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Emery Emery (born December 25, 1963) is an American comedian, film editor and producer, and outspoken atheist, known for his contribution to numerous comedy-related films and TV shows, his two podcasts, Skeptically Yours, and the award-winning Ardent Atheist. Further, he has the distinction of being a contributor to The Atheist's Guide to Christmas, and the editor of the documentary The Aristocrats.
Emery moved to Costa Mesa in 1991, where he continued his comic career in various comedy clubs in Southern California. He expressed frustration with the state of comedy at the time, saying "There's no camaraderie.... There's no argument about what's right or wrong to do." Nonetheless, he continued to perform stand-up in California and around the country, and gained recognition, with news sources saying he "packs a wicked comic punch" and "pushes hard against the boundaries of good taste and manners." In 1995, he released a CD, The Purveyor of Filth, which included his stand-up routines and what he described as "prose in the form of spoken word." He noted that it had "been called everything from brilliant twisted ramblings to the sick scratchings of an obviously, sociopathic malcontent. Both are right."
In 1997, he moved back to Kansas City, and had a stint as the host of a radio show, Saturday Mornings with Emery Emery and Raine on KCKC for nine months before moving to Los Angeles.
His most recent editing project has been the TV movie House of Lies Live. Other projects in which Emery has worked in his capacity as an editor and/or producer include Teller's show Play Dead, which went to the Montreal Fantasia Film Festival, The Green Room with Paul Provenza, Chris Porter: Screaming from the Cosmos, Jake Johannsen: I Love You, , and Heckler with Jamie Kennedy.
In October 2019, a special preview of the Skeptoid Media documentary, Science Friction, was shown at CSICon in Las Vegas. Through a series of interviews, the film addresses the issue of scientists and skeptics being misrepresented by the media. Directed by Emery and produced by Brian Dunning, release of the film is scheduled for 2020.
In May 2013, comedian Doug Stanhope asked Emery to help raise money for an Indiegogo fundraiser he started for Rebecca Vitsmun, who lost her house in the 2013 Moore tornado. When CNN reporter Wolf Blitzer asked Vitsmun if she "thanked the Lord," she replied, "I'm actually an atheist." Emery sent out e-mails to 20 key celebrities in the atheist movement, and the fundraising effort quickly garnered support from Penn Jillette, the James Randi Educational Foundation, The American Humanist Association, American Atheists, The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, and Ricky Gervais. The fundraiser met its goal of $50,000 within 17 hours, but Stanhope decided to continue it until the July 23rd deadline. In the end, Vitsum received $125,760.
Emery has also indicated that he is interested in community-building with other atheists and non-religious, through organizations such as Sunday Assembly. He said in a piece by Becky Garrison that church for him was essentially getting together with like-minded people and building a community.
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