← I Don't Have Enough FAITH to Be an ATHEIST
I Don't Have Enough FAITH to Be an ATHEIST
Why I Left Hollywood for Christianity with Comedian Rob Schneider
01:22:02
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- [00:03]
A
Ladies and gentlemen, how does someone go from starring in Saturday Night Live and major motion pictures to actually becoming a Christian? And by the way, what happens in Hollywood when you become a Christian and you come out as a conservative? Do the folks who say they're fighting for inclusion, tolerance and diversity include you and tolerate you and say, well, this guy's diverse. He's in a minority now, or do they hammer you? And how can actually comedy help people understand truth better quite often than a straightforward lecture? Well, we have somebody that can answer all those questions. With us today, live from Scottsdale, Arizona, it is the great Rob Snyder.
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B
God bless you.
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A
He brings his own crowd, ladies and gentlemen.
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B
It is nice to hear that. It's infectious to hear that. Applause.
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A
It is, brother. Well, look, we got to tell people how we got acquainted and. And we're gonna unpack some of the things that happened when we went to UC Berserkly a little bit later in the program. Yes, but I gotta start with this, Rob, because people are gonna. They're gonna be upset because, you know, sometimes you use bad words.
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B
Well, let's challenge people. Let's challenge our listeners, too. I mean, yeah, I do use bad language. And I just remember, remember, because you and I are around the same age.
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A
We are.
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B
I remember the Poseidon Adventure and where Gene Hackman was the priest and upside down, and he. He was hanging on and about to sacrifice himself, and he. He swore and used bad language as a priest, as a man of the cloth. And I would just, you know, I would say that I would just ask people to remember that Jesus didn't come for the good people. He didn't need it. He came for the people, the sinners. He came for the people who use bad language. He came for the people who sinned. He came for all of us. And we all fall short of the glory of God. And. But, yeah, I have to admit that, like, there are some things I wouldn't do anymore and some things that I do feel, you know, the nudging. And that's the thing about being a follower of Christ and being saved and being the grace, because it is by grace that we. That we are given the greatest gift the world has ever known.
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A
Amen to that.
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B
And that is through grace. And so through grace, you don't want to do anything. As you said, we don't want to use words and things that offend our Lord. However, at the same time, I think if I can use a vernacular that can help people and disarm people, because that's what I think Comedy really is. It can be and should be there to entertain, but also to plant seeds. And it was really beautiful because I was talking to Father Steven Grinnell, talking to you, of course, as my new Christian guide. Is that what. It's our job? Because sometimes as people who, you know, as you follow the faith and you go down the path and you think you want to do more than what you're doing, you're like, I need. I can do it. I can do it.
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A
I can try. You can do it.
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B
Yeah. You can do that. So what was very nice to hear was saying that it isn't our job to preach, however, it is our job to plant seeds. And so that's a difference, because it's more powerful. So if I can put the ideas out. And Father Steve Grinnell said a very, very powerful thing that really exemplifies a great analogy, which was, it is up to us to plant the seeds. However, you know, it is up to the. It's up to God, and it's up to the Lord to make that plant grow. To see it grow.
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A
Yes.
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B
And, you know, and he said, you ever try to pull on a plant to make it grow? And that really made sense to me because I think what we could do is the most important thing is we. How we exemplify and live our life is an example. And then how we. How we lead and how we guide and make sure that we're. We're doing it. It's difficult. I will say it isn't easy. However, some things happen that, like, I think Jesus only lets you go so far, and then he comes and grabs you. It's very much like he's just there. And there are times he pulls you back. But also, it's very important, as you exemplify really beautifully in your lectures about free will. And without that free will, we wouldn't have an opportunity for holiness. There wouldn't be that. And that is very important that we have that. So it is a. For me, working in Hollywood, I think the whole idea of entertainment and what you're seeing is a manipulation and an indoctrination to something that is less than holy. And I think it can be. I mean, the beautiful thing about acting and about is you have a chance to. You have a chance to express universal truths. And sometimes in a painful, beautiful way. If you see the beautiful movie Remains of the Day, you see Anthony Hopkins and I forget the lead actress, but they just. They weren't able to consummate their relationship and really be together because they were in a Society that didn't allow them. The English are very, very conscious of the phrase. The. The man does not know his place in a caste society. And that's why they couldn't live their dreams. That's what's so beautiful about America, is you really can. You can. But none of that means anything if you don't really have faith, if you don't have that grace from God. Because I find, and I see a lot of people in show business and I feel it, and I felt it myself. Just I'm trying to get to that place and there's that place. And then if I work with this director and if I do this movie, and if this movie makes this much money, then I get to do this kind of movie, then I go to this studio. There's always something and something and something, but it's always hollow because it doesn't really have what Christ offers, which is grace, which is you are there, but you're not there alone, and you're not there for yourself. Yeah.
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A
In Christianity, you don't achieve it, you receive it.
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B
Yeah. That's how you achieve.
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A
For you already.
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B
Yeah, it has been. And for just you, for all you have to do is accept it.
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A
That's right.
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B
That's.
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A
Repent and accept it.
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B
Yeah, accept it and repent. And so I. It's. It's a. You know, I have to be careful about one toe in, one toe out, and make sure that. That I don't do things that. You know, I had a discussion with two priests. They ganged up on me and they just wanted to make sure that I'm on board with Christ and make sure that there's some things that there are no go areas that I think. And I know you may disagree with this, but they said the occasional F bomb is forgivable. And I said, wow, thank you for that one. I said, don't quote me, but there are some things that are just no go, and you have to make sure we're on board with that.
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A
Well, I want to play for the audience. What actually happened in that discussion you had with a priest? Here it is. Check this out. Check this out. Here it is.
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B
Wife, she said to me, she said, you need to go see a priest. I said, yeah, I know. You need to tell him what you do for a living. I said, okay, Father, I perform. I'm a performer, and I. I have a really. Tell him what you do. I have a really dirty act. And he said to me, said, well, Robbie, you've got to think about maybe making some changes. You know, do what you feel is right. If you pray about it, I'm sure you'll have the answer. I said, yeah, you're right, but it's pretty funny. Yeah, well, Rob, you're either serving the Lord or you're serving the world. And I think you know what the right choice is. Said, yeah, I just don't know if I'm going to be able to give as much money to the church now. Robert, you've got to make the people laugh. The Lord will forgive you. I've already forgiven you two seconds ago. In humor is the way to go. And of course, you know, an Irish accent for a priest is just more effective.
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A
Well, you, you have just done a complete show for Angel Studios.
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B
That's right. Without any swearing or sex jokes. And I gotta tell you, it was easier than I thought. Frank, you should have told me this years ago. It was good, but I felt a little bit nervous because there are crutches that you hang on to. Because I will tell you, Frank, the one thing that you. For people who aren't stand up comedians, they have to understand that there is this tremendous potential for psychic damage. To put yourself on stage with the potential for humiliation on a deep level. It does come at psychic cost.
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A
Oh yeah.
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B
And that psychic cost, I mean, I'll just tell you, there was this Oxford study that they wanted to work with me, this is many years ago with about stand up comedians and, and I participated in somewhat of it and then I backed out because I said, I don't want to know the depths of this, where this stuff comes from and the damage or whatever. But the one thing that was very interesting that they discovered was putting, you know, you know, you know, the, the, the little nodes for the brain is that when someone is on stage performing standup, it is the same telepathy, the same neuron neurons firing as jumping out of an airplane. You know, literally skydiving. There's like, there's that much stimulation happening and it's like, is the chute gonna go up? You know?
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Right, right, right.
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B
Is this, is this joke gonna land? Are they gonna be with me? Are they gonna hate me? Are they gonna boo me? That's there. And for people who've been on stage, I remember when I was a young man first doing standup and I remember one time bombing on stage. And the only way I could describe it best, cause I said, I wanna remember this. This is an educational moment. And I remember it really felt, Frank, like my ears were melting off of my face. And I went like, wow, this is painful. And I said, now I got to remember this. And I said, this has to be informative because I can't let this audience or anybody get to me like this. But you still have to let it get to you. Otherwise you're a zombie or a robot. But there's a certain amount you said, I'm not going to put that out there. So in that sense, you know, you know, the need as a performer to express yourself for whatever reason, Mommy didn't give you attention or whatever, that maybe gets you into the profession. But then you become an artist, and then you become. And then you want to express things and tell things, and it's your version of the truth that hopefully, because I think what all artists do, whether they're writers or performers, professional speakers, we have the ability to have a little bit more time to focus on an issue that we could perhaps enlighten and bring truth to it, or at least look at it a little bit farther or deeper than the average person is. And I think, like, very important. I was very much influenced by the Italian absurdist, which I like to do absurdist humor, taking things, you know, to a. To a logical progression and then to absurdity from a logical rationale, a place of truth, hopefully. And Dario Foe was the Italian absurdist. 1997, he won the. The. The Nobel Prize for Literature. And he was an absurdist. He wrote jokes and he wrote. But he was a beautiful. A beautiful, wonderful fabricator and storyteller. And he said this, which I never lost me. He said, to be an artist, you must be an artist in your time, about to affect those things. And so that is important because, you know, the. It's. It's one thing, and I respect guys like Jerry Seinfeld, who are beautiful jokesmiths and masters of the form, but I like to talk about, like, you know, the fact that there are LBGTQ plus rally for Hamas.
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A
Yeah, right, right.
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You know, and I said, well, you know, they said it was a rally for Hamas. And I go, it was on the roof. You know, thank you for your support. Hey, what's down there? You are. It's.
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No, it'.
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B
It's.
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A
It's hard to explain how something could be so absurd that you'd have gays for Hamas.
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B
Yeah. Who will murder you in a minute. And as a matter of fact, you see it being played out. You're being reminded of this with the Iranian. Iranian war that we're in, which I have some thoughts on briefly. But the fact was, you had the. What? Ayan. Hirsi. Ali, the terrific humanitarian and Somalian Islam survivor who's now a Christian, God bless her. She is an incredibly brave, incredibly insightful warrior for Christ. And, you know, she could walk you through that, that, that, that tyranny of what Islam is and what she went through and how anti human what it was, especially anti women. So it's, you know, we have that opportunity through this and seeing what she calls the Red Green alliance. And in Iran, it was the students, the university students, which teamed up with people, Islam until they were able to throw out the Shah. And the Shah did have a 26 years there and started to be more and more used, more secret police and more paranoid and more, you know, people captured and stuff. And that created the fervor and backlash against them with the Serac, which was the Savak, which was the secret police, not to his benefit or the society's benefit.
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A
One thing I will say in his defense, and I don't know all the history, but we had Bill Federer on, who's a amazing historian, a couple of weeks ago talking about Iran. One of the reasons the Shah had secret police is because there's this fundamentalist group within Iran who wanted him executed. Those were the jihadists. Those were the ones that the Ayatollah. The reason the Ayatollah was kicked out of Iran in 1963 was because he tried to execute the Shah.
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B
Right.
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A
So Jimmy Carter then green lights the Ayatollah to come back into Iran in 1979. And that's where we get 47 years
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B
of hostility from the thing that's educated me just even recently, because in 1953, we had, you know, I knew about that there was a democratically elected, you know, leader named Mossadegh.
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A
Yes.
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B
And then most of that, because you got to understand this also the United States and England made a mess of it because England was giving 16%. The British, the crown was basically, they were taking the oil out and giving some royalties to Iran and they were giving 16%. And then the Iranian leader, the Mossadegh at the time was a democratically elected leader, said, well, can I see? Can we get more than 16%? And the British, as they were want to do, said, no, we're not. No 16%. We're doing all the work. And so then he said, well, can I at least see receipts so that we're getting 16%? And they refused. And then Dean Acheson, who's the American attache, a diplomat, said very quote, so that they, the Iranians kicked out the Brits and nationalized the Oil. And that's what Dean Acheson said. The famous statement, never before has so few lost so much so quickly. And that's when they kicked out British. The predecessor to British Petroleum. And after that. So then they went to Truman and they said, you know, the. The Brits and said, can we, you know, get money to throw out this Mossadegh and, you know, throw. Have a coup? And Truman said, no. And then Eisenhower got in and Eisenhower gave a million dollars. And what they did was they get. They got one group to go and protest and paid protesters. 1953.
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A
Yeah, you'll never see that again, will you?
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B
Yeah, protesters. It didn't work. And then they got two protesters and they burned down the presidential palace. And then they. That Mossadegh jumped over the back fence. And then it was 26 years of the Shah. So, you know, something didn't start right there. But what you had is you had these people. They're not even Iranian is what I just learned is that they really are. I mean, if you look at the flag, it's in Arabic. And these are Egyptian mullahs who've hijacked this country for 47 years. And how I feel about that, the war is this. Is that a lot of American foreign policies, you go, these people are bad, like Saddam Hussein, but he's secular. At least you can say Arafat bad, you know, murder, but, like, secular. And we replaced them with something worse, these Islamic fundamentalists. And it just keeps happening. We keep doing it. Even Nasser in Egypt. So this is a repetitive thing. The United States happens. But however, I can't think in any situation of anybody that could come in and be worse than the ayatollahs and the mullahs in Iran, especially.
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A
Yeah, especially when they're. They have uranium a mile below the ground. You don't need uranium a mile below the ground if it's for just commercial use. If you're just trying to do a reactor, you need to have it a mile below the ground. If you're trying to enrich it and you don't want anybody to know.
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No, these are the most dangerous people in the world.
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A
Yeah. Yeah.
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B
And I do think, like, for anyone who. Who says, you know, no to this war, I would just say to you that it is untenable to have Iran and these mullahs to have access.
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Oh, absolutely.
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A nuclear weapon that could destroy. That could kill a hundred thousand people and poison another million in that area. It's untenable, and the United States won't allow it. And I will say this I mean, I believe that God only let the United States go so far. And they said this. This has to. This is it. I mean, this is what we've talked about before when we've been together. The United States is the beacon of. Of freedom in the world. This is it. I mean, that's one thing Charlie Kirk and I, and I know that you must have spoken to him about this, too, is Charlie who said, there will be no Marines landing on our shores to save our butts. There will be no Marshall Plan, as what the Marshall Plan was the United States financial institutions bailing out Germany, bailing out Europe. There'll be no Marshall Plan for the United States. We are the Marines. We are the Marshall Plan. So it is. I liked why I feel like, you know, this was a godsend, this administration. I really, really, sincerely believe that is that we were only going to go so far. This is it. And I felt like, like some of the people who I really respect missed the importance of Charlie and of course, because he's so powerful, that they're going to just like anybody who has. Who is a brother in Christ. That is powerful. The way that you so eloquently described it in biblical terms, how Christ and the apostles described Satan, a murderer, a slander, an accuser. And that's exactly what happened with Charlie. And even people that intellectuals that I really, really respect and you know, comedians who mostly, you know, friends and people that I know, like the great comedian Dave Chappelle, great orator and comedian and a genius, a true genius of his time, even he missed the boat on, on. On Charlie. And he said in his last special, and it was, you know, sad for me to see that he didn't understand what it was because, you know, there were comparisons to Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. S assassination and Charlie's. And he said, that's not a. You see, he was almost offended by that. And I said, you're missing it. It's different. But, like, Dr. King was there for his people and for all people to be treated equally, regardless of their race, regardless of their skin color. They need to be all judged, all of us, on the content of our character. And that made the world and made the United States a different place. And we've been better because of Dr. King. Charlie, on the other hand, saw what the potential tipping point was, was for Western civilization falling if the United States fell. And he saw that. And for those of us who were able to see after Covid and see what was happening in the United States and how this could be a forever blue one party system that was a threat and a threat not just to the United States, but for the world. Because if the US Goes, so goes the Western civilization. And if we see what's happening in Europe and if we can, if we can glean what is happening, we can see the progression of a truly evil that is happening in Europe. There's a destruction of churches that it's happening daily, weekly in France, and you see 100,000 Christians murdered in Nigeria. And then you go back and you realize, and you can look it up or just go to Chatgpt, you can go to Grok, which I prefer, and you go, what were, what were nations that were formerly Christian nations that have been taken over? And you go, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Turkey,
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A
keep moving, all of them. Yeah.
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B
And soon, you know, I can't say that the United Kingdom. I refer to the United Kingdom as of all the Islamic countries I like the United Kingdom the most.
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A
That's all the Islamic countries. You know, when we were at, when we were at Berkeley together. I'm so glad you brought Peter Boghossian with you. And I've had Peter on the show a few times.
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B
Favorite almost Christian atheist.
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A
Yeah, he's an atheist, but he gets it. And he puts it this way. He thinks Europe is in hospice, Rob. That he thinks that unless they change course right now and stop importing people who will not assimilate and who will try and impose Sharia law on Europe, all of Europe's to go that way. And he's probably right, by the way. Mark stein said this 20 years ago. He wrote a book called America Alone. And ladies and gentlemen, if you're going, man, I never knew Rob was so up on history and all this. You need to get his book. His book is called you Can Do It, Speak youk Mind, America. I read a lot of that book. I haven't read the whole thing yet, but I was learning a lot about history. Rob, I don't know where you learn all this history from, but you're well read.
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B
Well, thank you. I think we have to look at history and look at. To glean where possibly we could go and what has happened. We have to pick up on it. I mean, like Ayan Hirsi Ali and Peter Boghossian are both agree. And Ayan Hersey will tell you that she believes that England and Europe is lost and that the United States really is the last hope. So but where do we go from here and how do we keep this? I will say that I was just at the State Department yesterday. I spent the day there and we're in a good place. I really feel like they're doing very.
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A
With Marco Rubio and this current State Department.
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B
I didn't meet with Marco, but I met with his staff and his people that work underneath him. And these are American, very proud people that love this country deeply and are doing everything in their power to make sure that this country remains safe and this remains a Christian nation. And it really is. And for people who. It's funny because you even go to chat GPT, even grok, and they'll say it's a secular nation. It is. You know, it's a. It's not meant to be. And it's like, no, it's such a disappointment that the people who program.
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A
I guess. I guess it depends on what you mean by a Christian nation. Is it a Christian nation? Prescriptively, no. You don't have to be a Christian to be an American. Right.
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B
No, you don't.
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A
But was it a cre. A Christian nation, descriptively. And the answer is yes. That's it. All of the Founding Fathers. Yeah. And. And, and our, Our nation presupposes a. A theism that there's a God out there as a supreme judge of the world. That's what our Declaration of Independence says. We don't require you to be a Christian. Christianity can't do that anyway. It's Islam that tries to require you to be a Muslim. However, Christian principles are throughout our three branch system. The founders quoted Deuteronomy the most from any other source that they ever quoted from when they were writing, say, the Federalist Papers or these other papers or books that they were writing at the time. There's no question that our country came out of a Christian worldview.
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B
As a matter of fact, it's funny because that you mentioned that. It's because even atheism has. Even atheists, they long for the divine. And even in their. Whether they know it knowingly or not or choose to ignore it. There is. In the Age of Enlightenment, when they had. When Copernicus and Galileo were heretical in their discovery that it wasn't the Earth that was the center of the solar system, but in fact it was the sun and that we'd orbited around it, that was heretical. And Galileo was sent to a German prison and had to recant. Did I. I didn't say that. Did I say the sun? I meant. I meant the sun could be. But no, it doesn't have to be.
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A
Actually was put under house arrest. He was in German prison.
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B
But who's put in German? Was it Copernicus that was sent.
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A
Okay, I don't know, but Galileo actually had the Pope as a friend, and he mocked the Pope, and you're not supposed to do that. And then he's put under house arrest. It was actually, as I understand it, it was actually not necessarily the Church that was the real problem. It was the philosophers of the day that thought that the sun went around the Earth more so than the Church, and he annoyed both the Church and the philosophers, and that got him into trouble.
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B
But still the philosophers were Christian based, as all scientists were Christian based.
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A
Yeah, exactly.
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B
However, the. What. What had to happen at that time, which was, was that theology was being. At that point was overpowering science. And so science at that point separated and separated. But. But the. Theoretically, they just, they didn't really separate. What they did was there was. Instead of saying God's laws, they went, the laws of nature. They just. They still have laws which are based on Christ and on God and Judeo Christianity. They just took out the lawgiver, but they still had laws. And where do laws come from?
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A
A lawgiver.
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B
So who is that? They just ignored that. And so, so what happens was you had this development which was separate from theology, but still theology. Theologically based and ignored. But so you had somebody. So if you had somebody who's like a sociopath and a killer, you know, theologically, we call him evil. And, you know, through science, they would say sick, but I think you call them sick and evils. One and none of the same. So that, that you kind of have that. So for. For our friend Peter Boghossian, I would say he's. He is in that category, but I
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A
would say also not sick and not sick.
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B
No, no, no.
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A
I'm sorry, what category?
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B
The category of science.
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A
Oh, yeah, yeah.
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B
Without the law giver. Right.
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A
Yeah.
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B
But I would say, though, that there's a deep religiosity to him and there's a deep morality to him, which is God given. I mean.
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A
Oh, absolutely. It's written on his heart. Hey, I want to ask you, because I want. I know that our viewers and listeners are going. Rob Schneider, brought up in the Bay Area. How do you go from the Bay Area to being a star on Saturday Night Live? You get into movies, and then. How do you become a Christian? Just start with how you got to where you became an internationally known comedian. How did that happen? How'd you get on Saturday Night Live?
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B
Well, my, My. My dad had comedy albums, and so. And I was I was the youngest kid. So the youngest kid either gets too much attention or none. And I was. I was the. I got both. I had way too much attention early. And then it's like, you know, I used to joke about, like, I was the fifth kid. And by the time I grew up, it's like, rob, here's the car keys. Here's where the alcohol is. You just do whatever you have. We have other kids if you die. And I. And so. But I really loved comedy and arts. Was something that made me, you know, to get. My dad would. Had most beautiful laugh, a generous laugh. He'd laugh until he couldn't breathe, you know, and it was just so fun to see him laugh like that. Until he would tell a joke. Frank, it was so beautiful. He'd be laughing so hard at him himself telling a joke that we'd be laughing along and then you get to the punchline and it wasn't funny. But we're laughing because he's so beautiful and laughing at his own. It was. It was so great. And, you know, one of his jokes that he said was, there's a lady flying from New York to. From New York to Los Angeles. And the pilot comes on and says, I'm very sorry. We are. That one of our engines has gone out, but don't worry, we're still in control of the plane. And we still have three other engines, but we will be one hour late arriving in Los Angeles. Oh, we're going to be an hour late. And then, you know, a little bit later, the pilot comes back and says, I want to apologize again. We've lost a second engine, but don't worry, we're still. We still have two engines. We're still in charge of the plane. We're in control of the plane. I apologize, but we will be two hours late arriving in Los Angeles. He said, oh, my. Two hours late. And then a little while, he comes back on and says, I have to apologize. We've. We've lost our third engine. But don't worry, we can still fly the plane with one engine. However, we will be three hours late arriving in Los Angeles. And then. And then she says, wow, if we lose another engine, we're going to be four hours late arriving in Los Angeles. Mildly funny, but yes, he would tell it and he'd be laughing so hard. Frank, it was just so beautiful that you're laughing. And it's just. It's just this moment of pure joy.
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A
Was it part of you wanting to see him laugh that made you funny that you Looked for jokes. You looked for ways to make him laugh.
- [32:28]
B
I tried to make him laugh. And my mother, she was Filipino, so she didn't understand jokes. I mean, because it's a very different. It's a different culture, different language. But she had beautiful timing. She would laugh beautifully. Like, what does it mean? And so it was just. And I never really fit in, Frank, because I got Filipinos on this side. Beautiful food. The nicest people. When you go to a Filipino person's house, they never talk about themselves. They say this to you, what can I do for you, my dear Robert? What are you doing? So most beautiful people. And then the Jews with great jokes, and Uncle Norm Applebaum, who changed his name to Appel, you know, that was. And though you had to stand up and tell a joke, everybody have to go around. So you knew when you went to Uncle Norm's, you're going to have to tell joke, so you better have a good one because you want to get that laugh. And so it was beautiful. And. And then, you know, you know, I. I didn't want to do a normal job, and I though I liked history. I didn't think that there was a way to make money at that. You know, There isn't. And then I just. You know, I remember, like, when I was 15 years old, I'd heard. I heard from somewhere, like, one of the friend, one of my friends who also like comedy, he said, there's a place in San Francisco called the Holy City Zoo. And that's what Robin Williams perform sometimes. They said on Monday nights, if you sign up, they'll let anybody on stage for five minutes. And I told my dad, you know, there's a place called the Holy City Zoo in San Francisco to let anybody go on stage for five minutes if you sign up on Mondays. And he said to me two words. Let's go.
- [34:04]
A
All right.
- [34:05]
B
That was beautiful. And then if I wouldn't have had success, you know, when you're 15, it's weird, you know, because it's like. Like everyone's embarrassed that they're drinking in front of a child, you know, in the audience. So it's. It's not comfortable. But by the time I was, like, 16, I did a little more. 17, 18, 19.
- [34:22]
A
Same place. You'd go there Monday nights?
- [34:24]
B
Yeah, I would just start to perform. But by then I start to get little gigs here and there. You make 20, 15, you just show up for nothing and just perform. And then by the time I was 19, I was doing it full time, and then 20, I was on TV. So, I mean, the thing about it is, if the arts are this, if you're really having a good time, it's contagious and it's beautiful. Just like my dad laughing hard if you find something really funny. And what I would talk about was like, because I was always looking for humor. And humor is this beautiful thing. It's a great description of like, inspiration. Inspiratu in Latin. And then inspire, though, comes from the Greek. And inspire, creativity, Inspire. It means God's breath. Isn't that beautiful? It's not God's whispering, telling, hey, tell this joke, whatever. It's not even a nudge. It's a. It's a. And you go, what is that? So it's something there that just gives you that little idea, that little something.
- [35:29]
A
And what TV show were you on? What happened?
- [35:31]
B
Well, I got on this show, it was called Comedy Tonight. And it was. And that led to me getting on David Letterman show shortly thereafter, and then HBO Young comedian special. And the next thing I know, I'm like In my early 20s, I'm on Saturday Night Live.
- [35:46]
A
It was a Lauren Michaels, call you up. Like, how did that happen?
- [35:49]
B
Well, they was. I moved to la. Dennis Miller was a really. He's the guy who really discovered Adam Sandler, David Spade and me.
- [35:58]
A
Miller was super witty. I haven't seen him in a while.
- [36:01]
B
He's, you know, he did great. I mean, he was conservative before I was. I remember thinking, like, I don't understand it now. I get it. Because you don't. You know, there is a culture that, that's constantly under attack. And the idea that, you know, progressive, it sounds like a very good term, but what it is, is a manipulation and an attack. It's just another way to degrade what is working. And that's what I find it to be, was tolerance at its zenith is intolerance. It is an insistence on an order that you must obey, as opposed to some things that are more common sense and that are based in common decency and respect. And I found that the liberal intelligentsia was, well, while it's well intentioned, it got captured by the French intellectuals like Michael Foucault and the people who used repackaged Stalinism, Marxism for the Chinese revolution. And The Chinese had two revolutions. There was one in 1949, but there was one 1967, which was the Cultural Revolution. And that was to attack and destroy everything, to get rid of what they called the four olds. Culture, tradition, rituals and the society itself. And they wanted to get rid of all of it and start over to attack it. And really communism doesn't work. So what it has to have is constantly an enemy. And that's the difference between Christianity. Christianity, the supposition is love and acceptance and forgiveness. And so you have something truly evil, which is this Marxism, which is Western, the most decadent Westernism. The idea of you have to have an enemy. We have a perfect society, we're going to have it all. You're going to have all the land and the food and whatever you want, it's all there for you. And then when it doesn't come again, well, we would have it if it wasn't for these guys over here.
- [38:04]
A
Oh yeah, yeah. And you know, we say about that wrong. Okay, so you have totally wrong philosophy.
- [38:12]
B
It is a wrong philosophy, but it's a philosophy that get, keeps getting repackaged and there's. They make it some shiny, it's a new shiny turd. And you know, whether it's called communism, whether it's called socialism, or whether it's repackaged in the form of this thing called woke, it's the same thing. It's a group of grievances and envy for people who are successful and for a society that's successful. Because one of the things the French intellectuals knew and the, the communists knew at in, in the late 60s was the revolution wasn't going to happen through the worker. Why? Because capitalism works. People saw that their lives got better and that their children's lives got better and that this is working. So they, what did they have to do? They had to use grievances and envy in another form to try to take down this amazing free culture that we have, this society, this American tradition of freedom. And that was through academia. So by 1970, academia was infiltrated and then they, I guess, according to James Lindsay, his beautiful, incredibly educational program called New Discourses, he'll tell you they work in basically 20 years, 20 year increments. So by 1990, from 1970 to 1990, academia was, was captured. And then they started going after K through 12. I mean, if you're going to manipulate, if you're going to change society, why not go through the children? And it's always the children, whether it's the Khmer Rouge, you can see like the people that were most likely to do anything that the government told them to do, including killing their own citizens, whether every educated person, every doctor, every lawyer, anybody who was college educated to murder them all. They chose 15, 16 and 17 year olds because they just, their brains aren't fully developed. And they will become easily radicalized. And we're seeing some of that now.
- [40:05]
A
Hey, by the way, this is exactly what you said in your opening comments when we were at UC Berkeley together. Just for those of you that don't know, friends. I was supposed to go to Berkeley with Charlie on November 10th. And of course, Charlie remained in glory. And so Rob and I went. This is the first time Rob and I got to know one another, be one another, or to be with one another at that event. And you came out and said this. Hang on. Before we play a clip, Jorge, just to give you context. Antifa was outside and they were protesting and they were trying to keep people from coming in the venue. About a thousand got in, right?
- [40:46]
B
It was a riot outside.
- [40:47]
A
It was a riot outside. And here is what the great Rob Schneider said right out of the gate when he got up to the microphone. Here it is.
- [40:57]
B
Well, thank you. I'd like to thank Antifa for the welcoming that they gave me tonight. It was beautiful. I mean, they didn't have to bring, you know, fireworks. But I appreciate it, you know, because I know that's spending money and they didn't have to dye their hair pink either, for that. But I appreciate it. I am from. Proudly from the Bay Area. I'm right from right here. I'm your neighbor. I am your neighbor, and I love you. And I love this. I love Berkeley, and I mean that. I love the history of Berkeley. And I believe that what is happening now, I think is a blip, and it is a intolerant blip. And as hopefully I have this whole speech thing, I'm going to talk about a couple dumb jokes, but we are in an age of emotion when historians look back and go, what happened? What was that all about? And it was because if we give in to our emotions and that desire, then we can. If you give in to those desires and those passions, if you use that before your sense of reason and rationality and logic, then you can be manipulated. Like the people outside this building right now. They are coming not from a place of. Of rationality. They're coming from a place of emotion.
- [42:20]
A
Rob, this is the greatest country in the world, with the most freedoms, the most prosperity, and yet we had people outside there who were completely emotional. You couldn't reason with them. Why have we come to this point in our culture that you actually have people protesting the greatest country in the world? Sure, it's not perfect. You can protest some things, but they appear to be protesting freedom
- [42:49]
B
without reason. It is a manipulation we have. And I don't mean to blame women. And when I say the feminization of our society, it seems like it's an attack on women. And I would just say to, like, you know how where in the Bible, you know, you have Eve gets blamed for taking the apple from the snake. However, there was a snake in the garden and Adam should have killed it. You know why? You know why he didn't? Because he was on his phone. He was distracted. He was busy doing something else, counting.
- [43:29]
A
And then he immediately threw Eve under the bus. He said, God, the woman you gave me did this.
- [43:35]
B
Look, I. I was listening. I was listening. I didn't. I didn't know of where the app, so I didn't. I didn't know a snake could talk. But we have. Is. You have a people that can be manipulated through their emotions, and you're seeing it. We're seeing a. Of people who aren't acting from a place of their best interest and also from a place of logic and rationale. When you appeal to them and you appeal, you have to take the emotion out of it. You have to have the ability to have discourse and debate. What we need is they need to hear all ideas. And if someone is in an emotional state of just trying to silence other people or feel, so they use the word, they're threatened. Your speech is violence. Speech isn't violence. Your speech, unless you're inciting violence, the idea is being propagated falsely that ideas themselves are in essence violent because they are in opposition to their ideas. We can't continue with society about that. And I just tell this to people. You don't get smooth from smooth. If you want a cabinet, and you want to have a smooth cabinet out there, and it's a piece of wood, you know, before you put the paint on it, you're gonna have to smooth it down. But you don't get smooth from smooth. You get smooth from rough. And you have to get the two rough ideas. And sometimes, you know, when in creative writing, when we write movies or something or television shows, you get to the good ideas. We say, look, this may be a bad idea, but maybe it'll get us to a good one. A lot of the bad ideas help us get to the good ones. I mean, imagine the conversations that were had in the Continental Congress. Imagine the conversations. I mean, when James Madison went by himself and took every book that he could find on every form of government in the world that had existed historically, and he went and looked at all of them. I mean, this is an incredible. We had Incredible people who were very young at that time, too. And he had discovered that, you know, this was the greatest form of government, was a republic. And that republic, it was to giving the responsibility to the people to govern themselves. And so as we are governing ourselves, we must be able to have discourse. We must have conversation. And that's what, you know, Charlie died for. Charlie died for the idea that when the conversations ends, the violence begins. And he was a very sad proof of that. And, you know, for. For us there that day. And it was one thing when I met you that day, Frank, was that we prayed, and it was really powerful because I felt a real kinship from you right away because of our friendship with Charlie and the gift that he was and the gift that he gave to us and how temporary that was. And Charlie was a spectacularly Christian man. And it's embarrassing to admit this, but when I. I did not see it when I first heard about him, he was, like, 28 when I first moved to Arizona. And I got called by this guy, and he very much. Now I realize he exemplified Christ's words, which he said, you know, those who are not with us or against us. But he also. Christ said, those who are not against us are with us. And he very much wanted people in his team, on his team, and as many voices that could be heard because he saw the coming storm and he saw what could happen. And if we had another administration that would just keep borders open, and that was really, to me, disrespectful and godless in its application. This. This. The government of the Biden Harris administration. So anyway, I said, I don't know who this kid is, whatever. And I said, but I admired his organization, and I thought, we're in the right way. And he said, what are you working on? I said, I'm working on this TV show. And I sent it to him. And, you know, I thought, he's 28, 29. And it had very foul language. And very. There was a part that was particular particularly. I think you could use the word vile. But it was about a guy who. A comedian that got canceled and blah, blah, blah. And I remember he called me and said, you know, I have a real problem with the language. And now I understand, you know, And I was able to, like, say sorry to Erica the other night. Erica, his lovely wife.
- [48:10]
A
Yeah, you just did a nice event with Erica out there in Phoenix with their organization. And she told me, personally, I think I sent it to you, that you were beautiful. You pulled together both comedy and honor at the same time. And it was a great event for people that support Turning Point. So thanks for doing that.
- [48:36]
B
Well, thank you. And I would say the person who helped me the most was you, because, I mean, I do think the question that I asked Erica was a poignant question that you led me down that road beautifully. Thank you, by the way, Frank, Because I asked you and you brought me to Exodus 22:22, which speaks of God's protection of people that he loves and his people, and God's vengeance. Because as much as God loves, God also will has vengeance for those who, people that get attacked and those particularly those who are widows and for the fatherless. And those are beautiful. And also Deuteronomy, Was it Deuteronomy 19?
- [49:21]
A
Yes. Deuteronomy 19 basically says that in the Old Testament economy in ancient Israel, if you were a false witness and it was found out, say you tried to accuse someone of murder falsely, they would murder you. Not murder you, they'd give you capital punishment. You got the crime or you got the penalty of the crime you are falsely accusing someone else of committing. That would end all of this nonsense, demonic nonsense we're hearing online from Candace Owens and others.
- [49:52]
B
Well, we, we. Yeah, well, you have a real demonic evil that is. And it describes, I mean, and you describe it, you know, when you told me and I read Exodus, Exodus 22:22, which is really describes God's vengeance. But what we really, when you talk about, we said earlier about the apostles and what Jesus said about Satan is you can see a direct correlation. First he said he's a murderer, first accuser, slander, a liar, slander. So we've gone down the road now from the murder of Charlie to the lies to the accusations, and now we're at the slander point, and it all points to the same evil. And so I was able to ask, though, in a beautiful healing way, was I wanted to ask because how, you know, you mentioned to me, which was really beautiful, and I mentioned it to Erica, was that the only person who suffered more than Jesus was Jesus's mother. But she had faith. He had faith in the Lord, that the Lord had a plan. And she kept that faith, and she was compensated by seeing her son rise again and be resurrected. And so, but I asked Erica about, I said, how has God compensated you? And because God does, he compensates us in our pain always. You have to look for it. And she has blessings in her beautiful children and the love and support and prayers for all of us who, who, who love Charlie and love Erica. And I had to Ask myself after that, the next day I said, well, what is my, what is my compensation? And I, I. The answer was you.
- [51:35]
A
Oh, thanks, brother.
- [51:36]
B
I came to this, this friend in Christ who's been my guide, who was Charlie's guide. And that's like, I got to tell you, you've been a blessing to me and been a real big brother to me. Even though I'm older than you and.
- [51:47]
A
No, I'm older than you.
- [51:49]
B
I don't think so.
- [51:50]
A
You look 64, bro. You're like 62.
- [51:52]
B
I'm a baby.
- [51:53]
A
You're a baby. You're just a kid.
- [51:56]
B
Yeah, well, it's been beautiful. And I, and I, I've been, I've been blessed by that. And it's, it's, it's strange because what Hollywood does, and you could see it in the, you know, I don't watch Academy words. I don't think most people do anymore. There used to be 100 million people would watch it and, you know, Barbara Walters would interview, you know, Sean Connery and. Yes, well, precisely. But now no one watches it because it's turned into a Bash America show. It is. And it's, it's a shame. But Hollywood is about self glorification. I mean, there are so many award shows. It's not only it. There's the SAG actors, not only Oscars, then there's the Golden Globes and there's the directors where it's just self congratulations and it's empty at the end of it. It's just, it's, it's, there's, it's a bottomless pit of self congratulations.
- [52:46]
A
How did you become a Christian? Was it part of that? Was part of that bringing you to Christ that it was empty? It was hollow.
- [52:54]
B
I met some born again Christians in high school when I was 16 years old.
- [52:57]
A
All right?
- [52:57]
B
And I walked in there and people came up to me with love and they're like, how are you and how are you doing? Very much like in the Filipino side of my family. And they seemed happier than anyone I knew. And I was like, what is it? What do they have? They don't seem to be under this worldly pressure. And that was very powerful to me. And I never forgot that they weren't
- [53:21]
A
under the worldly pressure. I like the way you put that. What do you mean by that?
- [53:25]
B
They didn't seem to need anything that I needed. This acceptance, this, you know, to be flattered, my ego. To have to make money or to buy a big home or the things that I thought would bring Me some happiness. The things that I thought was something that I needed, the things that are ultimately empty, they had something else. They had this grace, they had this acceptance, they had a peacefulness about them because they had already arrived at the greatest thing that you could achieve, salvation. And it was given to them as a gift.
- [54:04]
A
Right.
- [54:04]
B
And so this thing during COVID was at the same time was working on the script that still that I want to make about the, the. The Shroud of Turin, the actual receipt of Jesus Christ's greatest gift. The gift, the greatest gift the world has ever known. And the Shroud has finally, it's been proven that because it was tested, you know, 40 years ago. And they didn't, when they did the carbon dating, they didn't quantify or put into the analysis that the French nuns, of course, would try to repair this cloth and do it with love and take years of it. This thing called a French weave, and they called it invisible French weave. And so that's where they cut it, the lower left hand corner. But they cut it in a little chunk and they cut it in three to four pieces and they took it to different labs. And the further it went in, the further back in time it went from it was 1390 or 1370 to 12 something. And then I think the earliest, as the deeper the cut went into the cloth, I think was 1170. And so they said, well, this must be a Middle Ages forgery. Was it? How did the Middle Ages forgery happen with reverse negative, before photography was built. And so what I realized was that there's this beautiful thing that happens. And you know, Charlie Kirk was really, when he went to universities, talking about the sanctity of human life. And that, that is not as soon as conception happens. There's another separate DNA there instantaneously.
- [55:39]
A
Yep.
- [55:40]
B
It isn't still the mother, it isn't the father. This is, this is unique life, unique in the universe, this beautiful thing. But even more so, there's a beautiful thing that happens, and you can call it as some sort of reaction that happens, but what it really is is a burst of light. Soon as the human, the human being, it's, it's. It's soon as the egg and the sperm come together and it's this flash of light.
- [56:07]
A
I've seen, I've seen that depicted before. It's amazing. Let there be light.
- [56:11]
B
Yeah, let there be light. Let there be life. And that, this thing, that flash. And I, I always remembered it from biology and always thought about it. And then that is, that flash of light is the flash of light when Christ was resurrected. And that's the thing. I'm convinced that's what the thing on the cloth is at the very, very top. Only in the very top. Fibers.
- [56:36]
A
You're writing a show about this, a
- [56:39]
B
movie based on this. Beautiful. I mean, it is the receipt. This is the actual. If you look at it. And the way that we can prove that it is that now that it's finally through radiology, they've been able to test it. It's a 2000 year old cloth.
- [56:52]
A
It is, yeah. And they've also found pollen on it that goes back to first century Israel.
- [56:57]
B
Yeah, yeah. So this is, you know, so now we have the place and we have the date. And now you also have the wounds. You have the 40 different wounds that happened from this, the, the thorn, the crown of thorns. And then you have the real evidence is that if it was 1170, if it was truly 1170, that's when it was a, quote, forgery. Even though they have no way that modern science could even repeat it. Today there is a painting that shows the burn marks, which basically four diamond marks, three in a row and one higher. That was a painting from I believe the 8th century. So that already predates that, that there's a painting of the cloth that was being hung up. The king would hang up the cloth and somebody made a painting of that. So this predates that original marking. And then if it was a middle, you know, middle age forgery, every painting that you saw, every sculpture, every fresco of Christ on the cross was through the hand, through the hand and through the feet. And we know that that's not the way they crucified. Now we know it was through the wrists. And also there was something that was found finally that was 2,000 years old, a nail from Roman age, 2,000 years old. And a heel bone, because that was the only way to get the body. And that's the fact of, that's how Christ was crucified, through the heel bone and that heel bone, then you could maintain the weight of it. And, and that's the real crucifixion. And both of those facts are displayed with blood on the shroud. So it is an artifact of proof of resurrection of Christ. And so this is something that you can't. When you know something, you can't unknow it. And this is a. Was really powerful and beautiful. And you. That this did survive, as did the face covering of the cloth. And they all match up. So you have this thing that now can be proven as a 2000 year old cloth with all the biblical descriptions of the torture of Jesus Christ and his crucifixion. And you go, well, you can't unknow that now. And this is a very powerful moment. And then seeing the global tyranny that happened over during COVID and that really brought me to the realization. And then knowing Charlie, Rob, what kind
- [59:42]
A
of price have you had to pay in terms of coming out as a Christian, coming out as a conservative with your career and threats? What's, what's happened? Can you articulate some of that? Because you and I have talked privately about that and share what you want to share. Don't share what you don't want to. Don't share what you don't want to share.
- [60:02]
B
But I mean, I will say that, you know, I've gotten death threats. I've gotten, I mean the, the, the career, Hollywood career had end. Has ended. The, I would say the, you know, the slander, the lies, the denunciations, but they all pale in comparison to like to what, you know, of course, what the people who've, you know, as Abraham Lincoln described it, the last full measure of devotion for our country and our nation under God. And when you think about like every apostle, all of them, except for one, was martyred. They were all killed, whether beheaded, stoned, crucified, upside down. I mean these were people that they must have experienced something so extraordinary, something so beautiful, something that they could not unsee and unknow, something that filled them with a spirit, the Holy Spirit, that they were willing to die for it. That is a powerful, beautiful, very powerful.
- [61:12]
A
And they were dying for something they knew was true. Muslims will die for something they think is true, but they don't have the evidence for it. You know, they haven't witnessed any miraculous activity. Whereas the apostles of the New Testament witnessed the resurrected Christ. So they were in a position to know whether it was true or not and they went to their deaths anyway. And you, you can't get better evidence than that unless you were there yourself.
- [61:38]
B
And this Charlie talked about, which was to me more, more evidence to it is the fact that it was women that were first. Yes, evidence.
- [61:49]
A
Embarrassing testimony.
- [61:50]
B
Yeah, yeah. What I mean, especially can you imagine the, you know, the toxic masculinity of 2000 years ago? If you were writing a story, you certainly wouldn't come up with. Yeah, yeah, my, my chick's the one who saw it. I mean, I came thereafter.
- [62:07]
A
No, I was hiding. I was hiding for fear of the Jews.
- [62:12]
B
Yeah. So that you have, I mean, I think that that is something that they were trying to describe, something factual that they had experienced, and that's what happened. So I think as. As far as whatever, you know, I think we are, as Americans, we are gifted with this incredible freedom and it is our responsibility to continue this. And it's not just for our country, but for the world. And we need to. To step up for it and whatever sacrifices we could make. I mean, it pales in comparison. I took my kids to a outs into Italy and we were outside of Rome and we went to the American Military Cemetery outside Rome and we walked to as many graves as we could. And I said, this guy's 19 years old. This guy was 26. He was. He was a sergeant. This guy was a colonel. He was 32, a lieutenant colonel. So these guys, I said, they all died for our freedoms. And that's something that I think. I don't think that the children today can fully grasp. What was sacrificed. That it was blood that was sacrificed for our freedom, and it was blood that was sacrificed for our salvation. It does come at the ultimate cost. And I think for us, we cannot deny that. And if whatever it costs us, it is a price that we are called to pay. If it's a show business career or if it's money, if it's not, I can't afford to, you know, whatever. Or if I don't get movies anymore, I don't make deuce bigelow 3, 4, 5 and 6. But the blessings that God has given me is a peacefulness that I feel and that I have a chance to. And I have an openness to it. And I said, God, whatever you want me to do. And the next thing I know, you know, I'm in a room with you. And I swear, when I was with you, Frank, in Berkeley, I was like, oh, because Charlie's not here. But I got Frank and I said, this is beautiful. And this is what's supposed to be. And that was a real gift. And that's the compensation that, that Christ has. Has given me in. In. In Charlie's loss. And I think it's a gift from Charlie as well.
- [64:29]
A
Well, it's a gift for me to know you as well, brother. And we're going to be together here in Charlotte on April 27. That's the plan, anyway.
- [64:37]
B
Yeah, we're gonna do it.
- [64:38]
A
We're gonna do it here. We normally do the Bible you never knew on Monday nights up at Freedom House Church in Cornelius. This time Rob is gonna join me and we're gonna have a good Time. That night we'll talk about some of this and we'll get some of Rob's great insights into, into the culture. I, I gotta play this, Rob, because this is one of my favorite clips of yours.
- [65:04]
B
Okay.
- [65:04]
A
This shows how good comedy can make a point that maybe a straight lecture cannot. Several years ago, United Airlines said that they were going to make their call their, their cockpits more diverse. And here's Rob's short bit on that. Here it is.
- [65:25]
B
The CEO of United Airlines, last month the CEO, he announced of all the hiring for all the new pilots that are coming up this year, all the hiring for the new pilots, the main focus is going to be diversity. What? Diversity? Not the best pilots you can find, the ones with the most hours of experience, things. You've done it before? Nope. Diversity. I don't know about you, but I'm sick and tired of flying all the time with these white pilots landing safely and on time. Boring.
- [66:12]
A
Now that makes the point better than any anti DEI lecture could.
- [66:16]
B
Rob. Well, I think if you, you know, the audience can get behind the, if the logic is there, then the audience can get behind something absurd and it's absurd to begin with. You just have to get it to them in a way that they can get it. And it's non threatening.
- [66:31]
A
Yeah, well, it's beautifully done. And that's what humor is. It's, it's pointing out absurdity, pointed out incongruity to make people laugh. And that's what you do so well. I know my, the audience is probably wondering like, how do you do that? How do you, what process do you go through to analyze something and find the absurdity in it, to make it a joke? How do you go about doing that?
- [66:53]
B
I just, sometimes I'll just linger on it and go, what? Why is that? Why are they doing that? And then I think about it and I think about. Then I get to a silly place. Like for me, the longest joke that I've ever had, it literally took a year. But it was the idea of slave reparations in California. And I said, what is the, how can I explain how crazy that is? And I said, well, what is it? They want to pay slave reparations to people who are never slaves, to be paid for by people who never owned slaves in a state that never had slaves. And I said, okay, that is what the idea is there. And I said, well, you know what? It's kind of like. And it hit me, I was driving and it hit me. It's like paying child support for a child you never had to. A woman you never slept with.
- [67:39]
A
That's right. That's what it is. Yeah.
- [67:41]
B
Oh, God. Like, yeah, that is crazy. But you have to. Sometimes they could frame something or say something in a way that's so confusing that they, you know, the word reparation, it's like, it just. You get lost in it. But it really is. It's like, you know, these people, America also fought to free slaves. Do they get anything right?
- [68:03]
A
Yeah. What about all the people that died trying to free slaves? Do their families get anything?
- [68:07]
B
Yeah, but we ended it, didn't we? We didn't. We have a war to end it. So I think what it is also, it's just another divisive idea to. To further degrade society. And as you said, so. Well, all evil is, is a degradation of something good. And ending slavery was something good. And the idea that somehow we need to be punished for doing something good is a degradation, degradation of something important and good that we did.
- [68:35]
A
So you also have a joke that you're developing now, and people are going to hear this and go, how could he get away with that? But maybe you could tell a little bit of this joke. You told it on Gutfeld maybe a month ago, Rob. And it has to do with women and voting.
- [68:55]
B
Yes. Well, the idea is to challenge people and get them to a place where they maybe wouldn't get to themselves. And the idea was, is that the women are being emotionally manipulated into doing things that are against their. That are not only against their best interest, but against their safety, and they're being manipulated into it. And I go, like. And I said, like, what's happening in Minneapolis? You see, and you see women being, you know, that are using their sense of empathy, their beautiful empathy, which is requiring for raising children to get outside of themselves. But if they're manipulated emotionally, then they could use it to give empathy to someone who doesn't deserve it, who's unworthy of that beautiful empathy. And that's why I think we should reconsider the 19th Amendment. And they go, like what? And I go, because of the fact that most of the women in here don't even know what the 19th Amendment is. Part of it is the right to vote. And then I say, ladies, I'm not trying to take away your vote. You can, you know, I'm just saying, not for the important things. You can still vote. You can vote all you want. America's Got Talent, you know, you know, the Dancing with the Stars, you know, employee of the month at Whole Foods. But the Idea is to, you know, what I'm really bringing up is the fact that we are being manipulated emotionally and that we should really consider it and not be swung out by it.
- [70:18]
A
Now, how do audiences respond to that? Did people get mad at you sometimes?
- [70:22]
B
Yeah, people walk out. But if it's a safe place, if they know that I'm not meaning any harm and I'm just trying to get them. I'm trying to goad them into defending a position or I'm trying to get them to. The idea is a very tough thing to change is belief systems, foundational belief systems. And the only way to get that is to subvert it. I mean, literally to come underneath of it. But if you do it in a safe place with humor, it has the ability to get them to. Maybe there's something to that. And like, as Oscar Wilde said, I don't know if he was the only one who said this, but he's the one that gives the quote. If you tell the truth and make them laugh, they'll celebrate you. You. If you tell the truth and don't make them laugh, they'll kill you. Say that there is complete, utter truth in that. So I'm looking forward to seeing you on the, on the, the 27th. We're gonna have a good laugh and I love that we're gonna get people to ask questions because that was. That we'll be able to ask. And I want people like, you know, Charlie was beautifully. Did he put the microphone down, said, if you disagree, come to the front of the line. And that's beautiful because then we get to question ourselves.
- [71:34]
A
Yes.
- [71:35]
B
How much better a society is, but to question our own self and our own, our own foundational thinking because we need to get the best ideas to continue to have the most innovative, creative, godly society. Let's keep, let's keep defending these ideas and fighting over them peacefully in conversation.
- [71:54]
A
Yes, I've got another clip that I want to show from you, but before I do, I want to point out, ladies and gentlemen, if you're listening to this, on March 24th, that's the day this is released. Tonight we're at Colorado Mesa University. Please pray for that. But two nights from now, March 26, we're going to be at Utah Valley University. That's where Charlie was murdered. I don't know how that's going to go. I don't know how I'm going to feel going back there. But please pray for that event. It will air on 9. 00pm Eastern Time. That's 7pm Mountain Time. On our YouTube channel, we're going to be doing, why did God allow Charlie to be murdered? If God, why evil? We're going to talk a lot about grace. It's a very heavily Mormon area, and I want to emphasize grace. I love Mormon people. They do think you need works to get into heaven. I want to emphasize that it's grace that Jesus did it all for us. So please pray that event goes well. Then next week, we'll be at Ole Miss and Rochester Institute of Technology. All of that's on our website there. Also, don't forget about the Cross Examine Instructor Academy online course that's going to begin later in April. If you want to be a part of that, go to crossexamine.org, click on online courses. You'll learn from some of the best instructors, and they will evaluate your presentation as well and challenge you with questions and objections. So if you want to become better at defending the Christian faith, join the online CIA Cross Examine Instructor Academy. But, Rob, I gotta tell you, when we were at Berkeley together, the very first question came from an antifa guy who was wearing this goofy hat, but he basically called you a retard.
- [73:40]
B
He did call me.
- [73:41]
A
You remember that? Yeah, he did. And you were gracious enough. You said something like, well, I'm about as retarded as you are intolerant. Something like that.
- [73:49]
B
Yeah. In.
- [73:50]
A
And then he sat down and another lady got up and asked a question. And then she said, rob, can I shake your hand? And here's what happened. Let's play this.
- [74:06]
B
Thank you. Thank you so much. And you come up here and shake my hand, you antifa. You come up here. Come here. Come up here. Seriously, get up here and shake my hand.
- [74:17]
A
Come here.
- [74:19]
B
Come up here. Come here. I wish you all the best. Thank you. God bless you. God bless you.
- [74:27]
A
All right.
- [74:28]
B
I love you. I do. I do.
- [74:33]
A
Now, Rob, you wanted to leave the audience with some hope because the people inside the room were courageous to come and be there. Antifa was keeping people out of the room outside, and they were not operating on reason. They were operating on emotion. And yet you also related a story that night that happened to you at the 50th anniversary of Saturday Night Live. And it's funny, but it also makes a very profound point. Can you relate that story to our audience?
- [75:05]
B
Well, yes. The idea behind it is that. That the Bible informs us that we gain nothing from loving our brother. There's no reward for that. You're supposed to love your brother. But we must love our enemy. And we must love those who attempt to destroy us. That's what Christ compels us to do. And so there was very, well, an angry. An angry person who. And who I greatly respect as an actor, and I understand he's got some other issues and. And he hates Donald Trump. This is Robert De Niro. And I know he's whatever pressures are in his life, and I'm sure there are many, like we all do. And I just saw him that night. He was two rows in front of me, and I said, I don't want to talk to him. I don't want to ruin my night. This is Saturday Night Live's 50th anniversary. We're all in tuxedos. I don't want him to ruin my night. I don't ruin his. I'll just avoid him. But at the end of the night, they bring us all on stage. They invited us all who's ever. Anybody who's ever hosted, whoever. You know, I spent five years of my. My youth there. So they invite us all on stage for one final bow. So the last time I'm ever going to be there, I'll never go back again. Not for any other reason. But the chances are, you know, people are we'll never all be together ever again, right? So we all walk onto the stage. We start, and it's very crowded. Everybody's walking on the stage because everybody in the audience has been on the Saturday Night Live or hosted. So we're all walking to the stage, and I'm right behind De Niro. And I was like, no, please don't push me. Whatever. And they. Right before I get on stage, somebody bumps. Pushes me into him by accident or whatever. And then De Niro turns around and he's like, schneider, how can you support that schmuck, Trump? He's a schmuck. He turned you into a schmuck. I thought you were smarter than that. And the only thing I remember thinking was like.
- [76:56]
A
Like, Robert De Niro knows who I am.
- [77:00]
B
But I swear I looked right at him and I said to him, it just. I said, I love you. I love you. I really love you. And they just said, okay, okay. And that was it. So at the end of the day, the. It's got to come from love. And it's got to. We have to, you know, reflect God's light. And that's just. That's love. That is it. And that's up to. It's not up to the other person. We're not going to be able to control how some other Person reacts. We can do it through love. And if we do that, then you have a chance to find some peace. And that's what's called for. That isn't to say we can't be strong. We have to be strong. And that's why we know you love the sinner, but you must hate the sin. We have to fight against that. We have to fight against evil, especially now, ever. Because I think our constitution, constitutional republic, is under threat. Yes, our way of life is. So we have to be strong, but it's got to come from a place of love or it'll mean nothing. If we just try to cancel the. Cancel culture with our own canceling, we'll achieve nothing.
- [78:03]
A
I remember Charlie said this, Rob. He was saying, if there's someone in your family that wants to cancel you because they disagree with you politically, don't return the favor. In other words, still accept them. Just because they have different political views doesn't mean that you can't love them as people made in the image of God. You may disagree very vehemently about politics, but that shouldn't cause you to break a relationship. Why would that cause you to break a relationship? So we disagree.
- [78:37]
B
That's beautiful.
- [78:38]
A
You know, just Charlie would say that. Don't. Don't be that person that breaks up a family relationship or even a close personal friendship over politics. I think that the Bible is clear on how we ought to be in terms of policies, especially related to life and gender and marriage and safety. That's the purpose of government, to protect innocent people from evil and punish wrongdoers. But if some people disagree with me over that, I'm not going to break fellowship with them.
- [79:06]
B
Yes.
- [79:07]
A
And you. You didn't. You weren't going to do that with Dairo. You reached out to him and said, look, I love you. I don't. Okay, we disagree, but I love you anyway.
- [79:17]
B
Well, that was. I prayed before I went there. And I do think that we must, you know, as best as we can, at our best is try to reflect that light. And I will say that, like, for whatever reason, Charlie came into my life and you came into my life. It's just a continuation of a reminder and God's help and like that beautiful thing that we can get to, where we can get to grace not from ourselves, but from Christ. And at that moment when we need it most, we'll find that and it'll come from a place of strength. I felt compelled just to tell them that I love them and that we love all God's creatures and Everyone is. And especially from somebody who's in pain or someone who's in a place of anger, I think it could help dissuade that and it could at least remind them that there's another human being in front of you.
- [80:09]
A
Yeah.
- [80:10]
B
We're required that we are all deserving of respect and dignity because the human soul, God given, made in our. Every human being made in God's image is. Is deserving of the dignity of that. That great. That great gift.
- [80:27]
A
Fantastic. That's my brother, Rob Schneider, ladies and gentlemen. You need to check out his book. You can do it. Speak youk Mind, America. There's so much personal information in there, stories in there.
- [80:40]
B
Which. The next book I'll be. I'll clean it up, Frank.
- [80:42]
A
Okay. Well, okay. The language, that's all right. But I actually learned a lot reading that book, as I said earlier in terms of history and. And, you know, your family came to the Philippines, and I learned a lot about the Philippines. Just reading that and was enlightening. And you're right. We need to speak our minds. Because when we don't speak up, up, evil will prevail. If we don't push back against Satan, Satan will prevail. As Edmund Burke allegedly said, if he didn't say it, somebody brilliant said it, the only thing necessary for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing.
- [81:16]
B
Absolutely.
- [81:17]
A
Too often we've been doing nothing because we've been just too comfortable. And we don't want anybody to be mad at us that might cause us some pain and some discomfort.
- [81:26]
B
Exactly. Well, we have to. I mean, comfort is something that. Let's not seek that out first. We have to be able to speak our truth and show God's light as best as we can. Hey. I love you, Frank. Let's talk soon. I can't wait to see you. We're gonna have a great event together.
- [81:44]
A
We are. All right. Thanks, brother. And check it out. It'll be on our website, crossexamine.org it's scheduled for April 27th here in Charlotte. Much more. And Lord willing, we will see you here next time. God bless.