Adam Conover

I loved 'Beakman's World' growing up. As much as I loved 'Bill Nye,' I always preferred 'Beakman's World' because I thought it was funnier. ”

Growing up as a comedian the most influential person on me was Jon Stewart. He showed that comedy could have a real tangible effect on the world. He showed that comedy could move the needle of society and that a comic can do real things and make a real contribution. ”

Generational thinking has always been reductive and condescending. ”

I wanted to go to grad school for philosophy, but I couldn't hack it in college, at least I couldn't at that level. ”

In philosophy you're never 100% sure. You're always undermining what you think you know. That's always been my philosophy and my intellectual ethos. ”

That's something I learned as a philosophy major: The philosophy ethos is, always question, never rest. ”

I wanted to go to grad school in philosophy... Nobody was like, 'You should!' You know, they were all like, 'you could?' ”

I see myself as an avatar of curiosity and doubt. ”

I had the benefit of going to a really good high school on Long Island. I went to Shoreham-Wading River High School, which kind of started as an experimental public school back in the 60s and 70s. It had a bunch of teachers there with a unique teaching philosophy. ”

Human capacity for not thinking about what we're doing is infinite. ”