The Importance of Being Real

3min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

I grew obsessed with Andy Kaufman after a reporter asked me if I'd heard of him. The more real and serious I could play this character, the funnier it would be. It was interesting blurring the line between reality and fiction because things that would happen to the character were real as we were out on the road. You'd pull up in the van and something would happen and you would feel it as yourself, actually.

There was a time when Peter McIndoe might see you on the street and ask: have you ever seen a baby pigeon? If you said no, he’d probably grin and say, of course you haven’t, because birds are actually spy drones created by the US government – and they emerge “fully adult” from “the factory.” Peter McIndoe peddled a crazy idea – that all birds are drones created and monitored by the U.S. government. As ridiculous (and hilarious) as this sounds, Peter’s conspiracy theory that “Birds Aren’t Real” gained a huge following. In this episode, Peter discusses why he’s used the framework of a conspiracy theory to explore the "us-versus-them" mentality that is so pervasive in us humans. He also shares what he witnessed as he took his performance across the globe, and why he finds it more important than ever that we talk to each other with empathy even in the most absurd situations. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts