Dr Ruth Ben Ghiat and Christian Finnegan with Ophira Eisenberg Episode 544

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 Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a historian and commentator on fascism, authoritarian leaders, and propaganda — and the threats these present to democracies.

Subscribe to her newsletter at Lucid.substack.com

As author or editor of seven books with over 100 op-eds and essays in media outlets including CNN, The New Yorker,  and The Washington Post, she brings historical perspective to her analyses of current events. Her insight into the authoritarian playbook has made her an expert source for television, radio, podcasts, and online events around the globe. 

Ben-Ghiat is Professor of History and Italian Studies at New York University and an Advisor to Protect Democracy. She is also a historical consultant for film and television productions. She is a big fan of electronic music, which is her preferred soundtrack while writing. She practices yoga several times a week.

Ben-Ghiat’s work has been supported by Fulbright, Guggenheim, and other fellowships. Her books Fascist Modernities and Italian Fascism’s Empire Cinema detail what happens to societies when authoritarian governments take hold, and explore the appeal of strongmen to collaborators and followers. Growing up in Pacific Palisades, California, where many intellectuals who fled Nazism resettled, sparked her interest in the subject. 

With Strongmen: From Mussolini to the Present, which is now available she offers a blueprint for understanding and resisting authoritarianism.

 

Ophira Eisenberg is a Canadian-born standup comedian and writer. She hosted NPR’s nationally syndicated comedy trivia show Ask Me Another (airing on 400+ stations) where she interviewed, joked, and played silly games with some of the biggest and funniest folks in the world. 

Lauded as “hilarious, high risk, and an inspiration,” Ophira filmed her comedy special Inside Joke, when she was 8½ months pregnant. The show’s material revolves around how she told everyone that she was never going to have kids, and then unexpectedly found herself expecting at “an advanced maternal age.” Inside Joke can be found on Amazon and iTunes, along with her two other comedy albums, Bangs!and As Is.

She has appeared on Comedy Central, This Week at The Comedy Cellar, Kevin Hart’s LOL Network, HBO’s Girls, Gotham Live, The Late Late Show, The Today Show, and VH-1. The New York Times called her a skilled comedian and storyteller with “bleakly stylish” humor. She was also selected as one of New York Magazine’s “Top 10 Comics that Funny People Find Funny,” and hailed by Forbes.com as one of the most engaging comics working today.

Ophira is a regular host and teller with The Moth and her stories have been featured on The Moth Radio Hour and in two of The Moth’s best-selling books, including the most recent New York Times Bestseller Occasional Magic: True Stories About Defying the Impossible.

Ophira’s first book, Screw Everyone: Sleeping My Way to Monogamyi s a comedic memoir about her experiments in the field as a single woman, traveling from futon to futon and flask-to-flask, gathering data, hoping to put it all together and build her own perfect mate.

She is also sought after as a brilliant interviewer and moderator, and has interviewed dozens of celebrities, writers, and actors.

Originally from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Ophira graduated with a Cultural Anthropology and Theater degree from McGill University. She now lives in Brooklyn, NY where she is a fixture at New York City’s comedy clubs

Christian Finnegan  is an American stand-up comedian, writer and actor based in New York City.

BUY HIS NEW ALBUM--- "Show Your Work: Live at QED"

 

Finnegan is perhaps best known as one of the original panelists on VH1's Best Week Ever and as Chad, the only white roommate in the “Mad Real World” sketch on Comedy Central's Chappelle's Show. Additional television appearances as himself or performing stand up have included “Conan”, “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson”, "Would You Rather...with Graham Norton", “Good Afternoon America” and multiple times on The Today Show and Countdown with Keith Olbermann, and on History's I Love the 1880s. He hosted TV Land's game show "Game Time". As an actor, Finnegan portrayed the supporting role of "Carl" in the film Eden Court, a ticket agent in "Knight and Day" and several guest roles including a talk show host on "The Good Wife". In October 2006, Finnegan's debut stand up comedy CD titled Two For Flinching was released by Comedy Central Records, with a follow-up national tour of college campuses from January to April 2007. “Au Contraire!” was released by Warner Bros. Records in 2009. His third special "The Fun Part" was filmed at the Wilbur Theatre in Boston on April 4, 2013 and debuted on Netflix on April 15, 2014.

 

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