THE MANY FACES OF DAVE SMITH
A few weeks ago, I wrote about “anti-war” Jon Stewart LARP-er and clapter enthusiast Dave Smith. I pointed out that, along with his AntiFa-style self-labeling strategy, Dave seems to have only one argument against the Israel-Gaza war:
Are you serious? Like, do you hear yourself right now? I can’t even…like, this is crazy! The corporate media says it’s Israel’s fault. Are you too stupid to know that? I can’t believe I’m hearing this from you!
I’m paraphrasing, of course.
This comedian, whose fans struggle to remember a single joke he’s told, is reminiscent of another midwit with newfound arrogance–Charlie Kelly. This Always Sunny character, an illiterate street urchin who is destined to a life of “Charlie work” (dealing with rats, slimes, sludges and other gross things that creep up at Paddy’s Pub), is one day given an intelligence pill in a behavioral experiment. Instantly, Charlie begins to display inflated confidence, boasting about his abilities and growing distant from his friends. He only finds out he’s been misled by the placebo effect once the damage has been done to his already unimpressive reputation.
Similarly, Mr. Smith was talked up by his actually-funny peers, like an ugly chick with well-intentioned girlfriends, to the point where he’s booked as a commentator on geopolitics for some goddamn reason. No, Dave isn’t the first comedian to engage in such “Can you do five minutes on a topic?” punditry, but I would argue he is the most arrogant of this group. Others in this comedy sphere–Joe Rogan, Tim Dillon, Theo Von–still focus enough on their standup careers to warrant the “comedian” title. Sure, they’ll spit out a misinformed topical monologue about two or three times a year, but then they’ll go back to making people laugh.
What does Dave do? He plays activist once every week or two, then fills the rest of his time defending his previous media appearance amongst friends and the X crowd. Just like those hot women consoling their undateable friend, Dave is reassured by the rest of his guild that it’s everyone else, not you. They’re just jealous of how awesome you are.
And that’s why, while discussing a subject that he is supposedly passionate about as a matter of moral conscience, Dave Smith seems to be using a segment on Piers Morgan’s show as an opportunity to ham it up for the camera. As you look through these screenshots, all of which are taken from the same two-minute-long clip, ask yourself if this is how a normal person acts when they are seriously moved by a tragic reality:
Forget everything you thought you knew about Hamas.
Words with venom, words that bind, words used like weapons to cloud my mind 🫰🪘🪘🫰
Netanyahu’s gon’ come n’ getcha!
Look how serious I am! This is my serious face!
I’m doing that thing politicians do with their fingers when they lay out their five-point plan.
I just told you something I read from the Associated Press. Beat that!
It’s just little ol’ me, Dave Smith, asking questions. Looks like I’ve gone and made shit up again!
Okay, I regurgitated the Hamas statistics, said “Zionists,” mentioned dead Palestinians and not dead Israelis…Did I miss anything?
I shan’t be bothered with arguments from the likes of her.
I can’t believe it’s this easy to get on Piers’ show.
Ooooohohohoho, did you just say “Expert”!?
It was never about Israel, Gazans, libertarianism or pacifism for Dave. He’s spent years as a third wheel on Legion of Skanks, never enjoying the same following as Louis J. Gomez or Big Jay Oakerson. He’d gained clout over the years in the Libertarian Party, but only after it had already descended into Chase Oliver-level irrelevancy. Suddenly, Israel was attacked and Dave saw that he could use his half-constructed political opinions to get more exposure without having to write any jokes. He knew he could leverage his ancestry, momentum left over from his Covid-19 rants and the First Amendment violations of others to avoid his own scrutiny.
These theatrics only show how much fun Dave is having at the expense of anyone he can dupe. It’s a bad-faith game of optics for him, the same game played by leftists who pretend to care about race relations but instead descend into nonsensical mockery. At some point, however, the war with Hamas will be over, and Dave–much like Greta Thunberg–will no doubt move on to some other issue that will begin trending. And few will think to question the shift.
What kinds of faces will he make then?
