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I bear potentially strange tidings for a lighter episode in the Culture War.
CumTown at the Rubicon: Is Adam Friedland unironically gunning for the "Joe Rogan of the Left" title?
CumTown was a successful comedy podcast hosted by three sardonic New York stand-up comedians. The show's trio included leader Nick Mullen, who fans will call the best impromptu comedy riffer of all time. The show's second was a funny fat man that is often described as the show's laugh track. Then, every comedy trio needs the butt of the joke: the doormat, slapstick target, or the straight man. In this case the role was filled by Adam Friedland (un?)ironically described by fans as an unfunny "bug" that eats dust on top of various Jew-flavored jokes.
I didn't listen to CumTown. Mostly because I don't listen to comedy podcasts. At the time, I had an inkling of association with CumTown and the dirt-bag left. The ChapoTrapHouse-RedScare orbit wasn't to my taste, even if I were to listen to unserious political podcasts. I recall a friend, a huge fan of the show, that tried to impress upon me that no, CumTown was just a comedy podcast, and a really funny one at that. I think we were both right. At least some of the show's comedy tickles a Millennial, dirt-bag left adjacent funny bone. But, it also seems like it was genuinely funny as well as genuinely irreverent and offensive at a time when scolds were out in force. Allegedly, the hosts never did any media to avoid the Eye of Sauron. The show was extremely successful with its patreon raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars a month at its height.
The trio broke up, which left Nick, the best comedy riffer of all time, and Adam, the butt of all jokes, to start a new project with The Adam Friedland Show. The not so subtle joke behind the show is that Mullen, considered the mastermind and favorite of fans, aimed to shoot Adam into the spotlight as the star. Adam was to be the expert celebrity interviewer of the "Center-left" (tongue-in-cheek, derogatory) talk show. The same CumTown fan friend shared the Neil DeGrasse Tyson episode and I remember it as pretty entertaining. Other episodes I've seen include Chris Cuomo and rapper and son of Tom Hanks.
The talk show portion fell apart and Mullen left the show for some reason. Now Friedland was left alone to create a Season 2. Season 2 launched a few weeks ago with a small media campaign that includes a GQ profile titled "Adam Friedland Could Be the Millennial Jon Stewart. But Does He Want That?" The article is chock full of fan service, in-jokes and ironic humor which means it can't be taken too seriously. But, there was also coverage and an interview from Ben Smith's Semafor. As far as a serious, center-left New York media outlet goes, Semafor is fairly credible. Even if Adam's exposure is limited to its media critics.
The first two episodes in the second season of the show are credibly center-left coded. The first episode was with Anthony Weiner. Yes, that Anthony Weiner is apparently attempting to re-enter municipal politics in NYC again. The last one I haven't seen is an interview with sitting California representative Ro Khanna who, in addition to being a Bernie fan, has explicitly stated he is on board with the growing Abundance project and renewal of the Democratic party.
This is all occurring while the Democrats have loudly signaled, and been mocked relentlessly for, plans to find inroads into the minds of young men. On one hand, it's hard to fathom that Adam Friedland can be leveraged for political gain. From what I could gather fans seem to disbelieve, but also sense greatness in the irony. On the other hand, this is an established show that appeals to a nearly all-male audience with lefty coding and edgy street cred. It is pretty perfect for a Democratic messaging device. I don't know if Adam Friedland will seize the day to become the ironic Bill Maher for under-40s, or if this will conclude as a typical haha half joke, but I wouldn't be too surprised if it swung either way.
I don't think he's actively trying to gun for that spot, just trying to create good content. Even if he was, he should know that his association with Sam Hyde (aka the Ghost of Kiev, aka the Tiger of Jerusalem, aka the Sandy Hook Mastermind, aka The Candy Man) would preclude him from any serious talks of being a lefty Joe Rogan. Adam gets to not care right now because he's still relatively niche. If he gets a legitimate push toward the mainstream, it'll take 20 minutes for clips of him hanging out and shooting the shit with one of the biggest leftist boogeymen to surface and sink him straight into hell.
I don't think that Sam Hyde is all that well known, or at least much thought of, among the American left. I just checked and there's not even a Jacobin or Current Affairs article about him. Most of the people who do know about him would probably consider him yesterday's news. I recall some mild cancellation attempts during CumTown era on this axis but evidently they didn't much back then, either.
It would be exceptionally easy to make him both well known and universally reviled. Imagine the hit piece a talented killer at the NYT could make about Sam Hyde.
i used to be somewhat of a sam hyde defender, i definitely see him in a more forgiving light than most leftists. It would take me 30 minutes to put together a reel of clips that would make someone think he is double mega hitler. The guy is utterly radioactive in a leftist political context.
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aka austere scholar Sammir al Hayyid...
I just watched the Dear Elon letter and it was hilarious. @Closedshop what else should I watch?
Sam Hyde on debt collection: https://youtube.com/watch?v=oD2gXY4piF4
Arg that just makes me angry. I hate that so many people game these systems and defray costs onto others.
They are predatory though. I'm torn.
Oh I don't agree with it, I just like the surreal nature of the video. Like the commenter says, it's like you're strapped down as a prisoner watching these guys looming over you.
Hah that's fair. It is intense for sure.
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His big projects are World Peace and Kickstarter TV. World Peace 2 is coming out soon too. Some other clips I have saved:
Congratulating OLP Class of 2018
Google Pixel Unboxing
Migrant Crisis Stand Up Routine
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I haven't kept up with his content in recent years but my goto for his classics is Paradigm Shift 2070, where he tricked the organizers of a TedX conference into thinking he was some genius young entrepreneur so they let him speak. His talk includes things like teaching African refugees JavaScript on ipads, state-mandated homosexuality, and farming cheesy sea potatoes that will blow your socks off on the ocean floor:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=4jRoatZizQ0?si=TMxHlJkiQSd6MryC
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Sam Hyde hasn't been properly canceled or cast off of Youtube for a long time now. Checking now, his Dear Elon speech remains hosted on the site at over a million views. As I recall he shares some pretty controversial statements inside it, along with a surprising amount of reasoned perspective within the context of Sam Hyde. Canceling ain't gonna happen the way it did in the past.
I don't think TAFS can become Rogan-level big or anywhere close to it* and I consider the DNC mission a fool's errand, or a consultant's wet dream. Perhaps I should have represented that in the post.
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