Will Arnett admitted that hosting SmartLess has taught him to think more carefully before sharing every opinion that comes to mind.
The actor has co-hosted the SmartLess podcast with Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes since 2020. Their relaxed conversations often encourage spontaneous comments, but Arnett said those remarks can sometimes create unexpected headlines.
Will Arnett admits he struggles to filter his opinions on the SmartLess podcast
Arnett said one of his biggest podcasting lessons involved resisting the urge to say everything he thinks.
“Oh God. To try to resist the urge to say everything. And be careful about what you say on [the air] when it comes to your opinions on stuff,” he said.
However, the actor admitted he still struggled to follow his own advice.
“But I’m not really good at that because I always end up saying it anyway.”
As per PEOPLE, Arnett explained that seemingly harmless comments sometimes turned into exaggerated stories about his views.
“I’ll say some dumb thing about whatever and [there]’ll be some crap ass headlines saying Arnett…” he said.
He jokingly illustrated the problem with an imaginary headline claiming he wanted the color blue removed from the color palette.
The Will Arnett SmartLess experience also unexpectedly helped with his latest movie, Behemoth!
Arnett played the brother of Pedro Pascal’s character, who listens to his brother’s podcast in the film. Director Tony Gilroy asked Arnett to record podcast material that could help during the editing process.
Arnett recorded the material casually and sent it to Gilroy as a rough guide. He later discovered that the director kept the original recording in the finished movie.
“And then I watched the movie and it’s in the movie, the stuff that I sent, like one take,” Arnett recalled.
He joked that Gilroy may have decided he could not get a better version from him.
Despite acknowledging the risks of speaking freely, Arnett continued to embrace the conversational style that defined SmartLess. The podcast has featured celebrity guests while allowing Arnett, Bateman and Hayes to trade jokes and opinions without a heavily scripted format.
