I watch and listen to a good deal of podcasts. I find them to be great background noise while working. I’ve been watching some like Diggnation and The Totally Rad Show for years, but have also been trying to find new ones. Penn Point, which like Diggnation and TRS is a Revision3 production, is one of the more recent ones I added. For those of you who might not know, Rev3 is like a podcast network, think NBC, with several shows available for free download or viewing on their site. Their latest offering is Penn Point, featuring magician Penn Jillette of Penn & Teller fame talking about, well, whatever strikes his fancy, including why church bombings should be treated like any other attempted/executed bombings, how stupid the anti-vaccine movement is and why little people and apes can’t be at the same party.

If you’re not very familiar with Penn, he’s a very opinionated guy. He’s an atheist libertarian who believes in a free market economy. I really liked the first season of his show with Teller called Bullshit where the pair out con artists and fakes in all areas from fake medicine to alien abductions. Penn brings that same passion and energy to Penn Point which he films in a multi-camera studio he built in his Vegas compound called The Slammer. For the most part, I find myself agreeing with his points (I’m embarrassed to say it took me a few episodes to get the pun in the title). He had a really good rant about why the idea of a President becoming President and learning all this secret information that makes him change his opinions on issues is decidedly undemocratic. The only thing that bothers me somewhat is his vehement anti-religious stance, but the guy’s got his own opinions and I’m not going to fault him for one that doesn’t completely jive with mine (I’m more agnostic than atheist, for whatever it’s worth).

Unlike the other Rev3 shows I mentioned, Penn Point comes out Mondays through Thursdays with episodes ranging from just a few minutes to around 10 (so far). I really enjoy people who think about society and, through what they say, make you think about society. The best comedians do this as do, apparently, some of the best magicians. Penn has brought up a lot of points that got the old, dusty wheels turning. If it sounds at all intriguing or if you’ve liked seeing Penn on various talk shows and specials I highly recommend downloading a few episodes for free from iTunes.