He talks about the motivation of leading comedians, and whether or not they intend to impact society with their comedic art. He talks about comedians who preach ideology, and great comedic artists like Tim Minchin who advance a particular point of view in entertaining ways. He argues that the leading comedians in the United States are like the spiritual descendants of the revolutionary Founding Fathers. He talks about Jay Leno and why he avoids controversial social issues in his comedy. He explores how aware the famous social critic comedians interviewed in his book, such as George Carlin and Craig Ferguson, are of their role in society. He explores the impact of Bill Maher, Janeane Garofalo, and Penn Jillette on American public policy. He also explores to what extent being "preachy" harms laughs. And he explains why leading comedians may be different from the common man, and how they embrace their differences, seeing the world in productive and unique ways. 

Also, in this week's Honest Liar commentary, Jamy Ian Swiss is flattered to have received an invitation to be included in a prestigious directory. 

Simon Singh details recent news regarding the libel case brought against him by the British Chiropractic Association for an article he wrote in the Guardian criticizing chiropractic. He talks about English libel laws, and explains why he says they are the worst in the Western world. He details how the recent appeals court decision in his case could have a positive effect on the scientific community.  He describes the difference between "honest opinion" and facts as they are viewed both in libel cases and in science. And he reveals how the skeptical community in Britain organized a coordinated campaign against chiropractic, leading to investigation of one in four chiropractors there. 

In this week's installment of the Honest Liar, Jamy Ian Swiss allows us to witness a street-side scam in the heart of Times Square.

Harriet Hall, MD, The SkepDoc, discusses her column in O, The Oprah Magazine that focuses on debunking medical myths. She contrasts science-based medicine and "complementary and alternative medicine," and tells why she objects to the latter term. She details why homeopathy elicits more moral outrage from her than other kinds of CAM remedies. Other topics she addresses include acupuncture, chiropractic, radical life extension, pharmaceutical cognitive enhancers, the difference between fringe-science and pseudoscience, and also the risks of science-based medicine

Carol Tavris describes dissonance theory and how self-justification and self-deception often keep people from changing their minds even in the light of compelling contrary evidence, because the evidence is often dissonant with one's self-image. She details the implications of dissonance theory for the persistence of psychic charlatans and other peddlers of the paranormal, and how it may explain how someone like Sylvia Brown can live with herself, and also how it may explain how believers remain so gullible about such unsupportable claims. She describes confirmation bias as a component of dissonance theory. She talks about how dissonance theory applies to the skeptic movement, both in terms of suggesting the best strategies for engaging the credulous, and in terms of fostering skepticism about one's own skeptical views. And she argues that skepticism should be affirmative rather than destructive in its approach, and focused on both critical thinking and creative thinking alike.

Also in this episode, The Honest Liar, Jamy Ian Swiss, talks about who psychics really see when they look in the mirror.