Will Arnett has revealed he once stepped in to cut short an interview with a famous comedian who he labelled a ‘f***ing rank a**hole’.
Best known for starring in sitcoms including Arrested Development and 30 Rock, the actor and comedian has also been hosting the SmartLess podcast alongside Sean Hayes and Jason Bateman since 2020.
It’s been billed as a show that ‘connects and unites people from all walks of life to learn about shared experiences through thoughtful dialogue and organic hilarity’.
The interview podcast also involves one of the co-hosts revealing his mystery guest to the other two before they all settle in to chat.
Recent episodes have seen them interview stars including Jennifer Lawrence, Macaulay Culkin and Benedict Cumberbatch.
However, when appearing on the latest episode of The Romesh Ranganathan Show, Will spoke about how he and his two co-hosts once had to step in and cut off one of their guests.
Sharing the details, the 55-year-old said that they’d ‘recently’ had a ‘very famous comedian’ on their show but had to cut the interview short due to the comedian’s behaviour.
Although Will didn’t name the comedian, he brutally labelled him a ‘f***ing rank a**hole’, promising to tell Romesh who it was after they cut the cameras and microphones during their chat.
‘We cut him off after 10 minutes and said, “Thanks so much”, and ditched him,’ he explained.
‘And you’ll be blown away by who it is,’ he said, before joking: ‘Cause you’ll be like, “How did you get Bill Cosby?”.’
In the episode, Will also told Romesh that another unnamed comedian had asked SmartLess to ‘not air’ the episode she’d recorded with them.
‘We were like, “F***, it cost us money”, and the guys, we all had to do it, and blah blah blah,’ he recalled.
‘That comedian was worried ’cause she thought that she was up-and-coming. We were like, “You’re good”. And turns out, we were right.’
Will’s comments about his podcast come days after it came under fire itself following the release of a chat with singer Charli XCX.
On the latest episode of the show, discussion turned to children, with the musician speaking about how she handles conflict compared to her friends, reflecting that this may stem from being an only child.
She was then asked by Jason whether that meant she might want to have ‘more than one kid’, or one who has ‘the same experience’ as her.
‘I actually don’t really want to have kids,’ the 33-year-old replied, prompting surprise from the Jason and his co-host Sean.
Sean asked ‘why’ before noting that it was ‘really none of his business’, adding that he and his partner do not have kids.
Charli acknowledged she ‘might change her mind’ before explaining her reasoning, revealing she likes the thought of naming a child, as that sounds ‘so fun’.
‘That is exactly a sign to me to why I should not have one,’ she continued. ‘The fact that that feels like the coolest part about it and like, maybe I’m not ready, you know?’
Speaking to the singer, Jason then shared the story of his wife, Amanda Anka, who he said didn’t want kids before they met – but how they now share two daughters.
He then went on to tell Charli she ‘might find somebody’ who changes her mind, to which she quipped, ‘I’m married’, with the men seemingly unaware she tied the knot with The 1975’s George Daniel last year.
While Jason admitted he needed to ‘pick up a newspaper’ he then joked that her ‘next husband’ might be the one to change her mind, with Charli laughing in agreement before the episode cut to an ad break.
Although she’s not commented publicly on her feelings about the discussion, some listeners slammed Jason’s ‘outdated’ and ‘sexist’ comment.
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