Dave Smith (comedian)

David Smith (born April 20, 1983) is an American stand-up comedian, podcaster, and libertarian political commentator. He has frequently appeared on Fox News Channel's Kennedy and The Greg Gutfeld Show.  Additionally he was a recurring panelist on CNN's S.E. Cupp: Unfiltered.

Smith is a member of the Mises Caucus of the Libertarian Party. Smith hosts the libertarian podcast Part of the Problem. Smith has been noted as a strong critic of COVID-19 policies such as vaccine passports.

Career
In 2013, Smith was featured as one of the New Faces at the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. He was a featured performer on the New York Comedy Festival's "New York's Funniest" showcase in 2014 and 2015.

He hosts the Part of the Problem podcast and cohosts the comedy podcast Legion of Skanks. According to PorcFest, Part of the Problem is one of the top two libertarian podcasts in the world. On Part of the Problem, Smith has interviewed political figures such as Vivek Ramaswamy and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Smith has also made appearances on The Joe Rogan Experience and Timcast.  

On September 11 2017, Smith released his first comedy special, Libertas.

He was the MC for FreedomFest, a libertarian festival, in 2021, and a featured speaker there in 2022. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Smith was running the Libertarian Party's social media, but he has denied this saying that he only "helped with the Twitter".

Smith considered running in the 2024 Libertarian Party presidential primaries but ultimately decided against it. He also declined to run as Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s vice presidential candidate, citing Kennedy's support for Israel in its war in Gaza. Smith spoke at the 2024 Libertarian National Convention.

Political views
Smith is a member of the Mises Caucus of the Libertarian Party. Smith said in a 2017 Reason interview that he "became a libertarian through the Ron Paul movement". He has opposed what he sees as big tech hegemony, describing it as "the biggest threat to liberty" aside from the "tyranny of COVID-19". He believes vaccine mandates are an infringement of personal liberty and told Reason in 2021 that he did not plan to vaccinate himself or his child against COVID-19. Smith defended the Libertarian Party of Kentucky when it criticized proposed vaccine passports by comparing them to yellow stars that Jews were forced to wear. Reason described him as "a vocal opponent of wokeness and political correctness". An admirer of the anarcho-capitalist economist Murray Rothbard, he told Reason that like Rothbard he would abolish government if he could.

Smith has been noted for interviews and debates with far-right figures such as Gavin McInnes, Nick Fuentes, Richard Spencer, and Christopher Cantwell. Smith has called Fuentes a "fellow traveler", according to the SPLC. In 2021, The New Republic called Smith "a Nazi sympathizer". The SPLC noted that Smith is Jewish and has disagreed with far-right figures on the creation of a white ethnostate and the alt-right's tactics. Debating with Fuentes, the SPLC said, Smith argued for "hard-right libertarian viewpoints". In an interview with Nick Gillespie, Smith defended his friendliness towards alt-right figures saying "People who listen to my podcasts have no doubt about where I stand on all of these issues" and said that his libertarian beliefs are the "the antithesis of National Socialism."

Smith has said he will not support the 2024 Libertarian Party nominee, Chase Oliver, saying that he did not do enough to fight COVID-19 policies such as lockdowns and vaccine mandates. Smith had the same criticism for the party's 2020 nominee, Jo Jorgensen.

Personal life
According to Smith, he was raised in Brooklyn, New York by his single mother. Smith has two children with his wife, Lauren. He is Jewish and has stated that he is the grandchild of a Holocaust survivor.