Podcast
Park Bench Ontology
Hosted by Gavin Stephens · ENGLISH
is a low-stakes existential crisis disguised as a comedy podcast for people quietly losing faith in the script of modern life. Each week, comedian and writer Gavin Stephens dissects the absurd machinery of capitalism and culture — from sitcoms to wealth inequality, Baudrillard to people who talk in the movies — exposing the broken myths, invisible rules, and slow-motion collapse we all pretend isn’t happening.
Presented by The Chonilla Network.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
419episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Lenny Bruce Died Fighting the State. Today's Comics Host Inaugurations
1w ago00:20:11Tap to summarizeStand-up comedy has always told itself it speaks truth to power. But the court jester was only in the room because the king let him in.In this episode, Gavin traces the mythology of the truth-telling comedian — from Lenny Bruce and Mort Saul through George Carlin, Richard Pryor, and Bill Hicks — and asks what happens when that mythology becomes a brand. And then what happens when the brand gets handed to an algorithm that optimises it for engagement, and suddenly nobody in the chain — not the comedian, not the booker, not the audience — is making a human decision anymore.Along the way: Antonio Gramsci's "common sense," Althusser on ideology (the thing that feels most natural to you is the most thoroughly ideological), Dick Gregory's version of "being above it" versus the merch table version, and what it means that the same comics who cite Bill Hicks as a hero showed up to help elect a president.The king didn't change. The mythology just grew a new villain to point at.Welcome to the Collapse. 🎙 Park Bench Ontology — existential comedy for the end of the world.🔗 Follow & Support:🌐 Website: http://gavinstephens.ca🎧 Podcast: https://pod.link/uncolonized📷 Instagram: @countgavin🐦 Bluesky: gavinstephens.substack.com🎵 TikTok: @ParkBenchOntology📼 YouTube: http://youtube.com/@parkbenchontologyAlso, Check out the Substack: Dispatch From The SimulationSubscribe and leave a review!🎙 Park Bench Ontology — existential comedy for the end of the world.🔗 Follow & Support: 🌐 Website: http://gavinstephens.ca 🎧 Podcast: https://pod.link/uncolonized 📷 Instagram: @countgavin 🐦 Bluesky: gavinstephens.substack.com 🎵 TikTok: @ParkBenchOntology📼 YouTube: http://youtube.com/@parkbenchontologyAlso, Check out the Substack: Dispatch From The SimulationSubscribe and leave a review! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcribe →
Guilt Can't Cross Generations, How Does the House?
2w ago00:09:18Tap to summarizeThe "don't judge the past by today's standards" argument sounds principled. It references real historical philosophy — presentism, anachronism, the dangers of projecting backwards. And if you look at it charitably, it almost makes sense.Except it's never used charitably.Nobody invokes it for Rosa Parks. Nobody says we can't assess the abolitionists by modern standards. The argument travels in one direction only: toward the powerful, away from the powerless. And when you notice that pattern, you start asking harder questions — like, if moral standards can't cross generations, how does the land? If guilt doesn't inherit, how does the portfolio?In this episode, Gavin traces the presentism argument from its philosophical roots through its modern deployment — in conversations about Jefferson, in Canadian debates over residential schools, in the guy who told him socialism never worked because he didn't know Guyana existed.It's a comedy show. It's also doing something real.🎙 Park Bench Ontology — existential comedy for the end of the world.🔗 Follow & Support:🌐 Website: http://gavinstephens.ca🎧 Podcast: https://pod.link/uncolonized📷 Instagram: @countgavin🐦 Bluesky: gavinstephens.substack.com🎵 TikTok: @ParkBenchOntology📼 YouTube: http://youtube.com/@parkbenchontologyAlso, Check out the Substack: Dispatch From The SimulationSubscribe and leave a review!#Comedy, #Society & #Culture, #Philosophy, #History, #Canadian #Content, #Political #Commentary, #Stand-Up, #Race & #Identity🎙 Park Bench Ontology — existential comedy for the end of the world.🔗 Follow & Support: 🌐 Website: http://gavinstephens.ca 🎧 Podcast: https://pod.link/uncolonized 📷 Instagram: @countgavin 🐦 Bluesky: gavinstephens.substack.com 🎵 TikTok: @ParkBenchOntology📼 YouTube: http://youtube.com/@parkbenchontologyAlso, Check out the Substack: Dispatch From The SimulationSubscribe and leave a review! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcribe →
What Is Legacy... Really? | Park Bench Ontology S03E01
3w ago00:13:32Tap to summarizeThere's a cannon in most towns. Next to a plaque nobody reads. Families take photos there during the day. Men cruise there at night, cars idling, windows fogged, child seats in the back. That gap is exactly what legacy does.In this episode, Gavin Stephens looks at legacy as a cultural technology — not a tribute, but a selection mechanism. Monuments don't remember everyone. They decide who counts. And once you see that, you can't unsee it in vision boards, retirement plans, factory jobs, productivity apps, and the White House.Topics include: Camus and absurdism, the myth of meritocracy, why retirement is backwards, the self-help industry as hierarchy maintenance, and why making a podcast about not needing to be remembered is not ironic — it's just honest.Park Bench Ontology is hosted by Juno-nominated comedian and Canadian Screen Award-winning writer Gavin Stephens. Equal parts philosophy, stand-up, and cultural diagnosis.Welcome to the Collapse.🎙 Park Bench Ontology — existential comedy for the end of the world.🔗 Follow & Support:🌐 Website: http://gavinstephens.ca🎧 Podcast: https://pod.link/uncolonized📷 Instagram: @countgavin🐦 Bluesky: gavinstephens.substack.com🎵 TikTok: @ParkBenchOntology📼 YouTube: http://youtube.com/@parkbenchontologyAlso, Check out the Substack: Dispatch From The SimulationSubscribe and leave a review!🎙 Park Bench Ontology — existential comedy for the end of the world.🔗 Follow & Support: 🌐 Website: http://gavinstephens.ca 🎧 Podcast: https://pod.link/uncolonized 📷 Instagram: @countgavin 🐦 Bluesky: gavinstephens.substack.com 🎵 TikTok: @ParkBenchOntology📼 YouTube: http://youtube.com/@parkbenchontologyAlso, Check out the Substack: Dispatch From The SimulationSubscribe and leave a review! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcribe →
The Bench Is Still Here — A Note Before the Break
Mar 1600:01:11Tap to summarizeSeason 2 is done. This is a short note before the pause — where the show has been, where it's going, and why the bench isn't going anywhere.Season 3 is coming. I'm not ready to talk about it yet.New episodes return later this year. 🎙 Park Bench Ontology — existential comedy for the end of the world.🔗 Follow & Support:🌐 Website: http://gavinstephens.ca🎧 Podcast: https://pod.link/uncolonized📷 Instagram: @countgavin🐦 Bluesky: gavinstephens.substack.com🎵 TikTok: @ParkBenchOntology📼 YouTube: http://youtube.com/@parkbenchontologyAlso, Check out the Substack: Dispatch From The SimulationSubscribe and leave a review!🎙 Park Bench Ontology — existential comedy for the end of the world.🔗 Follow & Support: 🌐 Website: http://gavinstephens.ca 🎧 Podcast: https://pod.link/uncolonized 📷 Instagram: @countgavin 🐦 Bluesky: gavinstephens.substack.com 🎵 TikTok: @ParkBenchOntology📼 YouTube: http://youtube.com/@parkbenchontologyAlso, Check out the Substack: Dispatch From The SimulationSubscribe and leave a review! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcribe →
Grocery Store Security Guards and the Collapse of Abundance
Mar 900:16:47Tap to summarizeThe security guard at the grocery store is a sign before they are a deterrent. This episode takes Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower as its anchor and reads scarcity not as a natural condition but as a managed one — enforced through bodies, symbols, and spatial logic. What does it mean when abundance collapses not into emptiness, but into enclosure? Season 2 finale.🎙 Park Bench Ontology — existential comedy for the end of the world.🔗 Follow & Support:🌐 Website: http://gavinstephens.ca🎧 Podcast: https://pod.link/uncolonized📷 Instagram: @countgavin🐦 Bluesky: gavinstephens.substack.com🎵 TikTok: @ParkBenchOntology📼 YouTube: http://youtube.com/@parkbenchontologyAlso, Check out the Substack: Dispatch From The SimulationSubscribe and leave a review!🎙 Park Bench Ontology — existential comedy for the end of the world.🔗 Follow & Support: 🌐 Website: http://gavinstephens.ca 🎧 Podcast: https://pod.link/uncolonized 📷 Instagram: @countgavin 🐦 Bluesky: gavinstephens.substack.com 🎵 TikTok: @ParkBenchOntology📼 YouTube: http://youtube.com/@parkbenchontologyAlso, Check out the Substack: Dispatch From The SimulationSubscribe and leave a review! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcribe →
Childs Was Right
Feb 2300:12:16Tap to summarizeIn 1982, John Carpenter released The Thing — a film about paranoia in isolation.But beneath the alien horror is a quieter question:Why does crisis always seem to produce the same kind of leader?From Snake Plissken to MacReady to Jack Burton, Carpenter’s collaborations with Kurt Russell trace the erosion of the American hero myth.When the Berlin Wall fell, the external enemy collapsed. The crisis logic didn’t.It moved inward.This episode explores suspicion, authority, neoliberal shock, and why marginalized spaces are often testing grounds for what eventually reaches the centre.Childs wasn’t the threat.He was the warning.—Park Bench Ontology is a series examining culture, identity, and the systems that shape perception.🎙 Park Bench Ontology — existential comedy for the end of the world.🔗 Follow & Support:🌐 Website: http://gavinstephens.ca🎧 Podcast: https://pod.link/uncolonized📷 Instagram: @countgavin🐦 Bluesky: gavinstephens.substack.com🎵 TikTok: @ParkBenchOntology📼 YouTube: http://youtube.com/@parkbenchontologyAlso, Check out the Substack: Dispatch From The SimulationSubscribe and leave a review!🎙 Park Bench Ontology — existential comedy for the end of the world.🔗 Follow & Support: 🌐 Website: http://gavinstephens.ca 🎧 Podcast: https://pod.link/uncolonized 📷 Instagram: @countgavin 🐦 Bluesky: gavinstephens.substack.com 🎵 TikTok: @ParkBenchOntology📼 YouTube: http://youtube.com/@parkbenchontologyAlso, Check out the Substack: Dispatch From The SimulationSubscribe and leave a review! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcribe →
Elbows Up, Davos, and The Shock Doctrine
Feb 1600:39:03Tap to summarizeThis week, we examine the “Elbows Up” movement and Mark Carney’s Davos speech through the framework of Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine. When crisis rhetoric meets elite policy, what changes — and what stays the same?A philosophical and political breakdown of neoliberal continuity disguised as renewal.🎙 Park Bench Ontology — existential comedy for the end of the world.🔗 Follow & Support:🌐 Website: http://gavinstephens.ca🎧 Podcast: https://pod.link/uncolonized📷 Instagram: @countgavin🐦 Bluesky: gavinstephens.substack.com🎵 TikTok: @ParkBenchOntology📼 YouTube: http://youtube.com/@parkbenchontologyAlso, Check out the Substack: Dispatch From The SimulationSubscribe and leave a review!Mark Carney, Davos speech, World Economic Forum, neoliberal reform, disaster capitalism, Canadian political movements, economic crisis narrative🎙 Park Bench Ontology — existential comedy for the end of the world.🔗 Follow & Support: 🌐 Website: http://gavinstephens.ca 🎧 Podcast: https://pod.link/uncolonized 📷 Instagram: @countgavin 🐦 Bluesky: gavinstephens.substack.com 🎵 TikTok: @ParkBenchOntology📼 YouTube: http://youtube.com/@parkbenchontologyAlso, Check out the Substack: Dispatch From The SimulationSubscribe and leave a review! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcribe →
Why Does Society Feel Like an Art Gallery?
Feb 800:22:49Tap to summarizeWhat actually gives people power today?🎙 Park Bench Ontology — existential comedy for the end of the world.🔗 Follow & Support:🌐 Website: http://gavinstephens.ca🎧 Podcast: https://pod.link/uncolonized📷 Instagram: @countgavin🐦 Bluesky: gavinstephens.substack.com🎵 TikTok: @ParkBenchOntology📼 YouTube: http://youtube.com/@parkbenchontologyAlso, Check out the Substack: Dispatch From The SimulationSubscribe and leave a review!Episode 5 of Park Bench Ontology explores sign value and social capital—the invisible currencies that organize modern society. This episode looks at how meaning, status, and recognition now shape outcomes more than material reality, and why so much of life feels like performance rather than substance.🎙 Park Bench Ontology — existential comedy for the end of the world.🔗 Follow & Support: 🌐 Website: http://gavinstephens.ca 🎧 Podcast: https://pod.link/uncolonized 📷 Instagram: @countgavin 🐦 Bluesky: gavinstephens.substack.com 🎵 TikTok: @ParkBenchOntology📼 YouTube: http://youtube.com/@parkbenchontologyAlso, Check out the Substack: Dispatch From The SimulationSubscribe and leave a review! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcribe →
The Real Housewives of the Overlook Hotel
Feb 200:17:15Tap to summarizeWhat happens when reality TV becomes a haunted house?This episode looks at The Shining and The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City as the same structure repeating itself: endless luxury, frozen time, and personalities trapped inside a building that remembers everything.Using Mark Fisher’s hauntology, this episode explores how reality TV functions as a cultural ghost — a looped performance of wealth, identity, and breakdown that can never resolve, only repeat.Not horror.Not satire.A system that won’t stop replaying itself.🎙 Park Bench Ontology — existential comedy for the end of the world.🔗 Follow & Support:🌐 Website: http://gavinstephens.ca🎧 Podcast: https://pod.link/uncolonized📷 Instagram: @countgavin🐦 Bluesky: gavinstephens.substack.com🎵 TikTok: @ParkBenchOntology📼 YouTube: http://youtube.com/@parkbenchontologyAlso, Check out the Substack: Dispatch From The SimulationSubscribe and leave a review!🎙 Park Bench Ontology — existential comedy for the end of the world.🔗 Follow & Support: 🌐 Website: http://gavinstephens.ca 🎧 Podcast: https://pod.link/uncolonized 📷 Instagram: @countgavin 🐦 Bluesky: gavinstephens.substack.com 🎵 TikTok: @ParkBenchOntology📼 YouTube: http://youtube.com/@parkbenchontologyAlso, Check out the Substack: Dispatch From The SimulationSubscribe and leave a review! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcribe →
State & Revolution at the Dinner Table | Park Bench Ontology S2E3
Jan 2600:18:00Tap to summarizeArguments about communism, socialism, and capitalism rarely fail because people disagree.They fail because nobody is using the same definitions.This episode looks at how political language turns into dinner-table theater — where words stand in for understanding, and certainty replaces curiosity.Not a lesson.Not a debate.An observation from the bench.🎙 Park Bench Ontology — existential comedy for the end of the world.🔗 Follow & Support:🌐 Website: http://gavinstephens.ca🎧 Podcast: https://pod.link/uncolonized📷 Instagram: @countgavin🐦 Bluesky: gavinstephens.substack.com🎵 TikTok: @ParkBenchOntology📼 YouTube: http://youtube.com/@parkbenchontologyAlso, Check out the Substack: Dispatch From The SimulationSubscribe and leave a review!🎙 Park Bench Ontology — existential comedy for the end of the world.🔗 Follow & Support: 🌐 Website: http://gavinstephens.ca 🎧 Podcast: https://pod.link/uncolonized 📷 Instagram: @countgavin 🐦 Bluesky: gavinstephens.substack.com 🎵 TikTok: @ParkBenchOntology📼 YouTube: http://youtube.com/@parkbenchontologyAlso, Check out the Substack: Dispatch From The SimulationSubscribe and leave a review! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcribe →