Dear Skepticoners,
Thank you so much for attending and supporting us this year! It was so so so great to see all of your faces. A brand new attendee mentioned that it was like walking into a giant family reunion and we couldn’t agree more.
We hope you’re traveling home safe and getting some much needed rest and self care.
We’ll see you next year at the same place for Skepticon 12 on August 14th, 15th, and 16th 2020!
The theme? SUPERHEROES!
Keep being awesome,
Team Skepticon
Hey Skeptifriends!
The deadline for getting the discounted rate at the Skepticon Hotel is July 18th! Book your stay today to ensure you get that sweet, sweet discount.
See you soon!
Love,
Skepticon
Hello Skepticon!
We’re happy to announce the schedule for Skepticon 11!
Mark it down and see you soon!
Love,
Skepticon
Hello Skeptifronds!
Skepticon is delighted to introduce Allegedly: a Night of Comedy. One night of laughs to help put the FUN back into fundraising.
Featured comedians include:
Tina Dybal
Hailing from the Former Soviet Union but growing up in Kansas City, Tina Dybal is no stranger to the Midwest. She started her comedy career in Saint Louis and was recently crowned Helium Comedy Club’s “Funniest Person in Saint Louis 2018”. Tina’s unique background, caustic humor, and memorable stage presence have landed her opportunities to open for some of the industry’s best comics such as Michelle Wolf, Christina P., Joey “CoCo” Diaz and Cameron Esposito. Outside of stand-up comedy, Tina is an accomplished comedic improviser. She completed training at The Improv Shop in St. Louis. Tina is also the co-host of Slop City, a podcast created by Tina Dybal and Libbie Higgins.
JC Sibala
JC’s comedic style has been described as straight-forward, no filter, with a dash of sincerity as he shares his experiences growing up ethnically ambiguous in midwest suburbia. Coming from a diverse background, at an early age he developed the ability to fit in by standing out. As a single father, he also gives audiences a glimpse into the life of a bachelor in the world of parenthood. His funny, onstage charisma allows him to connect with a variety of audiences.
JC is also the co-creator of Wild Card Comedy, the longest running weekly independent open mic in St. Louis.
He is a genuine entertainer from his musical talents and his days as a former model/actor.
Sam Lyons
Sam Lyons spent his childhood watching Jeopardy! and Judge Judy- and it shows. The son of a blind jazz musician turned black republican, he understands the importance of finding humor in everyday life. Whether it’s reliving his first Brad Paisley concert, lamenting failed relationships and deaths in the family, or testifying to the complexity of growing up “technically black” in the South- every moment has a punchline. In addition to regular appearances on shows in the St. Louis region, Sam also co-produces a monthly showcase “Yours, Mine, and Ours”, has hosted for America’s Got Talent’s Taylor Williamson and YouTube’s JP Sears, and took second place at High Ridge, MO’s 2018 Toasted Coffee House Gilmore Girls Trivia Night. Listen to Impolite Company every Monday on ImpoliteCompany.com for his podcast, “The Lyons Den”
Chris Cyr
Chris Cyr is the host of Impolite Company, a podcast out of St. Louis, Missouri. The show is part “Old Man Yells At Sky” and part interviews with other comics from the St. Louis scene. The show airs daily on 920 AM in St. Louis, or can be streamed from the show’s website, iTunes, Spotify, etc.
A writer and stand up comic, he lives with his wife, two dogs, and a cat. He hosts and features regularly at comedy clubs in the St. Louis area, as well as many of the area’s independent shows. He’s been fortunate enough to open for a number of national headliners including Christopher Titus, Kyle Kinane, Dick Gregory, and others.
Chris has been a contestant on NPR’s “Ask Me Another” (he lost) and was an expert commentator in a History Channel documentary (about zombies). He also maintains a website and social media accounts for information about the St. Louis Independent Comedy scene.
Sarah Pearl
Sarah Pearl is a comedian and storyteller from St. Louis. Her style keeps the laughs rolling. She’s shared a stage with Todd Barry, Ron Funches, the Sklar Brothers, Nikki Glaser and Greg Hahn. Sarah has performed at the Laugh Factory Chicago, helium St. Louis, and is an NPR featured storyteller. She performs all over the midwest!
Jonathan Venegoni
Jon Venegoni began performing standup comedy in 2010, and is currently based out of St. Louis. He performs in clubs and venues around the Midwest, and has opened for the likes of Brian Posehn, Sinbad, Rosanne and more. He writes for and is a cast member in local award-winning sketch comedy show Fatal Bus Accident. Give him a hug when you see him.
Doors at 9pm, show at 9:30pm.
Tickets are $10 – CLICK HERE to purchase today!
All proceeds from this event will go to pay Skepticon’s ongoing legal defense bills. Thank you for your support!
See you there!
Love,
Skepticon
P.s. You’ll notice this is a paid ticketed event (our first ever!). Skepticon is committed to keeping our conference as accessible as possible and will continue to keep the restof our entire three day event FREE and open to the public. Don’t forget to register today!
Hello Skepticoners!
Introducing Rose Eveleth to the Skepticon 11 Speaker Lineup!
Rose Eveleth is a producer, host, reporter and writer based in Berkeley. She’s dabbled in everything from research on pelagic invertebrates to animations about beer to podcasts about fake tumbleweed farms. These days, she explores how humans tangle with science and technology.
She has a degree in ecology, behavior and evolution from UC San Diego where she did some research on krill, which really was just a front for hanging around in the Pelagic Invertebrates Collection at Scripps Institute of Oceanography.
Then she moved to New York City to get her graduate degree in journalism at NYU. At school, she edited the program’s online magazine, built an iPad app, interned a bunch of places, and tried not to get car doored too many times on her bike.
Since then, She’s been a columnist for WIRED, BBC Future and Motherboard, the producer of the Story Collider, the special media manager at Nautilus, a new digital magazine about science, culture and philosophy and the managing editor for LadyBits, a place where women are smart about science. She also edited the Smart News blog at Smithsonian Magazine, and founded Science Studio, a home for all the best science multimedia on the web. Even before that she was an editor of all things animated at TED Education, and a contributing editor at Smart Planet. Most recently she helped ESPN’s award winning documentary series 30 for 30 launch their podcast.
These days she’s the producer and host of Flash Forward, a podcast about the future.
Speaker Twitter, Website, Instagram, Flash Forward Podcast
We can’t wait to see them on our main stage and hope you’re excited, too!
Love,
Skepticon
P.S. — Please consider donating to Skepticon today and help us continue to keep this event FREE!
Hello Skepticoners!
Introducing Indre Viskontasto the Skepticon 11 Speaker Lineup!
“I’m an opera singer who came of age during the decade of the brain. I’ve always been pulled both by art and by science and have finally found ways to integrate the two in my work. I finished a Masters of Music degree in Voice Performance and a Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience and currently enjoy faculty positions at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the University of San Francisco. I’m passionate about communicating ideas to the public, by giving compelling lectures about the brain, hosting two podcasts and performing and directing contemporary opera.”
We can’t wait to see them on our main stage and hope you’re excited, too!
Love,
Skepticon
P.S. — Please consider donating to Skepticon today and help us continue to keep this event FREE!
Hello Skepticoners!
Introducing Miri Mogilevsky to the Skepticon 11 Speaker Lineup!
Miri is a writer, speaker, activist, and social worker based in Columbus, Ohio, originally from Israel by way of the Midwest, originally-originally from Russia (but she’s never been there). Her blog, Brute Reason, covers social justice, psychology, mental health, sexuality, and other stuff she cares about. Most of her writing touches on issues like consent and autonomy, direct communication, community building, and rational thinking. Her writing has appeared in the Daily Dot, xoJane, Everyday Feminism, Friendly Atheist, Salon, and other outlets.
Speaker Twitter, Website, Blog
We can’t wait to see them on our main stage and hope you’re excited, too!
Love,
Skepticon
P.S. — Please consider donating to Skepticon today and help us continue to keep this event FREE!
Hello Skepticoners!
Introducing Megan Kenny and Rajani Gudlavalleti to the Skepticon 11 Speaker Lineup!
As a team, we have held workshops for the National GLSEN conference and the National Secular Student Alliance (SSA) conference. Our goals in these conversations are: 1) to provide participants with tools for honest conversation about implicit racial bias, structural racism, and white supremacy as both conscious and unconscious practices; 2) to encourage participants to reflect on their own identities, specifically racial and gender-related identities, in the context of advancing social justice; and 3) share lessons learned on building, challenging, and strengthening multi-racial friendships and relationships.
Speakers Website, Megan Twitter, Rajani Website
We can’t wait to see them on our main stage and hope you’re excited, too!
Love,
Skepticon
P.S. — Please consider donating to Skepticon today and help us continue to keep this event FREE!
Hello Skepticoners!
Introducing Dr. Juhem Navarro-Rivera to the Skepticon 11 Speaker Lineup!
DR. JUHEM NAVARRO-RIVERA is one of the leading scholars at the intersection of race, religion, and politics in the United States. He is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Humanist Studies, the co-chair of the Latinx Humanist Alliance, and member of the board of directors of the American Humanist Association. Born in Puerto Rico, Navarro-Rivera holds degrees in Political Science from the University of Puerto Rico (B.A.) and the University of Connecticut (M.A., Ph.D.). He lives in the Washington, DC metro area and is the managing partner and political research director of Socioanalítica Research.
We can’t wait to see them on our main stage and hope you’re excited, too!
Love,
Skepticon
P.S. — Please consider donating to Skepticon today and help us continue to keep this event FREE!
Hello Skepticoners!
Introducing Cora Harrington to the Skepticon 11 Speaker Lineup!
Cora Harrington is the Founder and Editor in Chief of The Lingerie Addict as well as the author of In Intimate Detail: How to Choose, Wear, and Love Lingerie. She has been featured as a lingerie expert on CNN, Headline News, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Allure, Bloomberg, Vogue, and dozens of other publications.
Speaker Instagram, Twitter, Lingerie is for Everybody Instagram
We can’t wait to see them on our main stage and hope you’re excited, too!
Love,
Skepticon
P.S. — Please consider donating to Skepticon today and help us continue to keep this event FREE!