The Comedy Cellar: Live from the Table

Latest Episodes:

Israel vs. Hamas Debate with Twitter's "@History_Speaks" Matthew Cockerill Jun 26, 2025

Show notes

Watch it on YouTube: https://youtu.be/MhxjO0q9vmkhttps://youtu.be/MhxjO0q9vmk

2 hours of debate (plus another hour over drinks after) and we didn't settle it. Discussed: Is It Genocide? Does Hamas maximize civilian deaths? Comprehending martyrdom - does Hamas consider all civilians to be combatants? Does Hamas have "no choice" but to break the rules? Does Israel break the rules? Why all the name-calling? Is civility possible in debating Israel's action in Gaza? More More from Matthew: https://historyspeaks.substack.com/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9z6CwgycPjUbOLElkLuHjQ

Should Jews Abandon Israel? An Uncomfortable Conversation with Josh Szeps Jun 24, 2025

Show notes

Two Zionist Jews discuss: "Until Israeli politics can radically reorient itself, it’s time to construct a vision of Jewishness that’s independent of the state that pretends to act on our behalf. It’s time for Jews to reclaim the moral mantle of our ancestors. For the Palestinians, but also for the future of the Jewish people, it’s time for Jews to abandon Israel."

https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/about Josh Szeps is the host of the podcast Uncomfortable Conversations with Josh Szeps.

Bonus Episode: War with Iran, The Mossad and Stage Fright Jun 20, 2025

Show notes

Dan Naturman and Periel Aschenbrand discuss Noam's absence, the war with Iran, the Mossad and stage fright.

In COVID’s Wake: Prof. Stephen Macedo Debates COVID Lockdowns, Liberty, and the Data. Jun 14, 2025

Show notes

The pandemic playbook was ripped up in 2020—but did the replacements work? Was Great Barrington/Sweden the better way?

In this deep-dive conversation, Comedy Cellar owner Noam Dworman goes head-to-head with Princeton political philosopher Stephen Macedo over the empirical record and moral calculus of COVID-19 policies.

Here is the Israeli study Noam refers to: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8144835/

Inside the Mind of the Israeli Religious Right with Rabbi Yishai Fleisher Jun 12, 2025

Show notes

Rabbi Yishai Fleisher is the International Spokesperson for the Jewish Community of Hebron - a Middle East hotspot, King David's first capital, and home of the Mearat Hamachpela - the Tomb of the Biblical Patriarchs and Matriarchs. He is also an elected Councilman in one of the largest Jewish community in Judea - Efrat - and an advisor for international affairs to Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir. Rabbi Yishai is a popular English-language podcaster and YouTuber on the topics of Israel, Judaism, and the Middle East and has appeared in major media outlets including CNN, Piers Morgan, and more. Yishai is a rabbi, a graduate of Cardozo Law School in NYC, a former paratrooper, and continues to serve in the IDF reserves.

Fighting Anti Semitism in the Era of Tik Tok with Daniella Greenbaum Davis Jun 06, 2025

Show notes

Daniella Greenbaum Davis is an Emmy-award-winning producer, writer, and social media strategist with bylines in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Daily Beast, Commentary, and Washington Post. She executive produced the first ever holocaust-edu-series for TikTok, How to: Never Forget, which garnered 20M views and was profiled by ABC, NBC, Deadline, Variety, PBS, and E!.

AI, Israel and Living with a Robot with Sarah Rose Siskind May 31, 2025

Show notes

Sarah Rose Siskind is a science comedy TV writer, psychedelic comedian, roboticist, and founder of Hello SciCom, a science comedy and communication agency that helps smart people get their message across.

Trans Rights and Twitter Wars with Jesse Singal and Ross Barkan May 22, 2025

Show notes

Noam Dworman invites Ross Barkan and Jesse Singal join to reconcile their Twitter feud .

Ross Barkan is a columnist for New York Magazine and a contributing writer to the NY Times Magazine. He's the editor in chief of The Metropolitan Review, a new books and culture review magazine, and his new novel, Glass Century, is out now.

Jesse Singal is a former writer-at-large at New York Magazine, cohost of Blocked and Reported, and author of The Quick Fix: Why Fad Psychology Can't Cure Our Social Ills.

Ahmed Fouad Akhatib on Hamas, Israel and the Fight for Peace May 16, 2025

Show notes

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib is the head of Realign For Palestine, a project of the Atlantic Council, where he is a resident senior fellow. He is a Gaza native and a political analyst who writes extensively on strategic affairs in the Middle East.

Links to what was referenced in this episode:

https://x.com/trackingisrael/status/1877801096275431758

and

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/dec/18/jabaliya-refugee-camp-gaza-destruction-idf

Snopes vs. Candace Owens: Can the Brigitte Macron Story be Debunked? May 10, 2025

Show notes

Noam Dworman, Dan Naturman and Periel Aschenbrand are joined by

Anna Rascouët-Paz, a French-Colombian journalist who reports for Snopes. She's also worked at WNYC for the show Radiolab, as an independent research publisher Annual Reviews and Bloomberg News. She recently produced a documentary podcast series on statelessness called Citizens of Nowhere.

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