[For now, it's just a precaution -- he might not know Art as well as, say, Nice, but he can tell you're different now. Or maybe he should say you're more the same instead of different, really.]
Then it's good I've got someone who's used to explaining things doing that for me, isn't it? [His tone is light, joking, and the edge that was there before is mostly gone -- even though his aggressive cheerfulness about this is certainly not...]