Why Are the SmartLess Guys Launching a Mobile Phone Company?

Would you buy mobile coverage from the Bluth brothers and the owner of a Cher doll? SmartLess, one of the biggest podcasts on the planet, is hoping that you’ll want to turn your casual listens of their show into a monthly investment in a mobile coverage provider courtesy of BoJack Horseman and the lesser Teen Wolf.

Everyone has a podcast now. As with all new forms of media, the scrappy upstarts and artistic origins are forced to the margins in favour of mass corporatisation and the dominance of major celebrities from more traditional forms. It’s led to some questionable cultural developments, such as turning the least interesting actor in Newsradio into a terrifyingly powerful political commentator. Largely, however, it’s just given us a lot of bored actors talking to their friends and doing ad reads for stamps.com in between.

The endless hunt for a new side-hustle birthed SmartLess, a podcast wherein three actors — Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett — interview a guest chosen by one of them and revealed to the other two during the recording. The trio are award-winning actors with a slew of comedic hits to their names, but it’s SmartLess that’s made them next-level big. In June 2021, the podcast was acquired by Amazon for a reported $80 million. Last year, SiriusXM acquired it for a reported $100 million. HBO Max made a six-episode documentary special about the show’s first North American tour. Some of their most recent guests include Jeff Goldblum, Amy Poehler, RZA, and Ariana Grande.

Now, they’ve decided to become an empire. The trio took to Jimmy Kimmel Live to explain their decision to launch Called SmartLess Mobile, the direct-to-consumer wireless service promises to be “data-sane and refreshingly BS-free,” according to the press release (via CBS News.) Their company is attempting to be the cool, low-cost alternative to the major phone providers like AT&T, with plans starting at $15 a month. Customers can lock in their prices for life, according to the SmartLess team.

The news inspired a lot of mockery, including from several of SmartLess’s podcast contemporaries like How Did This Get Made?

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Celebrity side-hustles are everywhere, much like their podcasts. But we’re more familiar with, say, alcohol brands or make-up lines than a mobile company. This is not a crowded field for a reason. We don’t exactly expect our favourite rambling comedians to be knowledgeable on matters pertaining to tech or our monthly budgets. It’s easier and more believable for them to shill stuff related to their brand or in fields of luxury, like a fancy gin or high-end fashion.

The obvious inspiration for SmartLess here is Ryan Reynolds and Mint Mobile. The Canadian king of the celebrity side hustles had made a pretty penny from his mobile company, in large part because he has ceaselessly shilled for it through ads that heavily feature his face. He’s called in favours from other celebs, including Rick f*cking Moranis, to make Mint Mobile ads an events. They used Winnie the Pooh in ads once the character entered the public domain. Reynolds’ cheeky smarm, that Deadpool shtick that’s made him so famous, helped to give Mint Mobile a familiarity and drew people to its deals. And it paid off well for Reynolds. Last year, T-Mobile US acquired the company for $1.3 billion in cash and stock, with Reynolds receiving about $300 million for its shares.

SmartLess mobile, on its face, seems like it will be more reliant on the presence of its famous three. The podcast name is right there and that’s an unavoidable condensing of brands that, if things go wrong, could seriously hurt this burgeoning empire. But despite being a very famous podcast, it’s still a podcast and there are plenty of people out there in need of good phone coverage who have no idea what SmartLess is. If the company is good independent of these guys, that could benefit them. Casamigos is now so big that it doesn’t need George Clooney. Ideally, a celebrity brand needs to become its own thing separate from the famous face. That’s easier said than done, frankly. Your product has to be unimpeachable beyond the fan hype.

On Kimmel, Will Arnett explained that the company’s origins came from a relatable situation of him wondering why he and his kids were paying so much for mobile plans when they only used parts of their deals. As someone whose monthly mobile bill is pretty steep, I know that pain. Most of us do. Being alive is expensive. And more people have a need to lower that cost than to buy a crate of Aviation Gin or Rhode lip-gloss. The most profitable and long-term business deals are seldom the most glamorous. You don’t open up a new restaurant; you invest in a McDonalds franchise.

But again, why is SmartLess doing this? Why get into this field? There has to be a more sophisticated answer than, “well duh, the money?” Right? If I have to extrapolate beyond the answer of sheer dumb greed, I shall. It’s beneficial to have multiple streams of revenue when you’re in a notoriously undeniable industry like acting. All of these guys have been in commercial flops or one-season disappointments, and they know what it’s like to go without work for too long. Nobody is getting the paydays of a ’90s A-Lister anymore. Monopolistic studios are making less stuff and cancelling things at the drop of a hat (and often pulling them from platforms entirely, thus denying even the smallest royalty cheques to the people who made them.)

Of course, one should never underestimate the desire of rich people to become even richer. TV residuals are down. COVID and the strikes hurt a lot of people. A lot of your favourite celebrities aren’t as rich as you think they are. But again, these guys sold their podcast for $100 million. How much more money is enough? The limit does not exist. Maybe the SmartLess guys are driven by altruism in some way, but it’s hardly an egoless endeavour to make yourselves the faces of a company in any shape, way or form.

What’s next for SmartLess? The podcast bubble has burst for most, aside from the originals from the medium’s first wave of content creators and those most monied maniacs. They have the funds to make this thing go the distance should they so desire, but it’s clear that they have bigger plans. Maybe they’ll go full Reynolds? Never underestimate rich people’s ability to make more money than they’ll ever need. I prefer Amy Poehler’s podcast anyway.