Will & Grace stars set rewatch podcast

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SmartLess Media’s expansion has begun.

A year and a half after signing a lucrative deal with Amazon, SmartLess co-hosts Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett and their newly formed media company are rolling out offerings from Jameela Jamil, Rob Corddry, Amy Schneider, Rex Chapman, Sean Hayes and Eric McCormack. Their slate, a collection of original podcasts made in collaboration with Wondery and Amazon Music, shares a comedic DNA with flagship SmartLess, which continues to be a top 10 podcast in year three.

“The three of us are so excited and grateful to be able to bring more SmartLess style content your way, and we hope you’ll all love the talent on these new podcasts as much as we do,” the trio of co-founders said in a statement announcing the upcoming slate Wednesday. “If not, a lot of it was Sean Hayes’ idea and do you have suggestions for a new Sean Hayes type?”

Rolling out first, on Feb. 13, is Bad Dates with She-Hulk‘s Jamil. The SmartLess-produced pod, which is being executive produced by Robert Cohen and Jamil and produced by Stewart Bailey, will feature a panel of hilarious guests who will share tales of their worst or craziest dates ever, and then weighs in on everyone else’s misfortune.

The slate also includes Owned, with Rex Chapman set to host. The Campside Media-produced pod, which counts Josh Dean and Mark McAdam as executive producers and Layne Gerbig, Joe Hawthorne, Nicole Boyce and Harry Krinsky as producers, will feature a “mix of comedy, tragedy and everything in between,” notes the official release, as Rex takes listeners into the wild world of sports team ownership. A different owner with be highlighted on each episode.

And Hayes, who’s best known for playing Jack on the beloved sitcom Will & Grace, will make his foray into the ever-popular rewatch space with Just Jack & Will, featuring him and former co-star Eric McCormack (Will). The SmartLess Media-produced pod, which arrives on the 25th anniversary of the 1990s comedy, will have the duo break down the entire series, with a mix of interviews and memories from the famed production.

Finally, there’s Amy Always Wins, with Corddry tapped to host. As the company bills it, the Abominable Pictures produced pod, from Corddry, former Jeopardy! champion Amy Schneider and Jonathan Stern, is premised on Corddry inviting his friends to try to beat Schneider at her own game.

“We are thrilled to launch our first slate of podcasts with such an amazing and hilarious group of talent,” added SmartLess Media president Richard Korson in the same statement. “This new lineup of shows will offer fresh comedy content that resonates with our flagship SmartLess podcast audience and beyond. To Rob Corddry’s friends, good luck facing Amy Schneider — you’ll need it!”

The new collection comes less than a year after the company announced the hiring of Korson, a former Daily Show With Jon Stewart producer, along with plans to expand its audio slate. As the press surrounding the CAA-repped company noted at the time, SmartLess Media would be producing a range of weekly series as well as narrative and limited podcasts, both in-house and with outside partners. It’s also readying a Discovery+ docuseries, which follows the trio on their SmartLess live tour earlier this year.

All of this comes on the heels of the actors’ June 2021 announcement that they’d be licensing their flagship pod to Amazon Music and Wondery in a deal that’s reportedly valued at as much as $80 million. As part of that deal, Amazon and Wondery have first-look exclusive rights to other shows from their SmartLess Media. In this case, Wondery will handle ad sales for the forthcoming quartet of shows, which will have episodes released a week early and ad-free on Amazon Music and Wondery+.