The Karol Markowicz Show: Joel Berry on Satire, Faith, Family, and Fighting Wokeness

Episode Date: January 9, 2026
Podcast: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show presents The Karol Markowicz Show
Guest: Joel Berry, Managing Editor of The Babylon Bee

Episode Overview

In this episode, Karol Markowicz hosts Joel Berry, the Managing Editor of The Babylon Bee and author of several satirical guides and a novel. The discussion centers on Berry's journey from a corporate sales job to leading one of America’s top satire sites, his perspective on faith and family, and the role of humor in political discourse. The episode explores how satire intersects with current issues like wokeness, the challenges of raising kids in today's culture, the impact of AI on creativity, and timeless lessons from Berry's life and military experience.

Key Topics and Insights

1. Family Life and Finding Purpose

[03:21–04:29]

• Parenthood as Unexpected Joy: Berry shares how he never envisioned himself as a father of six children, but found joy in embracing family life’s chaos and humor.
  • "Having kids is really fun. It's like having a bunch of cartoon characters in your house." — Joel Berry [03:39]
• Regional Differences on Family Size: Markowicz notes how New York sees three kids as a lot, versus other parts of the country.
• Community Perspective: Berry talks about feeling like a "rookie" among large Catholic families at his children's charter school.

2. Journey to Humor Writing and The Babylon Bee

[04:29–06:33]

• Accidental Career Shift: Berry recounts how losing a corporate job, encouragement from his wife, and early satirical comics led him to writing.
  • "I'm very thankful to God that he led me to a place where I'm finally doing something that I'm good at." — Joel Berry [05:55]
• Finding a Rare Talent: Describes writing for The Bee as a niche skill and his unique path among their writers.
• Evolution of the Bee: The Babylon Bee started as an evangelical church humor site but shifted after Trump’s election, seizing new comedic territory.

3. Writing Books and Satire’s Scope

[06:58–09:22]

• A Serious Satirical Novel: Berry co-wrote "The Postmodern Pilgrim's Progress," inspired by "Pilgrim's Progress," exploring heavy themes like grief and evil but blended with satirical elements.
  • "...it's really kind of a meditation on grief and, you know, dealing with evil and tragedy in the world that sometimes doesn't make sense." — Joel Berry [08:42]
• Audience Reaction: Some fans expecting pure humor were surprised by the book’s heavier, reflective content.

4. The Babylon Bee’s Top Guides and Not the Bee

[09:29–12:13]

• Guide to Wokeness: The most commercially successful and fun to write, as wokeness seemed to provide endless material.
  • "Wokeness was just kind of a punchline in and of itself." — Joel Berry [09:50]
• Guide to the Apocalypse: Described as their silliest, most fun non-political project.
• Birth of Not the Bee: Real-world news often mirrored satire headlines, prompting a spin-off site to cover absurd real stories. Berry mentions their spreadsheet of "fulfilled prophecies"—satirical headlines that soon became reality.
  • "We call them fulfilled prophecies... I think we have like 150 fulfilled prophecies now." — Joel Berry [11:07]

5. Passion, Pride, and the Meaning of Success

[12:13–14:46]

• On Doing What You Love: Berry feels fortunate to combine his creative skills and sense of calling, noting it's rare to find such alignment.
• Legacy Joke: Jokes that if his career ends, he can "hang [his] hat on the fact that [he] wrote the joke that made Elon Musk buy Twitter." [14:23]
• Life’s True Treasures: Emphasizes being most thankful (not proud) for a stable, loving family life and ordinary success.

6. Instilling Values in the Next Generation

[14:46–16:51]

• Modeling and Encouragement: Berry tries to lead by example, hoping his kids desire a stable family life.
  • "The most extraordinary thing in the world is an ordinary man, his ordinary wife and his ordinary children." (G.K. Chesterton, via Joel Berry) [15:17]
• Countercultural Message: Describes shifting from the 80s-90s "dream big" ethic to current cultural yearning for stability.
• Parental Perspective: The recent loss of Berry’s mother brought home the importance of prioritizing family over online influence.
  • "Your kids are infinitely more important than all that silly political stuff... Never forget that." — Berry's mother, paraphrased [16:52]

7. Hope and Caution for America and Technology

[18:08–21:23]

• Five-Year Predictions: Expects more "most important elections ever" headlines, but senses the far-left’s cultural grip loosening.
• Golden Age or Chaos?: Hopes for a creative renaissance if the right keeps its composure, but warns of internal conflict.
• The Promise and Peril of AI: AI is a force-multiplier; it could enable creativity but will worsen problems like disinformation and online exploitation.
  • "AI is a multiplier. It multiplies human capacity for evil and human capacity for good." — Joel Berry [19:26]
• Adaptation is Key: Compares AI’s impact to the printing press—initial disruption but long-term social adjustment.

8. Practical Advice: Doing the Hard Thing

[21:34–22:41]

• Discipline and Success: Berry shares a military lesson: master yourself to do what you don’t feel like doing.
  • "If you can just do that simple thing, doing what you don't feel like doing but you know is right, you will be more successful than 99.9% of the rest of the world." — Joel Berry [22:31]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Having kids is really fun. It's like having a bunch of cartoon characters in your house." — Joel Berry [03:39]
• "I'm very thankful to God that he led me to a place where I'm finally doing something that I'm good at." — Joel Berry [05:55]
• "Wokeness was just kind of a punchline in and of itself." — Joel Berry [09:50]
• "We call them fulfilled prophecies... I think we have like 150 fulfilled prophecies now." — Joel Berry [11:07]
• "Your kids are infinitely more important than all that silly political stuff... Never forget that." — Berry's mother, paraphrased [16:52]
• "AI is a multiplier. It multiplies human capacity for evil and human capacity for good." — Joel Berry [19:26]
• "If you can just do that simple thing, doing what you don't feel like doing but you know is right, you will be more successful than 99.9% of the rest of the world." — Joel Berry [22:31]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:21] Introduction to Joel Berry & Family Life
• [04:29] Berry’s accidental path to humor writing
• [06:58] Writing books: From satire to serious themes
• [09:29] Behind Babylon Bee’s guides & joke-come-trues
• [12:13] Thoughts on career satisfaction and success
• [14:46] Instilling values and the importance of family
• [18:28] Five-year predictions on America, culture, and AI
• [21:34] Joel’s best life advice: discipline

Tone and Style

The conversation is friendly, candid, and reflective with humor characteristic of satirists. Berry’s humility, faith, and affection for his family come through alongside sharp cultural commentary.

Summary Takeaways

• Joel Berry’s path to satire was unplanned and rooted in both faith and encouragement from family.
• Satire thrives when reality outpaces parody; “fulfilled prophecies” are now a running theme at The Bee.
• Maintaining a stable, loving family life is Berry’s greatest point of gratitude—and, he believes, a true mark of success.
• Culture is swinging back toward valuing ordinary but meaningful life—an idea Berry models for his kids.
• Berry is cautiously optimistic about America’s future but wary about the potential of AI to do both harm and good, comparing societal adaptation to the advent of the printing press.
• His top advice: master self-discipline, persevere through discomfort, and focus on doing what is right even when it’s hard.