The Show That Dare Not Speak It's Name

Penn & Teller: Bullshit will start it's sixth season this Thursday. I've watched Bullshit since the second season, and while I love their unabashedly libertarian and skeptical take on things, I thought the show would run out of steam by the fifth season. I was wrong, and I expect the sixth season to be every bit as good as the first season.

Why? Part of their strength lies in the fact that they aren't afraid to call bullshit on themselves. One of the best episodes of the fifth season was an interesting look at obesity, and they admitted that an earlier episode on "Exercise vs. Genetics" was wrong.

Admitting you are wrong is, in my humble opinion, one of the best ways to prove that you are smart. I enjoyed reading Steve Martin's pieces in The New Yorker, but I didn't realize just how smart Martin was until I read Born Standing Up.

At different points during his autobiography, he relates anecdotes where he looks a little foolish. It's small stuff, such as using a word incorrectly, or a lack of in depth cultural knowledge, but it shows a confidence in his own intelligence that a lot of supposedly smart people I've met lack.

Penn & Teller have the same sort of confidence, and it makes for good television. Even if you don't have a Showtime subscription, it's worth putting seasons one through five on your Netflix queue.