Seth Romatelli and Jonathan Larroquette

Seth Romatelli & Jonathan Larroquette
Podcasters/Sex Symbols

Seth Romatelli and Jonathan Larroquette host the increasingly popular comedy podcast "Uhh Yeah Dude", available for free on iTunes.

My rant...

Uhh Yeah Dude (UYD) is a podcast hosted by Seth Romatelli and Jonathan Larroquette. Available on iTunes and podcastalley, a new episode of UYD is published every week.

The format is of the show is simple - these two close friends meet once a week at Seth's apartment in East Hollywood and talk about... whatever they want. And while that may sound like every other podcast in the universe, what makes UYD stand above the other shows is the chemistry between Seth and Jonathan. The combination of Seth's dry sarcasm with a dollop (okay - a BIG dollop) of neurosis, and Jonathan's laid-back, brutally honest, and often embarrassing recollections of  his life's experiences are presented with such sincerity and humor that their audience can't help but love them and laugh with them...regardless of how far outside the realm of  society their conversational topics might take them.  

Described as "A weekly roundup of America through the eyes of two American Americans", the discussions between Seth and Jonathan can range from normal to extreme and anything in-between. While in "first mic" mode, Seth handles difficult segues with such finesse that it 's tough to recall how the two went from discussing things like the news to talking about breast milk and on to Jonathan's ejaculate landing on his own face. Popular segments of UYD include recounting bizarre news stories, Jonathan's stories of his friend and band mate Amir, and the infamous dramatic readings of craigslist ads found in the "casual encounters" section of the popular website.

Now... on to the clips!

Seth and Jonathan describe how they came up with a name for their podcast:

Seth reading a few Craigslist ads, in a way that only he can:

...

What makes them ZZZlist material?

• Seth and Jonathan are Hollywood without the attitude.

• They are putting podcasting on the map without really trying too hard.

• They achieved their popularity mainly by "word of mouth" and quickly became one of the most downloaded shows in podcasting history.

The Interview...

Ro Hurley: What gave you the idea to podcast?

Seth Romatelli: I would call up his (Jonathan's) house after we didn't see each other for a few days, and we'd end up being on the phone for two hours and we'd be, like, getting crazy. And a friend said, "Every time he calls you up, it's like an hour later and go nuts on the phone. What if you just started recording those (calls)"? And that was the original genesis of it. So, Jonathan had mentioned it, and I was like, "I don't know what the fuck you are talking about." And he kind of badgered me throughout the year, and he's like, "It's not that big of a deal. Just think 'radio show' and you'll get a handle on it." So Thanksgiving of '05 we said, "that's it - we'll do this thing". And then in January, he started coming over and we would sit down... we have a few that were  a couple of hours long, and we were like, "What are we doing?" And then we were at his old man's house, and he said, "The last one that you just did, you might as well just make that the first episode." And that was 142 episodes ago. We just did episode 143 last night.

How did you come up with the title "Uhh Yeah Dude"?

Jonathan Larroquette: It's really hard to remember

SR: Having started the show in the late 80's....

JL: Yeah. It was a Reagan era title.

SR: Remember "trickle-down economics"?

JL: I think we'd come up with the idea of doing a podcast, and I literally... I remember sitting with you (looks at Seth) at some point, and I said, "I don't know... let's just call the show like, 'Uhh Yeah Dude'" and it literally came out of my mouth that fast. And it just stuck from there. But, I mean, it was based on some concept of what we had talked about up to that point in the couple of dry runs we had done of the show. Where we were just trying to see if we could do it. There was something about it. I mean, obviously those three words certainly get said an awful lot by both of us.

So you didn't want to call it "The Jonathan and Seth Show"?

SR: Oh god no.

JL: Heavens no. Everything is "The Something Show". And, umm, other than "Tim and Eric's Awesome Show"...but I think it was also podcast wise because there is so little that differentiates us from everything else. Every show was literally, you know, "The Tim and Hammer Show" or "The Hammer and Shonky Show" I mean, like, it's every single one.

SR: Listen, we'll get into the 'testostezone'. We need bikini girls and we need to name them. What would they be, the dudettes?

JL: I keep thinking that one day we'll just look back and see the show and it'll just be "The Man Show" basically, and we'll look back and say "Man, we staved that off for so long... we fought it for so long but we eventually just gave in."

SR: Tweens on trampolines.

JL: Exactly. Like, just girls bouncing around, and me like, you know, "Bwahahaha" with like sound bytes and buttons and we'll look back and be like, "What happened?" Like, we tried to stay away from all that stuff and yet just systematically it got all of us. Like it starts with a bad intro, like a bad, extreme intro, and then into sound bytes and then, that's it.

If someone offered you a contract for radio, would you do that"

JL: Regular radio?

Yes.

JL: They'd have to pay us a fuckload of money, and we would have to probably be able to retain some ability to do the podcast as well. Where they just didn't get to touch that. I don't know how we would work on regular radio. I just don't see how that would happen.

How about satellite?

JL: Satellite is possible, but...

SR: Cash rules everything around me. I mean, I only care about money.

How did you two meet?

SR: We met through a mutual friend who is a casting director and I met her on a casting while I worked at a video store in Hollywood. And sort of around that time Jonathan lived around the corner from it and frequented it. And she thought we should get along and should meet. That was about eight years ago.

Seth, are you still acting?

SR: No, no no. Unless anyone sees my photo, reads this interview and has to have me on a sitcom. And "has to have me" means I just come in and be on it because there will be no auditioning.

Do you get offers like that?

SR: There were some things with Brad Pitt that were in the works, but I just, I don't know. It's just crazy. Like when Clooney wants to take you out... when he wants to fly to Italy and it's like, I don't like to fly. And, it's just shit like that.

You aren't into the whole "bromance" thing?

SR: No. It's like, to get caught up in that crew and start running around with those guys again... it's not the 90's any more.

Why don't you have a cell phone or email?

SR: I have no cell phone or email because the only two people I talk to are my mother and Jonathan. And they know how to find me.

How did you find your way to Los Angeles?

SR: When I finished school, my old man gave me his Volvo and said, "Go west, young man" and sent me out here to seek my fame and fortune. He said, "I have a feeling that 10 years from now, there's going to be a thing called 'podcasting'. Go and bide your time for 10 years, try not to OD,  and if you're still alive, dominate the internet."

Does your family listen to the show?

SR: My family listens, yes. Some times we have to preface to his mother Elizabeth and my mother Marcia, like, "if you're listening, be careful now because it's about to let loose".  She (Marcia) says it feels like she's in the living room with us. It's so far away that every week it's like an hour with her boy.

JL: My brother doesn't listen. The one person in my family who probably should listen to it doesn't listen to it. My mom listens to it.... I think she's heard every single episode. And for the most part I think she really likes it. I mean, I certainly get into some graphic stuff about my life currently and also my teenage years that I think she, maybe, wants to throw-up at a little bit and gets a little embarrassed, I think, either for me or for us as a family. But for the most part I think she's cool with it.  And I think she understands that it's like anything, you know... I think anyone in my life knows that anything that happens in our daily lives could end up with me talking about it on the show. And I don't know if people are just acting appropriately or have just given up like, "if anything happens it happens" .  But a couple of times she's called me and said, "that was a tough one to get through." Definitely.

What do you want to achieve with this?

JL: When we started the show, it was definitely like the idea was to move from this into, I thought, satellite radio. But at this point you look at the state of satellite radio, and I think the thing about is to me, I thought it would have been a place where new stuff could have gotten broken in and formats could have changed and  in essence what it did was, it's regular talk radio with "fucks" and "assholes" in it, you know? And it just  such a waste of the format. And that's I think why podcasting, for me or for us,  it started out as just the only option. But then it became like, "No - this is the option." This is the place where we get to do this however the fuck we want, and we can draw the parameters accordingly. And now it's about staying as long as we can.   I think it's about taking people away from satellite radio and  getting them back on to the internet. And that it doesn't have to be it's own thing... that you can, in essence, choose your own media and decide what you get and get your entertainment first hand as opposed to subscribing to this giant thing and it's like, "Oh, you need a receiver". And it's just... it's retarded. It's like completely... I think it's a dead format. It's like satellite radio is dead, personally.  I mean, people would probably shoot me for saying that, but I really just don't see how, without some really creative people at the  helm of programming and deciding who is going to be on the radio and what is going to be on the radio that you're going to have, like everything else, 150 channels of shit and two things that are interesting.

I think all of the "shock radio" is done. You almost have to kill someone on air now to shock anyone.

JL: Well, yeah. The shock concept, I think, is just ridiculous. I don't know how you could do it now and not feel like a schmuck.  Unless you're like an OG. I mean if you were to get into it now and be like, "I'm a young shock-jock", that's a crazy thing to try to do, right?

Howard Stern is the OG.

JL: That's the thing, I mean, that's just where he's at in his stage of life. I think that there's people who listen to him now and think that he's as current and as funny as he ever was. I mean, we can see it and kind of go, "he was young and he was vibrant and he was doing amazing stuff" and now he's just, sort of, making gobs of "fuck you" money or whatever. But he was a pioneer. I'm thinking about people our age who are  looking for ways of doing, you know, it you're trying to do a new show...

SR: By "our age", he means 21 year olds.

JL: 21 - 26. Our age. 

What is your demographic?

JL: Our demographic is all over the place. I mean, I'm not exactly sure what our demographic is because every time I get a phone call from somebody it's somebody so vastly different from somebody else. It's like, you know, we have people literally all over the planet, and so many age groups and so many different  walks of like. It seems to me that the demographic is more a personality type than anything else. The people that really go crazy for it are people that seem to feel as though... that they've been looking for something and they found it. 

SR: Like God?

JL: A little bit like God. Like two Gods. Like if you found God twice in the same room. 

SR: in the same room, in the same hour.

JL: I think it's like a show that they would make if they made a show.

Do you think that's why your fans embrace you like they do? I think that people feel like they are living part of your lives.  

JL: Well, I think we have managed to synthesize that to a certain extent. But I also do think that in several ways that they are. The people who stumbled across that show, completely by accident, at episode 3, let's say. Here we are at episode 143 episodes later, and they have been there the whole time.  And so, at least as far as I'm concerned, I mean the stuff that I talk about on that show a lot of the time has to do with really, really serious moments in my life in one capacity or another. Like they (the stories) are very funny or very sad or very... whatever. And so if you're hearing me tell those stories, and you have the ability to contact me and have dialog with us... I mean, they certainly know us more than a lot of people know other people that they listen to on a show, right? I mean I think we try to make ourselves more available than...

SR: I know that Regis Philbin's wife's name is Joy. But that's really all I know.

JL: Exactly. What do we know about Reg? We don't know shit about Reg. You know everything about us. You know I fucked a fucking cantaloupe... You know I was fingered in the butthole by a scientologist preschool owner..  I mean, typical shit, you know?

Where did "seatbelts" come from?

JL: I don't know. We say it at the end of the show. There is an episode where Seth first said it. Somebody traced back and said that Seth said it first. And I think a week or two after that we both said it. And a week after that we started saying it together.

SR: It's something I said. Hollywood days turn into Hollywood nights... living, laughing, loving Los Angeles.  

What is the "end game" for you?

SR: The "end game" is Jonathan and I... both of us married, with families, living next door to each other in Abiquiqui, New Mexico. Our idea is to build 2 southwestern ranch houses, from scratch, identical, with some separate flourishes. Both be married. I want, probably, two boys and a girl. He wants two girls and a boy. And they would be the same age. We would live next to each other - they would go to the same school. And we would coach soccer and do the podcast until either one of us kills the other one or the internet eats itself alive.

Links:

http://www.uhhyeahdude.com

http://www.myspace.com/uhhyeahdude

http://www.youtube.com/user/UhhYeahDude

http://www.myspace.com/joggermusic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uhh_Yeah_Dude