In various posts refuting the creationist canard that we can't explain everything, I've argued that if biologists knew everything then we wouldn't need to do biology. Comedian Dara O'Briain makes a similar point and many other hilarious ones too:
What does it say when the best observers of our times are comedians?
More like this
Sam: Toby, do you really think it's a good idea to invite people to dinner and then tell them exactly what they're doing wrong with their lives?
Toby: Absolutely. Otherwise it's just a waste of food.
George Carlin was ahead of society. He led freethinkers, skeptics, others. Think of all those clips from George Carlin routines that we play today as reference to important, vibrant, current ideas. Those clips are always years old, sometimes decades.
I rented The Aristocrats the other day.
As I went to bed this evening, I turned on the TV to watch a little bit before I fell asleep and found out that Johnny Carson had died. I could not turn it off, as I watched clips of his shows and reminiscences from his friends. And I felt compelled to write something.
"What does it say when the best observers of our times are comedians?"
Is that not almost always close to the mark.
It's not so surprising: contemporary stand-up comedy mainly consists of taking a more-or-less skeptical or sideways look at what's going on in the world and what people do.
So comedians are tuned into listening to everything with their bullshit detectors turned to maximum and always thinking "yeah, but what if it was the other way round?".
I read somewhere that English-speaking comedians are disproportionately atheist (there are a few Christian comedians, but good ones are rare, such as Milton Jones, and they tend to be gag-oriented). That probably tells you something too.
As for Dara O'Briain, he did study theoretical physics and maths at university I think, he is allowed to have some scientific understanding, isn't he?
That dude is fucking hilarious! Someone else linked to this same video a couple weeks ago, but I can't remember who it was.
BTW, George Carlin was one of the absolute best "social commentary" comedians.
Mitchell and Webb also have a homeopathy sketch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMGIbOGu8q0
That show also had a sketch on the word of god being revealed in a melon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xfqht0LEOWQ
Both are worth seeing.
The only good christian comedian that I can think of is Robin Williams (although he's definitely strogly religios