The 2024 election was, for many, a sign of the country’s gradual shift to the Right. And the internet is partially to blame, specifically due to the so-called “Alt-Right pipeline.” Ever since, the Left has been on the hunt for their own Joe Rogan, and out of a handful of names, The Adam Friedland Show has frequently come up. But unless you’re a chronically online Left-leaning white guy, you might be wondering: who exactly is Adam Friedland? And what’s his show about?
Before The Adam Friedland Show, Friedland co-hosted a podcast called Cum Town alongside fellow comedians Nick Mullen (my close personal friend) and Stavros Halkias. Each episode consisted essentially of news & movie recaps, impressions, and calling everything and everyone gay — mostly each other, and especially Adam. The show became emblematic of what came to be known as the “Dirtbag Left”: politically aware but proudly irreverent; irony-pilled and allergic to sincerity. It built a cult-like following in the strangest corners of the internet. Eventually, Stavros made the decision to leave the podcast in order to focus on his own solo comedy career, which led Nick and Adam to reimagine the show entirely, giving birth to The Adam Friedland Show. Nick remained the brains of the operation, while Adam—once the designated punching bag of Cum Town, nicknamed a “gay bug” by fans—became its face. The concept was almost meta in its irony: what if the least popular, most ridiculed member of the show hosted a serious, Dick Cavett-style talk show?
Season 1 of The Adam Friedland Show was all over the place. Between hilariously “serious” interviews with notable people such as Neil de Grasse Tyson, Mac Demarco, and Dave Portnoy, were looser, podcast-style episodes with friends and other comedians. These were more casual and conversational, and in between these would be even more unstructured episodes with just Nick and Adam talking (occasionally arguing) for an hour. Although each episode had its own charm and plenty of laughs — Adam and Nick’s comedic skills still at the forefront— the confusion the two felt in the wake of Cum Town was apparent. The season often felt like a work in progress, as Adam found his style as an interviewer and built his confidence, and as the pair found themselves in the midst of a very public controversy involving The 1975 frontman Matty Healy. Out of all these episodes, though, the interviews shined the brightest. Adam charmed each guest with his awkward sincerity and dry humor, but Nick’s creative vision didn’t align with what had been working for the show, so he stepped away to focus on his own projects, leaving Adam to take the reins and shape what The Adam Friedland Show would become next.
From the very first episode, the dedication and effort put into Season 2 of TAFS is unmistakable. The production value alone has stepped up, with a brand-new theme song, a more vivid and high-definition set design, an additional set for ads, and higher production introductory bits—the show feels like a real television talk show. The range of guests is also notably diverse. Adam interviews almost every type of public figure, from actors like Sarah Jessica Parker and Rainn Wilson to Internet personalities like Anthony Fantano and Mia Khalifa, and even political figures, like former congressman Anthony Weiner and conservative political commentator Michael Knowles. There’s no true pattern to his guests. In these more recent interviews, Adam’s confidence is much stronger, able to riff with any guest despite how much he may or may not personally agree with them. Adam’s mix of spontaneity and unique, thought-out questions for his guests makes for a one-of-a-kind interview experience. When guests start to go into trivial, standard interview territory, Friedland almost assumes his Cum Town persona, cutting them off with a crude bit. Though to some viewers this behavior may seem childish, Adam is instead able to bring out the humanity in his guests by having them talk about random day-to-day things. Audiences learn Mia Khalifa’s love for filing papers, Vice Chairman of the DNC’s post-breakup playlist, or Richard Kind’s bit about Obama’s “magic Kenyan surfboard.” It’s precisely this mix of absurdity and genuine curiosity that keeps every episode of Season Two unpredictable and endlessly entertaining.
But beneath all the chaos and jokes, Adam reveals a surprising depth as a host, incredibly evident in his emotionally charged conversation with Democratic Representative Ritchie Torres. In today’s world of debate culture (think Jubilee on YouTube, or literally any “conservative versus liberal” social media “debate”), Adam appeals not to points or rhetoric, but to emotions and humanity.
While discussing Torres’ devout Zionist beliefs, Friedland opens up about the oppression he witnessed against Palestinians while living in Israel. The moment is almost painful to watch. Friedland sits with tears forming in his eyes as he begs Torres for a shred of empathy, while Torres remains cold and unfeeling, meeting Friedland’s pain with stereotypical AIPAC-funded political jargon. Torres refuses to engage emotionally. Instead, he waits for Adam to slip up so he can score a “gotcha moment.” It was difficult to see Adam so passionately arguing for Torres to just be “a human being” about the issue, only to be met with what feels like a brick wall. At one point in the interview, Adam is talking about how the actions of Israel have personally affected what it means to be Jewish to him, and Torres responds flatly, “I feel like I’m being lectured.” Through this contrast of passion and indifference, the interview displays the gap between Americans and our politicians, and gets to the root of the issues in our democracy far better than any “Democrat Owns Republican” sensationalized debate video. This episode is a marker of how far TAFS has evolved; from a shaky Cum Town spin-off to a valuable insight into today’s political and cultural climate.
With the rollout of the second season of The Adam Friedland Show so far, Adam bridges the space between dude-bro internet podcasts and serious late-night talk shows, creating something completely new and all the more exciting. Adam maintains the serious, professional format of standard late-night television, while also keeping, brash, ironic, and refreshingly honest tone that made Cum Town so popular. Dubbed the “Millennial Jon Stewart” by GQ, Adam’s second season has gotten him critical acclaim and caused many on the Left to ask, “Could Adam Friedland be the Left’s Joe Rogan?” Me personally? I say no. The Adam Friedland Show defies both the sanitized, centrist late-night talk shows of television and the sensationalized messaging of the “Alt-Right pipeline.” In a media landscape defined by irony and outrage, Adam Friedland offers something rare: sincerity. Maybe the future of media isn’t about taking sides at all – maybe it’s about being human. And, maybe Adam Friedland is already there.
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