School Reunion with Ben Tuval

Scott Bedley is a veteran elementary school educator with 31 years in the classroom, currently teaching 4th grade in Irvine, CA, as well as Ben’s fifth grade teacher (2006–2007 academic year). The two reconnect after five years apart, catching up on careers, grad school, and how education has changed. Ben asks Scott about AI in the classroom, burnout, and the philosophy behind three decades of teaching. Along the way come stories about the Solar Decathlon, Global School Play Day, and one particularly cringe-inducing Valentine’s Day poem.

Discussed in this episode:

0:00 — Intro / Catching Up

1:56 — The Valentine’s Day Poem (& Why Writing Matters)

2:56 — AI, Writing, and What the Next Generation Might Miss 4:04 — Chromebooks, One-to-One Devices & Finding the Right Balance with New Tech

7:38 — How Long Does It Take to Feel Good at Your Job? (Comedy vs. Teaching)

8:48 — 31 Years In: “The Longer You’re In It, The More You Realize You Don’t Know”

12:38 — The Solar Decathlon Story (& the Student Who Got Into Harvard)

15:38 — Taking Risks in the Classroom

17:34 — AI and Raising Humans

19:09 — AI Tools in Action: MagicSchool, Snorkel & Gemini “Gems”

23:06 — Slang, Skibidi Toilet, and Embracing (Not Banning) What’s Cringe

24:20 — Managing It All: Burnout, Boundaries & Staying a “Creator”

27:11 — Creators vs. Drones: Staying Fulfilled in the Job

29:22 — You Can’t Get to Everything: Teaching Kids to Love Learning

31:31 — Why Education Is Emotional But Content Isn’t (MATH = Mental Abuse to Humans)

37:18 — Global School Play Day: Fighting the Decline in Unstructured Play

40:42 — Letting Kids Make Their Own Choices

42:15 — Ben’s Path: From A&E Networks to K-State and the Classroom

44:00 — Comedy, Family & Finding Meaningful Work

45:37 — Angels, Ducks, and Returning to California

48:10 — Closing Thoughts & Old Memories (Plus a Teacher’s Teacher)

50:04 — Wrapping Up

Scott also co-hosted an education podcast with his brother Tim. Check out The Bedley Bros for conversations with authors, teachers of the year, and more.

Global School Play Day is a grassroots movement, started by educators including Scott, that gives kids a day of unstructured, child-led play to push back against the decline in play. Learn more and find out how to take part at globalschoolplayday.org.

Follow Ben on Instagram here.

To advertise on the show, please contact @BenHTuval on Instagram or through the Contact/Press form on Ben’s website.

This week Ben catches up with Marla Friedson — LA transplant, entertainment industry veteran, and co-host of the podcast Schmuckboys — for a wide-ranging conversation about career pivots, moving across the country, and what it means to actually trust your gut.

Marla's spent the last several years bouncing around the entertainment industry: years in post-production and reality TV (including a five-week, no-days-off stint producing world-feed content for the US Open, and a Eurovision music video), a stint at a Jewish nonprofit in LA producing community events, and now a move into talent representation. She and Ben talk through her journey from a childhood TV production class to studying journalism and film, why she thinks "concept of home" is more complicated than it sounds, her 2026 goals (Hebrew lessons, a marathon, growing her own show), and her hard-earned take on learning to trust her own instincts at work.

Funny, a little chaotic, and genuinely sweet — classic School Reunion.

1:53 — Why Marla keeps a Sharpie in her purse (in case she needs to cross out antisemitic graffiti)

4:37 — "You learn something new every day — and you still die an idiot"

8:58 — Marla on moving to LA in 2022 and feeling more like an Angeleno than a New Yorker these days

10:18 — How LA has changed her: less going out, slower pace, and what she misses about NY

17:37 — If you could have anyone's career, whose would you want?

23:10 — Marla's goals

24:39 — A shoutout to Marla's podcast Shmuck Boys and her Elon Gold interview

28:56 — What years of different industry jobs have taught her about herself

36:01 — "This is a comedy podcast, Ben — shape up." 

40:16 — Favorite movies/shows of the past year

49:24 - Outro

Check out Marla’s podcast Schmuckboys here, or wherever you get podcasts.

Ben is performing a ⁠St. Mark's Comedy Club variety/fundraiser show with Stand Up to Cancer Sep. 26 6PM in NYC. Tickets can be purchased ⁠here⁠. 

To advertise on the show, please contact ⁠@BenHTuval on Instagram⁠ or through the ⁠Contact/Press form on Ben’s website. 

Hope Benzie is a longtime elementary school teacher in the Irvine, CA education community, as well as Ben's 3rd grade teacher (2005–2006 academic year). The two reconnect in person for the first time in decades, catching up on life, family, and the winding roads that brought them both to where they are now. Ben asks questions about the teaching profession as he transitions to becoming a teacher himself, and old memories, hard-won wisdom, and plenty of laughs come up along the way.

Discussed in this episode:

0:00 — Intro

0:56 — Catching Up

4:50 — The Thanksgiving Play & "Turkeys on Strike"

7:30 — Comedy vs. Teaching: Surprising Parallels

9:36 — How Kids' Knowledge Has Changed (Social Media, Coddling & Resilience)

17:26 — "Everybody Has Feelings": Classroom Empathy 101

21:44 — How Parenting Has Changed Since COVID

27:35 — Handling Difficult Parents (& Losing Their Cool)

31:55 — What Hope Remembers About Ben

34:18 — Moving as Teenagers: Shared Culture Shock Stories

41:50 — Hope's Soft Retirement & What Led Her There

48:02 — Standup, Public Speaking & Speaking From the Heart

59:42 — Outro 

Follow Ben on Instagram here.

Ben is performing at ⁠Guy Reuven⁠’s show July 8 at 7PM at Broadway Comedy Club in NYC. (Guy is genuinely one of the funniest guys doing it right now.) Tickets can be purchased ⁠here⁠ or at tinyurl.com/bwaycomedy. 

To advertise on the show, please contact @BenHTuval on Instagram or through the Contact/Press form on Ben's website.

Jeff Jablon is a screenwriter and men's stylist who spent a decade inside the Hollywood machine — from a talent agency mailroom, to working alongside A-list talent at one of the industry's top management companies, to working at a production company behind $30M+ films, to a crypto company collapse, to finding his footing today. Ben reconnects with Jeff in-person for the first time ever in LA and the two talk Hollywood, screenwriting, Celine Song, and what it actually takes to just do the thing.

Discussed in this episode:

0:00 — Intro

0:57 — Jeff's Chess Teaching Gig ("A Hobby That Pays Me")

4:27 — LA Helicopters / How Long Jeff's Been in LA

6:47 — How Ben & Jeff Met

6:57 — On Being Creative vs. Pursuing Hollywood

9:57 — Jeff's Foray Into Standup

11:37 — Screenwriting as His True Passion

12:40 — Ben on Being a Cancer Survivor

15:12 — 10 Years in LA: Expectations vs. Reality

17:31 — The Hollywood Career Elevator Pitch

18:57 — The Producer Job That Did a Number on Him

22:11 — Life Coach, Crypto Collapse & Finding Suit Supply

23:57 — Why 32 Hours Beats 80 Hours

25:32 — The Two Scripts: "The Zoo" & a Romantic Comedy Feature

28:57 — Materialists, Celine Song & Modern Dating

32:57 — Aspiring for Big Picture Storytelling

37:57 — Depression, Marc Maron & LA vs. New York

44:07 — "Stop Listening to Advice and Just Do It"

45:35 — Outro

Follow Ben on Instagram ⁠here⁠. 

To advertise on the show, please contact ⁠@BenHTuval on Instagram⁠ or through the ⁠Contact/Press form on Ben’s website. ⁠

Roberta Sagud is a retired elementary school teacher with over 30 years of experience in the Southern California education community, as well as Ben's second grade teacher (2004–2005 academic year). The two reconnect in person for the first time in decades — in Irvine, CA, where it all began — Ben asks questions about the teaching profession as he transitions to becoming a teacher himself, and old memories, life advice, and some laughs come up along the way.

Discussed in this episode:

0:00 — Intro

1:04 — Does Roberta Remember Ben?

5:28 — Why Elementary Over High School

7:16 — On Husbands, Cameras & the Corporate World

18:47 — "By the End I Was a Psychiatrist, a Psychologist, and a Nurse"

21:48 — When Was Roberta Happiest in Her Career?

29:25 — Mental Health & Why Kids Need an Outlet

43:32 — On Finding the Right Person

56:59 — Advice for Going Into Teaching

1:08:36 — The Similarities Between Standup Comedy and Teaching

1:11:14 — Wrapping Up

Follow Ben on Instagram here. 

Ben is performing at Guy Reuven’s show May 20 8PM at Eastville Comedy Club in Brooklyn. (Guy is genuinely one of the funniest guys doing it right now.) Tickets can be purchased here. 

To advertise on the show, please contact @BenHTuval on Instagram or through the Contact/Press form on Ben’s website. 

Sheila Jones is a staple in the Southern California education community, as well as Ben's Kindergarten teacher (2001–2002 academic year). The two reconnect in person for the first time since then, Ben asks questions about the teaching profession as he transitions to becoming a teacher, and old memories come up.

Discussed in this episode:

0:00 — Intro 

1:05 — Catching Up / Old Memories 

7:35 — Understanding Your Students (& Making Learning Fun) 

11:43 — Life After the Classroom / Sheila's Retirement 

19:41 — Did Sheila Always Want to Teach? 

24:11 — The Hardest Part About Teaching 

32:43 — How Kids & Parents Have Changed 

39:43 — What's Missing From Education Today 

41:35 — The Costume Story 😄 

43:28 — Wrapping Up

Follow Ben on Instagram here. 

Ben is performing at Guy Reuven’s show May 20 8PM at Eastville Comedy Club in Brooklyn. (Guy is genuinely one of the funniest guys doing it right now.) Tickets can be purchased here.

To advertise on the show, please contact @BenHTuval on Instagram or through the Contact/Press form on Ben’s website.

School Reunion returns April 6, 2026. End of "trailer."

Follow Ben on Instagram @benhtuval for his comedy.

[concept art by ⁠Gripless⁠]

[music: "Evan Finds the Third Room" by ⁠Khruangbin]

Ben reconnects with his 11th grade US history teacher Andrew Thompson after 7 years without contact. Andrew shares something he’s never mentioned to a student before, how teaching can be surprisingly isolating (especially in year one), the importance of travel, and more.

Ben reconnects with his 10th grade history/12th grade AP comparative government teacher, Dr. Kirsten Russell, after 6 years without contact. Kirsten shares stories from her decades-long career prior to teaching, how her son became a source of motivation for her to transition into teaching, what living in China in the ‘80s was like, and more.

Ben reconnects with his 7th grade science teacher Bob Golden after 12 years without contact. Bob shares insights from his 55 years of teaching, what it was like growing up in a tenement in New York City, one noteworthy reunion he had with a particularly challenging former student, his favorite part about teaching, and more.