Due to recent recreational plans, my Coast to Coast AM listening has taken a bit of a hit recently. Fortunately Sundays have been reruns lately and George took his annual summer vacation a couple weeks back, so I didn't miss much. But I did miss out on the return of Ross Mitchell last week. I was able to catch the last few minutes of him before Ian came on though, so was able to listen to Ol' Punnett announce for Ross for a change--which, of course, was more or less C2C comedic gold.

Thankfully, my schedule this week seems a bit less daunting, so I finally got the chance to listen Monday night. Upon discovering the show's guest (Brother Michael Dimond) and topic ('Counterfeit' Catholicism) however, I became less enthusiastic. Save for the late, great Father Malachi Martin, religious-themed Coast shows do little for me. It's alright if they mix it up with ghosts or out of body experiences, but bible-thumping isn't my idea of a good time. That said (and with little else to do with my time), I gave the show a chance anyway.

Almost from the get-go, I knew this show wouldn't be as lame as I first thought. It might even be something special.

Lately, I've found that Coast to Coast has been lacking something--conflict. Almost a year since the great Shostak vs. Freidman bout and the 9/11 roundtable, controversial guests have basically been enjoying pats on the back and soft-ball interviewing at the hands of George Noory. Well, not so on Monday night.

Sounding more like C2C's favorite religious fanatic 'JC', Brother Michael is about as strictly Catholic as they come. With 'go to hell' this and 'eternal damnation' that, even the usually complacent Noory seemed disturbed. No matter what scenario George came up with regarding non-Catholics, Brother Michael would always respond with an emphatic, 'if you're not Catholic, you're going to hell.' This quickly became Noory's bone of contention with Michael, as it seemed that every other question he would ask whether or not a particular group of well-meaning but non-Catholic peoples would be able to get into heaven.

Because of the obviously controversial speech being spewed that night (the guest basically said a large percentage of the listeners would burn for eternity), George Noory predicted a heated call-in segment. Personally, I couldn't wait for it. I had heard enough of this guy in about the first 20 minutes of the interview, but I knew that callers would more or less rip him a new one if given the opportunity. Thankfully, George decided to go to the calls a half hour early. Thanks Noory.

The last hour and a half of the episode turned out to be so ridiculous that I found myself laughing out loud at each of Brother Michael's responses. Though I must give him props for staying true to his message. They guy stayed strong and didn't back down, so for that I'm impressed.

But then, as if this interview couldn't get any stranger, the unthinkable happened. The previously alluded to caller, 'JC', came on and tore into Brother Michael like a rabid beast. I did find it a bit suspicious that 'JC' just so happened to get on so conveniently (he's definitely a C2C sponsored joke caller--I'm sure of that now), but the name-calling match that ensued was nothing short of classic. Usually I wouldn't approve of George humiliating a guest on the air like that, but Michael got what he had coming to him, and it was far more entertaining than Noory just ending the interview early. Highlights of 'JC's latest appearance include his saying that Brother Michael sounded like a homosexual (I thought he sounded like the teacher from Beavis and Butthead) and the two simply calling each other morons.

If you have access to a recording of this episode, I highly suggest you give it a listen. I usually don't deal with shows like this one, but the absurdity of the guest was like nothing I've heard on Coast in a while. Congrats, George--it looks like you've still got some standards on what you'll let guests say on the air. Now if you would only have ‘JC’ call in when Sean David Morton shows up...