// This is a machine generated transcript. Please report any transcription errors to will-help@illinois.edu.

[00:00:00]
Brian Mackey: It's the 21st show. I'm Brian Mackey. And for the rest of the program today, I would ask you to consider the following questions. Do you believe in the possibility of life elsewhere in our universe? If such life was capable of crossing vast distances of time and space and were to arrive on Earth, what would that mean for humankind? Or maybe you believe aliens are already among us.

All that is the subject of an upcoming play at the Virginia Theater in Champaign. It's called We Interrupt This Program. The evening will be in two parts, which they're calling Show and Tell. Show will be the play itself with actors including Bob Odenkirk of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, and Jill Talley, best known for voicing a character on SpongeBob SquarePants. The second half will be the tell, a discussion including Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb, who's polarized colleagues with arguments that aliens may already be among us, and Ahmad Best, an Afrofuturist who also played Jar Jar Binks in the Star Wars movies. We Interrupt This Program is running October 16th and 17th. It will also be broadcast on our home station, WILL on Halloween night. We'll have information about attending in person and listening to the broadcast on our website, [2firstshow.org].

Last week, I spoke about it with two people involved in the production. Bill Odenkirk is the play's writer and executive producer, and my IPM colleague Sarah Edwards is moderating the second half of the show and is also a producer. You can see her hosting Prairie Fire on WILL TV. All right, Bill, I want to start with you. What prompted you? What got you into the idea of exploring the subject of aliens?

[00:01:51]
Bill Odenkirk: Wow. Well, it was, uh, it was just uh, I, I, what I believe to be a very funny idea about a local radio program, uh, local meaning Illinois small radio, uh, station, um, having to cover an actual alien arrival. I would say invasion, but, uh, it's more just an arrival. It's less threatening than that. But, um, uh, so it was just a com — comedic idea is what, what got me into it. And I thought, um, I, I've written on Futurama, The Simpsons, and a bunch of other shows, but, you know, I, I'm often thinking about aliens and our relationship to the universe in, in that capacity. And uh I, I've always thought I wanted to do some sort of a small play, and I thought it'd be fun to do like a stage reading, possibly for radio broadcast in a small theater, but then it — it's blown up into this gigantic production which is where Sarah came in, Sarah Edwards came in to sort of help shepherd this into what it is now.

[00:02:58]
Brian Mackey: Yeah, so Sarah, how, how did you get involved?

[00:03:01]
Sarah Edwards: Well, yes, I'm, I, I'll, I'll take the blame for that. No, what happened is, what happened is I actually interviewed um Bill and Bob Odenkirk last September, about, about a year ago for Prairie Fire and we had a wonderful conversation and then after that conversation, um, I, you know, I kind of became friends with Bill and his wife Sarah Odenkirk, who's a, a, a wonderful lawyer here in Champaign with a, you know, powerhouse roster, and so anyway, she, she offhandedly mentioned that Bill had an idea about the play featuring aliens, and so I, we got together, I said, well — and he talked about the radio aspect of this, of, of this, and the fact that it has to do with the War of the Worlds. And I thought, yeah, and the War of the Worlds was a, was a huge part of my childhood. I listened to it when I was a small child and got scared just like everybody else did at the time and back in the 1930s. And, uh, and I, so I, that's really stuck with me over my, my life is, is that, that cool concept of the War of the Worlds. And I, and, and then he said it was a radio idea and I said, I know the radio station who might be interested in this. And so, you know, it kind of went from there. And then it — it did explode like Bill mentioned.

[00:04:23]
Brian Mackey: You know, um, talk, talk a little bit more. I mean, what is your relationship, Bill, with, with the HG Wells and this radio drama? I've seen scholars, you know, I, I, I grew up with that story as well that there was a huge panic. I know, you know, some people now say maybe that was overstated.

[00:04:37]
Bill Odenkirk: It — it was overstated, yeah, yeah. Um, I, you know, I just, I just thought it would be an amusing connection between, uh, this, this old time radio program, uh, which if you've listened to it, it is very well done. It's just, uh, one thing that struck me is how long it takes for it to really get off the ground. To a modern audience listening to that radio program, they'd be looking at their watches and going, when is this alien invasion happening? There's a lot of music and a lot of stuff that happens before the actual action of the program, which does get very violent, um, I, I should say. Um, but, uh, yeah, again, it was just a launching point for me, like, uh, just situated, uh, close to Halloween at an appropriate time of the year, and uh to have this radio program, this radio station interrupt their rebroadcast. So, um, after that, it just becomes this sort of, uh, well, we, we, it's a play about a guy, uh, the, the reporter who's out in this cornfield trying to cover the actual invasion and trying to get information, being very frustrated about getting information from people who are there. Uh, and it's sort of a Bob and Ray, uh, type of interactions with one crazy person after another who came out to see the, the UFO. Um, uh, but his frustration is finally rewarded with actual interviews with the aliens, and that's all I'll divulge, but um it, it, it, uh, yeah, it started out again, not to beat this into the ground, but it did start out as just a humble sort of stage reading and now is a very full, fully realized theatrical experience with uh an enormous, uh, rear — uh, um, rear projected screen with imagery and it's gonna be quite spectacular, I have to say.

[00:06:33]
Brian Mackey: Yeah, and Sarah, maybe you can talk a little bit about who all is involved with this production. I think we, uh, someone mentioned the name of, uh, Bob Odenkirk earlier. Obviously people will know him from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul and many other movie projects, but, but there are other, uh, notable actors coming to be a part of this as well.

[00:06:50]
Sarah Edwards: That's uh — well, Bill, in, in Bill's play we have Jill Talley, uh, who is best known for her work as uh on SpongeBob SquarePants, right, Bill?

[00:07:00]
Bill Odenkirk: Yes, and she's done a lot of voiceovers. She was on Mr. Show, um, and, um, she's currently on A Man on the Inside, which is a Netflix series, um, but she's, uh, yeah, she's, uh, I've known her forever, going back to when she, before she even did Second City, uh, with Bob. Um, and Bob, of course, you, as you say, was Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad, and I know him from being his brother. Yeah, so he,

[00:07:28]
Sarah Edwards: a totally different side, totally different,

[00:07:30]
Bill Odenkirk: yes, um, which he should win awards for, um,

[00:07:36]
Sarah Edwards: you should win an award for Bill. We both

[00:07:39]
Bill Odenkirk: deserve them, yes,

[00:07:41]
Sarah Edwards: um, also we have a cast, a large cast from Chicago, um, uh, rounding out Bill's play, right?

[00:07:49]
Bill Odenkirk: Yeah, we, we cast up in Chicago. We have a director from Chicago as well. There's a lot of talent in from in Champaign too that's involved in this. Obviously the Virginia Theater, their stagehands and, and the people associated with the theater, they've been fantastic. Um, but we also have, uh, stage sets being built by [Andy Warhol]. And, um, and the costuming and, and hair and makeup and, and a bunch of other things are being all handled by a lot of local talent. Uh, but the Chicago wing is the — is largely the actors. Jill and Bob are coming in from LA. Um, so it's a, you know, it's a, it's a diverse cast and it's a cast from, from Illinois and from California and it's, uh, it's been quite a feat to put, pull it together. Um, but it is coming together. In fact, I'm up in Chicago right now doing, uh, rehearsals for,

[00:08:44]
Sarah Edwards: um, the play. The other amazing thing we have, Brian, is, uh, yeah,

[00:08:49]
Brian Mackey: because I was saying we should, we should explain to listeners, it's not just actors, there's a whole second half of the program that's going to involve, yeah.

[00:08:57]
Sarah Edwards: Well, one of the major things we've done for the show is, is hired a woman named [Olivia Sabey] to do projections. So, we're getting a huge screen in from Las Vegas, installing into the Virginia and doing rear projections on that screen. So we're trying to make it as immersive as possible. Um, and so for Bill's play, you'll see these beautiful, uh, rear projected scenes that will change in front of your eyes. Uh, and then in the second half of the show, which is, you know, we've called this show and tell. So Bill has written the show and I'm hosting the tell. So after the — after the intermission, you sit back down and then we have a discussion about are we alone and uh and approaching that question with two guests who are kind of opposites in the way they approach it, but it'll be a fascinating discussion.

The first guest is Avi Loeb, who's a professor at Harvard University. He's an astrophysicist. And he's also the head of the government scientific advisory council on UAP. And by the way, UAP is the new word for UFO. They're no longer UFOs, it's an unidentified aerial phenomenon. So, he heads up that council and he spent his career uh, really investigating, you know, all these grainy videos that we see of, you know, flying saucers around. They're all over social media. Um, all the videos you've seen shot by um, the, the military, um, reports of UFOs, everything in history that's happened with reports of UFOs, he studies that using the scientific method. So he'd be one of the first to tell you that these grainy videos that you see of UFOs flying around might just be drones or flocks of birds or a weather balloon as the case was in, in what they said about Roswell. So, he, he's gonna talk to us about what he does, how he does it, and um and maybe we'll get to his personal thoughts about whether they're actually — what, what he believes about UFOs, but I'm not sure if that'll happen.

[00:11:04]
Brian Mackey: I will say he is, I just, I feel the need to just like journalistically, he is a polarizing figure within the astrophysicist community. Is, yes, so — interesting, interesting guy. I've read some of his work as well,

[00:11:16]
Sarah Edwards: but, yeah, and I, he is polarizing. Um, he, and, you know, he, but the thing about him is he's the first — I think he says things that people don't like because he, he is unrelentingly scientific about it. So, um, he, he's — his research involves placing camera arrays in different parts of the, of the country, three different, you know, camera arrays to try and capture actual, you know, if you say, I saw a UFO yesterday, he wants to figure out was that real and what was the velocity and how does it, you know, so, so anybody, I think anybody who works, who spends their career hunting UFOs and trying to figure out if it's real or not is going to be a polarizing figure.

The second guy who's going to be part of this discussion in addition to Bill Odenkirk is um Ahmed Best, who played Jar Jar Binks in the new Star Wars series, um, and he's also an Afrofuturist. Um, so his job in this discussion, along with, of course, participating in every other aspect of it is to take the idea of, well, if we're alone, then what? You know, what does it do to our, to everything we believe and everything we — oh, you know, what our future is and how we think about ourselves. Um, so we'll, we'll take kind of the, the question, you know, what would happen if we found out tomorrow that we are not alone and these — and alien civilizations have been on the planet for maybe generations, maybe since the beginning of our Earth. Then what? What do we do? So

[00:12:57]
Brian Mackey: we have uh just, just about a minute left. Bill, let me, let me ask you that question. Do, do you think, do you think we're alone and, and what does it mean? Either way, I think,

[00:13:06]
Bill Odenkirk: yeah, I, um, first of all, I, I'm terrified of the prospect of aliens being, uh, amongst us and inspecting us and, um, and, uh, possibly destroying us ultimately, um. Uh, we don't need help with that, A, and B, um, I don't think that if, if there are alien beings that have made it to Earth, uh, across the vast expanses of space, then they are truly beyond anything we can possibly have matched — tech — technologically. Um. Do I think there's other — other species, other life in the universe? Yeah, absolutely. There's gotta be somewhere else. Now, it could be just, you know, multicellular or, you know, some sort of form that would not be a threat or do anything. But uh I think there's a good chance there's uh there's other advanced civilizations. I do. I am very skeptical that they could ever reach Earth. Um, and, um, just, just because it's, we're, we're just such an insignificant [spe — ] of nothing in in the vast universe, so I don't think we'd be picked, picked out for examination really, but I could be wrong, you know,

[00:14:18]
Sarah Edwards: it's a big universe. Brian, the thing is there's no right answer right now. And so everything's on the table. So why not a) have a little laugh about it with Bill's play, and b) have a little think about it with, with the second half of the show. And I think for those reasons it's gonna be a wonderful evening no matter what you think about aliens.

[00:14:41]
Brian Mackey: Well, if you want to laugh and think, it's called We Interrupt This Program, October 16th and 17th at the Virginia Theater in Champaign. Also, a radio broadcast of the production on Illinois Public Media WILL on Halloween. More information about that at our website, [2firstshow.org]. Bill Odenkirk, writer and executive producer of the play, Sarah Edwards, uh, who is hosting the second half of the production. We Interrupt This Program. Thank you both for being with

[00:15:09]
Bill Odenkirk: us. Thank you. Thanks for having us.

[00:15:11]
Sarah Edwards: Thanks, Brian.

[00:15:13]
Brian Mackey: That is all we have time for today. The 21st show is a production of Illinois Public Media. I'm Brian Mackey. Thanks for listening. We'll talk with you again tomorrow.