Ask Haviv Anything – Episode 63: New York in the Age of Tucker and Mamdani (with Noam Dworman)

Date: November 25, 2025
Host: Haviv Rettig Gur
Guest: Noam Dworman (Owner, Comedy Cellar NYC)

Main Theme:

A wide-ranging exploration of American Jewish identity and anxiety in post-October 7th America, through the prism of New York, comedy culture, surging anti-Semitism on both left and right, and the emergence of figures like Tucker Carlson and Zohran Mamdani.

1. Introduction: Framing the Conversation

• Setting & Tone:
  Haviv introduces Noam as a "central institution of New York culture" (02:08), referencing his ownership of the legendary Comedy Cellar.
• Key Focus Areas:
  • The transformation of American political/cultural life post-October 7th
  • What it means to be a New York (and American) Jew today
  • Threats from both left (progressive anti-Zionism) and right (new right-populist anti-Semitism)
  • "What is it like to be an American Jew right now?" (00:58)

2. Noam Dworman’s Story & Comedy as a Mirror (03:55–13:30)

The Comedy Cellar as Cultural Heart

• Noam’s Origin:
  • Inherited the Comedy Cellar from his father, who was passionate about conversation, debate, and Jewish identity (04:39).
  • The family ethos: shaping your own universe, seeking “mental stimulation”, making a life around “debate and being in the thick of interesting conversations” (06:25).
• Comedy, Debate, and Culture:
  • The Comedy Cellar as a modern salon: “People would start hanging out and, and we started doing debates… our first debate was about the Iran deal.” (09:38)
  • Intellectuals, comedians, and thinkers mixing—"it’s scratching the same itch" (11:20)
  • The relationship between comedy and thought: “Mathematics and music… It’s the same thing with comedy and thought.” (12:52)

3. Jews, Comedy, and Marginality (12:59–13:59)

• Comedy as a cultural barometer:
  "There's something there... you can kind of get a pulse of a culture at a comedy scene. It feels like the future." (12:59)

4. October 7th and the American Jewish Psyche (14:13–19:59)

What Did October 7th Feel Like?

• Noam: “On day one, [I realized] we were embarked on a psychological war against the Jewish people.” (14:39)
• Initial (false) optimism that “the world was taking Israel's side” gave way to recognizing an imminent “acid rain” of psychological pressure and blame (14:39).
• Predicts: “We're about to see daily George Floyd videos and a worldwide Defund the Police reaction… it scared the shit out of me.” (14:39)
• Notable quote:
  “Many left wing Jews were shocked… at such quickness to blame Israel for what had happened and such a quick lack of empathy or sympathy.” (14:39)
• Highlights Mamdani’s election as “a representation, at minimum, of that lack of sympathy and empathy for Israel and the Jewish people.” (14:39)

American Jews’ Unpreparedness

• Critique: “The liberal Jewish community were completely uninformed… 9 out of 10 Jews wouldn't know what to say.” (17:55)
• “We were going to collapse like a house of cards because we were so uninformed.” (17:55)
• The gratitude for basic Israel advocacy is “heartbreaking, almost pathetic… American Jews forgot everything. They know almost nothing.” (19:59)

5. The Collapse of Nuanced Debate (19:59–24:38)

• Haviv: “The debate was shallow. It was ignorant. People are learning stuff now that they had never known… I’ve had anti-Zionist Jews come up to me and say, I’m still anti-Zionist because this Israeli government is just terrible, but obviously Israel should exist.” (19:59–24:15)
• Noam:
  • “Life was so good in America… who wants to put the work in? It was complacency and now hopefully it’s not too late.” (24:38)
  • Critiques the one-sided focus on "Palestinian psychology" and urges attention to the “Israeli psychology” – the legacy of trauma (24:38).
• A cycle of complacency, ignorance, and sudden, destabilizing anxiety.

6. New Right-Wing Anti-Semitism: Carlson, Candace, and Conspiracy (26:26–33:21)

Surprise from the Right

• “What I didn’t see coming was this thing on the right now with the Tucker Carlson's and the Candace Owens's… literal… pro-Nazi sentiment.” (26:26)
• Distinguishes historical right-wing fringe from rapid mainstreaming among influencers.

Is It Mental Illness or Strategy?

• Noam:
  • “These crazy people… talk about demonic possession and chemtrails and Jews killing Christian babies… apparently mentally ill things.” (28:10)
• The “grifter vs. true believer” question:
  • “I don't think it's Qatari money… I think he [Tucker] actually believes this stuff.” (29:04)
  • Speculates on the role of online culture, performativity, but ultimately lands on genuine belief, not mere grift.

Scale and Influence

• Millions exposed to this content:
  • “Joe Rogan has exactly zero mental illness… and he’ll platform Ian Carroll.” (30:23)
  • “Millions of people are watching her [Candace Owens] for it. They’re watching her because of the spiral.” (30:23)
• Noam:
  • “Rogan has always loved conspiracy theories… but usually they’re right to poke holes in things. This seems to be different.” (31:42)
  • Notes Rogan seems to have “avoided this topic” lately (32:44)

7. Will the Fire Burn Out or Reach Critical Mass? (33:21–39:39)

• “I’m always taken with… the concept of critical mass… Has… this fire of anti-Semitism [on the right] become self-sustaining, or will it just fade back down?” (33:21)
• Twitter/reality divide:
  • “We really still don’t know how to interpret Twitter as part of real life.” (33:21)
  • Louis CK controversy as an example: “We did not see business fall $1, not $1.” (33:21)
• “In the end, there is no policy that they are recommending. This is America. We are not going to start rounding up Jews… They’re just enjoying the hate of it all.” (36:09)
• Predicts: Not Nazi Germany, but maybe a “reversion to the mean” of old-fashioned, casual anti-Semitism (38:31).

8. New York Politics: Mamdani and a New Era? (39:43–47:15)

• The New York Jewish Vote:
  • “Did one third of Jews vote for Mamdani? What does it mean? What does Mamdani represent?” (40:00)
• Noam:
  • Mamdani’s appeal “seemed to come down to… a kind of psychological moment of peer pressure… in the air about Israel and the genocide… acid rain.” (41:38)
  • “It is not clear that Mandani was destined to win… but what we are seeing… is that a guy saying [anti-Israel] things… is no longer disqualifying among New Yorkers.” (45:43)
  • Loss of cultural/historical memory: “Much of this is just that they’re younger, they know nothing. They are no longer in the gravitational force of the Holocaust like my father’s generation was…” (45:43)
• Worries about potential “critical mass” not just of anti-Israel sentiment, but of out-migration driven by taxes and crime—New York’s vulnerability is much higher now in a remote work era (44:41).
• "Once they start leaving, then we're in trouble… This is my bigger fear with Mamdani." (44:41)

9. Anxiety, Resilience, and Planning for the Worst (47:15–52:09)

• Haviv: “To you it looks and feels very dramatic… but you’re not 100% sure… This might be more a rhetorical moment than a real shift.” (46:53)
• Noam’s bottom line: “I feel like we should be reacting to it very, very seriously. You plan for the worst and hope the best takes care of itself. So yeah, this is a five alarm fire. It’s unprecedented. We need to fight on all fronts and fight to win.” (47:15)
• New kind of anxiety:
  • "The acid rain… Degrades them. It sickens me… they understand that being Jewish is something… This is brand new." (47:15)
  • "My daughter was a Jewish star. It was always like an Italian flag in a pizzeria. Nobody cared… Now people ask, 'Are you sure you want to keep that there?'" (48:10)

10. The American Jewish Response & Hopeful Realism (52:09–END)

• On fighting back:
  • “We have to make the arguments. We are in a certain way, maybe lucky that Nick Fuentes is now one degree of separation from the vice president because it's so over the top. They will have to deal with it.” (52:09)
  • On those with less privilege: "Many, many people work for organizations… their careers matter… as I’ve gotten to know journalists… they’re cowards, they're hypocrites…" (52:09)
  • “We have to find the courage to make the arguments. Thank God. I believe we have the better of the arguments… that's what the Jewish community needs to learn—its arguments—and then make them.” (52:09)
• America as hope:
  • “America is a good place… it's going to be all right. There'll be some difference. But dystopian worst-case scenario for Jews—I would rule that out.” (52:09)
• Memorable quote—Reagan paraphrase:
  • Haviv: “There's nothing bad about America that can't be fixed by what's good about America.” (55:28)

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• On American Jewish Capacity Pre-October 7th:
  “We were going to collapse like a house of cards because we were so uninformed.” (17:55, Noam Dworman)

• On New Right-Wing Populism:
  “These crazy people… talk about demonic possession and chemtrails and Jews killing Christian babies… apparently mentally ill things.” (28:10, Noam Dworman)

• On Twitter vs. Reality:
  “We really still don't know how to interpret Twitter as part of real life.” (33:21, Noam Dworman)

• On New York Politics:
  “What we are seeing… is that a guy saying [anti-Israel] things… is no longer disqualifying among New Yorkers.” (45:43, Noam Dworman)

• On Jewish Anxiety:
  “The acid rain… Degrades them. It sickens me that they… understand that being Jewish is something… This is brand new.” (47:15, Noam Dworman)

• On Fighting Back:
  “We have to make the arguments… learn its arguments and then make them.” (52:09, Noam Dworman)

• On America’s Enduring Goodness:
  “There's nothing bad about America that can't be fixed by what's good about America.” (55:28, Haviv Rettig Gur quoting Ronald Reagan)

Summary Table of Important Segments

| Segment | Topic | Timestamps | Notes | |-------------------|--------------------------------------------------|--------------|---------------------------------------------------------------| | Comedy & Culture | Comedy Cellar’s role, family history, salons | 03:55–13:30 | Insights into debate culture in NYC and its political overlap | | Jewish Anxiety | Post-Oct. 7th, anti-Semitism, psychological war | 14:13–19:59 | The shift in American Jewish perception and reaction | | Collapse of Debate| Ignorance, shallow discourse, need for complexity | 19:59–24:38 | Renewed need for knowledge, history, and nuanced conversation | | New Right Threats | New populist anti-Semitism, conspiracy, influence | 26:26–33:21 | The mainstreaming of previously fringe right-wing ideas | | NY’s Future | Mamdani, Jewish identity, political migrations | 39:43–47:15 | Divergence between rhetorical vs. real changes in NY politics | | Jewish Response | How to respond, faith in American institutions | 52:09–END | Advocacy, argument, the importance of standing up |

Conclusion

The conversation is a nuanced, often anxious examination of modern American Jewish life, particularly in New York, in a moment of upheaval. Both left and right pose new and old threats, but Noam and Haviv ultimately express cautious faith in American resilience—while underscoring the necessity of learning, speaking up, and making robust arguments for Jewish belonging and rights.