I second phrankygee's nomination of Tim Minchin. I saw him at TAM London and despite the fact that the other acts and speakers were universally awesome, Tim ruled the place. By coincidence, I saw him in concert about a week later and he was awesome there too.

This American Life's excerpt of Julia Sweeney's "Letting Go of God" was one of the first great programs I heard about losing faith. Before hearing her, I had already lost faith but was afraid of the idea of "atheism." I identified with her process of losing god though mine was different in many ways. That someone funny could speak such truth in such a human way was really freeing for me.

I also love Kathy Griffin. Jesus, suck it, indeed!

Only one mention of Bad Religion? For shame, fellow UF'ers. For shame.

David Cross was something of a catalyst for me. When I was already on the edge of disbelief, I listed to his records and it made me see it as somewhat more acceptable to leave the "faith".

When I was a Christian, I would listen to Nine Inch Nails and sing lyrics like "God is dead, and noone cares..." just kind of to try it on, like somewhere deep down that's how I felt, but someone else was expressing it for me so my soul wasn't in danger. Weird, I know.

Neil Peart, the drummer for Rush who writes all their lyrics, is a very outspoken atheist. Many of their songs reflect that.

Carlin, Penn Gillette, Bill Maher. There's also an Australian comedian who's name escapes me at the moment...

The Comedians of Comedy was really good. It was on Comedy Central for a little while. David Cross, Zach Galifinakis, John H. Benjamin, and Maria Bamford among a lot of others were involved with it.

Great thread idea, green!

David Cross

Eddie Izzard

George Carlin

XTC's "Dear God"

Tim Minchin

Also, I think Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert are our generation's best weapons against fundamentalism.

Probably "Gaza - I Don't Care Where I Go When I Die" or Napalm Death and the like. Very Socio-political lyrically and pretty much all atheists(as is most grindcore)

Penn and Teller's Bullshit series is great, though the later episodes you can tell theyre running out of ideas.

George Carlin has a way of making me feel really good about my atheism. I love watching his old shows, too bad I came to atheism more or less too late to appreciate him live.

Now I appreciate any atheist in the media, and I would have to say Penn Gillete and Bill Maher are my favorites currently.

If any of you guys have the time and see a band/comedian that you haven't heard of I suggest you find some youtubes of them, its worth the time.

Yeah. Pretty much George Carlin. Seen all his stand-ups and read all his books.

Bill Maher too. Love that guy.

Also the late George Carlin

I've been skeptical for a long time, but there are always a few great bands that help fuel it: Propagandhi, Born Against, Bad Religion, plus the fun ones like Slayer.

Oh and i forgot the comedian Bill Hicks (RIP)

>Since there is already a book thread I figured I would add one pertaining to music/audio.

>I'll start it with my list:
-Streetlight Manifesto's album "Somewhere in the Between"
-The Thermals' album "The Body, The Blood, The Machine"
-The comedian David Cross's stand up performances

>there's more but those are the ones that stand out for me.