Hey celebs ... If you’re doing a lockdown podcast, please make it good
Too many famous faces are getting their friends to show up and talk about . . . well anything. For a podcasts to be worth listening to, the chat needs to rise above banal niceties, says Chris Schulz.
On a recent episode of Smartless, a weekly podcast in which three Hollywood overachievers surprise each other with celebrity guests, the hosts were briefly lost for words.
‘‘Woo woo!’’ shrieked Jason Bateman, the Arrested Development star who spent several moments sounding like he was trying to impress young children with a Thomas the Tank Engine
impression.
‘‘How good is this? Can you believe it?’’ exclaimed Will Arnett, Bateman’s co-host, who is more known for his voice work in Bojack Horseman and The Lego Movie these days.
Arnett then turned into a word washing machine: ‘‘You’re such a super comedy hilarious person.’’
A third co-host was also there, but as a first-time listener, you wouldn’t have known it. All Sean Hayes, from Will & Grace fame, could muster was a terrible mob boss impression.
The reason for the trio’s excitement? Smartless’
latest guest had just joined their Zoom call, a preorganised ‘‘surprise’’ visit from caustic comic Sarah Silverman.
She’s just one of many famous faces that have appeared on Smartless since it started last July. The weekly podcast began with the mission statement of ‘‘connecting and uniting people from all walks of life to learn about shared experiences’’.
That’s big talk, but the show itself contains little of it. Instead, it’s about Smartless’ already famous hosts showing off their rammed Rolodex of super famous friends.
Since it started, Smartless has hosted big names including Kamala Harris, Jennifer Aniston and Paul McCartney. Sometimes, the guests are there to promote something, like Seth Rogen’s appearance to push his film American Pickle. Other times, they’re happily unmoored from the promotion bandwagon, like when Will Ferrell got weird and Melissa McCarthy cackled at the memory of her live disasters.
Like Silverman, each guest’s arrival is met with gasps of awe and declarations of admiration. When Silverman arrived, the trio managed to keep the mutual appreciation society running throughout the podcast’s 40 minutes, pausing only for three lengthy ad breaks.
The hosts spent 15 minutes gushing about Silverman’s career. Early on, Arnett repeated a lengthy, and filthy, joke he admired from Silverman’s defunct 2007 TV show. Once they moved on from that, Bateman asked her: ‘‘Do you watch The Bachelor?’’
At that point, Smartless was starting to live up to its name.
Even Silverman, always ready with a vitriolic jab, joined in the banality. ‘‘Ozark – oh my gosh!’’ she said to Bateman, who co-created, directs and stars in the hit Netflix series. ‘‘Your directing is really beautiful and I thought season three was phenomenal.’’
Smartless isn’t the only podcast doing this. Right now, Hollywood’s biggest names are bored. Unable to work, thanks to Covid restrictions on film and TV sets, many have turned to podcasts as a way to keep busy, make a living, and add to their CV.
Thanks to Zoom and a decent microphone, they can do all of this safely, from the comfort of their already comfortable homes.
So many have started it’s hard to keep up. Michelle Obama has one. So does Dr Who star David Tennant. British journalist Louis Theroux began his own self-deprecating instalment for the BBC. Queer Eye’s Jonathan Van Ness is also giving it a go. So is Anna Farris.
The big problem? All of these celebrity podcasts are running out of celebrity guests to talk to, and things to talk about.
Last May, veteran actor Rob Lowe appeared on the long-running podcasts Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend and In Bed With Nick (Offerman) and Megan (Mullally). He was there to promote his own podcast, Literally! With Rob Lowe.
One of Lowe’s first guests was O’Brien. Just weeks later, Offerman followed.
That’s a lot of chat, with not much reward. His style is aimless and anecdote heavy. Like Smartless, the banter rarely goes deeper than: ‘‘I’m famous, you’re famous, let’s chat.’’
Which is a big problem. Podcasts are better when there’s a point to them, an overarching theme, with a reason for discussion other than shared fame.
I Weigh does a good job of this, with The Good Place’s Jameela Jamil asking each of her guests to share historic trauma, then advise on their
Hollywood’s biggest names are bored. Unable to work, thanks to Covid, many have turned to podcasts as a way to keep busy.
recoveries from it. It is informative and revealing, all of the things a good podcast should be.
If you’re just relying on celebrities to show up and be famous, the chat needs to be good. The problem Smartless and their ilk face is that one person is doing this better than anyone.
Since 2009, the dark comic and brooding actor Marc Maron has recorded more than 1000 episodes of deep dive interviews with some of the world’s biggest names.
Running twice a week, WTF With Marc Maron has become very, very good. Maron doesn’t do fluff. Celebs don’t get an easy ride. There are no softball questions. Sometimes, they can veer delightfully off track. Other times they won’t talk about the guest’s career at all.
At other times, Maron’s interviews can have serious repercussions, like when President Barack Obama used the N-word on an episode, or when Mandy Moore alleged an abusive relationship with her ex-husband, Ryan Adams.
It can also get dark. When Maron’s partner, the director Lynne Shelton, died from Covid-19 complications last year, Maron headed to his podcast booth, and aired his grief for the world to hear.
Maron has become a master of the form, and after 12 years, his twice-weekly interviews have become essential podcast listening.
Smartless? Maron probably doesn’t know the meaning of the word.