Robert Anton Wilson was an American author, futurist, psychologist, and self-described agnostic mystic. Recognized within Discordianism as an Episkopos, pope and saint, Wilson helped publicize Discordianism through his writings and interviews. In 1999 he described his work as an "attempt to break down conditioned associations, to look at the world in a new way, with many models recognized as models or maps, and no one model elevated to the truth". Wilson's goal was "to try to get people into a state of generalized agnosticism, not agnosticism about God alone but agnosticism about everything."
The Church of the SubGenius is a parody religion that satirizes better-known belief systems. It teaches a complex philosophy that focuses on J. R. "Bob" Dobbs, purportedly a salesman from the 1950s, who is revered as a prophet by the Church. SubGenius leaders have developed detailed narratives about Dobbs and his relationship to various gods and conspiracies. Their central deity, Jehovah 1, is accompanied by other gods drawn from ancient myth and popular fiction. SubGenius literature describes a grand conspiracy that seeks to brainwash the world and oppress Dobbs's followers. In its narratives, the Church presents a blend of cultural references in an elaborate remix of the sources.
J. R. "Bob" Dobbs is the figurehead of the parody religion the Church of the SubGenius. His image is derived from a collection of clip art distributed by the Bell Telephone Company of West Texas in 1946.
The Book of the SubGenius: Being the Divine Wisdom, Guidance, and Prophecy of J.R. "Bob" Dobbs, High Epopt of the Church of the SubGenius, Here Inscribed for the Salvation of Future Generations and in the Hope that Slack May Someday Reign on This Earth (ISBN 0-671-63810-6) is seen as the "Bible" of the Church of the SubGenius.
alt.binaries.slack is a Usenet newsgroup created for the purpose of posting pictures, sounds, and utilities related to the Church of the SubGenius, making them available for everyone to see and hear. Because the Church of the SubGenius is well known for encouraging sick and twisted humor, the newsgroup is also home to artists who post humorous artwork of all sorts. A fair amount of the pictures on alt.binaries.slack are adult-oriented, and may be considered offensive by some viewers. The denizens of the newsgroup state that they enjoy deliberately offending those who are too easily offended.
Weirdo was a magazine-sized comics anthology created by Robert Crumb and published by Last Gasp from 1981 to 1993. Featuring cartoonists both new and old, Weirdo served as a "low art" counterpoint to its contemporary highbrow Raw, co-edited by Art Spiegelman.
De Selby is a fictional character originally created by Flann O'Brien for his novel The Third Policeman in which the nameless narrator intends to use the proceeds of murder and robbery to publish his commentaries on de Selby – a savant who theorizes, among other things, that the earth is actually shaped like a sausage.
Tapeheads is a 1988 comedy film directed by Bill Fishman and starring John Cusack, Tim Robbins, Sam Moore and Junior Walker. The film was produced by Michael Nesmith, who briefly appears as a bottled water delivery man.
Paul Mavrides is an American artist, best known for his critique-laden comics, cartoons, paintings, graphics, performances and writings that encompass a disturbing yet humorous catalog of the social ills and shortcomings of human civilization. Mavrides worked with underground comix pioneer Gilbert Shelton on The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers from 1978 to 1992. Mavrides has been noted for "adding new dimensions to the political comic" in the underground comix press of the 1970s and '80s.
Donna J. Kossy is an American writer, zine publisher, and online used book dealer based in Portland, Oregon. Specializing in the history of "forgotten, discredited and extreme ideas", which she calls "crackpotology and kookology", she is better known for her books Kooks: A Guide to the Outer Limits of Human Belief and Strange Creations: Aberrant Ideas of Human Origins from Ancient Astronauts to Aquatic Apes (2001). Kossy was also the founder and curator of the Kooks Museum, and the editor-publisher of the magazine Book Happy.
The Starwood Festival is a seven-day New Age neopagan and world music festival. It takes place every July in the United States. The Starwood Festival is a camping event which holds workshops on a variety of subjects. There are also live musical performances, rituals, bonfires, multimedia presentations and social activities. It is a clothing optional event, and skyclad attendance is common.
High Weirdness By Mail – A Directory of the Fringe: Crackpots, Kooks & True Visionaries, by Ivan Stang (ISBN 0-671-64260-X) is a 1988 book dedicated to an examination of "weird culture" by actually putting the reader in touch with it by mail.
The Hour of Slack was a one-hour radio program produced by the Church of the SubGenius centering on the King of Slack, J. R. "Bob" Dobbs. Reverend Ivan Stang presented his own commentary, along with recorded material from all SubGenius radio and stage shows, bands, ranters, media barrage collage artists, and selections from the indie audio underground created by various SubGenii and others. 1,890 segments of this show had been broadcast before it was discontinued in June 2022. Most segments can now be listened to on the Internet Archive. It was syndicated across North America, with some stations continuing to air old shows, and weekly shows are available by mail. Originally created in Dallas, TX for local radio station KNON, starting in the late 80s until 2017, the show originated in pre-recorded form from the Church of the SubGenius headquarters in Cleveland Heights, OH, and was occasionally performed live at WCSB on the campus of Cleveland State University. The show is also available as a podcast in iTunes.
Harry Scifres Robins is an American voice actor, screenwriter and cartoonist. He is best known for his role as Isaac Kleiner in the Half-Life series and Tinker in Dota 2. Robins is also a member of the Church of the SubGenius, holding the official title of "Master of Church Secrets", and has written and drawn several comic books for them. He also voiced the narrator in Arise! The SubGenius Video and made an appearance in the 1999 documentary film Grass.
The Jon Stewart Show is a late night talk show that was hosted by comedian Jon Stewart. The program premiered on MTV in 1993 as a 30-minute daily offering and became one of the network's more popular shows.
X-Day is a traditional part of the Church of the SubGenius, a religion formed as a parody of cults and extreme religious groups, and their pamphlets and claims. X-Day fell on July 5, 1998, the scheduled "end of the world", and has been celebrated on July 5 each year since then. From its inception in 1980, the Church had prophesied that an army of alien invaders would land on the planet Earth and destroy the world of "normals", "pinks", and "glorps," while the members of the Church of the SubGenius would be rescued by the aliens and taken away into space. Chapters 10 and 11 of Revelation X: The "Bob" Apocryphon supply additional details as to the precise kinds of fates which supposedly await the "pinks" and "normals" left behind when X-Day comes, saying, among other things, that those who are not immediately killed by the aliens will be enslaved by a society of evil clowns known as the "Bozo Cult" until eventually their souls are devoured by the Elder Gods. The book also tells readers that if they want more information, they should send one million dollars to Ivan Stang so that he can remake his 1973 film Let's Visit the World of the Future.
Chas Smith was an author, musician, radio personality, and a Cleveland State University music instructor.
Little Fyodor is the performance name of Dave Lichtenberg, an underground punk/garage musician from Denver, Colorado, who has been on the scene for four decades. He originally performed in the band Walls of Genius, and then went on to become a solo act. He is also known as a public radio DJ, and a reviewer of self-published music.
Joseph Vergel Riley was an American visual and plastic artist based in Dallas, Texas. A painter, sculptor, filmmaker, and special effects makeup artist, he made horror designs for latex masks and for films, such as the 2004 superhero film Blade: Trinity from Marvel Comics, as well as conceptual art for children's animated series, such as Nickelodeon's Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius franchise from DNA Productions. He was also a notable part of the multimedia beginnings of the Church of the SubGenius as St. Joe Riley.
Death Equinox was a series of four conventions held in Denver, Colorado in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Sponsored by CyberPsychos AOD, and organized by Jasmine Sailing, they focused on alternative culture and art. A usual aspect was that they combined both the transgressive aspects of writing and art with the actual practice of things that would appear in such works. Convention events included standards such as readings and panels but also featured live concerts, play piercing demonstrations, torture readings and Cnidarian sermons. Rev. Ivan Stang hosted a Church of the SubGenius devival at the second Death Equinox convention.
