Exclusive Interview with Mr. Deity

Check out our Exclusive Interview with Brian Dalton (Mr. Deity)!

This is the 25th post in our TV Series of the Week series.

Mr. Deity is a hilarious webshow that follows the daily life of the creator and the trials that come with managing his creation. Luckily he is not alone as he has help from Jesse (the savior, the boy), his assistant Larry and his on and off girlfriend, Lucy (Lucifer). The show is geared toward making you laugh while trying to explain some of those infamous contradictions.

Stephanie Schoppert: What first inspired you to create this series?

Brian Dalton: I was inspired by the 2004 Asian Tsunami. It was just one of the most gratuitous awful things I can remember in my lifetime. My brother-in-law (at the time) was from Sri-Lanka, and his family lost a number of people they’d known. I saw how it affected him, and the classic question of theodicy (how there can be evil when God is all-good, all-knowing, and all-powerful) kept rolling around in my head. So, I wrote this short script about it which people now know as Mr. Deity and the Evil. That’s what started this ball rolling.

Stephanie: What would you say is your favorite episode of the series?

Brian: That’s a really hard question because I like different episodes for different reasons. There are a number of episodes that are just pure comedy — they have nothing much to say philosophically, but rather go for the joke. In that vein, I love Mr. Deity and the Man from this third season. Of the ones that have a bit more to say, I really love Mr. Deity and the Evil from season one, and Mr. Deity and the Book, Part Deux from season three.


Stephanie: What would you like to have happen with this show?

Brian: We really want to expand the show and do it as a half-hour, one-camera sitcom.


Stephanie: Is it all about being a skeptic and questioning religion? Are you against religion itself or just the hypocrisies that may be found within it?

Brian: The show is all about whatever I’m feeling when I write the episode. Sometimes, it’s just pure comedy. Religion has been so sacrosanct for so long that it’s presently a goldmine of rarely excavated material. So, when I just want to have fun with it, that’s what I do. But sometimes I want to educate. In a culture like our own, where the majority religion still saturates our public lives, it’s very hard to step back and look at the things we believe and hold dear. I know how hard it is, because I was entirely devout for a while. What I like to do is hold up a bit of a mirror and say, “in any other circumstance, you would probably see the absurdity of this or that belief. Look, if you dare.”

As for religion, I am generally opposed to people taking religion seriously. In general, I’m opposed to any philosophy or ideology to which a greater measure of devotion results in a more frightening world. I believe that religion should be used like any other recreational drug: One should engage in it sparingly. It should never be allowed to take over one’s life. It should be kept private. It should not be exposed to children. And one should always have a large bag of Doritos nearby in case the munchies set in.

Stephanie: Your shows seems to take place in no real frame of time because things in the present affect things that happen in the past and things that have yet to happen yet will be mentioned. Do you do this as part of a criticism as “Mr. Deity” being all-knowing or is it more a way of making it reachable to a wider audience?

Brian: One of the things that I love about writing the show is that there are no boundaries. You have a central character who, along with his associates, can do anything, anywhere, at any time. There’s really no statement there. It’s just a fantastic set-up.

Stephanie: Have you ever come under fire for some of things you say on the show?

Brian: The most criticism I received was for the episode with George W. Bush. Both sides hated me for that one, and I learned my lesson — stay away from politics! The other episode that got me a bit of heat was the episode about 9/11. I think that for some people, it’s never going to be okay to comment on that event or make humorous observations about the way people deal with that kind of tragedy. I understand that position, and I have great empathy for it. I simply don’t agree, and I certainly don’t think that the rest of us should have our thoughts and feelings held hostage because someone might be tender.

You have a nothing is safe approach to the show, after all you sell T-shirts that say “Breast Cancer?” “Yeah Leave it in.” Are you pushing boundaries for the sake of pushing boundaries or is there a true ulterior motive here?

Brian: I actually created that shirt for a fan in her late ‘20s with whom I’ve become good friends. She devoted her life to social work, got married, adopted two little girls, and was then struck by cancer, which has since spread to nearly every part of her body. When she originally wrote me, they didn’t think she’d make it to Christmas (’08). Thank whomever, she’s still with us.

As for pushing the envelope, I’d say I’m a little late to that party, if that was my intention. I don’t really even think in those terms. I just write what I think and feel. If I can’t defend what I’ve written, we don’t shoot it. If anyone in the cast thinks I’m taking a cheap shot or being mean-spirited, we don’t shoot it. I don’t want to offend. I know that’s not always possible, but I really do try hard to keep my motives pure and my scripts free of "pushing the envelope" for the sake thereof.

Stephanie: Did you ever really understand the holy trinity?

Brian: No. And I’m in really good company — with everyone else who has ever lived!


Stephanie: You seem to know quite a bit about religion, were you raised in a religious household?

Brian: I grew up as a Mormon. I now call myself a Formon (former Mormon). I didn’t take to it well until I was 17. Then, I got religion with a vengeance (as Woody Allen might say). I became frighteningly devout. Instead of my parents telling their teenage son that I needed to get my act together, I was telling them how they ought to be living. Over the course of the next ten years, I gradually thought my way out (as an old friend had predicted I would).

Anyone who knows me will tell you that whatever I do, I do it 209.43%! Religion was no different. I read, and read, and read. Not just Mormon stuff, but everything I could get my hands on that had to do with religion. I know Christianity, Mormonism, and Judaism backwards and forwards.

Stephanie: Do you think your episodes have taken on a more intellectual side as they have progressed and gotten longer or has it just been the natural progression from asking questions?

Brian: Season three is much more “edgy” than season two. But the first season is pretty heady (I think) and vocal, and I think I’ve simply gotten back to that in season three. I will admit that I am presently much more concerned about the effects of religion than I was three years ago when we started. I’ve had a lot of emails from believers that have concerned me. Most of the email I get from believers is very positive. Having been a true believer myself, I knew when I started this that the vast majority of them would be able to laugh at the show. And that has been the case. But, there are a significant number of people out there who take their monotheism very seriously, and truly believe that I’m going to Hell, and dragging others down with me. I’ve never received any kind of physical threat, but I have been truly disturbed at how people cannot see how entirely evil the doctrines of Hell, damnation, and sin can be. I have realized from these emails that the more devout people are, the more we’re all in serious and immanent danger.

Stephanie: You are obviously a skeptic and like to question religion and in one episode you allow a skeptic into heaven, is this indicative of your own belief of what would happen if heaven did exist? Do you think you have what it takes to talk your way into heaven?

Brian: Well, I don’t think it’s a matter of talking my way in. I really do believe that if there is some a God up there, I have nothing to fear. I know my heart, and I know I’ve made an honest attempt to search for truth. One of the reasons I am where I am philosophically is that when I was a believer, I took Jesus seriously. He said the truth will set you free, and so that’s what I’ve pursued. To me, the Christian idea that God cares about what you think and believe more than what you do and how you live your life, is the most evil doctrine ever conceived. If God exists and he is actually good, I’m covered.

Stephanie: “Mr. Deity” is supposed to be all knowing and all powerful and yet your portray him in the manner of someone who is just winging it and trying to figure it out as they go. Was the reasoning behind this solely comedic or do you consider it just another device to encourage people to start asking questions?

Brian: Mr. Deity doesn’t keep his all-knowingness turned on — it’s just too disturbing for him. That also gives him some cover (ignorance is bliss). It’s also impossible to have conversations like we do on the show, when one of the participants is all-knowing. His response would be, “yeah, I know,” to everything that is said.

Stephanie: Voltaire once stated that “If God did not exist, it would be necessary for us to create him.” How do you feel about that statement is the idea of religion necessary? Especially in this new modern age that we are living in?

Brian: I think Voltaire was probably right. Although, I don’t know that mankind needed monotheism. To me, that’s where things start getting ugly, because in it’s most primitive form, monotheism has to be intolerant. The only way you get rid of that is to secularize both the state, and to the extent possible, the religion itself. We have done that fairly well here in America by stripping religion of it’s power and making it compete in the marketplace. Subjecting religion to the pressures of competition has reduced religion in America (for the most part) to it’s lowest common denominator — fast and easy salvation.

Stephanie: You have a new series that is a bit more down to Earth, shall we say, what can you tell us about it?

Brian: Our new series is kind of a behind the scenes show of Deity, and a behind the scenes show of itself. We basically just play versions of ourselves (I’m the most warped version because I know how far I’m willing to push it). Everything that happens on the show is reality based. We just bee it up or change the circumstances a bit. It’s a lot of fun, and a great diversion/extension of Mr. Deity and the Deity universe (so to speak).

To learn more about the official website. arry