His tucker Carlson segment is seriously unlike anything I've ever seen, it's raw, it's honest, and he's not beating around the bush. I love him for that
Naming and shaming the TV shows that legitimize these frauds is a huge public service. Now if he could tackle those who legitimize occult supernatural religion... essentially any religion that worships things that transcend nature. Like Abrahamic god. Sadly, even John Oliver couldn't touch the folly of god-belief. The closest he can get is shaming people like Creflo Dollar or Joel Ostein. My Lord and Savior Jibbers Crabst definitely exists though.
My cousin used to believe in psychics. Till something happened to a friend of hers. Her friend’s teenage daughter walked out on her after a fight, and went missing. Mom went to a psychic, who told her the kid was dead in a ditch somewhere. Poor woman nearly killed herself from guilt and grief. The daughter came home next day, alive and well. She was just hiding out with some friends of hers. Not harmless!!!
😮😢 That’s just harsh! Sorry your friend went through that! There isn’t anything wrong with saying I don’t know but I will call the cops/authorities or stay with you while you call? Having kindness in a situation like that goes so far.
That's just ruthless. They have no soul nor empathy, they are predators and have your life at their disposal because of the relationship they have built.
I'm so sorry that happened to them. I'm fortunate my mom doesn't believe in psychics. She has made a somewhat credible threat to end her own life if I ended mine, so if someone told her I had, if she believed it, that might just be the end of my family
psychic once told me not to drive home drunk or someone would get killed!!! stupid psychic! the closest thing to something bad happened the NEXT DAY when i had to wash some deer blood off my bumper and pull some bits of the deer's jeans out of my grill. i guess i hit a deer on the way home. weird, i live in a big city and there arent any deer anywhere around ever. but oh well. dumb psychic confused a deer for a person!!!
The funniest of debunk of all time....a psychic told Houdini that she was talking to his mom....his response, "I didn't know you were bilingual"....she said "i'm not"....his response, "thats funny because my mom didn't speak a word of English"
By "a psychic" you mean Arthur Conan Doyle's wife. His lack of belief actually ruined their friendship, because he wouldn't believe in his cookey wife. Strange the man responsible for tales about using logic believed in all this jazz
@@aishaaofthedays Well I just know the quote from Houdini is literally something to the effect of "Lady Doyle said this long drawn out english statement was my mom. My mom speaks broken english."
Ha, I was 18 and a family friend asked if I'd play a psychic for an end of the school year school carnival. It was ridiculous how much people believed I was real. I wrote a bunch of words on little slips of paper and would have the person pull a couple from a bag then work those into my "reading". A bleached blonde but very tan wealthy looking girl came to my table and I told her I saw her on a boat, and in the sunshine. She was shocked because she had a vacation on the river planned. Oh really? Wealthy girl has access to a boat? *gasp* Who could imagine that to be the case?!
My 21 year old friend was amazed when a psychic knew she lost a close friend. You’re 21, seeing a psychic and have red eyes from crying for days, it’s a pretty easy guess.
At 15 I thought I was having psychic dreams. I would dream something and find out later that day it actually happened. I was falling asleep to music on the radio, and it turned out the news came on about an hour before I woke up.
that wil do it, my afternoon naps had something going on similar, i was so exhausted caus i didnt sleep well at night i would feel things or reenact moments happening.... but i think it is just caus people were listening to the news.... either that or i have a troubling habbit of losing my body when i sleep
@@tommcrae6993 it's what some people might recognize as a joke.... and I'm sure SOME Gamestop employees (or former employees) bought shares... I also don't really like edibles, I prefer my grass smoked
@@dammagrilla hi! Former Game Stop employee here- bought shares- love my own business and not slanging game informer, game guides (2005), and play stations. From Red Dead Revolver to Red Bottoms, baby. Ironically, I'm the same age as Mario and Nintendo. Gen X wasn't too stupid, huh? (I invested in 4 different, 2 worked well, and they weren't what I thought they would be) Also, it is a science. Metaphysics is a thing. Believe them or not, I think some people can do certain things and some people are liars... no one is psychic- but I do believe that people are sensitive, may hear or see things differently or have extremely great intuitive senses that can give them special skills. Not like powers, just thinking and listening differently than the dude next to them.... and then there are liars.
i'm glad he mentioned Amanda Berry. her mom died thinking she was dead, too, since Amanda was in captivity for a literal decade. it's extremely sad and sylvia brown should have been held responsible.
Well not exactly. Psychics are a sideshow act. If anyone puts any faith or belief in to what they say thats kind of on them. If police are believing psychics then your problem is with the police.
Houdini waged a hard-fought war against psychics for exactly these reasons. When his mother died, he tried using psychics to talk to her, but as an expert magician himself he caught on to their tricks quick. Then he started going all over the country debunking psychics left and right. He often went to seances in disguise until he figured out the trick, then ripped off his disguise and told everyone present exactly what was going on. He swore to his loved ones that when he died he would try to contact them no matter what, and devised a secret code with his wife so that no psychic could just bluff their way into convincing her. When he died her wife offered a reward to anyone who could contact his spirit, which means he kept debunking fake psychics even after his death. Only one medium was able to have "Houdini" speak to his wife matching the code. So for all we know that guy is the only legit psychic. Or at least, he was. He died in 1971. His name was Arthur Ford. Insert hitchhiker's guide reference here. ... But wait, there's more! After Arthur's death, the person writing his biography found evidence that many of his seances were faked, and that he did a lot of hot reading on his clients. On top of this, the code that Houdini and his wife used in their early acts was published in page 105 of Houdini, His Life Story. It's possible that this was the basis of Houdini's ghost code, and Arthur could definitely have read it. I personally like to believe that Houdini appears at every seance. Not because he was summoned, but to give the psychics a disapproving lecture about ethics. A lecture that they can't hear because, well, they're fakes.
Skeptics will offer a reward to prove them wrong without any intentions to deliver the award regardless of who proves what. That's a scam, so they're the charlatans. Shame on John Oliver for deliberately lying on television. Being entitled to opinions doesn't justify maliciously lying to a vulnerable populace.
Medium:"SHUT UP, Houdini. I can only make $3.50 telling people their dead dad fucking hates them. The comforting lies are more profitable." Customer: what the fuck?
I'm a 21 year old out on a Friday night and I'm thinking I'll just check this out for 2 minutes while I wait to get into the club. I'm in the club now and still listening to the whole damn thing. Please keep doing this Mr. Oliver.
John Oliver is funny as shit -- but he's also one of the best news analysts out there. He's the next best thing to "60 Minutes." And actually, his show is quite similar to "60 Minutes" -- in terms of deep-dive research into a given subject of social or economic importance to Americans. Basically, it's serious, long-form investigative journalism -- by a comedian. He does a hell of a lot of research -- and editing -- for each weekly, half-hour episode. Absolutely does his homework.
I love the Dad who communicates from the afterlife to let his daughter know she has a scar on her foot. Like thanks for that indispensable information, Dad. Any other priceless nuggets of wisdom from beyond the grave? Is the sky blue?
"oh father, speak to me from the depths of the underworld and shine upon me the otherworldly knowledge of the spirits" "ya got a pimple on yer forehead"
Not only that, everyone I know has scars on their feet. Who didn't injured that very, easily damageable part of their bodies? I got multiple injuries, including a knife dropped on my poor, bare appendage while cleaning the kitchen. The scar is still very much apparent...
One thing that John didn't touch upon with the Pamela Brown/Amanda Berry incident, is that Amanda's mother died before Amanda escaped. Pamela Brown sent Louwana Miller to her death bed believing her daughter was dead, and that is beyond unforgivable. EDIT: Sylvia Brown NOT Pamela Brown
Recent experience and this show have convinced me that their is no depravity that an apparently ordinary, respected ( oz, montel, etc...) person is not capable of. Better late than never.
Amanda’s mother in Heaven... Mom: Where’s my daughter? God: Um... yeah.. she’s still alive. Mom: What?! God: Yep, still on earth... held in captivity. Mom: But the psychic- God: Yeah she lied. She has no psychic abilities whatsoever. That is gonna be awkward
I have a deep hatred of psychics after a personal experience with one. When I was 3 years-old, my mom passed away suddenly from a bad seizure; she had epilepsy and had stopped taking her medications because she discovered that she was pregnant with my little brother/sister. She was only 26. My grandmother, naturally, was absolutely sick with grief. This was in 1988 and there was a very popular psychic fraudster at the time named George Anderson; he would write books and give lectures and of course, do “private readings” for an astronomical fee. My grandmother reached out to him and he agreed to see her. She was barely able to function or get out of bed at the time, so the family figured, “It couldn’t hurt. If it makes her feel better.” My family does not have a lot of money; we wouldn’t even qualify as middle class. Even so, my grandmother booked a flight to New York City, made reservations at a hotel and paid the exorbitant fee for this quack’s time. I was too little to accompany her but the session was tape recorded and I listened to it years later when I was older. Predictably, the session was nothing more than a bunch of vague generalizations and sappy, asinine messages. “She’s telling me that she died unexpectedly” (this could easily be gathered, here was an elderly woman seeking to connect with her deceased daughter; parents usually outlive their children so obviously something unexpected happened). “She says to tell you she is fine and loves you very much” (typical of every psychic). He would ask leading questions and then come to conclusions based on information he had gathered by asking said questions. He didn’t say one thing that was unique or something only my mother would have mentioned, like, oh, I dunno, her 3 year-old daughter? Her fiancé, my stepfather, who she was planning a wedding with? It was so absurd. It made me angry he took advantage of a grieving mother to make a fortune off of, how many others has he done this to? I believe in an afterlife, I do not believe in psychics. They may seem harmless to some, but they are taking advantage of people’s pain and misery
@Well Cord Gifted? Seriously? Stop mystifying illness. All you're doing is publicly doubting this person and many other "indigo child"/"gifted"/chronically ill and autistic human beings and their relatives' lived experiences. Its disrespectful as fuck. Just because someone had a seizure or doesn't behave "normally" doesn't mean they're "gifted". Indigo children and gifted children are not a thing, theyre a coping mechanism people who cant handle mundane, physical losses or changes to their loved ones use to make it magical and meaningful instead. Some people just die, some people can just be sick. It doesnt mean the universe bestowed on them the responsibility to suffer for all other humans or that they have a special purpose in their life or death. It just means that theyre people. The more often one insists or questions other's expiriences by labeling them as "gifted", the more harm one does to both that person and their friends'/family's mental, and sometimes physical, health. I'm not saying people who believe in "gifted" children are trying to do anything but soothe themselves/someone else the only way they know how, and i'm not trying to come at you or call you a bad person, but you need to know that by spreading these ideas, you are causing real tangible harm to real tangible people.
I'm so sorry for what you had to endure and yes, it's awful how these vultures take advantage from other people's tragedies. I hope everything turned for the best for you and have a good rest of your life.
Let me just say that as a pediatric nurse, it's so frustrating to see your patient's parents make decisions about their care based on what a psychic told them. They need to honestly outlaw these scam artists.
I went to a group reading once. When she went through her cold reading with me she didn't get anything correct - wrong letters (and I've lost quite a few people), no chest pains... She finally announced to the room that I was blocking her and moved on. The rest of the room fell hook line and sinker. Later my boyfriend overheard a conversation between people raving about her "powers" but also mentioned there was a 'difficult person' in the audience. I find that hysterical, if she had gotten ANYTHING correct I would've gone with it - but she didn't.
The fact that she used stan twitter language is breaking me down If she were really connected with the body electric she would, on some level, at some point, feel my derision
A good psychic will always be able to find an out, a way to come out ahead even if they are wrong. I could ask "Do you work with somebody named Roger?" If the answer is no, I could say "Then you better watch out for that name and stay away from him when you do work with him." Always have an out if you're a psychic.
@@troyterry6919 yeah... millions of children dying of sickness or starvation all over the world and God chose to use His powers to mess with a comedian.
As a clinical mental health counseling student, I want to thank you for using your platform to shed light on this predatory industry. People who have suffered any type of prior trauma or still struggle w/ losing someone they loved, needs to see a health-care professional that can actually help them process their feelings, thoughts, and emotions
This industry has preyed on my family and instead of seeing any actual professions to deal with family trauma and losses, it has only made problems worse and the problem is any chance at helping is seen as an attack and being ignorant and close-minded.
@@charlesm.2604 There are many different types of therapy, if you seek the same type of therapy which isn't working, you'll come out feeling unheard and it possibly can bring up old traumas and feelings. Not all CBTs or other forms of therapies are going to work for you. It's also important to find a therapist (or even a psychologist)who has a specific expertise in your needs and is qualified. There is a difference between expertise and exposure. This is a huge problem where certain types of therapy can end up harming those with certain mental disorders that need specific types of treatment. It's difficult to find a therapist that works for you but you need to also look for what TYPE of therapy you need and how qualified and knowledgeable the therapist is. Personally, DBT works best for me and I've had many therapists in the past that were fairly ignorant about my needs or I didn't like their style and we butted heads but I currently have one that works for me. It can be a long and arduous task, not everyone has the money for therapy, and it's nowhere near perfect but the alternative should NOT be a psychic. Psychics are not medical or health-care professionals, their advice is toxic, harmful and ignorant. People should not be only seeking to fill a spiritual hole when they're suffering from loss, traumas, and mental illnesses. They're disorders, illnesses, diseases of the mind and you NEED an expert especially when you're in such a vulnerable place. You wouldn't use alternative medicine to treat your stage 3 cancer, would you? It's a predatory business whether or not the psychic actually beliefs they have special powers, 99% of psychics know they're exhorting and BSing you.
Not to mention, Amanda Berry’s mom died of grief before Amanda was found. I don’t know how you could be a psychic and not feel horrible for contributing to stuff like that
One could ask that same question any religious institution!? Why would my baby end up in hell? Letting a pedophile dunk her/him in "holly" water shouldn't matter in the first place. Your cousin is up there on the clouds molesting his harem of virgins right now!? Why? A sky fairy told you!? Killing another (sentient) living being shouldn't be something anyone gets rewarded for.
@@arkin4697 pedophiles aren’t exclusive to priests. They can be teachers, doctors, or really any other profession whatsoever. And I’m sure a molester wouldn’t get into heaven. And priests never claim to talk to angels. There are problems with religion but you have named none of them
I am disappointed James Randi (who made an entire career over having so-called psychics prove their abilities) wasn't mentioned. He had a $1,000,000 prize to anyone who could prove that their 'abilities' were real and not just due to probability. No one ever claimed it.
I saw him on TV once working with a college class. He asked each class member what their sign of the zodiac was, and handed each one a slip of paper with a horoscope for their sign. He asked them to raise their hands if anything in their horoscope was true and the whole class raised their hands. He then had them read out their horoscopes. They were all exactly the same.
@@robertbarron4274 That's the Barnum-Forer effect test, I think Derren Brown also applied it on TV once. Very effective in demonstrating that bias and how easily it can be exploited.
When I was in 12th my psychology teacher told us he was a psychic and had a show he did in Manhattan and he wanted to try his powers here. He had people pick up dictionaries and could guess the word they picked. Guessed cards people picked. And guessed numbers we were thinking. With perfect accuracy. By the end I was completely convinced that psychics were totally real. On Monday he told us everything was fake, he doesn't have a show in Manhattan, it was all set up, we're all idiots.
I once had a psychic tell me over and over again that I was having a lot of problems at work, he was very adamant about it. At the time, I was in college and didn't have a job. At all. He didn't like hearing that.
"Well, you must at least be struggling through your classes" "No, I'm actually holding onto an A average with a solid B making it's way to a B+. Not struggling much there."
let me have a shot at it....I'm hearing ... Work..work out..?...some sort of exercise ...that's very difficult? Am I Right? ;) yes , I do believe I have the shining (pronounced chin-ing)
I'm 3 years late and probably no one will see this but I went to their free psychic website that would be "exactly as accurate as any psychic reading that you would pay money for" and the first video I got after clicking on the psychic reading button was "Does the mid-sized Korean fishing city of Gunsan have any significance to you?" I'm an American expat living in Korea and actually lived there for 6 months! It's an insignificant place even in Korea and when I mention having lived in Gunsan (now having moved to a much bigger city), Koreans are always flabbergasted how I ever ended up there. The chances are hilarious and certainly more accurate than what I would get from a paid reading!
@@dest8401 The website is just the same 10-15 pre-recorded short videos played on a random loop. If you go there and click enough, you'll also hear about Gunsan. It had nothing to do with VPNs (which I use) and was purely dumb coincidence.
@@dest8401little different for a video mate - also, he said he ‘lived’ there. maybe try reading something twice before excitedly showing off something you learnt ;)
Another reason for John to love New Zealand. Here and old law "Acting as a medium with intent to deceive" is still a punishable crime and is still actively enforced.
Indeed! Here's the actual legislation. As you can see it allows for the entertainment side of it. ... www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1981/0113/latest/DLM53553.html
Amanda Berry.... One of the three women who were held captive for 10 years.... used to love watching Sylvia Brown with her mom. She actually watched an episode of a talk show while kidnapped where Sylvia was a guest and Amanda's mother was there to get a reading. Amanda was elated that Sylvia was going to tell her mother she was still alive. Then she watched in horror as Sylvia told her mother she was long dead and gone... Never coming back. She knew because Amanda's spirit came and told her so. Her mom was so devestated and Amanda was so angry she ever believed in her. These people do real damage to people already suffering. It should be illegal....
I've never heard of this Sylvia Browne but hearing that story made me so angry that it made me wish worse things happened to her than the things I wish upon my worst enemies...
My niece was amazed at a reading she payed well for. She was adamant that this woman told her things she could not have possibly known. Until I asked her if she had mentioned any of them on line. She had mentioned every one of these revelations on one platform or another. Psychics have a whole new way of reading your future since the advent of the internet.
@@ctdieselnut A good point, but not always true. Each person is gifted with ESP. The difference is in cultivating it. Like muscles, lack of exercise and the skills atrophy. Even so no one controls these very special skills for themselves. But every one has them. Getting past the ego is the stumbling block for almost everyone. Conmen make all of us losers. Good luck.
Repo men, police, etc, use social media to dig up dirt on you, sometimes locate you based off your pics and places you visit. It's not just big tech, the gov, advertisers who track you, I guess we can add 'psychics' to that list. Ugh.
One time I was at a psychic thing and I said “I never got a chance to come out to my grandma before she died. I just wanna know she’s okay with that.” And the psychic was like, “she forgives you for not being able to come visit her. She knows you had a lot going on.” And I was like, “oh uh no I VISITED her every day before she died. I meant like come out as bisexual.” And that woman’s face bro. Oof
Apparently this episode shouldn't have been about informing people of the terrible nature of psychics, but instead about how to differentiate between the words "psychic" and "physics"
Oh, dearest Randi... How much do we miss you.... 🌹❤️🌹 The best illusionist and absolute master in debunking "psychics", teaching scientists and us to recognise all their mean tricks and laying bare their greed for all to see. I so wished, someone like you would step up and continue your wholesome legacy! Cheers!
Best cold reading I saw was someone who told the person they just met that they knew that their life was rapidly changing and they would have to make some though decisions in the near future. (And that God would help them with that) Thing was, every last person in that room was a college student.
When my aunt died my mom became obsessed with psychics and finding someone to connect her with my aunt. One day , we travel for 4 hours to visit this church that had psychic reading and a woman came to her and ask her things about my aunt to "find her on the astral side easier", the issue is my mom didn't tell everything, she only talked about my aunt 2 kids, but left the younger out, and didn't mention me , even though we were super close and i was there. Shocking but the letter only talked about my mom, nothing on the other siblings nor my grandparents, and her 2 kids , ignoring the younger. After that my mom lost faith on those things and im glad she did. Some of these things designed to bring confort can make things way worst when controled by money hungry manipulative monsters
have you ever thought about the fact that both your mom and your aunt probably got fucked really hard back in the day? the chances are they both did anal. have you considered that both your mom and your aunt have had anal prolapses, where the anus protrudes out of the body from extreme penetration like fisting? there's a good chance one or both of them have experienced a prolapse from a sexual encounter! you should ask them and post about what they say!
There's a "psychic" who lives in the Milwaukee area and happens to share my name. When I still had a land line, I'd get calls from people wanting an appointment with her. Without knowing the circumstances that prompted the call, and not wanting to be the person who drove somebody over the edge, I kept my skepticism/mockery to myself. But here's what I very much wanted to say: "I'm not her. But don't worry; if she's as good as you think, she'll call you."
@@winstonsmith11 well. The trick is getting a hot chocolate and conversing with the people who are also eating at Denny's. Don't get the food cause it's a trap.
I'm autistic and my mom believes in psychics and they used to bully me all the time whenever my mom would try to have a psychic reading done and said that I just had a lot of negative energy and was possessed by demons
That makes sense - their profession is entirely based on reading facial expressions, constantly and subtly (if they're any good at it). I know I've been told I don't make normal facial expressions and I've noticed the same in the other autistic folk in my life. So to them yeah, the strangeness is way more amplified. And if you wanted to be a real ass you could even say we are 'possessed by the demon of autism'. They're scared and gross, I'm sorry you went thru that.
@@samlerf Love Kyle but he's really not comparable to Last Week Tonight. One is a comedian who does deep dives into specific themes, the other is a political commentator. Oliver is fun first, information second. Kyle is information first, coming from a guy who's occasionally funny.
"It is weird to envision a scenario in which something happened at the Today Show offices and then *Matt Lauer* was the one who went home and cried." Just a perfect delivery of that insane line.
I was in the market one day and a woman came up to me, shoved a piece of paper and my hand and said, "I know you are hurting, I can help you." I was in my 20s and thought this was a miracle. I told my boss and he responded, "Just about everybody is hurting in one way or another, she's not a psychic, she's just going with the odds." Lesson learned.Thanks Ed for enlightening me!!
After my child died, I joined a number of online support groups. All of them were full of people claiming they got a reading from a medium about their dead kid. When I voiced my concerns, people told me I'm taking away the hope from them and practically ostracized me. Grief support groups would be great, but this frenzy about psychics is really making it impossible for non-believers like me to participate.
It’s good to know that’s the kind of thing old Abe thinks about in his free time in the afterlife. Turtles and people that resemble them. Makes him very relatable, let me tell ya.
As much as I love making fun of them failing, I hate that they take advantage of people who are genuinely hurting and seeking answers to questions about really personal problems
And they're always taking total advantage of grieving ppl, to further their scam while they're just raking in the dollars for all this nasty, total B.S. they're promoting. Sick bastards, ALL of them. And those psychics & mediums, readers & seers who have passed on already themselves?? Do NOT bother to haunt me as I will just chew your bloody ASSES out for all of this!!!!!
Right!? Me too, isn't that weird? Like, they're ACTUALLY bad people, why am I embarrassed for them!? I was actually thinking about this while watching.
I remember many years ago that my supervisor was going to the state fair to see a psychic that is there every year and everything she says comes true. So the next day I asked her what she said and she told me that the psychic told her something significant would happen on November 12th. So I waited for November 13th and asked her if anything significant happened. She looked at me with a puzzled look. I reminded her about the psychic and she looked away and blew it off. I remembered because it was my birthday but she completely forgot.
What I want to know is why are there dead people whispering initials into psychics' ears? "Tell her my name has an M or a J in it. She'll know it's me."
Now, all good psychics will tell you it doesn’t work like that. Sometimes they are only given so much info from the other side. I’m going to be a pet psychic in my next career. They can’t say you’re wrong.
@@brenosilvamorais2510 "good" in this context means doing his thing without getting caught (: Like a "good scam artist", a "good thief" or a "good professional assassin"
Dude did you just say Steve Harvey? Lol I think it’s dr. Phil unless you’re talking about a different scene from what I was thinking. But yeah they do look the same
My comment was in regard to the beginning when he showed the Day Time Talk Show hosts introducing psychics. Harvey's eyes are just like "Yeah talks to dead people, while huffing paint from a bag" haha @@sigsourr
James Randi devoted his career to exposing these frauds! There's still a $1,000,000 prize for ANYONE that can prove they have powers. Its been over 30 years and NOBODY has been able to claim it. The video of Randi exposing Uri Gellar is one of the most awesome things ever recorded!
I found a four part series on just this, if anyone is interested: ruclips.net/video/NnDHPOWXFVI/видео.html Not sure if it's the one you're referencing, Evil Empire, but it was definitely entertaining to say the least.
@WesIsaLeo there's a great video of when Randi goes to Russia and exposed this cult type healing place (sorry been a while since ive seen the video) and they bring in millions of dollars every year by "healing" people. They claim to sell Holy water that good for you well long story short he embarrassed them lol Another example is what he did to Peter popoff. If you havent seen THAT it's probably the best example.
I always laugh when a medium first makes contact with someone on the other side, they don’t know their name or even their first name initial. However, by the time they are finished talking to the deceased they are chatting in complete sentences …… amazing!
As a private investigator who specializes in investigating bunco/confidence crimes, particularly fraud committed by self-proclaimed psychics, it was my pleasure to assist a producer of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, with information and ideas for this piece. I think the show really did an excellent job of exposing how self-proclaimed psychics often exploit vulnerable people. Succinctly put, "Last Week with John Oliver nails it!"
I did a research paper on TV Psychics in college as a counterpoint to writing about Medium when it first aired (I was taking a course on TV production). Put me down a rabbit hole of all these types of psychics and grifters. It's sickening how much they feed on people and how much the channels that put them on try to make them out to be "regular people." As if it justifies their actions. Though, South Park did a pretty good take down on them in Biggest Douche in the Universe. The only thing I really gained from all the research was how to read people (My day job is customer service), so it made me better at extrapolating a guest's concerns from three small bits of information.
RIP to James Randi. The man was a magician and skeptic, who used to offer psychics a prize of 1 million dollars for proof of abilities. Nobody ever claimed the prize. Unfortunately James passed away in 2020. I hope someone else could pick up his mantle and become a "professional skeptic" and debunker of all bullshit.
@@66fiveandahalf I think he even showed up in their episode on Psychics. On the upside, at least he's with his son who passed away at a young age from cancer.
I just imagine a ghost hanging out next to the medium, whispering to them "Psst, Pssst, say that there's a "R" somewhere in my name, or in an important month or a place we meet once."😂
I remember going through the help wanted section in the paper when that was a thing. There was an ad for psychics wanted. The best part was..."no experience necessary, will train".
I like that Matthew is standing behind her like Frankenstein's fricking monster. Like emotionless and ominously looming in a Denny's parking lot mid day.
I meeeaaan.... maybe? Who knows how things work in any afterlife, if we're to assume there IS one for the sake of hypotheticals. Maybe once you're free of your body and no longer bound by the restrictive limitations of the egg salad between your ears, you see things differently. Maybe your soul has a whole different thought process than your brain. Maybe you see MUCH larger pictures after death than you do now. MAYBE, once you're dead, your life and how it ended don't seem like that big a deal anymore, in comparison to the eternity you're now in. Maybe once you die you have about 6 seconds to deal with that fact before you're reincarnated as a fungal alien lifeform on a planet hundreds of thousands of galaxies away. None of us can say for SURE how we'd behave in the afterlife because none of us can say for SURE what the afterlife is, where it's located, how it works, or even if it exists at all. It reminds me of people who tell you what they'd ABSOLUTELY do in a fight, glazing over the fact that "in a fight" could mean anything from arguing with your sibling over Scrabble to being an active combatant in literal warzones, and a trillion other possible scenarios. Even the greatest fighter in the history of all Mankind would find it factually impossible to plan for them all, and a LOT of those scenarios work so differently that trying to form a plan is a ludicrous idea. They DON'T know what they'd do in a fight, simply because there are so many different kinds and intensities of fights. We can talk about how you'd react to being murdered in an ABRAHAMIC mythos, for instance, because now we're addressing a specific set of parameters. But in a good chunk of Hindu afterlife myths you wouldn't react to being murdered at all because you'd already have returned as a duck or something. Actually that wouldn't be so bad. Quack quack.
@@Deseis That was a really great reply, but I can’t help but feel that you might have smoked an entire doob before you typed this out. Not a criticism, as your reply was incredible and a wonderful read. 😉👍🏽
A friend from high school who I had lost contact with (I'm now a college grad, so it's been a while) reached out to me out of the blue because a psychic at a convention he went to "described me perfectly" and told him I was murdered. I mean, it's great that it got us into contact again, but holy shit.
The brilliance in this man. It never disappoints. The segment about finding missing family, classy answer that seems like it should be the obvious response
The Sylvia Browne clip infuriated me. Amanda’s mother died before finding out that her daughter was alive. I hope Sylvia is rotting in hell for telling Lawauna that Amanda was dead. That is disgusting and shameful. It makes me sick to think about Amanda being abducted, terrorized in captivity daily, and forced to watch her mother be told that she’s dead on national television. RIP, Lawauna.
She told Sean Hornbeck’s family that he was dead and thrown in a mine shaft or ravine or something meanwhile he was VERY MUCH alive. She robbed that family of their hope and I only wish there was a hell for her to rot in.
They obviously don't need to win the lottery - they bilk millions from "believers" AND get to be "celebrities" of sorts... SCUM! But, as the saying goes (and it was NOT Barnum!), there's a sucker born every minute. I do understand that some people will grasp any straw to just have that one more minute or bit of reassurance, but seriously, they (and the anti-vaxxers and all other uninformed/under-educated) need to stay away from these charlatans (someone mentioned a circle of psychics and anti-vaxxers... to close that circle, perhaps add some politicians????)
A friend and I went to a psychic for shits & gigs. We both talked about our love lives. The psychic told us both the EXACT SAME THING. My friend was excited to tell me first how it went, and I never had the heart to tell her otherwise.
I am very surprised that James Randi was never brought up. For those that don't know him, please look him up as he is amazing. He is a man who used to be a magician but ended up putting a lot of time and effort and money on TV shows proving that psychics don't exist. The greatest thing that he did to prove this is that he had $1,000,000 (I believe) ready for any person that could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they are in fact a psychic. The psychic had to succeed at a test that was designed to prove the psychic's powers and it was agreed to by both parties. No one had succeeded and very few even tried to prove it.
Or Derren Brown. The dude tells you it's all bullshit and then proceeds to do a 10x more convincing reading than all these idiots on TV just to show how easy it is to do.
My road to rationality began when I read his book _Flim-Flam! Psychics, Unicorns and Other Delusions,_ which should be required reading for every high-school student in the world.
Unfortunately British ninja wit only works on foreigners. Us Brits are naturally immune to it. (If we weren't we'd all die out long before we hit puberty.)
Are you absolutely sure you weren't murdered? I can't tell you what you want to hear, I can only tell you how it is and the spirits really think you should be murdered........
Why is that their go-to? It’s like the opposite of cold reading’s rational: how many kids get kidnapped and murdered vs getting sick or in an accident or are run-aways or are just estranged when the parent lost custody? It’s such a specific, improbable, high-risk claim to make.
@@AnkhAnanku Probably because it's more dramatic. I imagine the kind of people who claim to be psychic are also the kind to jump to the most violent and tragic way a kid can be lost.
Psychics disgust me. My mom was in a vulnerable state, and one completely took advantage of her. Where does that leave me? I can stomp on the false hopes she instilled in my mom or just go along with it. Not sure which is best. As an aside, the fact that my mom has absolute trust in psychics but is skeptical of doctors is exactly what’s wrong with our country. Wishes and ideology trumps fact and logic.
She doesn't need a psychic, the death communicate with feathers. (Just tell her that so when she finds a feather she will feel comfort without paying someone for it)
From a healthcare professional (of sorts), If you try to stomp on those hopes, you'll only be driving her to them more. You can be honest and tell her that you don't believe in the psychic, but that it is her body and her decision to make as to how to determine which path to take in regards to healthcare. And if it ends up in death because of her belief, it's her prerogative. You would be better off "suggesting" she try something with scientific evidence to back it when she is less likely to resist, or better yet, to have a friend whom she listens to, influence her if it's severe enough to warrant that action. (i.e. cancer, life-saving surgery). Nonetheless she has a right to her beliefs and to determine her own care plan in regards to her body. :/ I agree with you, though.
This stuff is 100% totally real and I'm going to prove it to you. "Uranus will help land you a job," my psychic said. "How is that possible?" I wondered to myself. Then one day while I was going on interviews, I got this bad case of diarrhea. After I went to the bathroom and was done relieving myself, I noticed that I had made a mess and started cleaning up the toilet and the area around it with toilet paper and paper towels. After I exited the stall, low and behold, there was a man standing in front of me. "How would you like to be our next janitor?" he said. 😄
So does a "medium" turn into a "well-done" when they're grilled on TV?
The rare ones do.
PortCharmers fantastic 😂
PortCharmers yo medium rare the best kind of steak
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
Shut the fuck up dude. You win.
I remember driving with my mom, and we past by a psychic office that said out of business, my mom said bet she didn’t see that coming.
I wulda died laffing go ahead mom🤣
GO AWF KWEEN
I bet they didn't either.
I don't know who you are but I already like your mom.
my psychic's name is 'Claire Voyant' :)
John Oliver's commitment to constantly naming and shaming abusers makes me inordinately happy.
this should be top comment
His tucker Carlson segment is seriously unlike anything I've ever seen, it's raw, it's honest, and he's not beating around the bush. I love him for that
Naming and shaming the TV shows that legitimize these frauds is a huge public service. Now if he could tackle those who legitimize occult supernatural religion... essentially any religion that worships things that transcend nature. Like Abrahamic god. Sadly, even John Oliver couldn't touch the folly of god-belief. The closest he can get is shaming people like Creflo Dollar or Joel Ostein. My Lord and Savior Jibbers Crabst definitely exists though.
@@selenem3384 Thy wish is granted
@@selenem3384CB vqd❤
My cousin used to believe in psychics. Till something happened to a friend of hers. Her friend’s teenage daughter walked out on her after a fight, and went missing. Mom went to a psychic, who told her the kid was dead in a ditch somewhere. Poor woman nearly killed herself from guilt and grief. The daughter came home next day, alive and well. She was just hiding out with some friends of hers. Not harmless!!!
😮😢 That’s just harsh! Sorry your friend went through that! There isn’t anything wrong with saying I don’t know but I will call the cops/authorities or stay with you while you call? Having kindness in a situation like that goes so far.
That's just ruthless. They have no soul nor empathy, they are predators and have your life at their disposal because of the relationship they have built.
I'm so sorry that happened to them. I'm fortunate my mom doesn't believe in psychics. She has made a somewhat credible threat to end her own life if I ended mine, so if someone told her I had, if she believed it, that might just be the end of my family
psychic once told me not to drive home drunk or someone would get killed!!! stupid psychic! the closest thing to something bad happened the NEXT DAY when i had to wash some deer blood off my bumper and pull some bits of the deer's jeans out of my grill. i guess i hit a deer on the way home. weird, i live in a big city and there arent any deer anywhere around ever. but oh well. dumb psychic confused a deer for a person!!!
Next up on Things That Never Happened...
Me: a engineering student with dyslexia, stoked to see John oliver talk about physics...
Same!
I bet with today's standards, 10% of the people that read that joke got it.
@@dabearsfan811 expalain the joke pls
@@captainprice4776 oh sweet child
I swear i saw physics
If my dad tries to communicate with me through someone like Teresa Caputo, I will never speak to him again for the rest of my afterlife.
Lady V LMAO!!!
:D love you
Lmfaoooo
Love this 😂 😂
I told my mom the same thing.
The funniest of debunk of all time....a psychic told Houdini that she was talking to his mom....his response, "I didn't know you were bilingual"....she said "i'm not"....his response, "thats funny because my mom didn't speak a word of English"
Another way he would debunk them is that they would say she's referring to him as "Harry". His mother never used his stage name.
All ghosts speak english! Silly Houdini!
By "a psychic" you mean Arthur Conan Doyle's wife. His lack of belief actually ruined their friendship, because he wouldn't believe in his cookey wife. Strange the man responsible for tales about using logic believed in all this jazz
@@marw9541 i think it was actually because houdini's mother was jewish but the psychic said she was Christian,
@@aishaaofthedays Well I just know the quote from Houdini is literally something to the effect of "Lady Doyle said this long drawn out english statement was my mom. My mom speaks broken english."
Ha, I was 18 and a family friend asked if I'd play a psychic for an end of the school year school carnival. It was ridiculous how much people believed I was real. I wrote a bunch of words on little slips of paper and would have the person pull a couple from a bag then work those into my "reading". A bleached blonde but very tan wealthy looking girl came to my table and I told her I saw her on a boat, and in the sunshine. She was shocked because she had a vacation on the river planned. Oh really? Wealthy girl has access to a boat? *gasp* Who could imagine that to be the case?!
you should have told her you saw her sucking on your cock that afternoon
Lol that's hilarious!
My 21 year old friend was amazed when a psychic knew she lost a close friend. You’re 21, seeing a psychic and have red eyes from crying for days, it’s a pretty easy guess.
I have foreseen this RUclips comment of yours :)
@@michellegault4122how much do you charge per minute?
At 15 I thought I was having psychic dreams. I would dream something and find out later that day it actually happened. I was falling asleep to music on the radio, and it turned out the news came on about an hour before I woke up.
That's hilarious
Still more legit than "professional" psychics.
@@Uroboro_Djinn He at least _thought_ it was real.
Perfect! Love the earthquake story below too.
that wil do it, my afternoon naps had something going on similar, i was so exhausted caus i didnt sleep well at night i would feel things or reenact moments happening.... but i think it is just caus people were listening to the news.... either that or i have a troubling habbit of losing my body when i sleep
Rich Gamestop employee is a great 2021 reference... clearly John is a psychic...
Exactly! And this whole episode was a ploy to get rid of his competitors.
@@jdas5842 haha
@@tommcrae6993 it's what some people might recognize as a joke.... and I'm sure SOME Gamestop employees (or former employees) bought shares...
I also don't really like edibles, I prefer my grass smoked
diamond hands?
@@dammagrilla hi! Former Game Stop employee here- bought shares- love my own business and not slanging game informer, game guides (2005), and play stations. From Red Dead Revolver to Red Bottoms, baby. Ironically, I'm the same age as Mario and Nintendo. Gen X wasn't too stupid, huh? (I invested in 4 different, 2 worked well, and they weren't what I thought they would be)
Also, it is a science. Metaphysics is a thing. Believe them or not, I think some people can do certain things and some people are liars... no one is psychic- but I do believe that people are sensitive, may hear or see things differently or have extremely great intuitive senses that can give them special skills. Not like powers, just thinking and listening differently than the dude next to them.... and then there are liars.
That "Game Stop" joke aged like a fine wine...
Maybe John Oliver is psychic...
@@grimgoblinjack just brilliant (edit: @Grim Goblin Jack, I hope you know I meant your comment.)
was thinking the same thing and then i looked down lol
I laughed,hard. 🦍
What if told you, that Gamestop employee and shareholder are not the same thing?
i'm glad he mentioned Amanda Berry. her mom died thinking she was dead, too, since Amanda was in captivity for a literal decade. it's extremely sad and sylvia brown should have been held responsible.
fuckkkk that's absolutely breaking
Well Sylvia is dead too. Probably in hell.
I am curious if any of these families sued her for intentional/negligent infliction of emotional distress, violation of privacy, fraud or defamation
Well not exactly. Psychics are a sideshow act. If anyone puts any faith or belief in to what they say thats kind of on them. If police are believing psychics then your problem is with the police.
@@abjg6446
"it's like learning that the second richest person in the world is this GameStop employee named Greg" hits a little different in 2021
Greg == DFV
So basically, John Oliver is a psychic himself???
He obviously took part in the buying blitz. He owns so much of the company stock that he's now the CEO.
@@GGsorensen Holy crap! You’re right!
Greg got diamond handzz
“Yup, that boy is indeed in the opposite of heaven: he’s in a Denny’s”
I died man
Me too
I know you died. You told me. Didn't you also tell me my grandmother's a bitch?
I strongly disagree. Denny's is heaven lol.
As a former Denny's dishwasher (2 months), I can confirm
Same!
Houdini waged a hard-fought war against psychics for exactly these reasons. When his mother died, he tried using psychics to talk to her, but as an expert magician himself he caught on to their tricks quick. Then he started going all over the country debunking psychics left and right. He often went to seances in disguise until he figured out the trick, then ripped off his disguise and told everyone present exactly what was going on. He swore to his loved ones that when he died he would try to contact them no matter what, and devised a secret code with his wife so that no psychic could just bluff their way into convincing her. When he died her wife offered a reward to anyone who could contact his spirit, which means he kept debunking fake psychics even after his death. Only one medium was able to have "Houdini" speak to his wife matching the code. So for all we know that guy is the only legit psychic. Or at least, he was. He died in 1971. His name was Arthur Ford. Insert hitchhiker's guide reference here.
...
But wait, there's more! After Arthur's death, the person writing his biography found evidence that many of his seances were faked, and that he did a lot of hot reading on his clients. On top of this, the code that Houdini and his wife used in their early acts was published in page 105 of Houdini, His Life Story. It's possible that this was the basis of Houdini's ghost code, and Arthur could definitely have read it.
I personally like to believe that Houdini appears at every seance. Not because he was summoned, but to give the psychics a disapproving lecture about ethics. A lecture that they can't hear because, well, they're fakes.
Marcos Medina I just started tearing up 😭
Very educative and interesting comment. Thanks for sharing.
Skeptics will offer a reward to prove them wrong without any intentions to deliver the award regardless of who proves what. That's a scam, so they're the charlatans. Shame on John Oliver for deliberately lying on television. Being entitled to opinions doesn't justify maliciously lying to a vulnerable populace.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Ford_(psychic)
Medium:"SHUT UP, Houdini. I can only make $3.50 telling people their dead dad fucking hates them. The comforting lies are more profitable."
Customer: what the fuck?
I'm a 21 year old out on a Friday night and I'm thinking I'll just check this out for 2 minutes while I wait to get into the club. I'm in the club now and still listening to the whole damn thing. Please keep doing this Mr. Oliver.
Stay out of clubs. They'll rot your brain.
Your time is better spent watching this anyway!
Enjoy the club and the knowledge
-a 27 year old who knows it’s possible to be intelligent and have fun
@@simplyselina 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
John Oliver is funny as shit -- but he's also one of the best news analysts out there. He's the next best thing to "60 Minutes."
And actually, his show is quite similar to "60 Minutes" -- in terms of deep-dive research into a given subject of social or economic importance to Americans.
Basically, it's serious, long-form investigative journalism -- by a comedian.
He does a hell of a lot of research -- and editing -- for each weekly, half-hour episode. Absolutely does his homework.
nobody believed you. everybody knows you were and are still in mom's house.
I love the Dad who communicates from the afterlife to let his daughter know she has a scar on her foot. Like thanks for that indispensable information, Dad. Any other priceless nuggets of wisdom from beyond the grave? Is the sky blue?
It was probably supposed to be a "See it IS your dad, not anyone else (And I'm not a total fraud), because he knows about a hidden injury."
No its green
"oh father, speak to me from the depths of the underworld and shine upon me the otherworldly knowledge of the spirits"
"ya got a pimple on yer forehead"
@@navaryn2938 nice
Not only that, everyone I know has scars on their feet. Who didn't injured that very, easily damageable part of their bodies?
I got multiple injuries, including a knife dropped on my poor, bare appendage while cleaning the kitchen. The scar is still very much apparent...
One thing that John didn't touch upon with the Pamela Brown/Amanda Berry incident, is that Amanda's mother died before Amanda escaped. Pamela Brown sent Louwana Miller to her death bed believing her daughter was dead, and that is beyond unforgivable.
EDIT: Sylvia Brown NOT Pamela Brown
Recent experience and this show have convinced me that their is no depravity that an apparently ordinary, respected ( oz, montel, etc...) person is not capable of. Better late than never.
FTR... Sylvia Browne, not Pamela.
@@Astrobrant2 thank you for the correction. Idk why I was thinking Pamela. CNN I guess. Yes sylvia brown. John even said it in the video. Will edit
Amanda’s mother in Heaven...
Mom: Where’s my daughter?
God: Um... yeah.. she’s still alive.
Mom: What?!
God: Yep, still on earth... held in captivity.
Mom: But the psychic-
God: Yeah she lied. She has no psychic abilities whatsoever.
That is gonna be awkward
MrEvitcartta that’s disgusting
Wow. These shots against Matt Lauer were BRUTAL and i love it.
lib. lol trump 2020 we win
The Mysterious Gravity Falls Person derp. Lol derp derp number derp
And Avenati. That was great!
@@themysteriousgravityfalls Trump 2020? Nobody wins.
haha rights the libs don’t win but we AMERICANS do. Lol suck it lib!!!!!!
I have a deep hatred of psychics after a personal experience with one. When I was 3 years-old, my mom passed away suddenly from a bad seizure; she had epilepsy and had stopped taking her medications because she discovered that she was pregnant with my little brother/sister. She was only 26. My grandmother, naturally, was absolutely sick with grief. This was in 1988 and there was a very popular psychic fraudster at the time named George Anderson; he would write books and give lectures and of course, do “private readings” for an astronomical fee. My grandmother reached out to him and he agreed to see her. She was barely able to function or get out of bed at the time, so the family figured, “It couldn’t hurt. If it makes her feel better.” My family does not have a lot of money; we wouldn’t even qualify as middle class. Even so, my grandmother booked a flight to New York City, made reservations at a hotel and paid the exorbitant fee for this quack’s time. I was too little to accompany her but the session was tape recorded and I listened to it years later when I was older. Predictably, the session was nothing more than a bunch of vague generalizations and sappy, asinine messages. “She’s telling me that she died unexpectedly” (this could easily be gathered, here was an elderly woman seeking to connect with her deceased daughter; parents usually outlive their children so obviously something unexpected happened). “She says to tell you she is fine and loves you very much” (typical of every psychic). He would ask leading questions and then come to conclusions based on information he had gathered by asking said questions. He didn’t say one thing that was unique or something only my mother would have mentioned, like, oh, I dunno, her 3 year-old daughter? Her fiancé, my stepfather, who she was planning a wedding with? It was so absurd. It made me angry he took advantage of a grieving mother to make a fortune off of, how many others has he done this to? I believe in an afterlife, I do not believe in psychics. They may seem harmless to some, but they are taking advantage of people’s pain and misery
Amen, Sara. They're frauds. All of them. I'm sorry for your loss.
@@wellcord shut up you ass. This shit isn’t true. Humans don’t have that ability and these quacks need to be called out.
@Well Cord Gifted? Seriously? Stop mystifying illness. All you're doing is publicly doubting this person and many other "indigo child"/"gifted"/chronically ill and autistic human beings and their relatives' lived experiences. Its disrespectful as fuck. Just because someone had a seizure or doesn't behave "normally" doesn't mean they're "gifted". Indigo children and gifted children are not a thing, theyre a coping mechanism people who cant handle mundane, physical losses or changes to their loved ones use to make it magical and meaningful instead.
Some people just die, some people can just be sick. It doesnt mean the universe bestowed on them the responsibility to suffer for all other humans or that they have a special purpose in their life or death. It just means that theyre people. The more often one insists or questions other's expiriences by labeling them as "gifted", the more harm one does to both that person and their friends'/family's mental, and sometimes physical, health.
I'm not saying people who believe in "gifted" children are trying to do anything but soothe themselves/someone else the only way they know how, and i'm not trying to come at you or call you a bad person, but you need to know that by spreading these ideas, you are causing real tangible harm to real tangible people.
@@wellcord I sure hope you're a rampant algorithm and not an actual human...
I'm so sorry for what you had to endure and yes, it's awful how these vultures take advantage from other people's tragedies.
I hope everything turned for the best for you and have a good rest of your life.
Let me just say that as a pediatric nurse, it's so frustrating to see your patient's parents make decisions about their care based on what a psychic told them. They need to honestly outlaw these scam artists.
And call CPS the moment a parent takes advice from a "psychic" over a medical professional. 🤦🏽♂️
This makes me so sad...and what monsters to give parents completely made up medical advice.
Wait what? Is that a real thing?
Darwin Awardees
that's horrible that people use them for life-choices. omfg.
I went to a group reading once. When she went through her cold reading with me she didn't get anything correct - wrong letters (and I've lost quite a few people), no chest pains... She finally announced to the room that I was blocking her and moved on. The rest of the room fell hook line and sinker. Later my boyfriend overheard a conversation between people raving about her "powers" but also mentioned there was a 'difficult person' in the audience. I find that hysterical, if she had gotten ANYTHING correct I would've gone with it - but she didn't.
I would have laughed in her fucking face. It's one thing to scam, but at least be good at it.
@@Montesama314 I think the really low point was when she told a woman she needed to get to the doctor because she saw cancer... that's audacity!
So you missed a bullet, then.
The fact that she used stan twitter language is breaking me down
If she were really connected with the body electric she would, on some level, at some point, feel my derision
A good psychic will always be able to find an out, a way to come out ahead even if they are wrong. I could ask "Do you work with somebody named Roger?" If the answer is no, I could say "Then you better watch out for that name and stay away from him when you do work with him." Always have an out if you're a psychic.
You didn't disappear?
"I'm right here." Lol
"That's interesting...So who did I kill...?"
Chick thought she was Thanos
Lol I watched that episode live and I was dying
😂😂😂
It's a miracle!
The irony of John Oliver being a psychic about Game Stop stock during a segment disproving psychics. What an amazing reality
Yup😊👍! I thought I was the only one who had this thought on my mind while that segment happened
Proves that God is messing with him.
@@troyterry6919 yeah... millions of children dying of sickness or starvation all over the world and God chose to use His powers to mess with a comedian.
@@reieguiang8yeah… if you believe in god that seems to be how he operates in general 💞
@@119793 How did you know? Can you talk to him?
Wakey, wakey with John Oliver
PRAISE BE!
I hope he does this with more guests.
Praise Be !
How many times do we have to say it?!? WE DON'T WANT YOUR SEED!!
Send money, NOT jizz.
Lmfao
Praise be 🙏
P R A I S E B E
As a clinical mental health counseling student, I want to thank you for using your platform to shed light on this predatory industry. People who have suffered any type of prior trauma or still struggle w/ losing someone they loved, needs to see a health-care professional that can actually help them process their feelings, thoughts, and emotions
The sad part is that this stuff has infiltrated the mental health field.
Brains are funny. I read the “Psychics” in the thumbnail as “Physics”. I was incorrect, but I was not disappointed.
By prescribing them heavy medication, he should make similar video about your industry and sponsors behind.
This industry has preyed on my family and instead of seeing any actual professions to deal with family trauma and losses, it has only made problems worse and the problem is any chance at helping is seen as an attack and being ignorant and close-minded.
@@charlesm.2604 There are many different types of therapy, if you seek the same type of therapy which isn't working, you'll come out feeling unheard and it possibly can bring up old traumas and feelings. Not all CBTs or other forms of therapies are going to work for you. It's also important to find a therapist (or even a psychologist)who has a specific expertise in your needs and is qualified. There is a difference between expertise and exposure. This is a huge problem where certain types of therapy can end up harming those with certain mental disorders that need specific types of treatment. It's difficult to find a therapist that works for you but you need to also look for what TYPE of therapy you need and how qualified and knowledgeable the therapist is. Personally, DBT works best for me and I've had many therapists in the past that were fairly ignorant about my needs or I didn't like their style and we butted heads but I currently have one that works for me. It can be a long and arduous task, not everyone has the money for therapy, and it's nowhere near perfect but the alternative should NOT be a psychic. Psychics are not medical or health-care professionals, their advice is toxic, harmful and ignorant. People should not be only seeking to fill a spiritual hole when they're suffering from loss, traumas, and mental illnesses. They're disorders, illnesses, diseases of the mind and you NEED an expert especially when you're in such a vulnerable place. You wouldn't use alternative medicine to treat your stage 3 cancer, would you? It's a predatory business whether or not the psychic actually beliefs they have special powers, 99% of psychics know they're exhorting and BSing you.
Not to mention, Amanda Berry’s mom died of grief before Amanda was found. I don’t know how you could be a psychic and not feel horrible for contributing to stuff like that
That's horrible. I hope they locked up the kidnapper creep for life.
@@grimgoblinjack he committed suicide in jail. ariel castro. it was the right move.
@@billybones6463 yeah but he enjoyed that suicide bc it was auto erotic asphyxiation! So ehhh he never suffered truly
One could ask that same question any religious institution!?
Why would my baby end up in hell?
Letting a pedophile dunk her/him in "holly" water shouldn't matter in the first place.
Your cousin is up there on the clouds molesting his harem of virgins right now!?
Why?
A sky fairy told you!?
Killing another (sentient) living being shouldn't be something anyone gets rewarded for.
@@arkin4697 pedophiles aren’t exclusive to priests. They can be teachers, doctors, or really any other profession whatsoever. And I’m sure a molester wouldn’t get into heaven. And priests never claim to talk to angels. There are problems with religion but you have named none of them
I am disappointed James Randi (who made an entire career over having so-called psychics prove their abilities) wasn't mentioned. He had a $1,000,000 prize to anyone who could prove that their 'abilities' were real and not just due to probability. No one ever claimed it.
Folly and fakery has always been with us… … but never before have we been able to afford it less.
I saw him on TV once working with a college class. He asked each class member what their sign of the zodiac was, and handed each one a slip of paper with a horoscope for their sign. He asked them to raise their hands if anything in their horoscope was true and the whole class raised their hands. He then had them read out their horoscopes. They were all exactly the same.
@@robertbarron4274 sounds about right. I think I've seen that too
Same!
@@robertbarron4274 That's the Barnum-Forer effect test, I think Derren Brown also applied it on TV once. Very effective in demonstrating that bias and how easily it can be exploited.
When I was in 12th my psychology teacher told us he was a psychic and had a show he did in Manhattan and he wanted to try his powers here. He had people pick up dictionaries and could guess the word they picked. Guessed cards people picked. And guessed numbers we were thinking. With perfect accuracy. By the end I was completely convinced that psychics were totally real. On Monday he told us everything was fake, he doesn't have a show in Manhattan, it was all set up, we're all idiots.
Awesome teacher with a real lesson!
wait so how did he do it?
But how did he know what word someone picked out of a dictionary? Did he reveal how he did it?
It was probably prearranged with a few students
Sounds like a cool guy, that's doing his job right.
Oliver's episode on Televangelist and this one goes hand in hand.
Absolutely! The prosperity gospel is disgusting and exploitative.
Thanks. I’ll check it out.
That might explain why both segments featured Rachel Dratch as John's wife.
I once had a psychic tell me over and over again that I was having a lot of problems at work, he was very adamant about it.
At the time, I was in college and didn't have a job. At all. He didn't like hearing that.
"Well, you must at least be struggling through your classes"
"No, I'm actually holding onto an A average with a solid B making it's way to a B+. Not struggling much there."
let me have a shot at it....I'm hearing ... Work..work out..?...some sort of exercise ...that's very difficult? Am I Right? ;)
yes , I do believe I have the shining (pronounced chin-ing)
Well duh, that's why you didnt have a job, because you had so many problems at it🤣 psychics are so gifted
A psychic once told me that I needed to be careful with a friend of mine, because she was going to betray me. I didn't have any friends.
r/technicallytrue
I'm 3 years late and probably no one will see this but I went to their free psychic website that would be "exactly as accurate as any psychic reading that you would pay money for" and the first video I got after clicking on the psychic reading button was "Does the mid-sized Korean fishing city of Gunsan have any significance to you?" I'm an American expat living in Korea and actually lived there for 6 months! It's an insignificant place even in Korea and when I mention having lived in Gunsan (now having moved to a much bigger city), Koreans are always flabbergasted how I ever ended up there. The chances are hilarious and certainly more accurate than what I would get from a paid reading!
The chances of a website knowing your location are 100%. Try again with a VPN. 😁😋
@@dest8401 The website is just the same 10-15 pre-recorded short videos played on a random loop. If you go there and click enough, you'll also hear about Gunsan. It had nothing to do with VPNs (which I use) and was purely dumb coincidence.
Wow I saw this too. I'm getting a license plate, Ohio, STARBUY
It's a year after your post, but I am getting a very strong message from beyond that your grandmother was a bit*h!
@@dest8401little different for a video mate - also, he said he ‘lived’ there. maybe try reading something twice before excitedly showing off something you learnt ;)
Another reason for John to love New Zealand. Here and old law "Acting as a medium with intent to deceive" is still a punishable crime and is still actively enforced.
you ought to email that tidbit to the show.
Indeed! Here's the actual legislation. As you can see it allows for the entertainment side of it. ... www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1981/0113/latest/DLM53553.html
Lol I'm a kiwi and didnt know that
John Oliver comments section, always informative...
What about acting as a medium *without* the intent to deceive?
In Canada it isn't legal to pretend to practice witchcraft. However, it is completely legal to actually practice witchcraft. XD
Amanda Berry.... One of the three women who were held captive for 10 years.... used to love watching Sylvia Brown with her mom. She actually watched an episode of a talk show while kidnapped where Sylvia was a guest and Amanda's mother was there to get a reading. Amanda was elated that Sylvia was going to tell her mother she was still alive. Then she watched in horror as Sylvia told her mother she was long dead and gone... Never coming back. She knew because Amanda's spirit came and told her so. Her mom was so devestated and Amanda was so angry she ever believed in her. These people do real damage to people already suffering. It should be illegal....
Giving government more power is never a good idea, even, perhaps especially, to protect people from their own stupidity.
I've never heard of this Sylvia Browne but hearing that story made me so angry that it made me wish worse things happened to her than the things I wish upon my worst enemies...
@@hittingyouoverthehead Just look her up on RUclips... She charges $400 to give readings on kidnapped/missing children. Famous in the 90s.
@@leviblevins513 I did soon after I posted this comment. Apparently she's dead now. Good riddance!
I don't understand how she can't be sued for slander. It's false and it's damaging, isn't that the definition for slander?
I read "Physics" in the thumbnail and got super excited. I only realized my mistake when he said "Psychics" and I died inside. Sooo depressing.
On the plus side, at least John Oliver didn't try to debunk physics; that would be really depressing
me too buddy
Well there’s your chance to contact the rest of us through a medium (having died inside).
@@ruaoneill9050 I would like to see him try though. :P
Saaaaaaaame
My niece was amazed at a reading she payed well for. She was adamant that this woman told her things she could not have possibly known. Until I asked her if she had mentioned any of them on line. She had mentioned every one of these revelations on one platform or another. Psychics have a whole new way of reading your future since the advent of the internet.
Very good observation. Makes a lot of sense.
Good point.
@@ctdieselnut A good point, but not always true. Each person is gifted with ESP. The difference is in cultivating it. Like muscles, lack of exercise and the skills atrophy. Even so no one controls these very special skills for themselves. But every one has them. Getting past the ego is the stumbling block for almost everyone. Conmen make all of us losers. Good luck.
Repo men, police, etc, use social media to dig up dirt on you, sometimes locate you based off your pics and places you visit. It's not just big tech, the gov, advertisers who track you, I guess we can add 'psychics' to that list. Ugh.
@stefanschleps8758 there's no magic no esp. Don't be annoying
One time I was at a psychic thing and I said “I never got a chance to come out to my grandma before she died. I just wanna know she’s okay with that.” And the psychic was like, “she forgives you for not being able to come visit her. She knows you had a lot going on.” And I was like, “oh uh no I VISITED her every day before she died. I meant like come out as bisexual.” And that woman’s face bro. Oof
Sylvia Lorson lol
That psychic needs to master speaking to living people before trying to speak to dead people. :-)
Lmao
😂😂😂😂
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Apparently this episode shouldn't have been about informing people of the terrible nature of psychics, but instead about how to differentiate between the words "psychic" and "physics"
Not gonna lie, I read "physics" the first time I looked at the thumbnail, only to realize it says "psychics" after clicking on the video :D
I dunno, quantum entanglement is pretty freaky. Plus, two brain cells can communicate with each other even if they are severed, spooky stuff.
Same, I was exited that they where going to talk about science again...
Turns out I was the fool
@@Schradermusic Same :D
@@Schradermusic It is nice to know I was not the only one.
Read this as “Physics” and was sorely disappointed that this wasn’t a science documentary
1. learn to read
2. get into physics
When you do it the other way around, things get complicated.
@@alfreddelatourquipenche8287 Yuo konw taht, pepole dno't raed evrey lteter. And I know for a fact that you can read that.
R/imverysmart
Bro same😂
Not alone buddy
Oh, dearest Randi... How much do we miss you....
🌹❤️🌹
The best illusionist and absolute master in debunking "psychics", teaching scientists and us to recognise all their mean tricks and laying bare their greed for all to see.
I so wished, someone like you would step up and continue your wholesome legacy!
Cheers!
Replying in vain hope this gets a boost. You should also check out Derren Brown, an absolutely excellent UK mentalist.
All praise be to Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption!!!
Best cold reading I saw was someone who told the person they just met that they knew that their life was rapidly changing and they would have to make some though decisions in the near future. (And that God would help them with that)
Thing was, every last person in that room was a college student.
Saw one on TV years ago back in Australia. He said to a woman, "I'm sensing that your dad had a favorite chair." Mindblowing.
They’re all so damn vague.
It's like they are just reading the meaning behind each tarot card.
The talking British owl is back for my weekly dose of Monday fun, yay! 😄
You mean the nervous wise lion Keeper bird
Owl turtle.
Since when turtles are owls
Sounds like a trip, man...what u on??
Who?
When my aunt died my mom became obsessed with psychics and finding someone to connect her with my aunt. One day , we travel for 4 hours to visit this church that had psychic reading and a woman came to her and ask her things about my aunt to "find her on the astral side easier", the issue is my mom didn't tell everything, she only talked about my aunt 2 kids, but left the younger out, and didn't mention me , even though we were super close and i was there. Shocking but the letter only talked about my mom, nothing on the other siblings nor my grandparents, and her 2 kids , ignoring the younger. After that my mom lost faith on those things and im glad she did. Some of these things designed to bring confort can make things way worst when controled by money hungry manipulative monsters
So glad to hear she lost faith instead of doubling down
have you ever thought about the fact that both your mom and your aunt probably got fucked really hard back in the day? the chances are they both did anal. have you considered that both your mom and your aunt have had anal prolapses, where the anus protrudes out of the body from extreme penetration like fisting? there's a good chance one or both of them have experienced a prolapse from a sexual encounter! you should ask them and post about what they say!
There's a "psychic" who lives in the Milwaukee area and happens to share my name. When I still had a land line, I'd get calls from people wanting an appointment with her. Without knowing the circumstances that prompted the call, and not wanting to be the person who drove somebody over the edge, I kept my skepticism/mockery to myself. But here's what I very much wanted to say: "I'm not her. But don't worry; if she's as good as you think, she'll call you."
I'd love to take advantage of that lol
That Wanda Jo's reading changed my life...
My grandmother is a bitch! She seemed so nice when she was alive, but I knew she was hiding something!
"He's in the opposite of Heaven; he's in a Denny's" is iconic and no one can tell me otherwise.
Not disagreeing. But let's be honest. That's the charm of dennys.
That was perfect. Denny's is an absolute shithole.
@@winstonsmith11 But it's the nice shit hole. You can find the best people there.
@@konnermorris1753 I think we've had differing experiences.
@@winstonsmith11 well. The trick is getting a hot chocolate and conversing with the people who are also eating at Denny's.
Don't get the food cause it's a trap.
I'm autistic and my mom believes in psychics and they used to bully me all the time whenever my mom would try to have a psychic reading done and said that I just had a lot of negative energy and was possessed by demons
That makes sense - their profession is entirely based on reading facial expressions, constantly and subtly (if they're any good at it). I know I've been told I don't make normal facial expressions and I've noticed the same in the other autistic folk in my life. So to them yeah, the strangeness is way more amplified. And if you wanted to be a real ass you could even say we are 'possessed by the demon of autism'. They're scared and gross, I'm sorry you went thru that.
That’s cruel! I’m so sorry you went through that
Really sorry to hear that
And they have the audacity to claim something is wrong with us (fellow autistic person).
tard tard
SO much shade thrown in this episode. lmao. I love it
Oooh, are you going to make a Uri Geller or project Stargate episode?
Sup, funny to see you here lol
idk why it surprises me that Telltalte would watch John Oliver.
Yeah this seems like something you would watch Telltale
Lol it’s funny I just discovered ur channel and I come over here and ur here too. 😂
It's nice to take a break from the horrors of American politics and take a look at the regular everyday horrors of America in general. Thanks, LWT!
Until you realize the percentage of psychic believers in America is the same as Trump voters, everything relates back to politics.
I absolutely love this guy. He is not only hilarious and entertaining, but also very informative and logical. I've been binge watching his shows.
100% Agree!!!
Well, what about Secular Talk? He is also informative. And he's funny ("Kyle out of context").
You can get an excellent general education out of binge watching LWT!
@@samlerf Love Kyle but he's really not comparable to Last Week Tonight. One is a comedian who does deep dives into specific themes, the other is a political commentator. Oliver is fun first, information second. Kyle is information first, coming from a guy who's occasionally funny.
100%
"It is weird to envision a scenario in which something happened at the Today Show offices and then *Matt Lauer* was the one who went home and cried."
Just a perfect delivery of that insane line.
I was in the market one day and a woman came up to me, shoved a piece of paper and my hand and said, "I know you are hurting, I can help you." I was in my 20s and thought this was a miracle. I told my boss and he responded, "Just about everybody is hurting in one way or another, she's not a psychic, she's just going with the odds." Lesson learned.Thanks Ed for enlightening me!!
That is a strangely cynical yet oddly accurate assessment.
@@Resi1ience You must be cynical to survive!
After my child died, I joined a number of online support groups. All of them were full of people claiming they got a reading from a medium about their dead kid. When I voiced my concerns, people told me I'm taking away the hope from them and practically ostracized me.
Grief support groups would be great, but this frenzy about psychics is really making it impossible for non-believers like me to participate.
txnygotw I’m really sorry to hear that. Hope you’re doing okay
Sorry for your loss, I hope you are finding some peace during this difficult time.
txnygotw, Sorry about your loss. Hopefully, you can find a support group that doesn’t believe in that nonsense. Take care.
I can't imagine the pain of losing a child. I'm sorry for your loss. It's horrible that people prey on the vulnerable in their time of need.
I'm so sorry your child died.
My favorite psychic is Shawn Spencer from Psych, a fun detective that always catches the bad guy!
😁
Have you seen Shut Eye?
so good
Come on son.
YES!
I love that my favorite psychic is a fake psychic who thinks psychics are bull.
"He's a sophisticated, Manhattan, sex monster." John's one-liners are pure gold!!! 😂
I'm a psychic
John Oliver, Abraham Lincoln wants to tell you that yes, you do bear a turtle like resemblance
It’s good to know that’s the kind of thing old Abe thinks about in his free time in the afterlife. Turtles and people that resemble them. Makes him very relatable, let me tell ya.
I'm sure he has other thoughts
Turtles are adorable.
Except for Mitch McConell.
Mic drop ......Exit Stage right ( i bet lincoln can relate to that comment )
did u see this episode coming
As much as I love making fun of them failing, I hate that they take advantage of people who are genuinely hurting and seeking answers to questions about really personal problems
That’s precisely why we don’t feel bad for making fun of them. 🤘
It's like megachurch hucksters but they charge direct instead of begging for, "donations."
And they're always taking total advantage of grieving ppl, to further their scam while they're just raking in the dollars for all this nasty, total B.S. they're promoting. Sick bastards, ALL of them. And those psychics & mediums, readers & seers who have passed on already themselves?? Do NOT bother to haunt me as I will just chew your bloody ASSES out for all of this!!!!!
natural selection, fuck em
Dont
The second-hand embarrassment of the psychics being wrong nearly killed me
Right!? Me too, isn't that weird? Like, they're ACTUALLY bad people, why am I embarrassed for them!? I was actually thinking about this while watching.
@@kevind7556 It's called cringe
I had to pause and regroup more than a few times watching this
I felt like my face melted off due to the amount of second hand embarrassment I felt, lol.
@@kylecoleman8745 same >.
I remember many years ago that my supervisor was going to the state fair to see a psychic that is there every year and everything she says comes true. So the next day I asked her what she said and she told me that the psychic told her something significant would happen on November 12th. So I waited for November 13th and asked her if anything significant happened. She looked at me with a puzzled look. I reminded her about the psychic and she looked away and blew it off. I remembered because it was my birthday but she completely forgot.
did not get promoted and boss did not disappear probably🤣
I'm having a psychic vision right now...
The significant thing was, that she would forget your birthday.
Boom! Case closed! 😆
Its 2 in the morning.
I have school tomorrow
New episode
*lets go boys*
You mean today.
Lana Del Gay Fuck, you’re right.
Got a test first hour
I have an interview tomorrow. Desperately need a job. Told myself I'd go to bed 4 hours ago. Let's go boys.
SlavSlavRevolution 6 World hottest economic system At least you’re not just now writing a 4 page essay due this morning WHILE watching this.
What I want to know is why are there dead people whispering initials into psychics' ears? "Tell her my name has an M or a J in it. She'll know it's me."
Apparently once you're dead you can only communicate via the rules of Pictionary... 🤷🏼
Now, all good psychics will tell you it doesn’t work like that. Sometimes they are only given so much info from the other side. I’m going to be a pet psychic in my next career. They can’t say you’re wrong.
@@sfvaitkus "good psychics" what a joke
@@brenosilvamorais2510 "good" in this context means doing his thing without getting caught (:
Like a "good scam artist", a "good thief" or a "good professional assassin"
@@sfvaitkus wait, animal can speak in human language after died?
It’s pretty rare to see a talk show episodes about mediums so well done.
I’m not sorry
Why does this not have more likes?
Has the last 4 months given you time to reflect, and hopefully change your mind about being sorry for this travesty?
I'm putting my pride at steak here, but goddamnit, take your upvote.
I have no beef with your refusal to be sorry.
It's so rare to see a comment this well done get so few votes.
I love John Oliver's dimples. And his brain. And his cute accent. And the snark! John Snarkiver! Thank you!
too much snark
I'm sensing an energy from someone reading this in the comments section. Does that ring a bell to anyone?
oh damn how did you know, you should be a professional
kharChehre TAKE ALL OF MY MONEY!!
I have no energy, so I know it's not me.
Hey... im a poltergeist and im offended!
Sandy Pritchard lol
I love Steve Harvey's delivery, it's like he knows everything is bullshit and his job is pointless, but hey it pays the bills!
Dude did you just say Steve Harvey? Lol
I think it’s dr. Phil unless you’re talking about a different scene from what I was thinking.
But yeah they do look the same
My comment was in regard to the beginning when he showed the Day Time Talk Show hosts introducing psychics. Harvey's eyes are just like "Yeah talks to dead people, while huffing paint from a bag" haha @@sigsourr
@@sigsourr There was definitely a clip of Steve Harvey.
thatjillgirl huh
thatjillgirl oh shit yeah
James Randi devoted his career to exposing these frauds! There's still a $1,000,000 prize for ANYONE that can prove they have powers. Its been over 30 years and NOBODY has been able to claim it. The video of Randi exposing Uri Gellar is one of the most awesome things ever recorded!
I found a four part series on just this, if anyone is interested: ruclips.net/video/NnDHPOWXFVI/видео.html
Not sure if it's the one you're referencing, Evil Empire, but it was definitely entertaining to say the least.
@@robbadob9929 ruclips.net/video/N3vGGf-ZIkc/видео.html
@@robbadob9929 This is one of my favorites. But yea you got the idea. Theres a lot of James Randi videos on here and they're all pretty great.
@WesIsaLeo there's a great video of when Randi goes to Russia and exposed this cult type healing place (sorry been a while since ive seen the video) and they bring in millions of dollars every year by "healing" people. They claim to sell Holy water that good for you well long story short he embarrassed them lol
Another example is what he did to Peter popoff. If you havent seen THAT it's probably the best example.
@@marthameza6033
No thank you
I always laugh when a medium first makes contact with someone on the other side, they don’t know their name or even their first name initial. However, by the time they are finished talking to the deceased they are chatting in complete sentences …… amazing!
Exactly. And, wouldn’t you want to ask where they are. And, Is there a heaven? Or are you in Hell?
I would actually regularly watch a show called "Wakey, Wakey" with John Oliver.
SAME!!
Will Wakey Wakey feature a dead parrot as a co-host?
@Josie Authers locos
You could be part of the audience!
I'm just kidding there is no audience. It's a laugh track. Canned laughter. Hard to watch after you realize it.
Same!
"This week's meeting of the Clairvoyant Society has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances..."
fury.....
@@yupster123 what does intense anger have to do with anything?
😂😂😂 Cheers & mabuhay from tropical Philippines!
mint
"Dead irishmen in a hotel ballroom" strikes me as a good band name
Sounds like a Dropkick Murphy's song. lol
Dead Panic at the Irish Disco
@@jessicametal7796 or Flogging Molly
Psychics are amazing! A psychic told me that my grandmother was going to die, and sure enough, 12 years later, she did!!!
I bought a used car and boom, 6 yrs later, herpes. I'm never buying a used car again.
😂😂😂
i fucked your mom and boom, 6 yrs later, abortion. i'm never going to mexico again.
As a private investigator who specializes in investigating bunco/confidence crimes, particularly fraud committed by self-proclaimed psychics, it was my pleasure to assist a producer of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, with information and ideas for this piece. I think the show really did an excellent job of exposing how self-proclaimed psychics often exploit vulnerable people. Succinctly put, "Last Week with John Oliver nails it!"
nice
Has it ever not (nailed it)?!
@Kurt That's a subjective question
I did a research paper on TV Psychics in college as a counterpoint to writing about Medium when it first aired (I was taking a course on TV production). Put me down a rabbit hole of all these types of psychics and grifters. It's sickening how much they feed on people and how much the channels that put them on try to make them out to be "regular people." As if it justifies their actions. Though, South Park did a pretty good take down on them in Biggest Douche in the Universe. The only thing I really gained from all the research was how to read people (My day job is customer service), so it made me better at extrapolating a guest's concerns from three small bits of information.
RIP to James Randi. The man was a magician and skeptic, who used to offer psychics a prize of 1 million dollars for proof of abilities. Nobody ever claimed the prize. Unfortunately James passed away in 2020. I hope someone else could pick up his mantle and become a "professional skeptic" and debunker of all bullshit.
Penn and Teller did a Bullshit episode on psychics
And Darren Brown!
Darren Brown is so very GOOD at debunking this stuff!
The Amazing Randi. He is missed.
@@66fiveandahalf I think he even showed up in their episode on Psychics. On the upside, at least he's with his son who passed away at a young age from cancer.
"There's not really a whole lot else going on" is a statement that in a single year aged like fine wine.
Well, it wasn't true back then as well...
I just imagine a ghost hanging out next to the medium, whispering to them "Psst, Pssst, say that there's a "R" somewhere in my name, or in an important month or a place we meet once."😂
I remember going through the help wanted section in the paper when that was a thing. There was an ad for psychics wanted. The best part was..."no experience necessary, will train".
🤣
thats so funny
With the psychic woman in the Denny's, they should've had the boy walk past her but everyone around her pretends they can't see him
or have the boy sit next to her and try to talk to her and nobody acknowledge it
Awesome idea!
Awesome!
This is the first thing someone has to arrange when time travel is possible.
@Ariel Nieman or the journalist talking to her
"Logic isn't the reason you believe in them, and it won't be the reason you stop." Oh the burn
The same can be said about organized religion.
Watching this after my Mom passed away and I can definitely see how easily it would be to fall into these sorts of scams.
I’m sorry for your loss. My dad passed in August, and the thought of being able to know he’s ok is very powerful.
Brains are funny. I read the “Psychics” in the thumbnail as “Physics”. I was incorrect, but I was not disappointed.
Same bro
same
Same
Same omg
Omg same! It’s like your physics or something!
I like that Matthew is standing behind her like Frankenstein's fricking monster. Like emotionless and ominously looming in a Denny's parking lot mid day.
Yeah, i wish John mention about Matthew standing like Frankenstein.
That just looks like art
I thought that John Oliver was gonna talk about physics.
Portantes Beneficia ditto
Yeah me too. My bad tho...
I read the same thing as well. lol
BITCH SAME 😭
Hahahaha, me too. This is way better though.
Wow, good for Greg, negotiating for shares of the company in his benefits package, that was real savvy of him
In all seriousness, I would totally watch "Wakey, Wakey with John Oliver".
#MeToo
The comment section on this video restores my faith in humanity.
I would probably watch everything with John Oliver.
So would I, also I'm still a devoted member of Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption 😁
Didn't you just?
If I was murdered, I'd not only be naming names, but also making life as hard as possible for whoever did it.
I meeeaaan.... maybe? Who knows how things work in any afterlife, if we're to assume there IS one for the sake of hypotheticals. Maybe once you're free of your body and no longer bound by the restrictive limitations of the egg salad between your ears, you see things differently. Maybe your soul has a whole different thought process than your brain. Maybe you see MUCH larger pictures after death than you do now. MAYBE, once you're dead, your life and how it ended don't seem like that big a deal anymore, in comparison to the eternity you're now in. Maybe once you die you have about 6 seconds to deal with that fact before you're reincarnated as a fungal alien lifeform on a planet hundreds of thousands of galaxies away.
None of us can say for SURE how we'd behave in the afterlife because none of us can say for SURE what the afterlife is, where it's located, how it works, or even if it exists at all.
It reminds me of people who tell you what they'd ABSOLUTELY do in a fight, glazing over the fact that "in a fight" could mean anything from arguing with your sibling over Scrabble to being an active combatant in literal warzones, and a trillion other possible scenarios. Even the greatest fighter in the history of all Mankind would find it factually impossible to plan for them all, and a LOT of those scenarios work so differently that trying to form a plan is a ludicrous idea. They DON'T know what they'd do in a fight, simply because there are so many different kinds and intensities of fights.
We can talk about how you'd react to being murdered in an ABRAHAMIC mythos, for instance, because now we're addressing a specific set of parameters. But in a good chunk of Hindu afterlife myths you wouldn't react to being murdered at all because you'd already have returned as a duck or something. Actually that wouldn't be so bad. Quack quack.
@@Deseis That was a really great reply, but I can’t help but feel that you might have smoked an entire doob before you typed this out. Not a criticism, as your reply was incredible and a wonderful read. 😉👍🏽
@@jenniferpatterson4964 Thanks and actually I smoked several, but I've already forgotten it because I am now a duck ^_^
@@Deseis Capital sense of humor, too! Hats off to you, friend. You just made my evening. 🤣
@@Deseis Bravo.
A friend from high school who I had lost contact with (I'm now a college grad, so it's been a while) reached out to me out of the blue because a psychic at a convention he went to "described me perfectly" and told him I was murdered. I mean, it's great that it got us into contact again, but holy shit.
🤣🤣🤣 does he still believe in psychics now that he knows you’re alive?
@@skylar_kada Unfortunately, yes.
Kieran wow 😶 people will believe anything they want to if it suits them, I guess. This is how religions work too 🤷🏻♀️
@@skylar_kada no, it's not. It's the opposite of how religion works.
Scott Miller
You have a right to your opinion but I’m going to keep mine.
The brilliance in this man. It never disappoints. The segment about finding missing family, classy answer that seems like it should be the obvious response
The Sylvia Browne clip infuriated me. Amanda’s mother died before finding out that her daughter was alive. I hope Sylvia is rotting in hell for telling Lawauna that Amanda was dead. That is disgusting and shameful. It makes me sick to think about Amanda being abducted, terrorized in captivity daily, and forced to watch her mother be told that she’s dead on national television. RIP, Lawauna.
Jeeeezus.
Holy shit how sick and terrible
She told Sean Hornbeck’s family that he was dead and thrown in a mine shaft or ravine or something meanwhile he was VERY MUCH alive. She robbed that family of their hope and I only wish there was a hell for her to rot in.
@@mjallen1308i went to school with his cousin
@@itsROMPERS... Taking away a grieving mother's sense of hope is a lot worse than "false psychic reading" makes it sound
Psychic Wins Lottery Again !!! Is a headline we somehow never see
LOL ! The beloved dead ones are lazy. They do not care about lottery or God. That's a new slap on the face for believers :)
Ted LeMoine thank you! 😂😂😂
They obviously don't need to win the lottery - they bilk millions from "believers" AND get to be "celebrities" of sorts... SCUM!
But, as the saying goes (and it was NOT Barnum!), there's a sucker born every minute.
I do understand that some people will grasp any straw to just have that one more minute or bit of reassurance, but seriously, they (and the anti-vaxxers and all other uninformed/under-educated) need to stay away from these charlatans (someone mentioned a circle of psychics and anti-vaxxers... to close that circle, perhaps add some politicians????)
I nominate psychics to take on James randi foundation challenge
Oh ted it’ll be there someday😏.
Wow. Nothing beats the pure joy you feel when you get a push notification letting you know there's a new episodes of LWT.
A friend and I went to a psychic for shits & gigs. We both talked about our love lives. The psychic told us both the EXACT SAME THING. My friend was excited to tell me first how it went, and I never had the heart to tell her otherwise.
Either you got em on a heavy day, or YOU LAZY AS FUCK, PHONEY!
SERIOUSLY!
XD
"My friend was excited to tell me first how it went"
Doesn't sound like youse went for shits and/or giggities
The topics always seem so bland, but then I watch it and it’s entertaining
That's what John Oliver is best at!
I know! But I click anyway and I’m satisfied 😂
InfoMaster411, it’s not hypnosis at all. This is emotional manipulation for profit.
Move
Nah it's the NPC host and the can laughter audience.
I am very surprised that James Randi was never brought up. For those that don't know him, please look him up as he is amazing. He is a man who used to be a magician but ended up putting a lot of time and effort and money on TV shows proving that psychics don't exist. The greatest thing that he did to prove this is that he had $1,000,000 (I believe) ready for any person that could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they are in fact a psychic. The psychic had to succeed at a test that was designed to prove the psychic's powers and it was agreed to by both parties. No one had succeeded and very few even tried to prove it.
Or Derren Brown. The dude tells you it's all bullshit and then proceeds to do a 10x more convincing reading than all these idiots on TV just to show how easy it is to do.
AKA "The Annoying Randi", lives local to us....
Houdini did it first....
@@ThomCat316 Well, I think dumb people are generally annoyed by smarter people, so it's not you or your family's fault. You're just plebs. :-/
My road to rationality began when I read his book _Flim-Flam! Psychics, Unicorns and Other Delusions,_ which should be required reading for every high-school student in the world.
I'm super psychic. I see John Oliver stopping Brexit with his muscular man-hands and British ninja wit.
With predictions like these it's no wonder people wanna believe in them.
😂😂😂 i see it too
That could eaaily be true.
Unfortunately British ninja wit only works on foreigners. Us Brits are naturally immune to it. (If we weren't we'd all die out long before we hit puberty.)
Don't forget his sick abs.
I love Wanda Jo Oliver. I wish she were on the show more often.
rachel dratch rocks the house
“This child was kidnapped and murdered” That’s me...”you weren’t kidnapped?” LMAO! Ummm she clearly wasn’t murdered either! This was gold!
Are you absolutely sure you weren't murdered? I can't tell you what you want to hear, I can only tell you how it is and the spirits really think you should be murdered........
Why is that their go-to? It’s like the opposite of cold reading’s rational: how many kids get kidnapped and murdered vs getting sick or in an accident or are run-aways or are just estranged when the parent lost custody? It’s such a specific, improbable, high-risk claim to make.
"I'm not calling your mom a bitch, but this ghost is!!"
@@AnkhAnanku Probably because it's more dramatic. I imagine the kind of people who claim to be psychic are also the kind to jump to the most violent and tragic way a kid can be lost.
@@hazukichanx408 run she's a ghost and a bitch!
Psychics disgust me. My mom was in a vulnerable state, and one completely took advantage of her. Where does that leave me? I can stomp on the false hopes she instilled in my mom or just go along with it. Not sure which is best.
As an aside, the fact that my mom has absolute trust in psychics but is skeptical of doctors is exactly what’s wrong with our country. Wishes and ideology trumps fact and logic.
She doesn't need a psychic, the death communicate with feathers. (Just tell her that so when she finds a feather she will feel comfort without paying someone for it)
Lots of people prey on the vulnerable, even doctors and lawyers.
"Trumps" seems to be a particularly appropriate choice of word for that sentence, nowadays.
From a healthcare professional (of sorts),
If you try to stomp on those hopes, you'll only be driving her to them more. You can be honest and tell her that you don't believe in the psychic, but that it is her body and her decision to make as to how to determine which path to take in regards to healthcare. And if it ends up in death because of her belief, it's her prerogative. You would be better off "suggesting" she try something with scientific evidence to back it when she is less likely to resist, or better yet, to have a friend whom she listens to, influence her if it's severe enough to warrant that action. (i.e. cancer, life-saving surgery). Nonetheless she has a right to her beliefs and to determine her own care plan in regards to her body. :/ I agree with you, though.
Best option = stomp on the false hopes.
It'll hurt up front, but is the least painful overall...ripping a band-aid off, type of situation.
"Yep. That boy is definitely in the opposite of heaven. He's in a Denny's."
#DennysIsHell
This stuff is 100% totally real and I'm going to prove it to you. "Uranus will help land you a job," my psychic said. "How is that possible?" I wondered to myself. Then one day while I was going on interviews, I got this bad case of diarrhea. After I went to the bathroom and was done relieving myself, I noticed that I had made a mess and started cleaning up the toilet and the area around it with toilet paper and paper towels. After I exited the stall, low and behold, there was a man standing in front of me. "How would you like to be our next janitor?" he said. 😄
Correlation does not mean Causation
@@Writer-Two 💀💀no one tell him
@@ElkCitySucks That's one N too many. Sorry, try again.
@@nagilumsnangilima Goodie for you, how's that shit cleaning detail wokin' for ya?
@ Elk City Sucks - I never wrote I took the job: only that my psychic predicted I'd find one.