'Cast Party

Scott Mosier and Kevin Smith talk about sticking bananas up their asses. And they want you to listen.

by Molly Eichel

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Published: Jun 16, 2010

Courtesy of Degy Entertainment JERSEY BOYS: Scott Mosier (bottom) will record the next SModcast in Philly with his BFF, director Kevin Smith. (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

[ chit chat ]

Scott Mosier is asking people to pay to watch him sit around and shoot the shit with his buddy. Of course, Mosier's homeslice is director Kevin Smith, and their powers combine to form SModcast (smodcast.com), a weekly podcast that began as a way to help retain their personal relationship, despite familial and professional obligations, and touches on everything from movies to masturbation to Helen Keller. Mosier, who met Smith in film school and has worked with him since Clerks, talks with City Paper about throwing poop in Fargo, how the podcast has changed his relationship with Smith and the one, the only Fleshlight.

City Paper: You're the less famous of the duo, so I need you to explain yourself a little bit. Are you more Robin to Kevin's Batman, or Oates to his Hall?

Scott Mosier: I'm going to go Hall and Oates because Robin makes me feel like a preteen. I don't have the Daryl Hall voice, but I'm right next to him. And we can hang out and talk like men. With Batman and Robin, the age disparity makes it a little weird.

CP: Creepy?

SM: Yeah, and I don't think we're creepy.

CP: How long have you known each other?

SM: We met in '92 at the Vancouver Film School in Vancouver, British Columbia. We met in class and hung out and then during that time — those four months — we forged a friendship. When we left, he was like, "Wanna come to New Jersey and make this movie I'm writing about a convenience store?" That's sort of the beginning.

CP: How'd the SModcast come about?

SM: Three or four years ago, we had been working a lot, and we were getting older — we had both gotten married and he has a kid. It was becoming less and less frequent that we would sit around and bullshit, which was really our whole relationship — that's how we became friends. We would sit around and bullshit when we were supposed to be paying attention. He was like, "Let's do a podcast. ... Whatever comes of it, comes of it, but we'll get together and talk about what's going on in our lives and stuff." That's basically it. It was a reason to talk about our lives.

CP: But you're broadcasting to this whole audience who has never met either of you personally before. Does that inform your topics, as opposed to you guys just sitting at one of your houses and shooting the shit?

SM: I'm sure a little bit. But a lot of time, you go through your life — you read articles, you have moments — anything that could be mildly entertaining or funny would be exactly what we brought to the table. You know, we talked about our families but after we get the weather out of the way, it turns into, "Did you read that fucked-up article?" or "Oh my god, I was on the street the other day and this thing happened." It just turns into our discussions about whatever. ... It's funny because now that we do the podcast, I'm aware we're having conversations that are so similar to [how we talk on the show]. We just try to entertain each other and make each other laugh.

CP: Has the podcast — taking time out just to have fun with your buddy — helped your professional relationship at all?

SM: For me, it's this thing that really harkens back to the beginning of our relationship. All of the business is taken out of it. The more and more we went through our careers, the more movies and stuff like that, we had to consciously sit down and say, "We're not going to talk about that." It helped us to regain something that we lost along the way, because it always became about the release of the movie, the trailer of the movie, all of that stuff. It makes us sit down and interact the way we did in the beginning, which was trying to make the other person laugh as hard as possible.

CP: Do you plan out what you want to talk about ahead of time, or do you let it fly?

SM: I would say the most that might happen is before going on stage or before recording, he'll say, "I found this article and you're going to die when I read it." The idea is he wants me to react on stage. As for any set jokes or anything, it's all just kind of off-the-cuff.

CP: So you start with some basic topics and go from there?

SM: When we do it at home or on the road, we'll ask each other if we have anything to talk about. But we don't go into details, It's more like, "Oh, I read an article about bananas." And then we'll start talking about bananas and sort of see what happens. We don't go into all of the details of the article and, therefore, start to formulate some sort of [plan]. Like, "Oh, next we'll talk about sticking a banana up your ass." A lot of times he'll tell me, "I've got a news story and you're going to die," but he won't even tell me what it is. When you're watching me on stage, I don't know what he's about to say. It's all off the top of our head. I get kind of nervous going on stage. The idea of not knowing where we're going to go — I'd find it more terrifying if we had to remember something. I'm happier to just come up with it on the spot.

CP: Have you ever had nothing to discuss? Or been at a complete loss?

SM: We've had moments where we'll take a dip. When you're up in front of an audience, there's definitely a sense of urgency to go and fill the space. When we're at home we're a little more casual — it's just the two of us in his house. You know, if you go to the show and listen to the show, he is Daryl Hall, so he leads and I sort of jump in. There was one night when we were in Fargo and he's like, "You take over." There was, like, a second, and I was like, "OK, I gotta do something." I immediately started to talk about how long I thought the audience would sit there if I didn't say anything. Then it turned into something about how I went crazy and ran off the stage and then became a fixture in the town as a superhero who threw poop at people. Usually you sort of run with the show. And I get to be the luckier person just jumping in.

CP: Is that the biggest change in the dynamic between the live show and just chilling in someone's house? This need to fill space?

SM: Basically. People paid to come so you're definitely like, "I gotta be on my game a little bit more." When we do the one in the living room, people get to get up to pee or if you stutter or pause you can cut a few things out. But when you're on stage, we gotta go and fill the space and make it a really funny hour. At a certain point, we get lost in just talking to each other and it turns into what it always is. With the people there, you're definitely trying to keep it going. The silence in a theater full of people is way more painful than the silence by yourself.

CP: So why do a podcast live? I've seen more and more of these events lately; what does the live element bring to it?

SM: With people listening at home, I think there's a percentage who want the curtain pulled back. They want to see it happen. They hear two people hanging, just talking, and there's a sense of, "Oh, I'd love to sit there and watch." That's where it came from — people expressed interest. We did the first one about a year ago and we were like, "This is either going to be a disaster or it's going to be great." People would come up to us and say, "So you guys literally sit on stage and talk to each other?" Yeah, that's basically it. But the audience seemed to really dig it. We took a little time off and then I was like, "Hey, we should do some more." It's been really great. It doesn't change the content, we're talking about the same stuff, talking about going through routines. I get up on stage and don't really look at the audience because I would pee my pants. I just look at Kevin all the time. But people have listened to all these episodes and I think they would possibly like to be there and watch us do it. So now it kind of gives them an opportunity.

CP: OK, we need to talk about this: Can we discuss the Fleshlight [a male sex toy that simulates the feel of a vagina, which serves as SModcast's sponsor]? Because ew. Just ew. So did they find you, or did you seek them out?

SM: In Zack and Miri Make a Porno, there's a reference to Fleshlight, I think that the guy who ran it, or the son of the guy who owned it, contacted Kevin about something, but once the movie was over we didn't know what to do with it. You know, the show is free, you can download it for free, but we have all the costs of the servers and so now we're doing some animated shorts and stuff, so let's get a sponsor to at least cover the cost of maintaining the website. But we're like, "But who's going to sponsor us?" We talk about some pretty nasty stuff. We were like, "Who in the world is not going to have an issue?" And Kevin was like, "What about this Fleshlight dude?" They were all for it. It's kind of a perfect fit for the show [laughs]. We never have to be worried if Johnson & Johnson is going to be mad if we talk about buttholes. We never have to worry if the Fleshlight people are going to be upset by anything we talk about. We did giveaways on the last tour. We're spreading the rubber love.

(molly.eichel@citypaper.net)

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