Will Arnett wants you to know that Smartless has standards. Just don't ask him what those standards are, or who violated them.
The Arrested Development star revealed that the popular podcast he hosts with Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes once kicked off a "very famous" comedian after just 10 minutes of recording. According to Entertainment Weekly, Arnett declined to name names.
Which is both professional and maddening. Now the internet will spend weeks speculating about which famous comedian couldn't make it through a casual conversation with three actor-comedians known for their affable chemistry.
Podcasts have become the new promotional circuit, replacing late-night shows as the preferred venue for celebrities to seem relatable and unscripted. Shows like Smartless, WTF, and Armchair Expert offer longer-form conversations without network censors or time constraints.
They also expose when someone can't handle an actual conversation. Late-night shows are so formatted that guests can coast on prepared anecdotes. Podcasts require you to be interesting for an hour or more. Not everyone can do that, regardless of how famous they are.
The fact that Smartless pulled the plug after 10 minutes suggests this wasn't a personality clash. This was a "this isn't working and we all know it" situation.
Good for them. The podcast ecosystem is glutted with mediocre interviews because hosts are too polite or too starstruck to admit when something isn't working. Arnett, Bateman, and Hayes are established enough that they don't need to waste listeners' time.
In Hollywood, nobody knows anything - except me, occasionally. And I know we'll never find out who got kicked off. But we can guess.
