie, artsy people, but then,

when I was a kid and they were married, they went to like a nazarene community church or something and then when they did styles like ate, my mom went Roman Catholic and my dad went pentecostals. It was like two different worlds, but there wasn't like. I live in northwest words cold. We didn't do a lot of camp, so I just wasn't out with that's the secret to being to being pure is like just being the Kohl's live in a cold, cold and rainy all the time I live in in the arena of temptation. You know I grew up in the in southern California, so account so yeah. Well, I went to young life camp, that's where I came to Christ and the camp as a high schooler, and there is

like no esti rules of this camps like because the girls are just ever being just kind of shocked by it. Look like cows like like an MTV special. Was it like bugs bunny when hearts come out of his eyes and mouth drops off way down to the floor and his tongue legal, sixteen year old, bugs Bunny or was that daffy duck? That did that, I think validated. All the cartoons kind of the trope. A recent story in the news was that Khanna's Copeland was cornered by inside edition on his use of private jets. Get a couple owns his own airport. That's not satire! That's a real thing: the whole airport, the owns an airport yeah, it's right across street from his ministry headquarters. Yes, comfortably airport, are you guys can't chemical ministries, airport or something like that and multiple the jets? And so this reporter

cornered him and he gave the most crazy, like demon possessed interview, you've ever seen yeah. I was really weird very uncomfortable to watch that on one of the, if you freeze frame and when he at one point you like points points in lady's face and his like eyes, kind of cross he's

England real hard, and I yeah. I remember tweeting that he looked like a a creature from Jim Henson's lab printer, something whether it when the Jim Henson does like a human like some kind of dark dark, crystal yeah with big nose yeah, you can grab things that are crawling around yeah yeah Hoddle Ogle from liberty. There you go someone! So let's go ahead and listen to this play the clip. Do you really believe that human beings are demons? No, I do not, and don't you ever say I did way wrestle not with flesh and blood but principalities and powers. Scary,

you see the visual aid. I would look at the fiery. Look it up to you haven't seen it. I'm gonna go, take a shower, and then we can be talking about this. So we did an article spoofing. This Kenneth Copeland, unveils new, greener jet that runs on the souls of those deceived by the prosperity, gospel nice of him. You know just how easy it it. You really cares about the environment as well as his ministry, so yeah it. It's really crazy to me that people still fall for this stuff, but like there's like a whole culture of prosperity, gospel stuff, that's out there that we don't! Even if you have a man trapped in a you, don't really know how how yeah, pervasive and and see for really can be yeah. It's weird because I feel like in a it might because my dad was into it when I was a kid, but it feels like it's not as popular now It used to be- and maybe it's not but he's. Obviously,

I'm making good money and they're still out there yeah you know. Maybe we should try his strategy. Try that yeah what I don't know deceiving people I kind of do. I guess I don't even know how does he get his money it does he do like you must do the crusade, it's kind of like Benny and where he goes, is to different countries and the other pass around and gets in pass yeah. I don't know how he does it. I wonder if the most most of it comes from people that are like sending him check, it always is shocking how much money they make yeah it's crazy mind, blowing. So yeah, so you know at the Babylon Bee. There are certain topics that we will go just hard core into. I call it getting out the satire bazooka and one of those is the prosperity gospel. We never uh. We don't pull any punches when it comes to the prosperity gospel, because I do think it is so

so dangerous and deadly, and that's the thing that I found fascinating when I you know, because I'm I there's a year two there when I wasn't involved with b and I was just kind of on the outside- and ah I always found how fascinating that you guys took that stance, because it was always kind of taboo to be that way with, at least in my circle

is always like. Well, you know there are still our brothers and sisters in Christ in their new home. You know they just have a different way and some people get saved through it or whatever, and it's probably true there probably are some look at see through, but that doesn't justify in one one interesting thing about about long be is just being satire and kind of being the satire that comes from within christian culture, but isn't afraid to criticize things that are in that christian culture. What what one interesting thing is that we we get to, we get to kind of just go and swinging, and not really. We don't have to qualify everything. Yes, it is more of a skit like you're, not actually punching him in the face, you're doing a skit like if the, if the joke, where I know it's hard to explain but like to me like, instead of like we're, not calling we're, not writing a big think Peace Copeland, but we're just making an observation right. So if some where to write a think piece on Copeland, they would have to put in all these qualifiers.

I'm not saying this and I'm not saying that and let's be careful in our criticism and at the bottom, but you don't have to do that. Yeah, it's kind of nice to be able to go where criticizing this one aspect of this person's ministry or were criticizing this idea, that's what I like is that it really does criticize ideas and- and what I really like is when and that this this man would be the best example of it. But we've gotten Benny Hinn on on a couple of them, is when we're just pointing out the absurdity of the situation. There's one where we just say I'm before I was on, but one of my favorites is

any hidden spends the weekend healing children and the children's hospital cancer or whatever, and just the idea that if he had the powers that he has like any day, don't go out every weekend, the healing children then he's evil right right and yeah. That's one of the interesting things is that it just takes their ideas. It takes their theology and it just takes it to its natural conclusion, and it says what if this was really true, then this is what would happen, and it's it's without having to do this long. Think, peace without having to read. You know three thousand words on this person and sometimes that headline can cut to the truth. A lot faster than a long article can well this week. Thea President Trump's tariffs against Mexico is threatened. Tariffs against Mexico are coming up into the news again. I don't even really one hundred percent no get what's going on with it, but I always thought tariff was like short for terrific. Yes, that's terrific! It's just taxes for the fans of your name, but

Trump was threatening Mexico with taxes which actually we would pay, but he was threatening terrorists. If they don't solve the immigration, we would pay. How we pay F, like is the price, and we would go up or something yeah. The price on in on all the old coke bottle, Coke, the mexican hope with real sugar in chips and salsa. Well, it was a joke. You we'd be actual reposted. Something then we posted last time something like this happen. It was the trump secures unlimited chips and salsa and mexican trade you and there's this great picture of Trump within a

Trump's classic expression on his face. Where he's so confident, I want to clarify that I I have the right to laugh at that awaited because it wasn't by either us and read by a friend, Frank who is: are we both sit here in it and revel at how? How funny Frank is especially when it's trump, you might call it. You know, yeah Franks official title is senior writer. What we, what I do, I just consider him trump, our our Trump special yeah he's the transfer for sure he can write Trump voice when you know the difference. What I love about this one is that it because a lot of times our joke is either making fun of people are so anti Trump their insane or making fun of how insane trump is or the pro trump. You know a lot of it pro Trump like make me having on the pro trump people just right, yeah worships, and we always have take on one side and one thing about this. One is, I think, the reason the shares were so insane on it, because people that are pro trump loved it 'cause. It does kind of play into this idea that Trump is a brilliant dealmaker and then- and

you know it's just funny- the idea that like well, you know you get that and you go to mexican restaurant and free

in cells are always thrown in Trump. Is making America great again one a mexican restaurant in time. You know when satire, to hit that sweet spot where you get people from both sides laughing I mean it's just it's just beautiful, that's the best. That's that's the symphony, yeah and, and one reason this doesn't is because Trump you were is really hard to do. When you just say the stupid yeah, it doesn't really work. You see that a lot on like the late shows yeah and I live nonstop not on our trump- is dumb yeah he's so dumb and it's like come on. Yes in it. We're in the political space, so we I do feel like you know you can avoid making some jokes. They do get very tiresome. I think such low hanging fruit, so I do think we try to come in from different angle, is off. We you can't often as we can and then there there is funny times we are making trump jokes and p

alarm or offended by the Trump jokes than they are jokes that might be considered sacrilegious yeah! Well, when he's your savior, you say: you're gonna be upset yeah yeah, it's really interesting to see. You know, people ask us like how much hate mail do you get on and a lot of the hate mail honestly comes from trump supporters. Yeah, like I would say at least as much as I hate mail from the I've noticed that since Trump that yeah there's a lot there's a very equal it. It's almost like a there's, become a new snowflake Y version of the right that is cropped up and they are

zero about your ex yell criticize friend and everyone's always cuddle, so flicks be out in the most touchy yeah they're very sensitive about trump. So here's how frank! Here's, a frank and nails are writer, Frank, here's how he kneels trumps voice yeah. You heard that right, unlimited trump glued to the press. The Mexicans wanted it to be one bowl of chips per customer and a dollar twenty five for each bowl. After that, but I said no way all the chips and salsa we can eat or I walk sounds like you just absolutely nails it. It's so funny yeah. You know I've. I've said before that Trump is kind of like Michael Scott, and you hear from the off

us and you've really got to get that aspect to him. That he's really confident, there's also really insecure in some ways he's so anything. He has a sincerity that Michael Scott, as though yeah yeah there's a there's, an element there for sure the awkward weirdness. It's like that over confidence. That's really compensating for insecurity yeah. If you can nail that it's! Ah it's it's just common eagle. He is great for humor, but he's also good for bad humor yeah, because it's so easy, so you really have to be careful. I think we have a lot of fun with the evangelical trump support just because of the hilarious juxtaposition of him and it's Jesus Christ, like I get like I understand, we'll get some angry mail for this yeah. If anybody listens to this podcast, my brother yeah, but I think it's on the one hand, I understand from a primary

perspective, I totally get. Why voted for? Why you why he would and why you would next time I totally get why and why? It's like the right thing you, but it's the weirdness of like there is that yeah we spoof this painting. That was a picture of trump signing. Let relation and there's like a ghost image of Jesus hovering over him with his hand on his hand, helping him right as if things Trump does or mistreated, by Jesus Christ or by God, and ah t kind of mock. That idea. We did a series of fake paintings because I can't actually paint but they're just photoshopped jobs where Jesus is helping Trump do other things like tweet yeah, we're gonna golf swing, tweet go Feet Cove. If a uh, it's pronounced, Cof, F, F, a the responses to those are so fascinating. Like one thing like that, overall, I think our audience thought it was funny, but I all I will say like I would share this there

so funny, but my grandma will want to see these on commemorative plates.

I think these are real yeah. You know that the problem with that is like it's almost sacrilegious in that we've got these pictures of Jesus yeah, doing things with Trump yeah. Then you've got the people that really idolize try and they're offended so you're offending everybody. It is yeah. It really isn't offend everybody joke that like, but it was totally worth. You know the kind of way I still stand by which you do sequels. We need to do more to more trust in Jesus standing, just to take more people off, and you really so those sound funny to you and you missed him. Try to look those up, or maybe maybe we'll have show notes. This is our first show, so we don't know if we're going to probably have shown so so remember to link it. We will or search Trump in Jesus on Babylon, be maybe I'll find it. All right, today's main topic wanna do that kind of a main topic of the week every week that we do a podcast

system that works still alive and then we're still in the Batman be so this is the only one. This could be the only one you never know, but so this thing for the first one. This is my idea to get a

history of the Babylon Bee, because I think a lot of people don't know it, there's a lot of criticisms or questions, but just to kind of clarify how we got to where we are right now story and since some kind of the newer one to the B Kyle's been here, the whole time, I'm going to act more as the interviewer on this but kind of kind of we're get the bottom of the story of the Babylon Bee, so Kyle. How did it all start was that what was the first time you heard the word Babylon Bee in your life and where were you well, our good friend Adam for launched the Babylon Bee in March of two thousand and sixteen and for people that don't understand it took me a long time to put these together. The Adam D is Adam forward. The four is it me. You say like the one number four yeah Adam was runs a web comic, a whip comic at Adam for D dot, com yeah, I used to say: hey guys, have you guys? Have you seen the new Adam for De Comic it web? Your web comic nerd Follower,

Angelica Webcomic Nerd? I was a follower of the of the webcomic I eat. I thought some of the some of his tee shirts, so I I was a fanboy now, Hanoi, Ford Fanboy, that's how we met at your a fanboy of my web commerce, the sand of ah axe cop. So but you were a friend believe me, we were yeah. I was a fan web. You too that's unbeknownst to you. Yes, yeah! So, but we're getting ahead of ourselves so March, two thousand and sixteen Adam founded this website, the Babylon Bee. His idea was kind of he liked the onion. He liked the idea of satire, that's really cutting and incisive, but nobody was really doing it from a christian worldview. Nobody was doing it in a place that would criticize the left a lot or at least criticize the left ideas. You get a lot of people that will do jokes about the left, but it tends to be softer. Yeah, like you, think, the onion

hard on the right. They don't ever go hard on the left side. That mean, I know they make jokes about the letter. They're instantly they've got a little harder on the left, but then they lost some follow or like the you'll see people get upset. All I mean how dare you go after these guys, because they're gonna make fun trump yeah, it's like yeah, when they make fun of a bomb that so yes making? How dare you but yeah? I don't know if there were there, wasn't anybody using the tool of satire in a way that really would criticize the left would criticized things like atheism. You didn't see that yeah jokes about atheism. Nobody makes me there's so many great ones to make yeah so uh. So you wanted to do kind of things that would tackle current events: politics, christian stuff, church, culture, false teachers, prosperity, gospel, the worship band. You know everything you can think of that topics that someone who isn't within christian culture would never be able to write about yeah yeah 'cause, like the jokes, like we talked about a lot of different podcasts over on, but just that the jokes from outside the church about the church.

Like maybe three jokes, you can tell and they're all kind of the same angry mean joke and usually like, like you're presuppositions about that. How all the whole religion works, usually wrong, as you don't even get at you, like you're you're, calling a Baptist church to a place that has a priest right yeah. The worst thing is to write a satire article and the people who actually know about the topic. Yeah comment in there like actually like. Actually you know it and there's so many great jokes to tell the church from if in the church. So I agree like there's so many jokes- that the bad mommy was telling when I first found them that I was like holy Cow Alec and that's that's. What makes a thing resume, my cat's, it was singing my tune like it was telling jokes from in the almost felt like I thought. I only thought I was only the thought that it would have been making the jokes that we were making from at church,

or maybe we were making the jokes like after Bible study together but was never out in an article or printed yeah, yeah um, there's something that was formative for me and comedy in my faith was I saw the old there was that old movie. I think it was Mandy Moore there was a man called saved yep. Do you remember that and uh it was just so bad yeah like I know some people actually respect it, but I I watched it as you know, growing up in the youth group and stuff yeah, and it was like. Oh the people who wrote this have obviously never been to a church before in their lives, and they have like contempt contempt. Clearly trying to make the Christians look stupid the whole time and it's like yeah. Sometimes Christians could be stupid, but we're stupid in certain the reason. It's not always the way that that those kinds of media portray us. It's the way that, like most the time we joke about cults cults are like a closed off thing, so we just make fun of the way we see them from the outside is very looney and one dimensional. That's how you can see that that's kind of like the general secular world,

it's Christianity right, they don't. I think they don't really. Is that how many Christians are actually are everywhere and we're just respectful enough to like constantly put in their faces, even though that so we can't really get accused of yeah yeah? Look at really good. Satire like this is spinal, tap or a mighty wind, any of those mockumentary style ones, and it's clear that the people who are writing it. I have a real respect: yeah musical culture. That's another reason why we're talking about this? Ah that I think that I think your face is funny in the british office, but I think that one of the reasons, Michael Scott, the in the Steve Carell version, is so much bad. So this a better character. My opinion is good. You can tell that he not just I think we could. Your base has a lot of heat for people he plays out of that he does come up as more cynical, very cynical, any and he's got playing a person that he despises. Steve Carell, I think, is sympathizing with that guy and making it more human, and you may have

even then that guy before you can see a big jump from like the first season of the office, the later seasons, where they were really emulating the that your base ones and then it got a lot more empathetic with Michael Sky Character later on, and I think you're that that really improved it for the homeschoolers out there. The office is the tv show that was on the tv if you'd like to complain that we grep secular tv, show your emails to Ethan so anyway, Adam forward. That was his idea through this something that criticizes a lot of the crazy things that Christians do, but from within an in a way. That's loving and it's clear that we have a love for Christianity in a love for the church, to remember the first battle in the story of all time ones. It was I'm I'm actually not sure, because they all went up like before the site even launched and then like. There was a okay, but I I the first article I wrote. I just gotten ball

because I just started emailing Adam incessantly so after he launched that you emailed him and he launched it on the first day and he said I'm launching the Babylon Bee. It's a christian satire side. If you want to write, go ahead and email me, you know he had a solution thing. He got like one thousand e mails on the first day, just crazy and it really opened the floodgates. Just the response was immediate on social media that this was obviously I need that was being build that people weren't, like you were saying like a lot of it, was almost a lightning rod like people had these thoughts before yeah, but they never like. They're like oh, my gosh, you two, you know this person on the other side of the country had the same experience in a mega church. We hide it

and that was was crazy. When I was writing my really pieces, my first one was a the spirit unable to move through congregation as fog machine breaks. You know and hits the after this fog and it's well. You know they always beer couldn't do anything yeah. The fog machine broke- and I just wrote it just you know from my own experiences growing up in a mega church, and I wasn't really like thinking everybody's gonna get this. It was more like I'm just doing this for the love of writing. It yeah you know, and then it just took off you to think it was our first big, widely shared article. You know it. I think I got published a second day. The site was up and it was immediately obvious. Okay, this thing's gonna work in so in, like overnight it became Adams Day job you know I think before he was he was kind of thinking would be a side project to supplement. His comic is to goof off yeah. The Adam is kind of a tell me a little bit Adam. I've never actually met him. I've talked to him but online. It was like a really interesting character. I'm not one hundred percent sure

the existence evil must wonder. Why he's not on this podcast? Well, I you know, I did talk to him. We we are going to get in as a guest, so I think yes, so he leave a comment or going to we're going to have an interview with Adam for a rare it. I might be the first interview with Adam forward an audio interview yeah but yeah at Adam is a is a guy who's, really passionate about truth. He's really passionate about communicating truth. Obviously he did that visually through comics and he wanted to do that through the written word and satire. You can see his comics, he really tries to be thoughtful and he really wants to get a message out there. Clearly communicating and very cutting but respectful ways. But one thing I love about the b: it's a lot right wing humors mean- and I was the bee- is technically right: wing humor. We we tell more conservative genocide to left a lot. We can having criticize the left a lot, but a lot of people who tell jokes criticizing left there so mean about it like right now, Steve Crowder's, in the news about the way that

he's criticizing box and he kept using all these know. Lawyers and things just kind of rude is it you know it's like on one anything. I have a christian faith he's talking like this and it's. I think he has a lot of wisdom when when he actually does he's change my mind, segments and segments to People- and that's that's I like about the b. We have those boundaries already in place and I think people feel safer coming here for humor. They know that we're gonna push certain boundaries, but other ones we're not gonna push all right. So uh, Adam honestly, is like uh just one of most genuine people I know, and that he's like he wants no fame. You know he never really wanted his name to be attached to the Babylon Bee. Ah,

he doesn't care about anybody knowing who he is. You know and yeah that's a really serious like he could. He could have used this yeah like we are yeah. We just recently put it. We we are names were never on the b. We just recently put a little about us blur of it's very small on the bottom of our page, and you know we're asking Adam. Do you want to do you know where to put your name on this, you found at the site and he's like? No, you don't put my name on this is crazy because it's kind of refreshing when you see so many people that are like you know just out for internet fame and I always get the feeling in the evangelical culture like people stab you in the back in a second yeah just to get a little, you know hundred more followers or you know dunk on you on Twitter, so they get their little likes or retweets and Adam's not like that at all and he's he converted to Christianity, older right, a za kid we'll get his full story when you ok only comes on whatever is willing to tell us yeah

believing that related grew up the easiest and and just after our meeting, far from God and God saved him like our core yeah. Now what about the accusation that the Babylon Bee has gotten too political? How do you rehydrate, but I do think that has hasn't changed over time in that sense, um, yes, and no I mean the Babylon Bee. Definitely has leaned more into current events in politics. I think I think that's a fair criticism, especially there's people who just liked the church humor you know and then they're like. Oh all, I'm seeing now is politics yeah, you know, and so I I think it's a fair criticism say, like you know, I, like the other stuff. Well, that's you know yeah, I don't even as a as a reader. There was days where I felt like exhaust so much political stuff. It did give me a little sour yeah yeah and it's kind of you can't make jokes about worship, leaders forever, yeah, there's a yeah, it's true, so I think we need to see. I do. We need a skinny jeans article like like a multi

like a year ago we made a skinny jeans article and it was right after Adam. I haven't finished in the history of Babylon B, but I took the side over full time is editor in chief a little over a year ago and uh and right around that time, Adam published a skinny jeans article and he goes he messages me and says. Well, you know this is a historical day. This is the last skinny jeans article we're ever going to publish hey felt like it was played out so so yeah in the ones. In one sense, you had all this ripe like little hanging fruit for the picking, yeah and then you've got a kind of turn to court. Current events a little bit now we always try to do things. I don't really always see a distinction between like Christians at Tyre and non Christians that were writing, satire, we're Christians and we're doing it from a we're doing it from a biblical worldview in a christian perspective. So if it happens to be about politics that happens to be about a current event, you know we just write stuff, that's about like family life, crazy things, dad's doing crazy things, mom's doing crazy things. Kids do and to me, that's all like very wholesome satire from a christian perspective,

and sometimes you know, even even when you see it, satire from a left a lot of times. You don't see that because they don't have so much as above a positive view of the family. You know you you'll see that a lot of times where it has to come from a different angle, so yeah I mean, on the one hand, yeah. I can see that, on the other hand, we're actually just publishing a lot more content in general yeah. You know we used to do maybe three articles a day now we're doing six, seven, sometimes eight, and so, if we do three christian pieces and five political pieces well guess which one guess which articles everybody shares yeah, that's the thing. I've noticed as I come on board yeah is the political ones get away more shares. Part of the reason is that the bee has acquired some fans, who are very influential, who are mainly and if they like. I think I think the bee has become a ah conservative comedian outlet in a way like we put out jokes that conservatives like, and so we have a lot of conservative people

followings who share our stuff, and that makes those stories go way more viral. So, if you're not seeking out our stories each day going to our page and reading through all of them, probably mainly going to see the political and so those are the ones that just get the most traffic, but those are just the ones that get shared virally so yeah. So I would say if you look at the percentage, it's probably more political. If you look at the absolute number of stores that we're publishing that were probably publishing about this amount of of general, it's about half and half it does happen. Is you don't generally get a like? Oh my gosh, something happened with worship leaders. Today we have to write a worship leader story, but political there you, you may have have three. You know church humor articles and three local articles or whatever they are. Maybe a couple dead. Stepping on Lego articles then suddenly something pops into the news today and we got a make a joke about it. Loud, noise, loud truck driving, my garage right now and it's very hot, very hot in the garage yeah yeah, the Christian NEWS is so slow like it's like. Oh the southern Baptists. Are meeting

this week, yeah yeah right? Nobody cares on the southern Baptists. You know we're as current events that happen nationally. It's like people, people. It is something that you can really hook into an economy because everybody knows what's happening and sometimes the what makes a joke funny is how quick you are to like, throw it out there yeah, that's one huge problem with like twitter: this is kind of off topic, but with twitter and and mean pages in like as soon as something happens, every jokes been told yeah within five minutes. You know, so you really do have to come from a unique perspective to make it work. So just finishing up history, the Babylon. Yes, I do actually become. Like I yeah hi, I was reading your chief eventually he he said, he'll call your you are now the high the head writer for that'll, be which how far in was that three four months I think okay kind of head writer, and how often you right before that I would I I kept running the same. I would I'd be just said: I'm gonna need you had running that name. So from hi getting your writing my multiple articles a day I was emailing in three or four articles a day.

Then you were, I was under professional comedians. I was working full time on these in the supply side of the construction industry, which means I sold stuff control. Can fire hydrant and stuff fire hydrants pipeline under it was underground pipeline for anyone who knows the industry and cares fascinating talk more about that. I think there's a scene in the office virgin says that if you ever quits the paper industry have all this useless knowledge just bouncing around, and that's how I am I have like. I still have part numbers in my head- will never I'll never use it again, but never know and let the battle the crash and burn. When I hear the apocalypse or something up to rebuild society yeah, but even then what we would look at the part number I mean yeah. I guess that's your host apocalyptic war. So about a

a year in I flew out and met Adam. We wrote a book how to be a Christian, ah that published the water water Brooke Multnomah, and that was a lot of fun that really, I think boosted. The sign get got us a lot of publicity, but other than that I mean it was just growing anyway, like it was all viral we never paid for ads. We never paid for any publicity, and it was just overnight sensation and never stopped rowing, which was just a huge blessing um and then, ah year after that, almost exactly I quit my job and started working full time. A man named Seth Dylan, who we will have on the podcast, soon bought the web sight, and is this cigar smoking rich guy that lives in a giant penthouse and we eat he's always sitting with his back to us and he has a cat in his lap and then he's like he owns the Babylon before it's like George, is Boston in a Seinfeld. Yeah is a silhouette, silhouette, David's voice, so yeah Seth bought the site and

the Homeschoolers Seinfeld is a tv show that on tv, any complaints about the secular tv show reference? Please email them to Ethan, so uh Seth bought the site, and that gave us enough funding basically to hire me on full time and uh Adam wanted to get out of it because he went you moved on to his next project, which is called Christian Daily reporter. I have a drug report. He sort of very he's like hijacking, firstly, hijacked the onion for Christ and that is hi jacking. The drudge report for Christ, Chris about running out of ideas to take from secular culture, man yeah, that's the next thing it next you know he can do is to genius. I can't I can't get a step ahead of him. Yeah well, yeah. The whole whole whole deal make some quick in video games or something that's what we'll do but yeah he went off and did it kind of a news aggregator for Christians and uh and I've been running the site ever since, if we've just been growing, uh we've been able to hire some part time contributors and just recently, we've brought Ethan on full time as our creative director. So.

Yes, so like a picture, this isn't me interviewing. This means like now that inside and I see how it works, a picture of how it works at the b is there is a group of headline pictures really like we have a group of people that around actively what it's like, maybe like two of the twenty people that just are pitching constantly yeah to pick the best from that we also have the headline forum on the website. If you're a subscriber, you can actually go in there and you can pitch headlines and getting voted up and you might actually get your mark published. So that's you, the paid subscription service and then. In generally, I mean a day, looks like you know, Kyle's writing. Most of the articles he's he's a machine. I write a few here and there I try to write it, one or two a day at least, but then I also try to get a lot of photo shops done. So let's go through and try to find visuals for everything,

yes, the more complicated. As for now we have yeah. I have the first. You know it's funny, the first years of the site, first couple years of the site, people kind of assumed it was his professional operation because in my own website with headlines and pictures, you know people see that are like it's a real thing. You know it's a people, think it's real news or they just think. It's like this office, that's running on this stuff and it's basically Adam working out of his upstairs room and me emailing articles into home in the morning that was like the entire operation. So now it's a little bit more of an ounce huge this, a massive corporation, rolling yeah we're in a garage. So here we are in a garage country literally, but I know it's a little bit more of an assembly line. Will you know if there's a good idea in the in the form or the Facebook group we'll get a put up in a draft folder, eternal it'll catch Ethan's I'll do a photo shop for it. I might write the copy, we'll get it up on the site to the public. So it's a little bit more organized now. I think still not super yeah,

so crazy, but cool, so is the Babylon Bee. You know that story huh the next steps for us, obviously we're launching this podcast and when we're trying to break in a new types of content, we talked about doing video audio. That's a question everybody's always asking us: when are you gonna? Do video yeah we're still looking like this, so much more work than writing an article but we're interested in it? So if there's any video people out there who have like amazing resources or does anybody who wants to give us like a six figure movie deal, you know there are no sex. A seven figure movie deal. Give us all right, so

that was our first podcast, what you think Kyle had we d'oh. It was very good, but you know what um one thing is missing. We need Thio read some hate mail. So, yes, we get we're picking from the top of the pile, the greatest hate mail we've gotten every week, we're gonna read you some female. This hate mail was in reference to a piece we did, that was making fun of Donald Trump's wall on the southern border. So here it is, I see you guys have turned into a liberal trash, go die, it's! Ah, no, it's not over, he says, go die dude! I it's also sad. You don't even support law enforcement. Hope you die in a house fire. I think what we need to do with that is. We need to get my e Davis an amazing via voice over guy heard or the beginning of the show is to do a dramatic re enactment of that for us. I think we absolutely need to do that. Okay, let's do it right now.

I see you guys have turned into liberal trash g o die. It's also sad. You don't even support law enforcement. I hope you die in a house fire. And that was Dave Deandrea, that was perfection. It really brought it to life, not you what you're really like is, if you kind of outline, if you grammatically outlined the email, it's like you guys are turned into liberal trash. Therefore, because you should decide the wall, therefore, you should go die. I like that is go die. It's not like die.

I like you, have to go somewhere to die somewhere leave here. Don't leave your corpse here, but I think it somewhere else. I like that. You can really feel his rage and then he's like go die and then and then he's like adding on wait a minute you don't even for law enforcement go die in a house, fire yeah. I guess his daddy is just piling on and on. We love our fans. You know this. Is this really makes it all worth? It. All right well, that is the show for this first episode of the Babylon Bee, we're going to be doing because we have a subscription service now to actually support what we're doing financially in, to give you guys a little extra looking to get rid of ads on the website and be part of our headline form. But if you subscribe, you can hear the bonus content. Where you put it

look we're gonna talk about a little more, do a couple more stories, one or two more stories and um we're going to do some uh we're gonna answer some questions that people have sent us. So if you go to battle a battle on b, dot com, slash plans, you can check out all of our subscription options and even from the base level of five a month or more, you will get access to your bonus content every all right. So you have earned your first bonus. I think after this and subscribers subscribers alone will get to hear it. So you guys get to feel really special um. But beyond that, I think that's the show so uh, just you remember just like Jesus said, go forth and on the ribs and subscribe in the right nice comments about us.