BY TONY CARO Do you ever lay awake at night and wonder if there are aliens out there? Or if there are lizard people living in the center of the Earth? Comedian and conspiracy theorist Sam Tripoli doesn’t, because he has no doubt in his mind that there are. In his podcast, Tinfoil Hat, Sam Tripoli and Eddie Bravo talk conspiracy theories, ranging from the undoubtedly insane to the serious and most likely true theories that demand your concern. Frequently a regular on the Joe Rogan Show, Sam makes talking conspiracy hilarious, but when it comes down to it, he doesn’t shy away from saying what he really thinks, even if the truth isn’t what people want to hear. Based in Los Angeles, Sam Tripoli and Eddie Bravo will be in town on October 12th performing at Punch Line Philly for an hour of standup, and to answer the audience’s burning questions about what is actually true in an age of sweeping censorship. We were able to get him on the phone to tell us about his upcoming show, and to drop his signature truth bombs on us.
DISCUSSED: Alex Jones, InfoWars, censorship, the truth behind the Moon landing, the JFK assassination, 
Roswell, and the flat Earth. The Armenian Genocide, geopolitics, the two party system of the U.S. government, the CIA, the NSA, the FBI, the Lifelog Project, Facebook, and the growing lack of privacy in modern times.
PHAWKER: For the benefit of our readers please explain what the Tinfoil Hat podcast is all about and, again for the benefit of those who may not know, why it’s called Tinfoil Hat.
SAM TRIPOLI: It’s a comedy/standup/conspiracy extravaganza. We have two of the funniest conspiracy theorists, myself, and Eddie Bravo, and we do like an hour of regular standup, and then we take questions from the crowd. He’s always done Joe Rogan and I have my Tinfoil Hat podcast. People love that and ask questions and it goes really well. People love this show. It’s been really well received. The name Tinfoil Hat is basically NWA. I just took the phrase that people use to make fun of conspiracy theorists and tried to turn it into a positive. My goal is that one day when you Google “tinfoil hat,” my podcast is the first thing that comes up.
PHAWKER: Again, for the benefit of readers that may not know, please explain the Tinfoil Hat a reference to?
SAM TRIPOLI: The whole belief was that the government was sending out like a radio wave to cook your brain so you’d put on a tinfoil hat on to stop the waves from getting in. Which is hilarious because that’s now what 5G is.
PHAWKER: So then what is the live touring comedy version of that? What can people expect?
SAM TRIPOLI: People can expect an hour of crush, some really funny standup, and then some fun Q&A, man. I mean it’s just like, we answer all the— It’s a great show. If you love conspiracy, or if you’re interested in a different kind of comedy this is the show for you. Sometimes when you get political in shows you lose the crowd, but you can’t do it in this show. People are there to hear us drop some truth bombs.
PHAWKER: Totally. For sure.
SAM TRIPOLI: We always welcome all the CIA and the NSA and the FBI, there’s always at the show. We love and welcome them to the show
PHAWKER: Do you know that they’re at your show?
SAM TRIPOLI: No, but I’m sure that they are. I’m sure they’re lizard people there. Yeah, lizard people are everywhere. They’re bisexual. They like to get weird.
PHAWKER: Given your Armenian heritage, is there anything you would like to say about the Armenian Genocide, the concerted effort to deny and cover it up and what is going on in present day Turkey, i.e. Erdogan.
SAM TRIPOLI: Well I mean it’s just it’s super tragic. I mean it’s just like a million people were slaughtered. And then because it’s geopolitics certain people don’t want to recognize it, and it’s really dark man. There’s some dark forces involved, you know? Isreal doesn’t want to recognize it because they’re allies with, or at least they were allies with Turkey, and the U.S. is allies with Isreal. It’s just ridiculous, dude. I had a great Uncle who’s affected by that. He was in the middle of the Genocide. He survived, thank God. But the fact that there’s something called the Young Turks out there, that’s even more offensive. It’s unbelievable, how when a group has no power, how they get no respect. It’s unbelievable.
PHAWKER: Yeah, I have a friend who’s Armenian, and she does not like the Turkish at all.
SAM TRIPOLI: Yeah, dude. It is weird and it’s really unfortunate, because it was a war crime. They slaughtered people, and just because of geopolitics no body wants to recognize it. There’s a whole bunch of other stuff that I want to get into, but it’s really dark. It’s really dark, it’s politics, and it fucking sucks.
PHAWKER: I hear you. Let’s get into some high-profile conspiracies. I’ll throw them out, and you can briefly say where you stand on each and why, okay?
SAM TRIPOLI: Fun.
PHAWKER: The Moon landing was a hoax?
SAM TRIPOLI: I don’t trust anything NASA says, so I don’t know, man. NASA makes 50 mil a day. They have every reason to BS. 50 mil a day. Think about that. Think about that. I mean it’s unbelievable. Yeah, I mean they’ve been caught lying before. They’re lying now. Here’s my opinion: we’ve never get past the Van Allen belt, or we’re on all the planets. That’s my opinion.
PHAWKER: Do you know off the top of your head what NASA’s been caught lying about before?
SAM TRIPOLI: Oh, dude, they said that they basically had accidentally destroyed all the data from the moon landing. It’s unbelievable. It’s unbelievable. Like, dude, Nixon called space. Are you serious? On a landline? I can’t even get service in Burbank near my house. This guy’s on a landline calling astronauts in space. Are you serious? This shit’s ridiculous!
PHAWKER: What do you think about, contrary to scientific opinion, the notion that the Earth is actually flat?
SAM TRIPOLI: Well, I mean, that’s anything. I believe that it’s round only because I’ve been told that. I’ve done no research. I’ve done zero research. And it doesn’t affect me either way. I don’t really care. I care more about the two party system. This endless war and how we’re treating the rest of the world. That upsets me. Whether we’re on the globe or on a petri dish, it doesn’t bother me either way.
PHAWKER: That’s fair. What about the conspiracy theory to kill JFK?
SAM TRIPOLI: Aw, yeah, man. Documents were put out. And people want to act like there’s nothing in the documents. There’s tons of stuff. One guy testified that he believes the CIA was behind it. I mean, basically, the CIA, the federal reserve and the mob took him out. I mean he said he was going the smash the CIA into little pieces. Dude, you pissed them off. And then he wanted to get rid of the federal reserve. That pissed them off too. I mean, dude, every president who’s ever tried to get rid of the federal reserve, they’ve tried to assassinate. Every one of them. George Bush is one of the most evil dudes out there. George Herbert Walker Bush is one of the most evil people that ever walked the planet.
PHAWKER: What do you think about Roswell?
SAM TRIPOLI: Oh, dude, yeah, man. There’s aliens, dude. For sure, dude. For sure. That thing’s real. What happened. Area 51’s real, but the real good shit is out in a mountain 10 miles away that’s been hollowed out and turned into a giant underground base. Dude, you can actually google pictures and see the entrance to it. I’ve heard stories of people who’ve had to going there. Did you know that there’s probably most likely underground bases under the U.S. that go from coast to coast?
PHAWKER: That would be insane.
SAM TRIPOLI: It is. It’s crazy right? And with the Denver airport all the royal families from all over the world, all own property by the Denver airport. It’s crazy.
PHAWKER: Why by the Denver airport?
SAM TRIPOLI: Because the Denver airport’s got all this shady shit under it. There’s like giant tunnels under it. It went way over budget. They took out too much dirt. It’s all in case the nuclear war happens. All the elites go underground. It’s crazy, dude.
PHAWKER: Oh yeah. What are your thoughts on InfoWars and Alex Jones?
SAM TRIPOLI: I mean, I think we’re losing what’s going on here. I think we’re okay with censorship because people don’t like what Alex said, and I just think that that’s a dangerous, dangerous path, because who decides who’s good. Who’s the good content, and who’s the bad content, and who decides that? I mean Alex is a crazy person, but just like a broken clock he’s right here and there. And he was talking about some serious stuff. Now, he’s also admitted that’s he’s character and some other stuff. Some people think that he’s a controlled opposition and that’s definitely possible, but like, dude, I mean censorship really sucks, man. It’s really crazy. It’s not really even that they’re going after the right, they’re going after people who question authority and bring up great points, and really put out the news that the mainstream media will never tell you. And they’re scared, and this is all control. You know what’s so crazy, dude? Facebook. The Pentagon had a program called the Lifelog Project. Have you ever heard this?
PHAWKER: No.
SAM TRIPOLI: The Lifelog Project was stopped Feb 4th, 2004. Do you know what else was basically was invented or registered that day?
PHAWKER: What?
SAM TRIPOLI: Facebook. Lifelog was going to be a computer program that stored all your life’s data.
PHAWKER: Wow, that’s crazy.
SAM TRIPOLI: Facebook. Snapchat. They’re all fucking CIA. They’re all backed by CIA.
PHAWKER: Well there’s not really privacy anymore, with all the programs like that.
SAM TRIPOLI: No, no, dude. It’s so funny. There’s no hacking. They mine the data. Facebook sold all your data, and then they put out these commercials talking about hacking, it’s like, no, dude, you sold all our data for profit. It’s crazy, and now google working with china. It’s getting ugly dude. I don’t know what it is about these nerds. They’re creating killer robots. AI. Apparently they don’t watch any fucking movies. This shit doesn’t work out for us.
PHAWKER: What was that one with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Skynet?
SAM TRIPOLI: Yeah, Terminator.
PHAWKER: Ah, yeah, yeah.
SAM TRIPOLI: Dude, it’s crazy, dude. We live in crazy, ass times. But it’s wonderful. It’s wonderful. I’d rather believe in lizard people than believe there’s human beings that are so cold and so dead inside that they make money off of people’s suffering. Its much better to believe that there’s lizard people running everything. It’s much easier.
PHAWKER: Yeah, now I’m just imagining lizard people running around everywhere.
SAM TRIPOLI: Yeah, man, definitely. There definitely in the middle of the Earth. Probably in Antarctica.
PHAWKER: Really?
SAM TRIPOLI: Yeah, for sure.
PHAWKER: Don’t you think there’s, like, lava in the middle of the Earth or something?
SAM TRIPOLI: Dude, do you know that the Earth is like, what, 100s or 1000s of miles deep. The crust.
PHAWKER: Something like that.
SAM TRIPOLI: We’ve only dug like 8 or 13 miles. We have no clue what’s in the middle.
PHAWKER: Yeah, man. I guess we haven’t been down there.
SAM TRIPOLI: Yeah. It’s hilarious. Dude, who knows, man. They need to listen to Admiral Byrd, and how he went to Antarctica and he fought Nazis and space UFOs in a battle. It’s all crazy. I believe it’s all real. I believe it’s all real. I believe like I believe everything. Like, we’re in a simulation. There’s aliens. It’s everything. Like every movie going on ever made all at one time. I believe all that.
TINFOIL HAT COMEDY (SAM TRIPOLI + EDDIE BRAVO) @ PUNCH LINE PHILLY 10/12