The Comedy Cellar: Live from the Table - Gender, Spas and Bill Cosby

Episode Date: July 2, 2021

The whole gang is back in the studio!  Nick Griffin is a Cellar regular, has made multiple appearances on Letterman and hosts a podcast called Scary Monsters.  Rob Feld is a journalist and filmmaker. He is currently working with Duke University professor Chris Bail on a documentary series that debunks the myths around how social media impacts political polarization and the free exchange of ideas.

all right let's go let's go we'll talk about it okay but we're gonna compromise are we ready to go? This is Live from the Table, the official podcast of New York's world-famous comedy cellar coming at you on SiriusXM 99. Rawr, dog. And on the Laugh Button Podcast Network, Dan Natterman here,

co-host of Live from the Table, along with Noam, the owner of the world-famous comedy cellar. Perry Alashenbrand is with us. She's our producer and on-air personality. It kind of evolved in that direction. Didn't start out that way. We also have

with us an old comedy cellar favorite that hasn't joined us in a while. Nick Griffin. Hello, Nick. Good to be here. Thanks for having me. Nick has been on The Colbert Show. He was actually also on Letterman, I think, nine or ten times. Yeah. And has a podcast on iTunes called Scary Monsters.

That's right. Now, what's Scary Monsters about, Nick? Scary Monsters is basically me and comic Laurie Palminteri talk about our lives for about 20 minutes, and then we talk about one horror movie that we both watched that week. I'm a big horror movie fan. I really, really enjoy it.

Laurie is a comic. She is also, I guess you do a lot of work together with Laurie. I do. We go on the road quite a bit. Yeah, she's generally my opening act. She is also going to be my opening act she's open for me before what i love about laurie is that she has a car that's her one of her best qualities oh my god well that's how it works in the in i would say to young comedians by the way get a car get a car is a is a fine way to to get work because a lot of comics that live in new york don't have a car and when we're deciding who we want to open for us, somebody that can give us a ride is

certainly a criterion of value. Noam Dorman, how are you? I'm good. I'm good. I'm just listening. I like Lori a lot. She used to be on Facebook. My Facebook friends used to write a lot of funny posts on Facebook.

Yeah, she's a big blogger. But I haven't seen them lately. Maybe the algorithm has changed on me or something. Or maybe she unfriended me. That's possible. Well, she used to work here, I think. Yeah, she used to work here. I don't know.

You have to talk to Essie about that. I don't know. Well, maybe she's holding a grudge. No, no, no. I'm sure it's just Facebook just shows you. I'm not on Facebook much anymore. I'm not either. I don't do Facebook a lot.

But she's very funny. I don't know who she is. I'm going to look her up. Colin told me about her. Colin actually told me, specifically came up to me and said, if you ever need an opening act and you need a car, Lori's very funny and she's very dependable. And it's kind of been that way for the last five years, I think.

That's awesome. Yeah, we're working together in a couple of weeks in Somerset, New Jersey, at a gig. And we also worked together over the pandemic in Hartford. So who's going to be on the road with Bill Cosby now? Well, let's just organize things. We've got Bill Cosby is. Well, let's just organize things. We've got Bill Cosby is out of jail. We've also got the

whole big thing that happened in California at the Wii Spa. The woman who showed her penis in the show. That's correct. Do you want to get into that? No, you said it right. You said her penis. Do you want to get into that story? Because I think that's interesting

and also we tend to talk a lot about transgenders. What's interesting about that, Dan? It's just a woman showing her penis. What are you, 100 years old? Just to give the background, Nick. I'm not even sure why this is noteworthy, but I'll go with it. Go ahead. The WeSpa in, I guess, Los Angeles, I believe it is.

So there was a video that went viral with this woman ranting about how a man, she referred to her as a man, she's a transgender woman. So a transphobic woman was ranting. Which was ranting, why is there a man in the woman's bathroom showing his penis to his little girls in there, underage girls in there? It wasn't a bathroom.

It was like a... It wasn't a bathroom. It was a spa. Changing room, whatever it was. No, no, no, no, no. It was not... They were in a spa. The woman took

a bunch of her kids or a bunch of children to... I don't think they were all hers to a spa, like a steam room, I think it was. Whatever it was, there was a penis in there. Well, it matters. I mean, the context makes a big difference, I think.

The fact of the matter is it was a designated place for women and a trans woman was in there with a penis. This other woman was outraged and the video went viral and the woman said, said well i can quote it let me hold on a second please hold everybody i i have the quote here which she said in the viral video uh she said um she said i see a dick that lets me know he's a man he is not a female he is not a female he is not a female sweetie He is not a female. He is not a female, sweetie. Girls down there, other women who are highly offended

by what they just saw, and you did absolutely nothing. You sided with him. So anyway, that's basically the story. Alright. I mean, I don't know what to say. What's with this woman? You're talking about the trans woman or the woman I assume African-American?

I think we saw the video. I think she's a, I saw, yeah, she's a black woman. I didn't see her, but her vocal quality seemed to indicate. Is that politically,

I mean. It was a black woman. I've seen it reported that. I mean, had she said, there's a woman with a penis, I would have said it's a Jewish woman.

I mean, different people talk differently. If she had said, hey, mama mia, there's a woman with the penis. Listen, I don it's a Jewish woman. I mean, different people talk differently. If she had said, hey, mama mia, there's a woman with a penis. Listen, I don't know what to say about this stuff anymore because Periel always, Periel had convinced me, Periel had convinced me

that trans women are women. She knocked it into my brain. I mean, I'm 60 years old. It's hard for me to learn new things, but she told me trans women are women. I was like, alright, you know what? I've always treated trans women like, I never, I always, I'm 60 years old. It's hard for me to learn new things, but she told me Trans women are women. I'm like, all right, you know what? I've always treated trans women like I never I always I was treated always always treated trans women as women I even behind their back. I would refer to them as she this was always easy for me Even you know when no one was doing it that was always called that level of respect came naturally to me

But I know is I didn't think they were actually women. I thought they were trans women. But Perrielle convinced me that trans women are women. I was just wrapping my brains around that. And I said, Perrielle, what about that woman with the penis? She goes, I'm outraged. You can't have a penis among little girls. I'm like, what do you mean? But Perrielle, trans women are women.

She goes, no, no, no. You can't have a penis around young girls like that. It's just not appropriate. I'm like, well, that's not quite, if you're going to quote me, that's almost verbatim. I'm like, well, then are you saying trans women are not women? She goes, no, no, they're women. I said, well then, then you can't have a woman in the steam room. No, no, no. And then she got mad. No. I said that first of all, trans women... I have it recorded, so get it right. I'm glad you do. Trans women are women, okay?

There is a difference between biological sex and gender, right? I mean, we can all agree on that? Yes. And I said that I don't think that adult genitalia should be exposed to a group of small girls. Adult male genitalia. That's what you said. Fine. Yeah. So. Fine.

Yeah. I don't think that. So there are certain women. I think that that was. Wait, let me finish. I don't think it's a. I don't think it was a good call on this trans woman's part to go in... On this woman's part.

Go ahead. My point is clear. Yeah, your point is that you say trans women are women. They are women. Except when they show their penises. No, that's not... Don't turn it into that. Listen to me.

I said this to you and I meant it. You know what? I could even live with it that my. Listen to me. I said this to you and I meant it. You know what? I could even live with it that my daughter saw a penis. Do I really think? No, I don't think a bunch of little girls need to see an adult penis. It's not appropriate. They don't need to see it. But is there actually some harm?

If my daughter grew up on a farm, she would see huge horse cock in action with sex. And I wouldn't want my daughter seeing it now but that's the way it is on a farm I understand that a lot of this aversion is just cultural it's probably perfectly okay for your daughter to see a trans woman with a penis

I just wouldn't impose it on people who don't feel that way but the point is like you, someone who is not as evolved as I am, I wouldn't impose it on you. Spa policies... I think... Was that against spa policies? No, because in LA,

illegally, they wouldn't dare. Nobody's quite sure what kind of legal... It's very possible to say that trans women are women, and then you can also say that a trans person made a decision that wasn't the greatest decision in the world. That doesn't change that trans women are women, right? Let me pose a hypothetical.

Please do. What? You're saying it was bad manners more than anything. Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. Let me pose a hypothetical that I posed on Twitter that nobody responded to. You know, God forbid you try to have a discussion on Twitter. But I said, what if this woman were

actually intersex? Which is rare, but it does happen that sometimes people are born biologically ambiguous. So say she had breasts, natural breasts, not hormone-induced, not, you know, surgical, whatever. Natural breasts. And maybe she

had ovaries, and she also had a breasts. And maybe she had ovaries. And she also had a penis. Now, at that point... Say it again. I dozed off. That's a very... Shut up. If this woman were intersex, we used to call it hermaphrodite.

Now they call it intersex. That's very interesting. In other words, she has both. She's biologically both. So that she has breasts, or he, and a penis, and maybe ovaries, and whatever else at that point should that person be allowed in a woman's locker room yeah where else yes and you've now trained

changed my mind about the trans woman too because if that woman's allowed in a woman's locker room then the penis is not the issue you're right i agree i changed my mind i don't know i don't know you're right dan it's By the way, I saw something on Twitter where somebody had mentioned something that Ben Shapiro had said, but he said that somebody referred to themselves

as a non-binary trans woman. Yeah. And they made the point, I don't know if it was Ben Shapiro made the point or the person on Twitter, that if you're non-binary, it means you're neither male nor female, right? So how can you be a trans woman?

Well, you can be a trans woman and then not really identify with either gender. I mean, none... If you don't identify with either gender, then why are you trans? Isn't the act of becoming trans... Why are you always trying to find a loophole in this thing? But isn't the act of becoming trans an identification with a gender?

Is that the whole point? Not to everybody. Well, you know, there's a lot of variations. Like, for example, this person, this woman, she could be a trans woman. She could feel comfortable in a female body, but her gender is fluid, I suppose. Dan is really on the money today with this stuff. All right, so you want your daughter seeing a penis. That's the question, an adult penis.

If you frame it that way, that's the question. Yes, that's the reason the woman was upset, isn't it? Yeah. Listen, I do, I mean, Dan's point about if there's somebody intersex, I mean, they should be welcome to go. Apparently intersex don't have like. Sometimes they do. It depends. Yeah, but there's so few of those.

Yeah. And they have like dwarfed penises. But what about those people? The penis nonetheless. Yeah, I mean, they have to be welcome and safe and be allowed to go. The question is, is a small penis you're saying is okay, but what we would call a cock? What's that? Giant horse cock.

Yeah, I mean, would that be it? An erect penis is out. An erect penis is out. An erect penis is out. We can all agree on erect penis is out. No one likes it. But, you know, is it the... Well, no one brought up a good point. Is a penis traumatizing?

No, in fact, you know, like I said, you changed my mind. Maybe it's a really good opportunity to explain to kids that not all women have vaginas. And moreover, don't like a lot of primitive tribes. That's a great point. Do they have their penis? It's an opportunity to really do that. Should a place of business be able to operate in such a way that for parents who don't care to have their daughters exposed to a penis, they can have a no penis policy? Or is it that we're in a world now where, listen, if you want to have a daughter, we are just going to say, well, she's going to have to see full grown male penises

when you take her to female things I have to say no I'm not ready to impose that on California wants to live that way I'm not ready to impose that on Mississippi as a matter of fact

Mississippi is the first place I would impose it on I'm going to pretend that New York maybe should take care of itself New York can't even fucking have an election as a matter of... Mississippi's the first place that would impose it on... I'm not... I'm not going to pretend that... Well, you know what? New York maybe should have... should take care of itself further. New York can't even fucking have an election. In the meantime,

they'll look down their nose on the whole country. But I would not claim that the Constitution of the United States or the Civil Rights Act of 1965 or 64 meant that

a young girl can't go to a sauna or a steam room without seeing an adult penis. I, you know, this is just too much. I can't,

call me, you know. Old-fashioned? Call me old-fashioned. Yeah, I mean, that's a separate issue. Should each establishment have the right to establish their own rule? That's the only issue, really. Because then when you walk in, you know, if you know their policy is that we don't make rules about this. I have a solution. And when your parent takes their daughter there, they...

No, no, no, no. Because trans people... Did someone demand an outcome in some way? What? The lady who was... No, I don't know that there was an outcome. I mean, the guy who worked there was not really engaging with it and not willing to. But I think that the solution...

First of all, trans people should be able to go to saunas and steam rooms. And that I feel, you know, extremely strongly about. But I think the solution is that there's a place for the kids. I was like, there's no kids at this scene. No, no, no, but that's right. That's exactly right. You have a place that's for children and their caretakers and that's it. Yeah, but their parents can't, you can't have adults with their other? You can,

but I'm saying it's children only. So you don't run into that issue. Children only. No parents. Okay. Whatever. Yes. A trans person with a penis has a child. Well, then you cross that bridge when you get to only. No parents. Okay. Whatever. Yes. But a trans person with a penis has a child.

Well, then you cross that bridge when you get to it. I don't know. You can't cross that bridge. Listen. I told you, some problems have no solution. I think Noam's solution

may be the best. Every place is free to establish their own rules with regard to nudity. Nudity is, you know, is something that maybe the government shouldn't be legislating.

I think the country would be infinitely better off if we allowed communities to make their own rules about a lot of things. I think I know this sounds terrible, but I did a lot of thinking in the last month about what would happen, because it looks like it might be possible that Roe vs. Wade was overturned or

cut back. And I think actually it would be a good thing. Oh, my God. My prediction is that virtually no state would outlaw abortion, even the states that claim they would outlaw abortion, just like Obamacare. Everybody's going to repeal Obamacare, repeal Obamacare. And then when Trump became president, it was time to repeal Obamacare. They couldn't repeal Obamacare because people wanted it.

But we live in an age of oral contraception, oral, you know, what do they call them? Plan B? Abortion. Plan B. Yeah, but there's a word for it. Contraception. No, it's not contraception. There's a word for a pill that causes abortion.

The abortion pill. Yeah, there's a scientific word for it. I can't think of it. So we live in an age of these abortion pills, number one. Number two, people travel very easily. Number three, I don't think many states would actually outlaw abortion. Number four, Ireland. Ireland, the most Catholic place on earth, legalized abortion.

And they're infinitely better off having legalized it through a democratic process than having it imposed on them. Imagine, and otherwise, and by the way, science is not the friend of Roe versus Wade. Believe me, when Justice Blackmun wrote Roe versus Wade, he didn't know that three-month-old fetuses had the hiccups and sucked their thumbs and perhaps felt pain. They didn't know that stuff at the time. So science is not going to solve this. Science is only going to make it dicier and dicier.

There is no actual... I mean, the liberal position on this, and I'm pro-abortion, but is very akin to the idea of a soul. One month to... When does it become a human life? What do we mean by become a human life? It kind of means, when does it have a soul? Well, liberals don't believe become a human life? It kind of means like, when does it have a soul?

Right? Well, liberals don't believe in a soul, but that's kind of what they're backing into here. A six-month-old fetus is different than a one-day-old baby? No, of course it's not. Because you could take the six-month-old fetus out and raise it. So if you start to look at it, it doesn't hold together. So wouldn't it be better to not have this issue poisoning us every election from now until the end of the United States of America?

It's not going away. But if states could decide for themselves, we'd be done with this already. And yeah, I don't know how to weigh that against the inconvenience of a woman in Mississippi that might have to travel to get an abortion. Who got raped by her father. But it's good for business at the cellar because when she's in New York getting an abortion, she stops and sees a comedy show. But you understand that this was forever.

This is forever, this abortion issue in every single election, every single Supreme Court nomination. It's forever. And I actually think, where's he supposed to sit? Nicole. I actually think it's forever. And I actually think, where's he supposed to sit? Nicole? I actually think it's over. I know it's easy for me to say, but I really believe that if the worst happens

and Roe versus Wade is overturned, the worst will not happen. I think you're not going to go back to back alleys and clothes hangers. That's for sure. Do you know what the abortion laws are in places like Alabama and Mississippi right now? Of course. Every state has legal abortion because that's for sure. Do you know what the abortion laws are in places like Alabama and Mississippi right now? Of course. Every state has legal abortion because that's the law.

But not every place actually has abortion. Well, some states have fewer abortion clinics, but that only cuts my way. That means that there would be negligible effect. If they already don't have many abortions, then overturning Roe versus Wade would actually not have much effect on something that's already not happening, right?

You know what would be a really novel idea? What? Is to just let women decide what they want to do with their bodies and not have the fucking government mandate what we can do and what we can't do. Well, that's what most states would do. But, you know, the problem with...

Like, if my grandfather gets me pregnant, it shouldn't be difficult for me to abort that fetus if I want to. Listen, there are two liberal takes on the abortion issue. One is the people who realize that this is a difficult issue. And the other, which is the Periel view, which just pretends that there's only one living entity here to be considered. So that you would say that a nine-month-old fetus,

if it's a product of rape, should just be abortable. Don't do that, because that's not what I'm saying. But then what are you saying well if then you but then what what are you saying then first of all i think that if you're going to have this should a nine-month-old fetus that's a product would be abortable don't make me answer a horrible question no because it's not a fair question and you can't frame no because you can't frame do Not a fair question. No, because you can't frame. Do you know the statistics of abortions that are late term?

Do you know how infinitesimal that number is? Most abortions take place before six weeks. So to ask me like. Women don't usually know they're pregnant until after, until around six weeks. I mean, sorry, not six weeks. Whatever it is. Whatever it is.

I'll look up the exact number. I mean, of course, like you're going to ask like the most horrible question in the world. And that's how you're going to do it. What's your philosophy majors? That's how philosophy works. OK, you actually are writing. You ask the difficult questions. But the point is, I mean, I'm not Michelle Foucault over here.

I'm just saying there is a. It is very difficult to distinguish between Monday, it's just an entity that has absolutely no legal rights or we have no concern about it, and Tuesday, if you kill it, you're going to go to jail the rest of your life, perhaps the electric chair. It is pretty much incumbent on a thinking, smart, liberal person to grapple. I agree with you, but I also don't think that you should say things like kill it because it's totally inflammatory. What do you mean? Kill it is alive, isn't it? When you start calling abortion murder and kill it. And by the way, I think it's.

You know, this reminds me. Can I tell you a story? This is a friend of mine. I mean, she's a friend of mine. You met him. I don't want to say his name on the air, but you met him. And he's a vegan. And I was questioning about all this vegan stuff.

And I'm like, okay, you won't eat a non-fertilized egg. Why won't you eat a non-fertilized egg? He said, because, you know, factory farming, they treat the chickens. And I said, well, okay, what if you raised the chicken? And you knew exactly how the chicken was raised. Would you eat the chicken then? He's like, no, absolutely not. I wouldn't eat the chicken then because of Bob.

And he has some reason because it would be normalizing the idea of the chickens. And that would, I said, what about milk? You had a cow. And you're like, no, I wouldn't do it. Like he had an answer for everything. I said, okay, now what about abortion? He goes, it's a woman's right to choose. Like he had no qualms.

He wouldn't drink milk. But he's so internalized. You're like, don't say kill. That, to him, milk. You're using inflammatory language, and it colors the subject. It's not inflammatory language. It's not murder. I didn't say murder.

You said kill. Yeah. Killing and murder are not the same thing. If you have a fetus with a heartbeat and brain waves and you make it cease to exist, cease to... What fucking word do you want me to use? Abort's fine. All right. Terminate?

Terminate. Yeah, but abort doesn't... By the way, do you think it's curious that most of the people that are so anti-abortion also believe in the death penalty? No, I don't think it's curious. Abort is not the right word because abort is skirting the legal issue, which is that this is a live and you have decided that it's not human and therefore you... Who has decided that it's not human, and therefore you can...

Who has decided that it's not human? Well, you say women should be able to decide for themselves. They should. Up until when? I don't know. Why don't you tell me? No, really. I'll tell you.

I will tell you. Go ahead. I'll tell you exactly what. Let communities decide for themselves. We live in a democracy. Let communities decide decide because there is no right answer. I mean, if there's any right answer here, it would be, well,

the most natural answer would be like, well, how do we know when an old person is dead? When his heart stops, when his brain stops reading, right? So the natural thing, well, okay, that, I guess, is the definition of life. So when a fetus's brain starts, comes online, when a fetus's brain comes online,

when a fetus's heart starts beating, prima facie, that seems like it's alive then. So once there's a heartbeat... That's very early. Okay, so, you know, we're not going to obviously get to the bottom of this. No, no, we're going to sell the abortion issue. And we've had this discussion before, and I always find it interesting, but we do have other things to discuss.

And, of course, Nick has to be on stage in 10 minutes. I don't think he needs the headphones. He can hear it. You can hear everybody, right? Do you need headphones, Robbie? I need headphones. Go ahead. I'm deaf.

Go ahead. We have with us a very special, a new member of the comedy, Nick has to, I'm sorry, Nick. That's it. He barely talked. Come on.

Well, he barely talked. Why could that be? Well, we were talking, Nick, okay, before? Well, Nick, okay, before you go, Nick, what's your opinion on trans?

What's your opinion on abortion? Yes. Trans women or women? Yes or no? Yes. Yes, of course. Take it easy.

I'm just asking. I feel like you're setting me up for a career plummet. And a response for some young comic. Abortion,

yay or nay? Oh, yay. Yay, okay. Got him on record. Okay. All right, am I good? Nick, you say trans women are women, right?

Does that mean if you meet a woman at a bar, you don't care whether they're trans or not? Yes. Good man. It was more like, yes?

All right. Well, look, we're all entitled to be attracted to different types of women. Some are attracted to women, petite women, some like a taller gal. I don't mind a big girl myself. Some fancy a woman with a penis. That's fine. We know people in that category. Yeah, you're good. So what room are you before?

One of the rooms, because it's like a three-ring circus here at the Comedy Cellar. I'm at the McDougal Comedy Cellar Classic. The original. The classic. Okay, enjoy. Have a good set. We don't say break a leg in the comedy world. We say whatever. It's good to be here. I'm divorced. Yeah. Nothing to be ashamed of, right? Lots of people get divorced, huh? Sure. Tons of people. So many people get divorced these days that now

it's the people that stay married that really seem strange. 25 years? Oh my God, what happened? Don't you know you can get out of it? It's embarrassing to get divorced. My wife and I, we only lasted three years. Yeah. We were supposed to be together until one of us died. I never even had a fever. Worst part was getting that divorce notice in the mail. Because throughout my life, I have felt like a failure.

But now there's actual paperwork to prove it. You gotta reevaluate yourself if you get divorced, man. It says something about you. It's pathetic. I mean, come on. When you can't get along with someone who loves you. Wow. Now who do I date? My wife thought I was too down. I was too negative. Well, this divorce should help. You showed me. She said I had changed. You ever hear that, fellas? You've changed. Yeah, you didn't used to be like this.

If I'd known you'd be like this, Nick, I never would have gone to bed with you. Well, guess why I didn't tell you? Trying to move some product. My My friends were shocked. You got divorced? Wow. You seem so happy at the wedding. That's stupid. The wedding? That's not part of the marriage. You're not into it at that point. Wedding. It's like telling a shark attack victim, Gee, you seemed okay on the beach.

Rob Feld is with us, unrelated to the previous discussion. He is a new member of the comedy cellar community. He's been here like every day. Can I just say before Rob says, we can't help joking because I'm like a sixth grade boy inside, but let's just reiterate,

nobody wants to be disrespectful to trans people. these are tough issues if Perry L was to the right of me on a young girl seeing a penis you know that these are not easy issues for anybody I've seen some penises here at the cellar

or rather I should say I've seen some penises belonging to comedians here at the cellar that are pretty scary even for somebody like a grown person like myself I should say I've seen some penises belonging to comedians here at the cellar that are pretty scary. Even for somebody like a grown person like myself. Listen, I think we solved the trans question in the sauna. There should be, it has nothing to even do with trans, frankly, the more I think about it. There should just be a sauna for children.

And that's it. That there are no adult, no naked adults. Like, full stop. dead serious come on i'm being dead serious they don't need to see any naked this is like ricky gervais level irony going on here you lost me they don't need to see a vagina or they don't need to see any adult penis or vagina that doesn't belong to their parents. It's not appropriate. Full stop. Women can go all naked. No. Oh, come on.

No. Trans women are women. What about in the mikvah? Don't the Orthodox Jewish women all go naked in the mikvah? Let's not get started with that. Rob Feld, everybody. For the third time or fourth time. Who's keeping track of how many times I've tried to introduce this man?

Rob Feld. a journalist and filmmaker currently working with Duke University professor Chris Bale. Is that how you pronounce it? Bale? Yeah. Put your headphones on so you know to speak in the mic because... On a documentary series that debunks... That's another word we hear all the time. That and full stop.

The myths around how social media impacts political polarization and the free exchange of ideas. First of all, let me just say that Rob is, as I've said before, is sort of a fixture now here. He's like Stephen Calabria. He's just kind of here every day. He's trying to network. And I, for

one, enjoy his presence. I find him to be an agreeable sort of individual. By the way, he's a big fan of the tiramisu here. Rob felt, why are you here all the time? Well, I'm doing this documentary. Talking to the mic, Rob.

Into the mic, my friend. I have no chance making a movie if I can't find the microphone. Doing this documentary, I'm incorporating comedians, using them as anthropologists within uh... the story and known as been incredibly generous letting me kind of free reign roma what is an anthropologist exactly well once we observe and uh... comment on

society and okay you know i could get guys available patches at a columbia bed the comedians are a lot more fun, I think. So, yeah. Wait, so what is this documentary? I mean, I know in the introduction I sort of described it, but can you describe it in simpler terms? What this documentary is trying to get at? Well, it's trying to look at what's the actual effects of how social media is and is not affecting the truly toxic state of our national discussions. There's a lot of discussion around algorithms and bots and stuff. And I'm working...

So Chris Bale, who's written this book called Breaking the Social Media Prism, he's at Duke and he runs the polarization lab there and they literally study polarization. And they're data scientists and social scientists uh... and so they they scrape facebook and twitter and look at what's actually happening and how people are interacting

with the platforms uh... and trying to see you know our if you change algorithms which is so much of the discussion right now around legislation if we got rid of these algorithms, would it in fact change people's experiences? Would we all become much more accepting of each other because we wouldn't be in these silos of information, right? There's this idea that we have, if you're on the left, you're in a left-wing information silo, and all the

information you're getting is just confirming what you already believe, and you see no argument from the other side. And if you log into Facebook and you're on the right, all you're seeing is right-wing information, and it's just going to confirm everything that you already believe, and there's no cross-pollination. So if people are just in different silos, how are they ever going to understand each other? um... so chris bell runs this experiment where he takes a broad cross-section of americans signs up for this study uh... and tracks their social media usage uh... and watches what happens as he sends them bots basically that bring information that's outside of their presumed bubbles and uh... what actually happened was counterintuitive rather than

forming a better understanding of each other they actually started to hate money one of the more so you got these people who would start to polarize even further if you're on the left you and little further left if you're on the right you went uh... much more relatively further right uh... and just started to hate the people on the presumed other side of you. Who has a vested interest in that, though, right?

Well, no one does. Well, I mean, they're controlling it, right? Like, Facebook is controlling the algorithm. They are. But the thing is that the algorithms aren't having the effect that we think they're having. So the algorithms aren't actually preventing people from seeing other bits of information. The odd statistic is that if you are getting your news predominantly online, you're actually seeing a broader breadth of info than if you're not, but you will just choose

what is the most inflammatory to look at. So they would let's say if you're on the left they will send you everything from david brooks to uh... jones you know uh... info war is guy are you gonna read the david brooks no your eyes can go to the info war stuff light up and go oh my god those people are attacking my identity they're crazy. And I hate

them. And you get pushed further into your corner and get better at defending your position and talking points. And you just start to view the entire other side of the spectrum as bad and evil and terrible people. And the same thing happens on the right. So the great statistic is that of all of in Twitter, that only 6% of Twitter users are creating 73% of all political tweets. And that 6% are the craziest, the most extreme of all of them. So then we look at Twitter and we look at all the political supposed conversation happening and it's really being created by 6%. And we look at that and we go, oh my God, everyone's crazy and everyone hates each other and everyone's really extreme. When in fact, the vast majority of Americans are not political to begin with, don't like talking about politics. And the vast majority of social media users are not posting about politics at all and the vast majority of Americans are quite moderate but I have

a question how do we know the most extreme are actually the most crazy like you could go back various times in history the most extreme positions proved to be the the wisest decision we can say fine we can say that the most extreme positions are the most the most vocal and the most histrionic that we're going to see online. Right. Maybe Infowars will prove to be right on the money. Well, I think that... No, but like, for instance, it's not, it doesn't, I'm sorry, Dan, but it doesn't, like, I'm making all these kind of flipping jokes about the trans thing.

But I said it earlier, and it was the most seriously meant thing I said. I'm quite aware that much of what's difficult about all this for me is simply that I'm 59, 58 years old and born in my generation. And this is jarring. But I'm totally open to the fact that 30 years from now, this may be running the bill. Nobody will care.

People will not really, I mean, I can't believe they'll ever not notice that somebody has a penis. But they'll like, the parents won't care that much. And we'll look back and say, well, the extreme people were absolutely right. It was fine. They just couldn't get used to it. You know what I mean? Well, the problem, though, is that you can't have that conversation online. Right?

You can sit here with your podcast and you can talk to your friends and have this conversation and no one's going to pounce on you and start sending you death threats, right? But if you try and stake out a middle ground position online or have a complex discussion about gun control. Yeah, about anything, right? So you've been talking to comedians, you kind of staked yourself out here at the comedy. So what have you learned from talking to comics about all this? to be able to express ideas, exchange ideas, throw something crazy out there, have it bomb, but survive, not induce hatred from people. And listening to people sit around the tables

at the cafe and talk, they're all concerned about getting canceled for something they said. Some are saying, I'm saying things maybe you don't really believe, but I'm kind of signaling So I get some audience. And, you know, others, they test jokes and they test them with each other. And they need that freedom to express an idea and let it, you know, pass or not. And so comedy, as I'm watching it, you know, is is a natural democracy you know it gets voted up

or voted down by the audience but you know you come back the next day and you do something else and you know we've got to be able to have that conversation or have those conversations in a democracy and if the most extreme loudest voices are silencing the vast majority of the country because it's not worth anyone's effort or emotionality, you know, anything to get shouted down online, get death threats, have your friends hate you, then, you know, democracy's over. So the idea of Professor Bale's book is to try and empower the vast majority of people more in the center to speak, to not be afraid to speak or be more willing to, because otherwise what's going to happen is what's happening

now, which is the most extreme voices take over the conversation. And who has, you know, for me, these comedians have such great observations, and it's so personal. What's Dan's best observation? Dan has no observation. Well, I had a joke I did just—I mean, I've been working with it. I may have to not use it anymore because it gets big laughs half the time and moderate laughs at best the other half of the time. And a joke that only works half the time is a joke that has to be eliminated but but the last time i did it it got really it got like like uh gasps of horror and and the joke is it doesn't it's not even politically in no way shape or form is politically

a political joke i talk about going back in time and talking to george washington and telling george washington that i'm from the future and in the year 2050, white people will be a minority of the U.S. population. And Washington says, really? We're going to have that many slaves that white people will be a minority of the U.S. population? There's nothing that I've said there that's wrong. Washington probably would have that reaction. I mean, it's certainly, I'm not advocating slavery.

I'm not, whether or not you think- Well, I thought you were. Oh, yeah. I'm simply saying that in George Washington's world, in the year 1770, whatever, the idea of white people being a minority would be so absurd that the only way he would be able to perceive it

is that there were- He'd sooner believe that women would be in the locker room with penises way he would be able to perceive it is that there were... He'd sooner believe that women would be in the locker room with penises than he would that it's slaves. But Periel gasped just like the person in your audience. What did you read in it? Because I've seen him tell the joke a few times now, and it's true. Some people key into it, and others seem to misread

it somehow. What were you tracking when he said it? You just don't like a white person saying the word slave or making, I don't know, you know. Well, I think that that's certainly part of, I mean, for lack of a better term, sort of

like the brilliance of the joke is that it's a white person telling it, right? Like, I think it would be much less shocking coming out of somebody else's mouth. What is shocking about it? Well, it's a joke, right? So it's supposed to be funny, right?

So the idea is that it's funny to have so many slaves that that's the only... I mean, am I explaining this joke? Like, I don't understand. What I'm saying is that it's the only, I mean, am I explaining this joke? I don't understand. What I'm saying is that it's a funny joke because you don't see it coming. Right, it's scandalous. I mean, the thought of it is scandalous. Right, but it's not a

as Dan says, it's not a joke that has a political angle. No, I don't think it is, but it's still a scandalous thought. If anything, it's about how closed-minded and racist George Washington is that he couldn't conceive of. Remember, you went, oh! Because it's...

Because you love George Washington. Yeah. Well, anyway, so the point is... Somewhere in her house, she has a helmet. This is the thing about Perrielle. I wish that... We should have a show one day where you have a whole week to come up with opinions that you have that we don't know without even asking you. Opinions that you might have that I actually have to.

You understand? I feel like we've done this before. Something that I would not expect. Because as I see it, it's just like you download the daily woke opinions. You know what? This position that you have is such a load of fucking crap. Okay, Dan, so go ahead about your joke.

But anyway, the point is that I think just stop doing it because I can't take a chance at one out of every three or four times I tell it, people are going to recoil in horror. It's just not worth it. Is that why you stopped having sex?

So, you know, in a sense... Well, what are they recoiling at? I don't know what they're... I'm recoiling at just, they don't like the word, just like my joke about Mexico, where I like... Whoa, whoa. Where I say the word Mexican, and just the word Mexican, people didn't like it.

Um, so, you know, tell the joke, cause this is really, the joke is about where, like I talk about how, um, you know, learning foreign languages, uh, is learning Braille. No, I'd say, well, my friend asked me, why don't Americans learn foreign languages? And I say, be probably the same reason people that can see don't learn Braille. And learning Braille would actually be more practical because you might go blind one day, but you're not going to go Mexican. But this is the best thing about this joke. When Americans got talent, they made him change it to German.

To German, yeah. Like he could say, which is not as funny for some reason, but it's so stupid they made him change it from German because somehow to say Mexican was touchy, the exact same joke, you're not going to turn German, is somehow. And the punchline is Heidi Klum was German, got offended by the joke. That's hilarious. Or at least she claimed to get offended by it. But in any case. Idiot. Or at least she claimed to get offended by it. But in any case, she's an idiot. The point being is that, yeah, there's certain jokes that are just like,

ah, fuck it, I don't want to deal with the reaction, and I'm not going to stand in the raw wind and declare, I'm right, there's nothing wrong with this joke, and I'm going to say it. Right, right. What year did Mel Brooks write The Producers? When did all the Jewish-written Hitler jokes bloom? Not that long after the Holocaust, right?

In the 60s. 15 years after maybe even... I don't even know if the full horror of the Holocaust was known in 45. It probably took a few years even. 1967. Alright, so let's say it's 20 years. 20 years after the Holocaust, Mel Brooks was doing campy send-ups of Hitler, right?

And this was considered okay. Well, there was also Hogan's Heroes, but that wasn't Hitler. That was the Luftwaffe. That's kind of amazing. What was 20 years? Like, yeah, it's just like we're so touchy now, just so touchy. Yeah, no, you know I totally agree with you on that. But also, Mel Brooks is Jewish. I mean, I don't know whether that would have flown. Well, what if you know I totally agree with you on that. But also, Mel Brooks is Jewish.

I mean, I don't know whether that would have flown. Well, what if you were Mexican and you told that joke? So just half an hour ago, Hasan Minhaj is downstairs, and he's telling a joke about being in the Gulf and related the Indian population to the Mexican workers in the United States. And the joke went over quite well. But he can do that. He can do that.

Well, there's something to that. So that's what I'm saying, though. That's exactly what I just said. Yeah, but he said it. I understood it. So, Rob, in terms of your... I'm amplifying what you said. Do you think... I mean, how would you relate that, my joke, if at all,

to what you're trying to say in your documentary? Or is it unrelated? I mean, I don't think that particular joke is related, but I think the issue of can well-intentioned people have a rational discussion in an online environment as opposed to sitting across from each other at a table over a beer or something. Something that is even a moderated conversation between people comes out very differently. You miss body language, you miss inflection, you miss intention.

And so you put that online and, you know. But I don't think the intention of people online is to have an intelligent sort of back and forth, open conversation. Well, it depends. Most I think most people who end up having those conversations, that's true. However, there are plenty of people who, and many of them in Christopher Bale's book, posted just some kind of benign thought about, there's one example of someone who, she's a woman, her father was a police officer, she grew up in a house with guns, people who were trained in guns, he was a New York cop. And there was some post she was responding to online and said, you know, my husband goes for target practice with a handgun, you know,

not saying there should be no gun laws, not saying there should be no gun control, but just, you know, my husband goes and does target practice. And all of a sudden, this onslaught of people just saying the most horrendous things to her and wishing her death and a death on her children. And she was just trying to have a rational discussion, but they then get attacked. And so it's not the forum for those discussions. You're right. So most people, in fact, do not engage, but they then cede the ground to the most extreme positions. And we, all this to say that we misunderstand each other. And so what's the result of all this? I mean, the result of all this is, what are the real world ramifications? I think the real world ramifications are the

sense that we have of each other, that everyone is the enemy, that those people who disagree with me are the enemy. And I see them in the most extreme form. So you stop seeing people as the moderates they probably are. You just wash everybody with this extremist view. So I assume if I'm on the left that everybody on the right is QAnon. And if I'm on the right, I assume that everybody on the left is Antifa or, you know, the most extreme versions, Bernie Sanders or, you know, whoever your, you know, favorite, you know, evil Republican is, right? Because that's how we see everybody now. They're just evil.

Now, that's interesting. It's Antifa, not Antifa? I have no idea. Because I heard somebody, a scientist on Sam Harris' podcast, he's calling it polygamy instead of polygamy. Have you ever heard of polygamy?

Well, Antifa gets anti-fascist, right? So let's get to... So what you're saying is that if I want to put Bill Cosby on now, I'm probably going to get it. You might get a letter. That might happen. Can we talk about that?

Bill Cosby? Well, Bill Cosby is out of jail, apparently, on a technicality, apparently, as I understand it. And I didn't read it meticulously, but I think he made it, the prosecutor made an agreement with him like 10 years ago that if you testify at a civil trial, we will not prosecute you criminally, something like that. How do they have the authority to do that? I guess they do. Prosecutors make these kinds of deals. I didn't read it, but I...

Something of that nature. No one is saying he didn't do it. They're just saying the prosecutor made a deal. He did not respect the deal. Therefore, the trial has to be thrown out. Wasn't there also something about bringing in so many other accusations of the same crime, which don't have to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt? In other words, they started bringing in all these other women who said that Cosby did the same thing, but obviously none of these cases were adjudicated.

So I think that's part of the issue as well. Well, that may be. But anyway, Cosby is out and... And defiantly proclaims his innocence after being sprung from prison via Twitter. Does it say the reason he was sprung via Twitter? I can't... Did it say why he got out?

Yeah, hang on. Well, I think... Special thanks to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for upholding the rule of law. That's weird. But, of course, apropos of Twitter, of course, many people are outraged that he got out, and they're saying,

well, this is why women don't come forward, and that the deck is stacked against women. And some have made the point that, you know, this is an example of wealthy people getting getting away with crimes. Oh, I see. He he relied on the prosecutor decision not to charge him. So then he freely gave incriminating statements. Wait, say that again. Sorry. They had told me we're going to charge him. So then he freely gave incriminating statements. Wait, say that again.

Sorry. They had told him they weren't going to charge him. And I guess in return for that, he gave up his Fifth Amendment right. And incriminated himself in some way rather than. I mean, he made it. They made a deal. I think Dan is right. They basically made a deal with him,

and they didn't live up to it. And that's, you know... 60 Cosby accusers. That's a lot of accusers. Yeah, I mean... I mean, that is... I mean, this is really... He's 83 years old. Well, I don't think...

Look, I think they got some measure of justice I mean he was humiliated his career is over wow we'll see about that I suspect he's universally thought of

as by most people as a rapist and he's a broken down old man I don't think it's fair to say I don't know if that's justice two years yeah I mean this guy's gonna go on and live

in his fucking mansion living the life of Riley well I'm not it's not perfect justice but I don't think if that's justice. Two years in prison. Yeah, I mean, this guy's going to go on and live in his fucking mansion, living the life of Riley. It's not perfect justice, but I don't think it's fair to say they got no justice at all. Oh, I mean, if you got raped by Bill Cosby and he went to prison for two years and, like, you've been fucked up your entire life, like, I would say that's not really even close. Well, first of all, I'm coming from a position of where two years in prison... What did you say, Noam? I'm with you on this.

I'm coming from the position where two years in prison is not something I could handle, but I understand that's not the case for everybody. You'd probably do well. You'd make friends. You'd make people laugh. No, I'd probably hang myself. With your law background?

I'd probably hang myself the first night. Much like that character in the Shawshank Redemption. You know, remember that at the beginning of the movie? Look, these reversals are very, very important

for the integrity of the justice system. They have to do these things just like they have to let people go when they get evidence improperly. And that's just the way it is but it's a shame yeah

this guy it was if anybody belongs in prison it's him i mean the justice system but that should not that's a separate issue from whether or not they did the right thing i mean i ideally you should be able to say he deserves to be in prison but the justice system had no choice but to let him out. That's what we say when the cops search somebody without a warrant, find evidence of a crime, and then we say, well, yes, he was a murderer, but the justice system has to respect warrants. That's just the way it is. That's the way our system works. And it works to the benefit of all of us. But the justice system has to respect warrants. That's just the way it is. That's the way our system works. And it works to the benefit of all of us.

Otherwise, they would run roughshod over our rights all the time. Well, they do. No, they don't. Really? Tell that to all the innocent people who are rotting away in prison. No, there are not a lot. There are innocent people. As a matter of fact, there's a really amazing story that Emily Bazelon wrote today that involves her sister, who's a friend of this show getting a guy out I mean the way she wrote the story it was that he was innocent they don't really know that he's innocent but

certainly the the conviction was not there were a lot of serious issues with the conviction such that he deserved to be let out. There are innocent people in prison. Of course there are. There always will be, no matter what the system is. But way fewer in America than in most countries, I would be pretty sure of. I mean, I don't know about that. All I know is that the fact that there wasn't some way to keep Bill Cosby in prison is pretty astonishing. But you're a very results

oriented and justifies the means person. Okay, well I think I can deal with that. But we do have rights in this country. Some people have more rights than others. He wouldn't have been in jail at all were it not for our dear friend Hannibal Burris, right? So, I mean, it's

more justice than they would have gotten were it not for our for our man Hannibal. Well, I mean, that goes back to, you know, rich and powerful men getting away with doing whatever they want. Rob Feld, you say what, if anything, maybe you have no opinion. I have no opinion. You have no opinion as to whether or not Bill Cosby should be in prison. Well, of course he should be in prison. Okay, then you have an opinion. Well, yeah, but I mean, you know, we do, Noam's right, we have a justice system, and it's supposed to serve everyone.

It does not always, but you've got to follow the letter of the law as we can. Put him in fucking jail, is what I say. I mean, like I said, I think there is something to... Noam's just... I mean, you can't vigilante justice. You can't. There is something... Listen, you know what? Sometimes you do make decisions

like that when you have just an overwhelming abundance of proof and evidence. This guy raped 60 women. Well, and then he should... He's raping one woman. Well, that's enough to fucking get your balls cut off too, as far as I'm concerned. Well, and then he should... The charge is raping one woman. Well, that's enough to fucking get your balls cut off too, as far as I'm concerned.

You know, I am quite a civil libertarian on this. I mean, the only thing I ever was disappointed with Lara Baselon on is that she wouldn't come with me on the obvious... There's obvious issues in the Chauvin trial.

You know, the notion that a guy guy, this is again, not with regard to whether you think he's innocent or guilty, but the fact that a juror was wearing a t-shirt about his guilt prior to the trial is disturbing on its face. Nobody should ever be tried by a juror who is already wearing a t-shirt about the fact that you're guilty. And it's disappointing that so many people who, like I said at the time, I know tons of people

who are ready to defend KSM and his right to a trial and blah blah blah the guy, the 9-11 mastermind, or Abu Jamal the guy, I think-11 mastermind, or Abu Jamal, the guy, I think in Pennsylvania, cop killer. But for whatever reason it is with Chauvin, you were not supposed to say that there's actual civil liberties issues here. Listen, I turn into a fascist when it comes to these things.

Yeah. And, you know, don't be surprised if they overturn the Chauvin verdict do not be surprised because there's a lot of things, they might retry him and then get him fair and square so why can't they retry Cosby? they can are they going to?

yeah, he's not acquitted, he's just mistrial outrageous, what a fucking waste of time and money and I mean it's just unbelievable. Put this guy in jail. Throw away the key. Let him go rot in a cell somewhere. I don't know if they'll be able to retry him

without those statements that they relied on to convict him. Those won't be admissible, but certainly they're free to retry him if they want. I love that you're wearing the T-shirt I got you for your birthday. And then, of course, there's another issue like Trump. How much money do you think they spent trying to catch Trump on his, you know, the Cy Vance? Talk about civil liberties violations. The Attorney General of New York, you know, just does he run for office?

I don't know. But like he just like, I'm going to get Trump. I'm going to get Trump. There's no crime that he's aware of. This is just a total political witch hunt. They spent tens of millions of dollars for sure. And what did they come up with? They're accusing some people in the Trump organization of, like, a company car.

Is that true? Yeah, yeah. Like the most penny ante stuff that basically every single corporation can be looked at for how they treat their perks. And they say, well, they're going to flip Weisselberg. They're not going to flip him. Nobody goes to jail for this stuff. The way this stuff is always handled is they hit you for trouble damages and back taxes that's the way it's handled nobody's doing time for the fact that they wrote off an apartment right but the thing is but this is where liberals this is what gets me we're living at a time now when the standard

liberal position is we shouldn't be incarcerating so many people. People shouldn't even be being incarcerated for violent acts and arm robbery and people who vandalize stores. We shouldn't be incarcerating. Now, what about this old guy who wrote off an apartment? No, he should be in jail. He should be a fucking hypocrite. Well, first of all. Because we got to get to Trump. What did Trump do?

We don't know, but there must be something. In America, it doesn't matter. We don't even need prima facie evidence of a crime. We don't like you. So we're going to get you. I think that I'm sure Trump has done things that he deserves. Yes. So sick.

But I don't. I don't have to. As a matter of fact, I know you have. I won't say it. We know you have. Shut up. And it's actually serious. Shut up.

I mean, quite serious. Shut up. I... I mean, quite serious. Will you stop? I don't... I don't think that the liberal position... Butterfart! Shut up! I don't think that the liberal position is that people who have committed violent crimes

shouldn't be in jail. I think that the liberal position is that you don't want to live in a society that has so many people in prison. I mean, you know that the American prison industrial complex is like one of the most fucked up ones in the world. I think generally a lot of liberal people, and by the way, I'm included, think that we are over. Now you want to come over to our side. No, are over incarcerating people. So then you agree. But I agree, except it's kind of a yawning chasm that these people don't say that when it comes to a politician that they happen to not like.

Or that they think is corrupt. I don't think it's just that they don't like. Or corrupt, yeah. It was just as vulgar and disgusting when the Republicans and Trump were saying, lock her up about Hillary. Now, you know what? Hillary probably did break the law with that email server.

That was ridiculous shit. But to want to see her in prison? It's ridiculous. Trump, on the other hand. Why? Because you hate him. That was ridiculous shit, but to want to see her in prison? It's ridiculous. Yeah, it's ridiculous. Trump, on the other hand. Why? Because you hate him.

By the way... Don't ever, ever let Perry Hall be in charge of anything. My God. Do we want to conclude, or do we want to discuss briefly a development at Yale University Drama School, apparently will be now tuition free

thanks to a gift by David Geffen of $150 million by Mr. David Geffen. He's Jewish, right? David Geffen is, yes. So take that Ilhan Omar. So now a degree that generally

generates zero revenue will cost zero dollars. So it seems like a fairly appropriate sum of money to spend. I don't know. Things that are free don't always work out. People don't value things that they don't pay for. Capitalism. All I know is that how much is a Yale drama education? I mean, you know, the people I know that went to Yale drama school are bartenders.

Is that true? I know one guy, yeah. I know one guy that's a bartender and a sometime comedian. I know one who's an exec at Disney. Okay. I don't know. I think if you get into Yale drama School, I mean, call me naive, but hopefully that's, like, got some promise to it.

Well, my friend Neil Mazzella, who owns Hudson Scenic Design, the big stage company, he went to Yale Drama School. He's a super smart, talented guy. Do you know him? I know Hudson. Yeah. Is he successful? Yeah.

Yeah, but at drama? Is he successful at drama? Well, I at drama? Is he successful at drama? Well, I don't think the drama school is just acting. He builds the stage designs for all the biggest Broadway shows in the world. Oh, wow. And he also built the glass, well, 20 years ago, the Millennium Ball. But I think they still dropped that ball in Times Square. Or he made the new one.

He's up on all the latest technologies. There's also dramaturgy and directing. Yeah. Okay. Well, I stand correct. I love how nobody wants to just be like, David Geffen's amazing. We're like, it's useless anyway. I think it is amazing.

I just. That's incredible. $150 million. Yeah, but people who have money should probably still be paying tuition. I don't know. I mean, fine. It's free.

It's free. It's great. All I know is this. I didn't realize that Yale Drama School taught other things other than acting. I thought it was just people that wanted to be actors. And maybe theater people.

Maybe there's a lot of theater people. As far as film and TV is concerned the people that I know that work in film and TV Esty Esty the Booker has done more has had probably more roles on TV than most Yale Drama School friends that's true

you know so Judah Friedlander didn't go to Yale Drama School what else is in the news? Why don't we just change this podcast and just discuss the news? Britney Spears? It's so interesting. Well, first of all, we've already done an hour. Second of all, I curate the things that we're going to talk about.

And I'm not sure we've exhausted Yale Drama School. But if we have, then maybe it's time to bid adieu and keep it short and sweet and tight. Rather than just go on and on and on and say, well, what else is in the news that we haven't prepared or thought about? Well, I've been thinking, okay, nobody wants to talk about Britney Spears. I think it's curious that nobody wants to talk, that she wasn't in your list, by the way. Actually, I want to say something about Peril's personal life, but I can't say it. Never mind.

Also, is there any... I have a friend who has no idea what her husband's politics are. But I'll try to get her on the show next week. Okay, good. Is there more we'd like to discuss with our dear friend Rob Feld? Rob, now, it just seems to me that

you hang out here a lot. I get the feeling that at this point, it's only partly for your documentary. Mostly, you just like hanging out here. I get the feeling that at this point, it's only partly for your documentary. Mostly, you just like hanging out here. I love hanging out here. Yeah, exactly. Did I mention I have two kids? No, I do love hanging out here.

I mean, it's like this rare salon that doesn't exist in New York. You grow up thinking New York's this, New Greenwich Village, this idea. And I grew up here. And you never really find it until you come here. And it's literally people sitting at tables discussing anything and everything and it's getting no man fights that but but but i have but how often are people other comedians discussing interesting things that when no one is not present

uh... i mean it discussing interesting things for them and yeah i mean he wasn't there and colin quinn all the sudden we're talking about Foucault and who else? Oh yeah, and James Joyce. He was like, this is the first time it's ever happened. It's never going to happen again.

But, you know, the topic changes and other things. I don't know who Foucault is. Michel Foucault? You've told me three times. One of the things about getting older is it just doesn't stick. I mean, he's one of the most important critical theorists and philosophers in the past hundred years, easily. Don't look at me like that. He looks at me like that.

He actually would like him. Tell me what he stands for. Don't help her. What does he stand for? Eradicating the prison system, for starters. Is she right? He wrote a book called Discipline and Punish. The idea behind it is that Western civilization

or civilization tries to separate the other. And so that can be insane people. It could be people who are just different. He was gay and had a lot of his... He was a professor at Berkeley also also and he was HIV positive. Look, it is astonishing to him that like I actually know a thing that's not moronic or a meme that he doesn't know about. Don't keep looking at Rob to see if I know what I'm talking about. I know what I'm talking about. And he had sex with a lot of young men and infected them with HIV.

These are things I didn't know? Knowingly. This is one of your heroes? And you're worried about Cosby? He... What the fuck? I don't know if he's... That's a thousand times worse than what Cosby did. Yeah, it's terrible. I mean, I don't know.

He's an... I don't think she said he was a hero. Yeah, I don't know. I'm trying to articulate it. You said he's the most brilliant, blah, blah, blah. He may well be. So is fucking T.S. Eliot. It was a raging anti-Semite. Do you know who he was? Yeah, I've heard of him.

Okay. And, you know, Cosby is a fine comedian, I guess. Although I don't know much about his stand-up. I love this TV show. So is Foucault dead? Yes. He died of AIDS? Of HIV? He died of AIDS, right? That, I don't know.

I'm pretty sure he died of AIDS. Why wasn't he prosecuted for infecting... I mean, there's a lot of crimes there. Underage boys with AIDS? I didn't say underage. I said young. I mean, younger than he was. Oh, okay.

He was heavily in... Hey, good job. It says Foucault died in Paris from complications of HIV AIDS. He became the first public figure in France to die from the complications of the disease. His partner, Daniel Deferre, founded the AIDS charity in his memory. He was heavily into the leather and S&M scene in San Francisco while he was teaching at Berkeley. All right. I mean, he was a fucking genius.

All right. I've heard the name. I just today realized he was a male and not a female. A lot of what he wrote is the foundation of critical theory now. Well, I'm not sure what critical theory is. Derrida, Baudrillard. Stick around. You might learn something from me.

She just name drops. Am I wrong? I still don't really. No, you're right. Okay, thank you. Anyway. The 60s. The French critical theories.

They're amazing. That's that poster you always make fun of when you come over? My Derrida poster? What does French critical theories mean? How did you learn this stuff? I went to graduate school, remember? We don't know that she learned anything. She's thrown out a few buzzwords.

She may or may not have knowledge beyond the buzzwords that she's thrown out here. I went to, how many years is this? 12 years? You went to law school. That's useless. I went to 19 years of school. And I could probably list on a piece of paper what I... There's such a low

ratio of what you're subjected to and what stays with you. I don't think I remember anything I learned in college. Well, the most important things I learned in all my years of schooling that I still use is reading, obviously. Yeah. Typing was very important. Typing was important, yeah.

You know, typing was a damn important skill. You didn't learn to read in school. Yes, I did. Of course I did. I learned it. Well, you would have learned it anyway. Be that as it may, I learned it in school. Okay.

But whether I would have learned it elsewhere, I don't know. That's second grade. So by the second grade, you were reading. That's about it. I mean, math, arithmetic. Arithmetic comes in handy, I guess. Arithmetic is important. I mean, I can't even remember the last time I had to use arithmetic.

Well, you have to have an aptitude for it. But I don't know what, I don't know what else I learned in all that schooling. Well, you learned a lot. You just don't recall it. I learned a lot on my own. Stuff I,

stuff I sought out. What about music? Is that all self-taught? I had guitar lessons for a year and a half when I was in the fourth grade or something like that.

But mostly self-taught, yeah. But hopefully a lot of university is how to approach learning or how to express things that you've learned. And it's not really the content. It's arguable that learning stimulates the brain such that it makes it easier to learn new things or makes you sharper just because you did. Even if you forgot it, maybe the aptitude to learn still remains.

I just think I was too immature. I mean, I do remember some of what I learned in law school, particularly first semester of law school. And then it begins to trail off. I don't remember anything. I can't remember what classes I took my last year in law school. Really? Yeah.

I mean, that stuff's so dry, though, I guess. So fucking tedious. As opposed to French critical theory? Yeah, as opposed to French critical theory, actually. But I just don't remember much of what I've learned, and yet I know a lot. Oh, here we go. No, I do, but

I don't think I learned. Well, you're a voracious reader now, too. Who isn't? With their fucking phones? No, but you actually, I mean, you're a voracious reader now, too. Who isn't with their fucking phones? No, but you actually, I mean, you read like dense amounts of like news, journalism, stuff that... Anyway, I think... My wife says, why are you sending me these fucking articles? I think... Juanita, just an audio. Why are you sending me these fucking articles? I think now would be... I'm not reading your fucking articles. I think... Juanita, just an article. He sent me these fucking articles.

I'm not reading your fucking articles. As good a time as any to bid adieu to... Oh, we're still on the air? We're still on the air. But you can... We haven't gotten emails. We used to get a lot of emails now. We can't be announcing the...

Podcast at ComedySally.com for comments, suggestions, questions, critique. Yeah, I used to get a lot of emails from people. We used to have different guests, I guess, Rod. I used to get a lot of emails from people, like, really nice ones, talking about how I was helping them learn to think and things like that. People were... I don't get those anymore. Now, I don't know.

I get those emails now. We need to go back. Yeah, we need to go back to getting, like, the people who've written books and stuff, those guests. What are you talking about? That's all we do. No, lately we've been, I don't know. Well, in any case. These fucking filmmakers.

Lately, we've been getting a lot of. No, I don't mean Rob. Philosophical people. I mean, literally, with minor exception, every guest we've had on is somebody who you have Yeah but a lot of times it's like they're current

and then we don't get them on until like seven weeks later. that happened like twice. No, no. It happened more than that. Sometimes I don't I haven't Anyway

thank you Rob Feld who is his documentary I don't know when it's coming out but we'll keep you posted. I'll keep you posted.

And Perry Alashinbrand. Thank you. Buy her books. The only book I trust is my own. And on my knees available where books are sold. Did I tell you my friend Alon read both your books? Yeah, he loved your books.

Did you meet him or something? I can't remember. Alon the black guy, the musician? Elon. No, the black guy, the musician? Elon. No, tall Israeli guy. But I'm not even sure how he knew about Perry Elba. Maybe he met you somewhere? I don't know.

I've never met him. Well, five stars from Alone. Yeah. Books are apparently good. A little too dense for me. In any case. And Bernie Fabricant, also a fan.

We'll see you next time. Bye, everybody. Bye.