Rome is guilty of the original case of cultural appropriation. Feat Mike Birbiglia
Summary
Mike Birbiglia thinks Rome pulled off the original case of cultural appropriation. The comedian tells Kareem that Italy's obsession with Jesus is bizarre considering the Romans murdered him in Jerusalem. "They were like studio heads," he says, comparing them to Hollywood executives who loved the story but wanted the protagonist to die. Then they sold paintings of themselves murdering him to take over half the world. It's like if the Booth family sold Lincoln Logs. The conversation spirals into cult susceptibility, with Birbiglia admitting he's "cult curious" about the shared meals and carpooling. Leader duty once every three months? That could work.
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Full Transcript
So, what's your take? I think Rome is guilty of the original case of cultural appropriation.
Tell me more. I went to Italy last year and everywhere you go is Jesus. Like paintings of Jesus and statues.
100% agree. Jesus never went to Rome. Oh, he never went to Rome. No. All he knows about Rome is the Romans showed up at his cult in Jerusalem and they were like, "Hey, we love what you're doing." Which is how it always starts. They were like studio heads. They're like, "It's a great story. We love this. We love this. We think the ending should end with the protagonist dying, which is a good story as well, right? And Jesus was like, "Oh, so that and then they murdered him." And then they sold paintings of themselves murdering him to take over half the world.
Okay. It's like if the Wills Booze family sold Lincoln logs. All I saw in Rome was spaghetti and spaghetti carbonara. Look, the pasta's great, but it's such a strange thing for Rome to be like, "We're the we're the Jesus people."
I guess when you think about it, it is a little weird. But there are other places like that. One of them is called the United States of America. Sure. United States famously. Jesus never came here.
No. No. If Jesus were here today, he would be so confused by what happened to Christianity. He'd be like, "This isn't what I intended at all. I'm more of a cross between David Wayne and a food bank." Here's what people don't grasp about Jesus. It's like it was a cult. I think he knew exactly what he was doing.
Sure, but maybe cult leaders do, too. By the way, no offense to cults. Are you cult susceptible? I think I I'm cult curious. You find yourself sometimes being like, well, you know, it's about shared meals. It's about car pooling. It's about like Roberto's quiche. You're like, this could be fun. And then it's like to leader. And then you're kind of like, how often are you even in the rotation? Once a month? Once every three months?
You know how many things I do once every three months that are worse than leader? Put it in the calendar. Put it in the calendar.