Sneak Peek: Season Four – Origins

Josh: Joe, can you try getting some cave ambience for this?

Joe: Yea, sure.

(Ambient cue)

Josh: Identifying the earliest human artwork is an ongoing process of discovery. Most recently, on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, scientists have found possibly the earliest known figurative cave paintings – from more than 35,000 years ago. Along with bulls and other beasts, you’ll find crimson splashes of naturally-ground pigments, sprayed and spat from the mouths of cave dwellers over their open hands, to form a pristine negative imprint. These red hand imprints line the walls of these ancient caves, reminding us that for as long as we can remember, humans have sought to express an image of ourselves, and to tell our stories through art. You see what I’m getting at here?

Joe: (Laughs) Yea, I see what you’re getting at. It’s great.

Josh: In the new season of the American Masters Podcast, we’ll draw from this rich tradition of telling the stories of ourselves. Much like our ancestors who cast their images to the walls of caves.

Joe: Exactly!

Josh: As usual with the show, we’ll draw from an eclectic group of individuals, practicing their craft across the spectrum. Writers, comedians, poets, musicians, actors, directors, and playwrights. Many are masters of their craft, or truly masters in the making.

Joe: Like comedian Chris Gethard.

Chris Gethard: The stage moms who did make up just kind of throw a bunch of mascara and rouge on my prepubescent head and just kind of marched me out there. I’ll never ever forget the first night I went on stage… So I knew I was being laughed at but I loved it. Performing is certainly a way for me to grab on to some sense of agency and have a little bit of voice. Once or twice a day.

Joe: In school, we’re told to “write what you know.” And many of the guests this season are doing just that; investigating their own upbringing and personal struggle through vibrant works of art.

Josh: Writer R.O. Kwon.

R.O. Kwon: I grew up very Christian and thought I was going to be pastor until I was 17 and then I left the left the faith. It was and is the pivotal loss of my life. Writing this book, it might have been a last way of being with this God whom I don’t think I ever stopped loving, it’s just that I don’t believe this God is real.

Josh: And musicians Tegan and Sara.

Sara: I think we are all a little embarrassed and uncomfortable maybe even traumatized by our adolescents and yet we are constantly, constantly using those years to make really important and interesting art. So I think the fact that Tegan and I are getting this opportunity to sort of heal some traumas and some wounds of our own adolescence; its also really exciting to think that we are adding to this cultural ritual of looking back at ourselves and learning something interesting from it. And maybe inspiring other people to do the same.

Josh: It’s going to be a fun season, so tune in next week, Wednesday, October 9^th, for the first episode.