The Comedy Cellar: Live from the Table

Episode: Signal Scandal and the Darryl Cooper (@MartyrMade) Twitter Argument
Date: March 27, 2025
Host: Dan Natterman, Noam Dworman, Periel Aschenbrand
Special Guest (late arrival): David Kaufman

Overview

This episode features a lively, in-depth discussion among Comedy Cellar regulars about two contentious topics:

• The “Signal Group Chat” mishap involving the Trump administration and accidental leaks to The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg.
• An extensive, brutally honest assessment of Noam Dworman’s public falling-out and Twitter feud with independent historian-podcaster Daryl Cooper (@martyrmade), focusing on debates over antisemitism, historical sources, and the ethics of platforming revisionist World War II claims.

The episode is rich with sharp banter, candid personal anecdotes, and a combative, unfiltered “at the table” dynamic. It blends insider Comedy Cellar talk (including business updates and backstage gossip) with substantive discussion of Jewish identity and internet-age historical revisionism.

Comedy Cellar News: "The McDonald's Room" (00:00–04:09)

• Dan Natterman brings up recent set performances and receiving more Sunday stage time, doubting if compliments have translated to tangible results.
• Noam Dworman confirms positive feedback from Esti (the booker) and jokes about Dan’s inability to take compliments, launching into an aside about the importance of “the hang” (social atmosphere for comics).
• Discussion about a new venue being built out in a former McDonald’s—no dedicated hangout lounge, will use tables instead of theater seating, trying to preserve the Olive Tree Cafe’s central role as social HQ for comedians.

Memorable exchange:

• "You have a very hard time taking a compliment." —Periel Aschenbrand (01:01)

Segment 1: The "Signal Group Chat" Scandal (04:09–21:07)

What Happened? (05:10–07:12)

• The Trump administration accidentally added Jeffrey Goldberg, editor of The Atlantic, to a Signal encrypted group chat discussing war plans.
• Goldberg published select details only after the relevant event, not while it was ongoing.

Notable quote:

• "If you actually cared about the security of the country, why would you publish that?" —Periel (06:38)
• "No, he didn't do anything wrong... it was only after the issue was moot, after the attack had taken place." —Noam (07:02)

The Real Issue: Organizational Trust (11:52–17:21)

• Noam draws an analogy from his business: just as an employee throwing a cigarette butt and nearly burning the club down is a catastrophic error, it’s not necessarily the worst lapse.
• The real problem comes when, in the Signal chat, Senator J.D. Vance signals doubt about Trump’s awareness of the ramifications of a proposed military operation but still passively agrees to go along.
• Noam insists: in a hierarchy, you must either present your objections directly, get behind the decision, or resign. Expressing internal doubts to peers but not the leader is "undermining."
• He sees Vance’s conduct as "treacherous" and allowing for “I told you so” self-protection if things go wrong:

Highlighted moments:

• "Who throws a cigarette butt in a garbage...Who talks about war plans on a signal app? ...People can make terrible mistakes, and that's not the story. The story is... J.D. Vance says, 'Well, I don't know if the President's aware of these reasons why this is really not a good idea, but, you know, I'll pray for it.'... This is absolutely unacceptable." —Noam (12:12–14:54)

• "Your whole job is to give the president the benefit of your wisest counsel. There’s no way out here for this guy." —Noam (16:19)

Political Civics Interlude (19:20–21:07)

• Light banter about American civics: Can the president fire the vice president? No, because VP is elected on the ticket.
• Recap of why the VP is on the same ticket as the president, referencing early American history.

Segment 2: The Noam Dworman–Darryl Cooper Twitter Feud (21:08–46:32)

Setting the Scene: Who Is Darryl Cooper? (21:09–23:10)

• Darryl Cooper is introduced as a popular, self-taught podcaster and historian ("MartyrMade") recently on Joe Rogan and previously controversial for arguments aired on Tucker Carlson.
• Known for “Fear and Loathing in New Jerusalem"—a history of Zionism viewed as anti-Israeli but substantive and nuanced.

Noam's Past Relationship & Defense (23:10–26:26)

• Noam explains his early interest in and even affinity for Cooper, enjoying intellectual sparring and defending Cooper publicly against minor missteps (e.g. accidentally misstating Hitler’s birthplace).

• "He answered direct questions... didn't take things personally... there's something about him that speaks to a person like me. I like to be constantly sparring with the smartest of those people, because this is a good knife sharpening process." —Noam (24:13)

The Logo Artist Controversy (27:01–31:19)

• Noam reveals that MartyrMade’s logo artist, Arthur Kwon Lee, is a highly skilled but virulently antisemitic propagandist, sharing a sample of his rhetoric (29:31) filled with "synagogue of Satan" conspiracies linking Judaism to Satanism.

• Noam calls out Cooper’s shifting narrative: first claiming he didn’t know Lee’s politics, then later calling him “the great Arthur Kwon Lee.”

• "I always feel a bit betrayed when I see an Asian anti-Semite. I thought we kind of had an understanding." —Dan (31:01)

The Tucker and Rogan Episodes: Cooper’s World War II Claims (34:52–39:49)

• Cooper accused of suggesting Churchill was “installed by Zionist financiers” and that Jewish interests caused WWII, drawing on arguments from Holocaust-denier David Irving.
• Noam is incensed by the Joe Rogan episode’s whitewashing of the controversy—portraying Cooper as victim of cancel culture, not a platform for conspiratorial claims.

Key moment:
"What offended me was they totally whitewashed the Tucker interview. He got in trouble for saying that Churchill was installed by Zionist financiers that he owed money to and that World War II... was simply a product of pursuing Jewish interests. And he got this from David Irving, and then he admitted he got it from David Irving." —Noam (35:39)

The Demand for Sources—and the Twitter Dogpile (41:57–45:59)

• Noam describes repeatedly requesting Cooper’s sources for revisionist history claims (e.g., Hitler’s alleged opposition to Kristallnacht violence), tracing them to Irving’s widely discredited work (and the “Lying About Hitler” exposé by Richard Evans).

• Upon challenging Cooper, Noam is targeted by an onslaught of antisemitic abuse from Cooper’s followers. He stresses how Cooper never condemned or corrected these attacks.

• "I posted a video... Just Jew, what's it like to be a Jew? How... to have to make a law to be a people that's so odious... I mean, Jew, Jew, Jew, one Nazi orgy descended on me... Daryl didn't correct a single person. Not one fucking thing." —Noam (44:00)

Noam’s Final Word — Accountability, Integrity (47:48–50:04)

• Noam says he acted with “absolute integrity and responsibility”: he didn’t call out Cooper’s use of denier sources until after extensive private and scholarly research; will publicly apologize if proven wrong, but doubts he is.
• He draws the line at Cooper’s tacit approval of bigoted fans: “What I will not turn out to be wrong about is he sat by when people attacked me in an antisemitic orgy...That can't be undone. He did that 100%."

Segment 3: Jewish Identity and the Limits of "Opting Out" (50:04–52:16; Guest: David Kaufman)

• David Kaufman arrives, offering historical and personal context on Jewish identity: referencing his own mixed African American–Jewish heritage, he compares attempts by progressive, anti-Zionist Jews to “opt out” of Jewishness to house slaves expecting not to be treated as slaves (51:04).
• Emphasizes that anti-Jewish hate doesn’t see distinctions—"there weren’t gas chamber exceptions for Jews the Nazis liked."

Highlighted quote:

• "These Jews don’t seem to understand, whether they’re a house Jew or field Jew or court Jew...they’re still Jews. The folks who don’t like us don’t see any difference between any of us. We are all the same to them." —David Kaufman (52:04)

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “Who talks about war plans on a signal app? ...People can make terrible mistakes, and that’s not the story...” —Noam (12:12)
• “If I have a manager, I say listen, we’re going to have this policy... and she goes to the staff after... ‘Noam wants you to do this, I don’t know if he’s aware why it’s a bad idea’... This completely undermines the organization.” —Noam (14:26)
• “He’s claiming, ‘I’m going to keep it to myself.’ By doing that... he’s actually not keeping it to himself.” —Noam (15:55)
• “Your whole job is to give the president the benefit of your wisest counsel. There’s no way out here for this guy." —Noam (16:19)
• “I always feel a bit betrayed when I see an Asian anti-Semite. I thought we kinda had an understanding.” —Dan (31:01)
• “He got in trouble for saying that Churchill was installed by Zionist financiers... and he got this from David Irving. And then he admitted he got it from David Irving.” —Noam (35:39)
• “This is no longer plausible to me. This guy knows 100%... what the judge said in the David Irving trial... he knows exactly what’s in the Richard Evans book.” —Noam (40:07)
• "What I will not turn out to be wrong about is he sat by when people attacked me in an anti-Semitic orgy...That cannot be undone. He did that 100%.” —Noam (48:39)
• “There weren't gas chamber exceptions for like the Jews that the Nazis like... The folks who don’t like us don’t see any difference between any of us. We are all the same to them.” —David Kaufman (52:13)

Recap & Tone

The episode is raw and confrontational, rooted in Comedy Cellar’s tradition of no-bullshit, unfiltered dialogue. Noam takes center stage, laying out a detailed indictment of Daryl Cooper’s revisionist history and online community—and reflecting on inability to sustain intellectual friendship in the face of what he sees as grave ethical lapses.

Lively asides, self-deprecating jokes, and the heated honesty of the Cellar table keep the heavy talk brisk and engaging. Through the controversy, the hosts never lose sight of the importance of integrity, accountability, and the unvarnished struggle over history, identity, and truth in the public square.