F2K Ep. 41 - Heather Henderson And Emery Emery

Fun 2 Know Podcast

On today's show, Heather Henderson and Emery Emery, who together host both the award-winning Ardent Atheist podcast as well as the podcast, Skeptically Yours. I've known Heather since back in the early 2000s, when she was part of the Philly-based burlesque troupe The Peek-a-Boo Revue, who specialized comedy and satire along with classic strip routines. Heather was a memorable performer with the troop, but I knew that her experiences as a performer went back to the 90s, with a stint as a dancer on the very popular locally-produced shows Dancing on Air and Dance Party U.S.A., which like their Philly-launched forerunner American Bandstand featured teens dancing in a studio set to the latest pop and dance hits. Heather also acted, appearing in Mannequin 2 and Annapolis as well as singing with the r&b group Soulamite. In 2010, Heather relocated to Los Angeles where she continued as a burlesque performer and also met her partner comedian Emery Emery, who toured extensively as a stand-up and has worked as an editor and producer of many stand-up projects, including editing the hit stand-up doc, The Aristocrats. Together they launched the Ardent Atheist podcast in 2011 and soon after Skeptically Yours. Heather is also a member of Penn Jillette's No God band, and is currently studying film production at the Art Institute in Los Angeles. I caught up with Heather and Emery on their trip back east as they were attending the Pennsylvania State Atheist/Humanist Conference where they recorded an episode of The Ardent Atheist and caught up with old friends. Over the course of our talk we discuss Heather's growing up in Camden, her “baby Heather” phase, Philly pungency, L.A. sun, Jews for Jesus, Mother Theresa, modern attention spans, Penn Jillette, the death of Prince and more.