In the latest episode of Rebelliously Curious, The Debrief’s Chrissy Newton sits down with fellow Canadian and comedy superstar Dave Foley. After bursting onto the scene with the Lorne Michaels (Saturday Night Live) produced sketch comedy show “Kids in the Hall,” Foley has gone on to star in a number of well received comedy movies and TV series.
Now, one of “the Dave’s I know,” a.k.a. Mr. Foley, takes on the biggest challenge of his masterful comedy career by trying to talk about people who make fun of UFOs without actually making fun of UFOs. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given his depth of comedy talent and unexpectedly solid grasp of the well-muddled topic, Dave navigates the interview impressively, while keeping Chrissy on her adroit, well-educated toes.
For instance, in the show’s opening, Chrissy throws down the gauntlet with a voice over that effectively challenges Foley to treat the subject of UFOs lightly at his own risk.
“Entertainment, over the years, has created and propelled cultural feedback loops around the concepts of UFOs and extraterrestrials,” says Newton in a haunting tone, “while using ridicule to help discredit and silence the community looking for truth and answers.”
In response, Foley starts off ably, listing his many UFO interests as a child, as well as how that interest has persisted where some other childhood enthusiasms have not.
“There just always seemed to be something to it,” says Foley. “There seemed to be too many reports, too many incidents…and then the big one for me was ’97, it was the Phoenix lights.” Foley notes the thousands of people who witnessed the event, as well as the governor who “later admitted to it.”
Showing his surprisingly broad knowledge of the subject, Foley also talks about the French COMETA report, which many consider to be the first authentic report out of Europe on the UFO Phenomenon.
When asked by Newton which explanation for the origin of UFOs he favors between the foreign adversary hypothesis, the extraterrestrial hypothesis and the interdimensional hypothesis, Foley says he isn’t quite sure, but he does feel comfortable excluding one of those theories for sure.
“There is only one theory I can dismiss, and that is the foreign adversary theory.”
“Why is that?” Newton asks.
“Because I’m not stupid,” Foley ultimately replies, before giving a more succinct, shockingly simple, yet undeniably compelling and insightful explanation for his line of thinking.
Also, as was the hope and promise of interviewing someone as talented as Foley on this type of seemingly unfunny subject, his next few minutes are some of the funniest of the interview and worth watching without any prior explanation.
Next, Newton and Foley discuss his history with the subject, including sketches performed on his TV show that made fun of the alien subject.
“Comedians will always go for the low hanging fruit,” says Foley, something this comedy writer can confirm. “So, whenever there was a UFO story, everyone was so conditioned by the government to mock them, saying you’re all crazy, you’re all lunatics, and going to the old clichés of rednecks and trailers, much like the one I’m in now.”
Foley also hits on his notorious “alien probes” sketch, where Foley’s work-weary protagonist has tired of “years and years” of coming to earth and kidnapping people just to probe their nether regions. Surprisingly, Dave talks about how this sketch was his own metaphor for his work on Kids in the Hall, and the direction of his life in general. Again, it is worth hearing his telling of it.
When Newton touches on the metal health issues that seem to prop up within the UFO community, Foley is mostly agreeable, before making a salient point about his own comedy roots.
“The mental health in the improv community? Just as bad as the UFO community, and not nearly as useful,” said Foley.
“I can attest to that,” confirmed The Debrief’s new Tech Talk co-host, improv actor, improv comedy coach and part-time camp counselor Stefan Gearhart, when made aware of Foley’s comment.
So, whether it’s UFOs being taken more seriously by the mainstream media, recent efforts in the U.S. Congress and the Department of Defense to try to understand UFOs, paranormal phenomena that compels his interest or his enthusiasm for Avi Loeb and the Galileo project, the rest of the discussion between Newton and Foley is really fun and enjoyable.
Of course, as you watch the entire exchange, it is important to keep in mind that as impressive as his knowledge of the subject is, and as funny as he may be, whatever Foley or host Chrissy Newton think about UFOs, they come from a country that openly hates Barbara Streisand and Thanksgiving. And one of those is completely unforgiveable.
Follow and connect with author Christopher Plain on Twitter: @plain_fiction