Gareth Reynolds is a comedian and writer who has—wait for it—podcasts. Shocked? You’re not shocked. Podcasting seems all but mandatory for any comedian gunning for success and additional exposure these days, which means there’s a growing glut of funny-ish pods. How can we decide which ones to try?
Reynolds, who has written for TV’s Arrested Development, Flaked and You’re The Worst, maintains two podcasts, both hits. The Dollop finds him riffing on fellow funnyman Dave Anthony’s tales of American history, and We’re Here To Help teams him with actor Jake Johnson to offer advice to callers in need.
And both shows allow Reynolds to work out different comedy muscles than his steady stand-up touring gig, which brings him to Wiseguys at Town Square in Las Vegas this week.
“As much as I go onstage and talk to the crowd and riff, there’s still a lot of preparation that goes into it, a lot of stuff that’s written. And even when you’re doing crowd work, you don’t have as much freedom as you think,” he says. “You’ve gotta get some laughs in pretty quick in that interaction for people to feel invested. Podcasts can be a much slower burn. You definitely want the comedy, you definitely want it to be interesting, but you’re not held to the same standards as a live show.”
Reynolds has appeared on Marc Maron’s IFC show and uses Maron as an example of a comedian-turned-podcaster who found a different gear in the new medium. “But his stand-up was always thoughtful, too. As it has grown, the comedians who have more interesting sh*t to say do well on podcasts,” Reynolds says.
Listen to one episode of either of his pods and you’ll see he has plenty to say, not to mention easy chemistry with his co-hosts/friends. But you’re going to see a quicker, even quippier side of Reynolds at Wiseguys.
“I don’t think [podcasting] has changed how I do stand-up. It definitely made me think a little bit more about the interesting things I wanted to say, but they are so separate,” he says. “It has brought me more audiences to perform in front of … and allowed me to feel more comfortable going on stage and improvising. I’d go out and do my material and if it didn’t work, I’m bummed, and if it did, I’m happy, but now I view it more as a two-tiered way to diagnose what the crowd wants. Do they want to hear your thoughts, or do they want to hear about themselves?”
The second season of Adult Swim’s most-watched new series of 2023, Royal Crackers, is coming this month, once again co-written by Reynolds and frequent collaborator Evan Mann. And he’s always dreaming up new projects with Johnson, who you know from New Girl and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and recent Hulu hit Self Reliance.
“Jake and I call each other cockroaches because no matter what is coming at us from this business, you might get dinged, but when the lights are out, we’re still going to get some morsels off the kitchen floor,” Reynolds says.
GARETH REYNOLDS February 26, 7:30 p.m., $25. Wiseguys Town Square, wiseguyscomedy.com.
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