Uncomfortable Conversations with Josh Szeps

Noam Dworman’s father taught him that money is a fortunate byproduct, never the point. Noam runs the Comedy Cellar, America's most influential stand-up club, and he’s about to open his sixth stage in a former Greenwich Village McDonald's. So why keep building?
Josh sits down with Noam at the Cellar in New York to talk about the club’s 1981 origins and the father who arranged his life so he never did a minute of work he didn’t want to. They get into the creeping burden of running a small business, from a city fine for litter outside a closed venue at 2 am to a government audit asking why comedians aren’t treated as employees. And they ask why so many of the people making the rules have never had to make a payroll.
Then it gets uncomfortable. Noam makes the case for trying to understand people you think are wrong, from border-town voters to Steve Witkoff calling Putin a humanitarian. They also discuss where ICE crossed the line, and why Noam believes cancel culture’s “consequences” are harsher than any judge would hand down. Josh pushes him on the limits of free speech, and Noam explains why he wouldn’t fire an employee for being a Nazi.

As we hold our breath to find out whether Israelis will finally spurn Netanyahuism, Yael Bar Tur joins Josh to definitely NOT discuss the Israeli election.
Yael majored in counterterrorism in Israel and has a master’s in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. As the NYPD’s head of digital, she was on the front lines of the official response to the defund-the-police movement of the 2010s.
Josh and Yael dug into the Israeli electoral system, the American banking system, policing, and, randomly but inevitably, the new documentary about Elizabeth Holmes.

This episode is part of The Best Of series and was originally posted in 2024.
Few Britons are as iconic as Stephen Fry.
On TV, he’s an Emmy-winning comedy legend immortalised in shows like A Bit of Fry & Laurie, Jeeves & Wooster, and Blackadder. He has hosted the British Academy Film Awards twelve times and won six BAFTAs as the host of the smash-hit BBC television quiz show Q.I.
On stage, Stephen’s adaptation of Me and My Girl won two Olivier Awards. He was nominated for a Tony for his performance in The Globe’s production of Twelfth Night on Broadway.
On the big screen, he’s starred in Wilde (as Oscar Wilde, a performance nominated for a Golden Globe), Gosford Park, Chariots of Fire, A Fish Called Wanda, V for Vendetta and The Hobbit.
Stephen is the voice of all the Harry Potter audiobooks. His eloquence infuses his countless essays, comedy sketches, articles, novels, and books about Greek mythology.
His autobiography, Moab is My Washpot, with its raw honesty about his screwed-up teenage years, was transformational for a young Josh Szeps.
On a trip to Sydney, Stephen swung by the Uncomfortable Conversations studios to visit with Josh. Enjoy this sparkling conversation about the cycle of life, the richness of being human, finding creative authenticity, and ignoring Donald Trump.

Is the exhausted majority stuck choosing between two extremes that can’t be satisfied, and what happens when the far left and far right go head to head?
Josh chats with comedy writer and author of I Might Be Wrong, Jeff Maurer, live from a Washington, DC, hotel room, about why centrists keep losing the argument on both sides. They dig into the chaos in France, where a nation that riots over a modest rise in the retirement age may now face a runoff between an old-school communist and Marine Le Pen, and why Jeff thinks the far right wins that contest almost every time. They also cover the motte-and-bailey fallacy, Australia’s superannuation fix versus America’s looming Social Security cliff, why the left needs its own “Nixon goes to China” moment, the illiberal turn in progressive race politics, and the case for a really basic version of Medicare for All.

Is it more ethical to prosecute your moral beliefs, or to understand people who disagree? Who, exactly, is fomenting polarisation? Who is capable, potentially, of political violence?
Is it, perhaps, all of us? Especially those of us convinced we’re doing good?
Several months ago, Josh hosted an Uncomfortable Conversations panel event at a black-tie gala in the nation’s capital with the federal member of parliament Helen Haines. This week, Haines was intentionally rammed by a car. She has lost both her legs.
The prime minister is trying to soothe a shocked nation by encouraging “people in positions [of influence]… to join in the call to turn [the] temperature down.”
Josh knows a thing or two about fostering conversations across ideological divides. In this ad-libbed editorial from New York, Josh argues that telling other people to turn the temperature down is worse than useless.
Nobody thinks their own temperature is set too high. Rather, we believe that less passionate people are feckless or corrupt.
This points a way forward, towards how we all might participate in creating a more cohesive society.
Our thoughts are with Helen, her family and her loved ones. We hope that in some tiny way, this helps.