Ye Gods with Scott Carter

As part of our miniseries OF GOD AND COUNTRY, we're talking with activist and TV and film star from A HANDMAID’S TALE, GET OUT, and THE WEST WING, Bradley Whitford about his relationship to religion, after being raised a Quaker by atheist leaning parents. 

Brad attended All Saints Episcopal in Pasadena during priest-in-charge Ed Bacon’s leadership. Bacon is now retired but the church, founded in 1882, continues its commitment to radical inclusion, joyful spirituality, and ethical stewardship. Standing in stark contrast to the splendor of All Saint’s 1924 gothic revival church is the austerity of the Quaker meetings which Brad attended as a child, and to which he has returned.

We’ll look at two American stories: The Christian Right and Muslim-American Immigrants. We’ll hear from former Senior Director at the Obama White House and Senior Advisor at the State Department, Nayyera Haq. The daughter of Pakistani Muslim parents, she describes how her 1980’s childhood on Staten Island led to her working to elect Barack Obama.

But first: CBS News national correspondent for Sunday Morning and chief Washington analyst, Robert Costa. I’ve known him since he was a young Washington Post reporter and, later, as host of PBS's Washington Week. Since 2008, he’s covered the religious right, from the Moral Majority, to the Tea Party, to MAGA. Robert holds a BA from Notre Dame and a masters from Cambridge University in the UK. In 2021, he and Bob Woodward co-authored the #1 New York Times bestselling book PERIL, about the 2020 campaign, leading up to and after the January 6th assault on America’s capital. In 2025, Robert became a Fourth Estate Honoree, the highest award of the National Press Club.

Jonathan Alter: author, columnist, pundit, podcaster, filmmaker and lecturer. Jon executive-produced Amazon Prime’s 2013 satirical series ALPHA HOUSE, created by Pulitzer-Prize-winning Doonesbury cartoonist Gary Trudeau, and starred John Goodman. We discuss how religion influenced the founding fathers and why the “separation of church and state” is a controversial American idea, which doesn’t appear in the constitution.

Scott talks with actor, activist, 4-time Grammy-winning rapper, and half of hip-hop supergroup, Run The Jewels, Killer Mike. In the episode, Mike talks about his admiration for - and friendship with - Civil Rights icon and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young, growing up in the all-Black neighborhood of Atlanta’s Collier Heights, and his musical evolution.

Actress and comedian Susie Essman, who played Susie Green on CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, is poised to reteam with Larry David and an all star cast, including past YE GODS! guest Larry Wilmore, for HBO’s LIFE, LARRY AND THE PURSUIT OF UNHAPPINESS.

Susie's 2009 memoir is "WHAT WOULD SUSIE SAY?: BS WISDOM ABOUT LOVE, LIFE AND COMEDY".

She and bff Joy Behar appeared on stage together last year in Joy’s off-Broadway play MY FIRST EX HUSBAND. Check out their joint interview on theatermania.com for more on their four-decade friendship.

Danielle Crittenden is a journalist and author. Her new book is DISPATCHES FROM GRIEF: A MOTHER’S JOURNEY THROUGH THE UNTHINKABLE. Danielle’s Atlantic article "ON LOSING A DAUGHTER" and husband David Frum’s article "MIRANDA’S LAST GIFT", also for Atlantic, explore their sudden loss of their daughter Miranda at 32, the time they had with her, and how they both processed that loss. 

Danielle also recently contributed to THE WALL STREET JOURNAL explaining the role technology has played in her grief experience. 

We discuss Danielle’s conversion to Judaism and how it helped her process Miranda’s sudden absence.

Stephen Mitchell is an author, editor, and translator of classic and spiritual literature. His 1988 translation into English of the TAO TE CHING by Lao Tzu, and its accompanying audio book have been indispensable guides to millions of seekers. 

We discuss how spiritual texts come to be written, the history of the translating and compiling of the Christian gospels, and why Stephen was compelled to untangle Jesus’s teachings for himself.

Kevin Nealon is an Emmy-nominated writer and cast member on SNL, and host of Hiking with Kevin in addition to his many other TV and film appearances and his comedy specials, most recently, Loose in the Crotch.

His new film Mermaid, starring opposite Robert Patrick and Johnny Pemberton, debuted in limited release on April 8th and will go wide on May 26th

He also plays the banjo and has published a full color coffee table book of his original celebrity caricatures with the naturally hilarious title, I Exaggerate My Brushes with Fame, Portraits and Stories by Kevin Nealon.

Larry Wilmore has one of the most impressive resumes in TV from IN LIVING COLOR to the BERNIE MAC SHOW, THE DAILY SHOW to BLACKISH and INSECURE. His acclaimed podcast for The Ringer LARRY WILMORE: BLACK ON THE AIR, just wrapped up in December of 2025 after 289 episodes. 

Larry will appear in Larry David’s new HBO mini series LIFE, LARRY AND THE PURSUIT OF UNHAPPINESS: AN ALMOST HISTORY OF AMERICA which premieres June 27 

Former Daily Show producer Hillary Kun gives us the inside scoop on why she too was transformed by a summer of door to door sales.

Rabbi Steve Leder - named by Newsweek Magazine twice as one of the ten most influential rabbis in America and over his 37 year tenure at Los Angeles’ oldest synagogue, Wilshire Boulevard Temple - has ushered thousands of families through life’s most joyous and heartbreaking moments. He's been a contributor to THE TODAY SHOW, CBS SUNDAY MORNING, CNN, and NPR. Steve’s Most recent book, New York Times best seller FOR YOU WHEN I AM GONE; 12 ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS TO TELL A LIFE STORY makes the case for writing an ethical will, which is a life narrative to leave to your loved ones after you go to. In 2024, he retired and became Senior Rabbi Emeritus of Wilshire Boulevard Temple.