The Comedy Cellar: Live from the Table - Critical Thinking with Warren Smith

Episode Date: June 20, 2024

Warren Smith is a teacher, volunteer firefighter and founder of the Secret Scholars on YouTube. He was recently fired from his teaching position after he went viral for teaching his students to think critically.

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Music Music Music Music Music This is Live from the Table, the official podcast of the world-famous comedy cellar coming at you on SiriusXM 99 Raw Comedy and available as a podcast, available on YouTube. Noam, this is Dan Adderman.

Noam will be joining us soon. He's downstairs eating Il Molino. To be honest with you, I don't know if he's ever coming up. No, he's coming up. Well, it's hard to tear him away from Il Molino. That's Perry L. Ashenbrand. She's our producer. She's here with us.

We've got Max Marcus, the sound magician working the sound. We have with us from the great state of Massachusetts, Warren Smith, teacher, volunteer, firefighter, founder of the Secret Scholars on YouTube. What's the Secret Scholars? Secret Scholars Society. Secret Scholars Society.

Yes. I began writing a story. That's where it came from. I was fascinated about World War II and the roles that the... World War II has given us such entertainment, has it not? I'm not saying it was worth the 50 million dead, but... A lot of movies.

A lot of great stories. A lot of great entertainment. A lot of wisdom. And comedy, even comedy. You know, the producers. Anyway, so I was fascinated by the role that the universities played, like in the lead up to, before Pearl Harbor, like Roosevelt. You know, 90% of Americans were against getting involved in the lead up to before pearl harbor like roosevelt you know most 90 of americans were against getting involved in the war so roosevelt asked the president of harvard james conan to go

secretly meet with churchill and they kind of knew war was coming and so they smuggled all this secret scientific research back to cambridge and started secret lab and you know like oppenheimer that movie came out and touched on a little bit of this, but it was big between all those universities. I was fascinated by this idea of the role that the scholars played. It was before the CIA.

This was before the bomb project. What were they working on prior to that? Sonar. Radar. They were also in the very early stages of what Oppenheimer started working on with the atomic project. So it was pretty cool. I found it fairly fascinating,

and I kind of stumbled upon it when I was doing this research. So yeah, I just kind of loved the name. Started writing fictional stories around it, and then that turned into a YouTube channel, and the name stuck is all. And you're also a firefighter. A volunteer firefighter.

Now, in New York City, the firefighters get paid. It's very different. I'm in a little town in the middle of the woods. So there's never any fires? I've had two since joining in the last year. I've been there six months. I'm assuming you have to train for that. You can't just become...

Well, you know, you're a lanky guy, which I think is aesthetically very pleasing, but how do you lug all that equipment? I can lug equipment. It's just I'm lanky. But the firefighters in New York, none of them look like you. They're all beefy. Very true.

Accurate observation. Yeah. But there must be a paid fire. We get paid when we're Responding to calls We get paid a little bit It's not the same We get paid for doing this podcast

But not too much You also have a locals page A locals page Where I'm just trying to raise some money You're trying to raise some money Because you were recently Let go And that provoked A bit of a You're trying to raise some money because you were recently let go.

And that provoked a bit of a firestorm, I guess, speaking of fires, on X or Twitter or whatever the hell it's called now. But tell us about that. And Elon Musk came to your support. Yeah, originally with that video. And when I posted that video about getting fired, I hope I wasn't confusing about the Elon part. Some people took it as me saying, oh, if Elon hadn't posted that,

I wouldn't have gotten fired. But my point was, had he not posted that, I probably would have gotten fired after that. Well, can you tell us all about this? Because for people that don't know what happened, there was a video of me teaching and I'd been uploading on that YouTube page for a while. Like I mentioned narrative films and all that. And it wasn't really getting any traction. But for a while I had been interested in like what Jordan Peterson had been doing by recording

his lectures. That's smart. Kill two birds with one stone. So I was doing that a bit, and one little clip I uploaded seemed to attract some attention, and I wasn't really active on Twitter, but someone else was,

and they pulled the clip and posted it on there. I didn't even know it, and he tweeted it out, and that's how this whole thing started. And what did you teach? What were you teaching? Multimedia, so like podcasting, video editing, photo editing, 3D printing, digital art.

And what was the clip that went viral? Yeah, we were doing a newscast, and the student had cold feet, so I kind of was like, here, I'll just sit in the chair for a minute, just warm up, treat it like a podcast. What's something that you would ask on a podcast? Well, I'd like to know your thoughts on J.K. Rowling.

All right, hit record. Okay, these guys want to talk about J.K. Rowling, so what's up? And he was like, so what are your thoughts on how do you view Harry Potter now given J.K. Rowling's bigoted beliefs? And I just said, well, first let's start with is J.K. Rowling bigoted?

And we just kind of walked through that, asked, what are you basing that on? Oh, well, these tweets. Okay, can we take a look at the tweets? We examined the tweets, and by the end of it, I mean, the whole video was like four minutes, five minutes. By the end of it, he just changed his mind. He was like, oh, yeah, I feel like an idiot now.

I was like, that's cool. That's why we do this. It's about how to think, not what to think. It doesn't sound that exciting. I didn't think it was that interesting, honestly. I thought it was interesting enough to upload to my little poding channel, but that's not saying much given the caliber of stuff that was on there previously. That's how it came about.

And then what what happened why were you let go from your job the official reason um let's see four months went by and i started with another teacher we started building the channel out we set up a studio in my house using personal equipment tried to separate it all because there was a bit of a a bit of tension after that with the school. After you got fired? No, after I uploaded

that initial video. Like the next day, Piers Morgan had me on and the leadership, there's the top person and I don't want to like reveal anything, but the person in charge.

Of the school? Of the school who's not really in the building but like they work in a whole separate building with the lawyers and everything it got after i did pierce morgan the principal was like we just got to meet with her because this is beyond me i don't really know what to do because you're probably going to be getting people asking you to do stuff after this but what was the fallout after the video but before pierce morgan yeah i don't really understand for the listeners that weren't following the story, what

was said that was so inflammatory or went so viral that Pierce Morgan wanted to have you on his show? It was just how many people saw the video which sounds, when I put it like this without seeing, it doesn't really add up and it's ridiculous. Should we pull up the video? If you want to.

Max, can you pull up the video it's on your twitter it's kind of funny describing it without you guys you guys are like the first people i've spoken to that have like sat me down to talk to me without seeing the video first this is actually really interesting most people just want to talk to me about this video and i'm so sick of it to be honest well now not only are you sick of it, but now you're going to have to watch it again. I guess. It's on your Twitter? It is.

Okay. I think. Okay, but so while. I can just describe it. Yeah, well, I think it's good to play it, not for us, but for the listeners and viewers. But while he's doing that, why don't you give us a little background of. Yeah, so do Piers Morgan come in the next day. I was just trying not to talk about it, and everybody had seen it.

So he's like, all right, let's do a meeting at 11. So I met with the head leadership and the lawyers, and they're like, well, the student doesn't appear on screen. You don't reveal the school. It doesn't break any rules. And they were like, the reception was very good comments are very positive and this is so let's fire you well they didn't fire me as a thing and my point was had elon not elevated to that level because my thinking is they were probably like there's so

many eyes on us right now if we fire this guy then the optics aren't that's just my speculation okay it's just my speculation but so some people are theorizing like they just waited until the 15 minutes of fame kind of passed but the reason i got fired was built the channel and then i had an almost identical interaction with a different student and we got permission from the parents. Usually I have the releases, like the video release and the audio releases, which is what I've been using prior to that. Is it this first video? Which one is it? Yeah, try and click that one.

Let's see. Okay, now just go to most popular video yeah the top one yeah it this seems so silly now watching because it's not that i don't and it hasn't gotten that many views on here it blew up on x It got like 40 million or something. 40 million. Oh, my God. How long is this thing?

Four minutes. Okay, we're not going to watch the whole thing. Can you get ad revenue from that? On YouTube. I didn't make a dime on X. Oh, you don't make money on X. No. No.

I was trying to figure out how to make money off your... Well, that's the question. That's what I've been trying to figure out. So I was like, well, I'm going to build a YouTube channel, try and make the most of this crazy opportunity. You know? I mean... Maybe we'll get 40 million views, Dan.

Why did you guys... What made you want to sit down with me? I'm just curious. Well, to be full disclosure, Noam Dorman said, let's get this guy on. And then Noam Dorman said, let's get this guy on. Oh. And then Noam Dorman is downstairs eating Italian. No, but he's going to come back up.

So you'll forgive us, you know, for our lack of knowledge about. I. Want me to play the video? Yeah. Hit it. Looks like Adrian Brody, by the way. So what's going on? What do you want me to play the video yeah hit it looks like adrian brody by the way so what's going on with that what do you want to know uh she's she's had a pretty controversial past i just want to know like what are your thoughts on it and like do you still like her work despite her uh bigoted opinions so let's get specific though let's define bigoted opinions what opinions are bigoted

we're going to treat this as a thought experiment I'm not gonna say what's right or wrong or what way to think the whole point is to learn how to think not what to think yeah so when you say bigot you're starting with the conclusion that given her bigoted opinions yeah first let's start with does she have bigoted opinions so when you say bigoted opinions She has had a history of being extremely transphobic, I've heard. I've heard. Can you give me an example? If you look at her Twitter, I think you could see a few things.

If you want, I could try and find something. Yeah, see if you can find one. So one of these tweets that she came up with in 2019, she said, Dress however you please, call yourself whatever you like, sleep with any consenting adult who will have you, live your best life in peace and security, but force women out of their jobs

for stating that sex is real. So you find that bigoted? What do you find about it? It was deemed transphobic. Like, I myself. Do you find that transphobic yourself? I don't really have an opinion on it, but I'm just going with what a lot of other people have said.

So let's pause it. Let's not go with what other people are saying. Let's try and learn how to critically think. So let's analyze it. Let's not go with what other people are saying. Let's try and learn how to critically think so let's analyze the tweet ourselves So that statement do you see anything problematic? Disregarding other people's opinions She did try and pin some things on a

Specific group of people. Where does she do that? Can you read that? But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real. So when I hear that I'm interpreting that as meaning if a woman says that, you know, saying that there's a difference between men and female and then being attacked as transphobic I think that's what she's saying by attacking someone for stating that sex is real that is exactly what she's saying is that transphobic to you so to me no stating that sex is real is not transphobic it's just a fact of life it exists so is there anything you disagree with in that tweet?

In that tweet I can't really see anything that I myself disagree with but I Can see why some people would think oh, this is offensive. We can't have that here or something because sure There's an apology tweet. Let's read that. What did she say there? I haven't have that here or something because sure there's an apology tweet let's read that what did she say there I haven't read that I respect every trans person's right to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them I'd march with you if you were discriminated against on the basis of being trans at the same time my life has been shaped by being female. I

do not believe it is hateful to say so." You see anything problematic there? She's apologizing, so no, not really. If I could read it again. It sounds like the same, a very similar statement as what she was just saying. She's basically saying like, I have nothing, to me, this is what I interpret it as, I have nothing against someone being trans in your life, but you just don't get to impose on my, you can live how you want, I can live how I want.

Yeah. And let's all, you know. Exactly. So I guess now, so now that we're looking at it like, oh, there's not much difference between me or her, do you, how, why do you, do you think it's fair that there's a that she's being attacked by a large group of people and people are calling her like you said at the beginning of this conversation you said given the fact that JK Rowling is

transphobic how do you feel about Harry Potter now retroactively looking at that statement do you think that that was the best way to phrase? No, I feel like an idiot now. It's okay, though, but this is why we do this, to learn how to teach. Is that the crux of it? In my class, specifically... All right, so we have the gist of this. Well, you seem like a good teacher to me.

Yeah, you seem like a great teacher. I mean, unless you're a gym teacher, then what the fuck are you doing? This is high school? Yeah, okay. It sounds like 11th, 12th grade. Yeah. I mean... Are you a Harry Potter fan, by the way? Is that why

he brought it up in the first place? Probably. Okay. I know nothing about Harry Potter. Nothing about Harry Potter. The Sorcerer's Secret or something? I know that people who love Harry Potter get very sensitive when i say that i find the whole thing insufferable so i don't know anything about you for then the books

or the movies you seem like a book guy i grew up with the books okay yes i haven't read them so i can't if we are going to be critical i shouldn't say that i don't like well anyway so what happened with elon and then and then how did that boil over into your... So he tweeted it. He tweeted that video. Yeah, all it takes is one tweet from him. After you got fired? No, no, no. I just don't understand what is so controversial about... He's going to tell us what happened after Elon tweeted it.

So then I go on Pierce Morgan, have the meeting with the lawyers. They clear it, basically. And he's like, all Morgan, have the meeting with the lawyers. They clear it, basically. And he's like, all right, well, congratulations, good luck,

because you're going to, people are going to be, you know, this is going to bring opportunities and whatnot. Yeah, and you seem like a great teacher.

Oh, well, thank you. Yeah. Yeah, but forget teaching. You got a new career. Fuck those kids.

You're going to Hollywood, baby. Five months, four months go by, have an almost identical interaction. And I thought that was worth sharing. So I uploaded that. About Harry Potter again?

Except the student claimed she was racist. So ran through the exact same process. And to the same result. Same result. And many people thought that was fake. So I thought, well, they're going to have fun with this one then because they're really going to think this is fake, that it could happen twice. so i shared it got me i was like i need i want to make

sure we have permission from your parents though this time because there's more eyes on me and uh eight days go by and they call me into a meeting with that hit person through like an intercom just like this we were sitting at the table like this there's those three people and then phone they're like so we've decided we just want to part ways because uh we can't trust you not to upload stuff online and which video did elon tweet the first one is the one we just okay yeah the other one probably wasn't as you know but but so you're saying it was mostly the elon giving it all that attention that resulted in... I'm theorizing. I'm just, you know...

And this is a public school system? I don't want to say too much about anything that could be identifiable to the school. But that's... Why are you so protective of them? Well... Just for yourself, for your own... That's really... I'm just curious.

I thought about it. Like, you guys... You had Peter on. Well, anyways. There were people that offered crowdfunding. They're like, oh, you should fight this legally. Oh. Well, you can sue the school system. Well, I don't think they did anything suable.

I think because they have their ability, given that it's the way it's structured, it's essentially they can, just like any other business, they can hire and fire at their will. And I signed a contract where, I remember when I signed onto that school four years ago, I thought, that's unusual. I can be fired at any time for no reason.

Okay, okay. I mean, unless it was something to do with race or ethnicity and then you have a lawsuit. Right, well, because the first school I started at was a public school and that wasn't, that would be different. But this is just slightly different structure to school. Okay. And so they are within their rights, you know, and that doesn't, if they want to part ways that they have every right to do that. But the way it was done did feel a bit like I was just kind of deleted. That's what I said in that video. It was just, it wasn't like, oh, you've spent four years building this program out. And unfortunately, I understand you're trying to do something with YouTube. It might be a little bit of a liability for us.

So we just reluctantly felt a little bit different than that. It kind of felt like... What if they had said, okay, we'll keep you, but you got to just get rid of this YouTube channel? What would you have said at that point? That's an interesting question because it's such a remarkable opera and you would have said this and i think we just have to part ways probably honestly because it had been getting a bit i hate to use the word toxic it just had been getting very frustrating that environment where when something like that happens it's so unusual. Suddenly you have a coworker who's going on shows and talking to people like you guys and doing things like this.

And you have office politics that exacerbates it. So any weird dynamic is going to just... So there's a mixture of probably that, people that disagreed about even discussing J.K. Rowling or think she is problematic. What do you mean? How could you noted about even discussing JK Rowling or think she is problematic. What do you mean? How could you not discuss JK Rowling? Isn't she like the most famous author of like the past hundred years? Well, some would some made the argument that I guided the conversation or that she is transphobic and that has no place in the classroom. There's no no issue

is as simple as one explanation. It's always going to be one. Well, even if she is transferred, you didn't say whether she was or she wasn't. You just asked the kid. I mean, you specifically said. But that wasn't why the reason they gave for fire. And they were right. They said you were supposed to check a box,

a new, apparently a one-sentence email had gone out the same day as that meeting occurred after pierce morgan i was on my way to that meeting and i remember the principal telling me so blah blah blah the lady in charge she sent out an email but don't worry you're not in trouble and then i went in the meeting and i was like when they were like, okay, like no rules are broken, blah, blah, blah. So I went with that. But there was a one sentence email saying, if you're going to upload any videos online, check with your supervising principal. And there's multiple sets of principals.

But anyways, I didn't do that to be fair. So what about getting other teaching gigs? Are you now having difficulty? I mean, it's been about, I guess it's been four weeks now. Oh, this is all brand new. Yeah, you got to have some savings left. You need to talk to Elon Musk. We were just talking about crypto.

Oh, yeah. No, no. So I'm a little stressed about that, hence the locals. So, yeah, trying to figure it out, build the YouTube channel. But I'm so small, though. I've only got like almost at $100,000. But that's still, you don't make much money off. That's great, though.

That's a huge number for somebody who's just starting out to build something. Maybe you've got to start smashing Lamborghinis or something. Isn't that how Mr. Beast or Mr. Beast, rather? So have you tried to get other teaching jobs or it's just so brand new that you haven't had the opportunity? I've been, you know,

I got one email from a school overseas but I don't want to move to Europe right now or a place in Europe that's kind of in in embroiled in conflict so it's like called ukraine right right outside ukraine so i was like well i'd be happy to launch an online thing so i can uh you know because i enjoy the firefighting everything i'm trying to build something of my own but it sounds like this is actually a course that is so useful and necessary for especially high school kids.

Well, the course was media, right? Yes. It wasn't critical thinking. To be fair, that's true. Yeah, but critical thinking is... No, he put critical thinking in there, but that wasn't the course. I taught for many years. I taught writing, and critical thinking is an integral part of teaching anything.

I agree. Because you can't teach anything if the kids don't know how to fucking think critically. That's what Elon's tweet was. He said critical thinking should be the first thing taught in schools. Wow. Look at that. Well, Elon, as I understand it, has a buck or two. But he can't float you something.

Wait. So what happened with Piers Morgan? What was the whole spiel with Piers Morgan? It was just kind of, they were just like, could you run this? The principal that morning when I came in, he was like, because he'd just spoken to me about this

the day before when I was trying to ignore it. And he's like, dude, not talking about this is not going to work. Everybody's seen the video. And then I went on Piers Morgan. I didn't want to say anything because I didn't want to put him in an awkward position because then I knew he'd be like, well, I'm going not going to work. Everybody's seen the video. And then I went on Piers Morgan. I didn't want to say anything because I didn't want to put him in an awkward position

because then I knew he'd be like, well, I'm going to have to run it up to, you know. Oh God, it sounds like a nightmare. And then if they say no, I'm in that position where do I not go on Piers Morgan a once in a lifetime thing for a guy like me? It's like, I didn't want to be in that position. It was more of like a ask for forgiveness versus permission.

So you live in Mass? You live in Mass. I know you don't want to go to Europe, but would you consider a move to New York City because the comedy seller is always looking for waitstaff? And these people, I'm telling you, they make like two grand a week, I think, downstairs if you're waiting tables.

I don't know if you like to wait tables. Will you stop? I'm just floating it. No, I think, downstairs. If you're waiting tables. I don't know if you like to wait tables. Will you stop? I'm just floating it. No, I will consider that. Do you have experience? Waiting tables? Yeah. Do you have the authority to offer? I have the authority to suggest him putting in his resume.

Okay, okay. Living expenses, though, probably offset that. I love where I live. You're not married, no kids, right? I have a girlfriend who just moved in with her three-year-old. Does she want to move to New York? How serious is this? Pretty serious.

That kind of complicates things. The kid probably has to stay where he is, right? Yeah, right now. Because he's in school himself. He's about to be. We have the best school system. Can you tell us where in Mass? Yeah, it's right next to Concord in a little town. Oh, yeah, you mentioned that. It's a school himself. He's about to be, and we have the best school system. Can you tell us where in Mass? Yeah, it's right next to Concord in a little town.

Oh, yeah, you mentioned that. It's a tiny town. Yeah, you seem like from a small town. You don't seem like a city. Well, I'm from North Carolina. I'm a country boy, so coming to New York is always— I spent a summer in New York as an intern to a talent manager back in school, but whenever I come here, it's a bit stressful just driving in.

I was like, man, where am i going to park to come do this might be running a rally because um you know we have a lot of talent here at the comedy cell so if i if you know we have um any number i don't know how familiar you are with the world of stand-up comedy oh i've never tried it no but i don't think i'm very inherently funny but well no but i'm saying i'm saying there's a lot of interesting people that come here that you might meet. I have heard. I've heard this is the place to be for that. Well, for bumping into famous comedians, it's a place. And every now and again, famous non-comedians will stop by.

You know who Bill Gates was here a few weeks ago? You guys have had some really interesting people on the podcast. Oh, do you listen to podcasts? Yeah. Did you listen to it anyway or you started researching it? I'm a fan of Peter Boghossian. I was watching his appearance with you guys. Okay.

I just had a chance to go on his show the other day. Oh, wow. So, yeah, this is great for you. Fuck that school. Yeah, there might be. Listen, it's insane that they fired him. I mean, it sounds like what they fired him for was having a conversation about a quote unquote like. I don't know.

Controversial. I don't know why. I mean, from what I'm reading from it's I think they fired him more because now he's just too in the public eye. I think it would probably be something more... I don't think it was political. And I want to be straightforward. I don't think they did anything legal.

And I want to take responsibility for my own actions. And I was supposed to check with that guy and I didn't check with him. Okay, fine. But they could have also said, Hey, Warren, you were supposed to check with that guy and i didn't check with him so okay fine but they could have also said hey warren you were supposed to check with us you didn't please check with us they and you could have said oh sorry but actually i got permission from the parents that uh no yeah well finally so it doesn't really stuffed himself with chicken roll. It was going to happen.

Meanwhile, it's probably all cold by now. Listen, stop. I'm serious that he said, you know, they could have said that and you could have said, oh, I'm sorry. I didn't get that email. Obviously, you're telling the truth and moved on. They don't like that. You've become sort of this sort of media personality. I can understand that. Do you have any reason to believe

it has anything to do with your opinions regarding JK Rowling? I don't. I think it's probably more what you're describing. Maybe a conflict of interest or just a liability. That's ridiculous, though.

Given what I've seen there and everything. You think that if that conversation was about whether... Someone just asked me that yesterday and honestly, you don't think you think that if that conversation was about like someone asked me that yesterday. And honestly, I don't think it would have mattered. It would have been about cats. I don't think it would have mattered. It was a matter of the virality and how many people saw it.

I think because then. Yeah, because once they did that, they wanted me to sign an NDA to be able to get my severance. And that's what the whole last few weeks have been a battle, trying to figure out how do I afford a lawyer? What do I do? Can we negotiate this in a way that won't compromise my ability to speak about this in any way or defend myself if I do need to?

Because what they did offer me would have prevented me from ever discussing anything or even acknowledging that I'd been fired. That's outrageous. What kinds of things, and maybe you mentioned this, but what kinds of content are you going forward are you looking to put on your YouTube channel? Cats. I kind of started finding my footing over those months because I was labeled the critical

thinking guy. I love that for you. Thank you. So I just kind of look at things that are occurring where I see lazy thinking and I try and just address things with logic. And I'm not trying to just react or get political. I'm trying to, yeah, dissect logic. And I think logic can be treated as evidence and you can follow it like a thread. This is great. Well, that's what we do on this. That's what we attempt to do on on this show um

is to try to look at everything objectively critically and logically so so what what are there any particular issues where you're seeing lazy thinking these days and and you want to yeah all the time i mean at the moment the top of my head i mean i think and i don't know where you guys stand on this but the the uh around Trump, just given what I've been going through, I can kind of see where unnecessary things just become muddled sometimes for ulterior motives when you just want to complicate someone's life. And so maybe that's just resonating,

given what I'm going through. Well, that's, I mean, I haven't done any kind of a deep dive into the Trump litigation. Neither have I, to be fair but but noam who's not here because he's downstairs is it was that him that buzzed in i i don't know i'm sitting here that's not we'll have to do it again sometime we'll have to come back um he he is very much against he thinks it's ridiculous that that he was um prosecuted for that although there might be other shit that trump has done that might be worth prosecuting this particular prosecution

for and i don't even know the nuts and bolts of it i mean if no one were here this that would be a good conversation but he was prosecuted for paying stormy daniels, but falsifying the business record, saying that it was a business expense. A political expense. A political expense. So the charge is that he falsified business records in furtherance of an underlying crime. Yeah, as a legal expense, I'm sorry.

But technically, I think it does categorize as a legal expense when you're paying someone to sign an NDA. That's a legal expense when you're paying someone to sign an NDA. That's a legal expense. Okay. But the underlying crime that they said was paying... It was a campaign expense.

If it's this difficult for us to articulate... Well, it's only difficult to me because I'm ignorant and I didn't study the issue. I don't know... But no one knows this shit backwards and forwards. Well, okay, but regardless, he's only difficult to me because I'm ignorant and I didn't study the issue. I don't know it. But Noam knows this shit backwards and forwards. Well, okay, but regardless, he's not here right now, so it doesn't matter. Well, I figure if I keep saying his name, he'll appear. Here's the thing.

Like that movie, you know? What was that movie where you said three times? Aladdin? No. I Want to Go Home, The Yellow Brick Road? No, there was a movie that said his name three times. Beetlejuice? Beetlejuice.

Was it Beetlejuice? Beetlejuice. Yeah. Okay. First of all, I love the critical thinking guy for you. I think that these people gave you a gift. Well, thank you. You have the whole world at your fingertips.

You don't need to be stuck in a place where you're not being appreciated. I mean, this sounds like complete nonsense and like such small minded thinking as opposed to being like, oh, my God, we have this amazing teacher. What a resource for these children. Well, we saw he's an amazing teacher, to be fair. Who the hell knows what he's doing with these kids? But given what we've seen on screen, I like what I'm seeing so far. I like what I'm seeing so far.

It's so, you know. I mean, they're like flooding these schools with like rabid anti-Semitism, and that's okay. But then you have somebody like Warren who is actually giving these kids an opportunity to use their fucking brains. That's another topic I just did a video on because that bothers me,

the anti-Semitism on college campuses. By all means, tell us. That's all there is to it. That's what I do. I'll just find something that's going on and I'll examine how people are discussing it. Now, what if J.K. Rowling did something that you did find offensive?

How would that color... Well, offensive doesn't mean anything. That's a subjective thing. Well, what if she hated firemen? No, she killed somebody. I don't know. She did something horrible. Then she would be a murderer. Yes. How would that color your relationship with Harry Potter? That's a good question. If J.K. Rowling

murdered someone. Yeah, and it wasn't even a crime of passion? That's a good question. If J.K. Rowling murdered someone. Yeah, and it wasn't even a crime of passion. That's a good question. What kind of a crime was it? Was it an accident? How did she kill him? Was it intentional? Was it like humane? She killed him with a circular saw. She's like a murderer? Or like she went...

I'm just saying, is there something J.K. Rowling could do that would make you no longer a fan of Harry Potter? I don't know, because it's separate. Because that was the question that was asked. You're right. That's how this affects your view of Harry Potter. And you went through the process with the young man,

and ultimately he decided that maybe she wasn't a bigot. But if she did something that you found horrible. I separate the art from the artist. I think if Eunice became a murderer, I don't think that detracts from the brilliance of the world that has been created. I know so little about Harry Potter. It's actually a great

question, but it can be applied to many other great... But I want to know if Harry Potter really is brilliant or if this guy is just a lunatic. Well, the numbers speak for themselves. Well, but yeah, I know the numbers speak for themselves. She's popular, no doubt. I can't question that.

She's Richard and the Queen of England. And she was like homeless. Well, she's not Richard and the Queen. There is no Queen of England. Oh, you're right. Oh, I misspoke. I think you mean the former Queen of England. I think that everybody, whether it's their thing or not, can agree that it's a phenomenon. But I don't know that the pet rock was a phenomenon, too.

You know that there's a big Harry Potter store in New York City. I saw one in Boston. Oh, okay. I didn't know that. Are you into all things wizardry? Like magic? I mean, do you into all things wizardry? Like magic? I mean, do you like magic? Who doesn't like magic?

I got to raise my hand on that one. It's okay. I like close-up magic. Okay. I don't like stage shows. David Copperfield and stuff. I don't need David Copperfield. We were talking about him.

Darren Brown is cool. Who? Have you seen Darren Brown? No, I don't know. The English magician? He was in Sherlock. Street magician. He uses like psychology

and like science. Oh, that sounds interesting. He's my favorite magician. He's cool. He's like, does he do like, what do they call it, mentalism?

Yes. He's the one who walks up and puts people to sleep, like hypnotizes them on the spot. Is it real though? Yeah, but how do we know that that's real? He claims that he's using

science and I think that, and this is what's interesting, because he provides a logical explanation that I think is the real illusion, is the brilliance of it. He's never... Okay. He's trying to give scientific explanations

so you buy into it a bit. So when he's doing the mind reading and stuff, he's like, I have no ability. No one can read minds, but I can use microexpressions, like Sherlock Holmes. Oh, wow. I love that.

That is cool. What's his name? Derek? Darren Brown. Darren Brown, wow. I love that. That is cool. What's his name? Derek. Darren Brown. Darren Brown. Okay. We should get him on the show. Is he alive?

Oh, yes, he's alive. If you can, get him. You can come back and join the show. I would definitely come. Yeah, for sure. Wait a second. Well, one of our comedians, Harrison Greenbaum, we had on a couple of weeks ago,

and he's a magician slash comedian or comedian slash magician. I'm not sure which of the two he prefers to prioritize. He always says you comedians. Well, what a man says and what he thinks is two different things. I'm quoting Mammy from Gone with the Wind. Coco Chanel. I don't know if you know that movie. Coco Chanel was a Nazi for the love of God.

Because Scarlett said that, Ashley says, he likes a woman with a hearty appetite. And Mammy says, what a man's saying, what do you think? It's two different things. Now that would get me fired

at your school. But luckily I don't work there. No, only if it went viral it would get you fired. All right, so what do you have to say? That Coco Chanel, the famous fashion designer,

was a Nazi sympathizer. I've heard that mentioned. I've also heard that she, that that's not a fair charge, but. Okay, well, let's say for argument's sake that it is a fair charge. Okay. Does that mean that her handbags

are any less exquisite? Yeah, but that's, we had that conversation 10 minutes ago. No, but. I moved on to magic. But you didn't answer, you didn't weigh in. Oh, you want me to weigh in? I mean, that's like a major philosophical question.

Can you separate art from the artist? I think that... At some point, it would interfere with my enjoyment of it. With Woody Allen? That would still... There's two questions we have to ask. Woody Allen. Well,

let me just say there's two questions. The first question is, is does that make the artist any less brilliant and his, and his work any less worthy? And then clearly it's no. Okay. The second question is, is could I enjoy it the same way or would,

would it just conjure up too many bad associations such that my enjoyment would be diminished? Michael Jackson. Because I am thinking of, you know, and the answer is, it has to be no, because I was just the other day listening to Roger Waters' music, and it was into it.

Oh, Dan. I don't know what your stance on Israel-Palestine is, but Roger Waters is very pro-Palestine, and I'm very pro-Israel. You can be pro-Palestine and be pro pro-Palestine and I'm very pro-Israel. You can be pro-Palestine and be pro-Israel. Well, he's very anti-Israel. Right. Okay, so, but I gotta say The Gunner's Dream is a hidden gem.

I don't know if you know that song. See that? Yeah, see that? And I love the song now. So I guess I can enjoy our... Michael Jackson? I never loved him anyway. Harvey Weinstein.

Yeah, I mean his movie. Bill Cosby. Harvey Weinstein. What did he make though? He never made anything. Well, he produced. Produced. He produced Shakespeare in Love.

Supporting the work of. I will say that with regarding Roger Waters, I don't want to put money in his pocket. Yeah, fuck him. I mean, if I listen to him on Spotify, does that maybe a tenth of a cent? I don't know how much he would get from that. Not even a dime

for me. But if you watch it, if you steal it, I guess it's okay then. I think Bill Cosby is a very good example. I haven't tried to... I'm not familiar with his stand-up. I loved the first two seasons of The Cosby Show.

After that, it really went downhill fast. Can't get a straight answer here. The answer is I'd have to watch The Cosby Show and see if I enjoyed it. I probably could, yeah. I probably could. But you're what we call an elder millennial. I am. So the truth is that...

So you may not know the Cosby show. Of course he knows the Cosby show. So I think the answer is that we actually don't give a shit how horrible of a human being you are. If you make good work, we are willing to consume it, regardless of the fact if you make good work, we are willing to consume it, regardless of the fact if you have raped 60 women. There's another sub issue.

Are we willing to consume it because we enjoy it? And are we willing to put money in the artist's pocket? So if there was a way to watch the Cosby show without benefiting Cosby, that's one thing. But if you're benefiting him financially, then that's one thing. But if you're benefiting him financially, then that's another question. So I would say that I would Is it Noam here?

Noam's not coming. What are you saying, Matt? I was saying to check your phone. What? I was saying to check your phone. Okay. Obviously he's not coming. You're like Delta Dawn waiting. Who?

You know the song Delta Dawn? No. She was waiting with a flower on for her lover who never showed up. Who sang that song? Roger Waters? Tonya Tucker. Tonya Tucker. Okay.

Go ahead. Finish what you were saying. I'm saying is I can enjoy the art, but I have some problem, misgivings about financially benefiting the artist. That's understandable. So in your case, you would have to Xerox a copy of Harry Potter and read it.

If you didn't want to... I think this school really handed you a bouquet of flowers. What other... I'm serious. I really do. I think that in this digital age, and if you did something that attracted the attention of Elon Musk and Piers Morgan without even really trying,

imagine what you could do with a little bit of strategy and effort. It's easier when you don't try and you don't mean to do it. Then you try and replicate it. Yeah, but now you have a platform and you can use that. It is a remarkable opportunity and that's what people were asking me. Well, that's what caused this

whole thing was trying to balance both. To be the best teacher I could, keep going with that, but also to not pass up on such a remarkable crazy, like all the things that had to align for that thing. Yeah. Even when you look at it, it's like, well, it doesn't look like much. It's not. No, I don't think that's true. That should never have gone viral. I don't agree with you.

I actually think that there is a reason that things go viral for a reason. I could see why it went viral. So can I. But hindsight is 20-20. If it didn't go viral, I'd also say, yeah, I could see why they didn't go viral. Exactly. But yeah, I mean, it's very much in the zeitgeist, if you will.

Yeah, zeitgeist. You know, everybody's talking about these issues, trans issues, bigotry. And that you got a student to change his mind. His mind? Okay, because you never know. J.K. rowling's nose and anyway um he said his mind because you never know it sounded like a male voice oh and he said but you never know and i say i said jk rowling's nose nose got it. So what other interesting... Now, you're interested in Harry Potter,

so you must also be interested in video games. Yeah, a little bit. And... Are you? No. Okay. I'm not interested in video games. And you probably like...

What about Star Wars? No, I think Star Wars has fallen off. What do you think? I stopped paying attention. I was a kid when the first three came out. Did you watch them? Yeah, and I loved them. Really?

But I was a kid. I never saw them. Then in later years when the new ones came in, I'm like, well, these are shit compared to the old ones, but I don't know if they're only shit because I'm now an adult. No, it's not because you're an adult. They're shit.

Okay. They're all shit, even the first one? No, I thought they because you're an adult. They're shit. Okay. They're all shit, even the first one? No, I thought they were brilliant. The first one's extremely creative. Okay. Even the Phantom Medicine or anything wasn't as bad. It's become a meme online. It's gotten so bad.

Okay. There's whole channels that are just crapping on Star Wars now. Anyway, I think we're about out of time so what's your locals where can people find you and support your work I think it's Warren Smith or Secret Scholars you should be able to find it I think you should consider rebranding to the critical

thinking guy I'm being dead serious it's like who's that famous science guy that everybody Bill Nye you're the critical thinking guy dead serious. It's like, who's that famous science guy that everybody loves? Bill Nye? Yeah, Bill Nye, the science guy. You're the critical thinking guy. It's great.

Dan? I'm not against it. I'm good at these things. I think it could be good branding. Warren Smith, so you're staying the night in the city? I'm not sure. Well, you're welcome to see a comedy show if you'd like to thank you so

much i gotta figure out the uh parking situation like i thought you parked i parked uh they said i have till yeah i could i could probably do it parked in the lot right yeah i have till midnight okay before they close um we thank you we apologize it was that we got our wires crossed uh it's okay it was was great. Noam, who is the one who discovered you, you know, online. But he

had... No worries. He didn't realize you were coming tonight and he ordered Il Molino, which is a famous Italian restaurant in town.

And that we can probably go feed you. And maybe there's enough left for you. No worries. All right. But we thank you. PodcastatComedyCellar.com,

everybody, for comments, questions, suggestions. We'll see you next time. Bye-bye.