At What Point is The End Actually The Beginning? When WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE (EVEN JAY BARUCHEL) Debuts!

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede With the Crave Original series WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE (EVEN JAY BARUCHEL) debuting Saturday, April 30, the host was asked if he’s ready to be widely known as “the face of the apocalypse.” “I have been the face of other things, so ‘apocalypse’ would be a step up,” Baruchel said. But then he remembered the current state of the world. “You know what? Now that I’ve taken it to that place, I don’t want to be the face of the apocalypse,” he said. “I’ll be the face of the one where all the movie stars get killed, that’s fine.” Baruchel, of course, is a well-known Canadian comedian and actor (This Is The End, Goon, Tropic Thunder, Knocked Up), but in WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE he calls upon experts in science, psychology, pop culture, and philosophy for a lighthearted but sobering examination of the various ways in which human beings could perish. The episode titles get right to the point: Asteroid Armageddon, Nuclear Catastrophe, Pandemic Pandemonium, Alien Invasion, Volcanic Cataclysm, and Climate Apocalypse. If this is really “the end of the world as we know it” – as the old song goes – does Baruchel feel fine? The Lede got some answers: Q: Legendary comedian George Carlin had a routine where he said, the Earth is a regenerating organism, but it’s people who are doomed. This show is kind of “part two” to that routine, but with lots of science and innovative graphics to back it up. JAY BARUCHEL: “Absolutely, and it turns out there’s a lot to be scared of. I tend to think we are kind of ‘fraidy cats’ as a species anyway, because there has never been a time in human history where we weren’t convinced we were at the end of our story. That occupies some pretty significant cultural territory throughout history. But it can also be true that we are increasingly on a razor’s edge, which I think our show does a pretty conclusive job of illustrating. There’s plenty to be concerned about, and I think it’s healthy to know that, but it’s also healthy to unpack what we can do to mitigate, or even, hopefully, stop or prevent.” Q: In some ways, it’s too bad this show is so relevant. JAY BARUCHEL: “Yeah, you’re not wrong. After doing the whole thing, I walked away much more afraid of one threat than any of the others, and that was the threat of nuclear war. The difference is in how the experts talk about it. Everybody else (the experts on other subjects) talked about the threats they faced with a sort of assumption that we would be able to figure it out, and reason our way out of it. But no nuclear expert does that, or can do that, in good conscience. They are, as they should be, rightfully always afraid. And you can hear that concern in their voices. It’s a sincere, informed concern.” Q: The show states that 99% of all species that have ever lived on Earth are now extinct, and some people might react to that by saying, “see, this happens all the time, quit bellyaching.” But there was also the chilling reminder that species that go extinct tend to stay extinct. So there’s not going to be a second chance for humans. JAY BARUCHEL: “And just because something is happening, that has never once really meant, just throw your hands up and give up. You’re right, a bunch of people could potentially use that data and say, ‘well, you know, smoke if you got ’em.’ But it’s utter nonsense, because it’s 99% of species, not 100%. I would posit that we are one of the most insufferably resilient species ever. And that in itself is not a reason to just assume we’re going to land on our feet, either. Why are we resilient? Because we problem-solve. That’s what we should take faith in. But it’s not the natural order. And yet we’re smart, we’re adaptable, and we’re relatively robust. So hopefully at least an element of us will be here, maybe forever.” Q: Last thing, in those scenes where you have a big crowded bulletin board with all those world-ending possibilities on it, and strings tied to thumb tacks, connecting things to each other, you look like Mulder on THE X-FILES, in his basement office at the FBI. Maybe you’re the new Mulder. JAY BARUCHEL: “Oh God, man, you have just made my year. You’re going to hear the sound of glass breaking as my head swells and explodes out of the (bleeping) windows here at Bell Media. Yeah, thank you. Love it. I’m telling everyone.” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv