Chris Kelly is a friend of the newsletter and behind everything you hear in the podcast we featured in our March 2nd edition, Jacob Reed and Me. He is an award-winning director and sound designer whose work spans hit podcasts, fiction series, and genre-bending audio storytelling.
He is also an Ambie- and Webby-winning director, composer, and sound designer behind some of the most acclaimed podcasts of the last decade.
This is the third entry in a multi-part series with the team behind Jacob Reed and Me. You can find part one here and part two here.
SO: Kelly & Kelly is behind a number of great podcasts, many of which have been featured in Podcast Delivery. Notably, there isn’t one genre or lane that you choose to play in. Does that make it easier or more difficult when a podcast like Jacob Reed and Me makes it onto your radar?
CK: At our core, K&K is a comedy company and that's even more true now that we've been folded into New Metric Media. So when Jacob, Danny and the team came to us, it was an easy yes. But this is so much more than a comedy podcast. It has heart, real ambition, and does things that only podcasting can do - like track down 700 people named Jacob Reed on a micro-budget. Everything about it is surprising and unexpected, and that's exactly what we look for in every show we make.
SO: Jacob Reed and Me sits somewhere between documentary audio and comedic storytelling. How might that have changed the way you approach sound and visual design for the project?
CK: Honestly, not as much as you'd think. Maybe a lighter music cue here and there, or a montage played for laughs, but fundamentally, we use sound design the same way across everything we make: to make the storytelling clearer. The one place comedy does change the editorial calculus is this: in most genres, if a moment isn't serving the story, it gets cut. In comedy storytelling, if a moment is genuinely funny (like actually funny) it stays in.
SO: For all of our budding podcasts creators, what does good sound design actually accomplish in a narrative podcast?
CK: One word: clarity. The job of sound design is, first and foremost, to make the story clear. I have a principle I call "organizing the listen." In writing, you have tools to organize thought: paragraph breaks, periods, exclamation points. Sound design is the podcast equivalent. Dropping the music out to land a declarative point. Adding space to reset the mood. These are intentional, structural choices.
Then there's the more cinematic layer, using music and sound to convey tone, mood, and the overall brand of the show. But here's what's different from film or TV: in podcasting, those same elements have to do everything. They're your zoom, your framing, your lens choice, your lighting. Sound isn't just atmosphere, it's the camera.
SO: What’s a production decision in Jacob Reed and Me that listeners might notice subconsciously but not realize was intentional?
CK: Restraint. What you don't hear is how much didn't make the cut. Jacob is extraordinarily good at calling people (like, lots and lots of people) to find his way to the next Jacob Reed. A lot of that is recorded. Sometimes we use it. But there's far more on the cutting room floor than what actually makes it into the show.
SO: Personally, I know nearly a dozen Kellys. How many family reunions do you get invited to mistakenly and do you entertain crashing them?
CK: Hahah. Haven’t been incorrectly invited to a family reunion yet but the best time at Kelly&Kelly was when we were producing Let’s Make a Sci-Fi - there were 3 Kelly’s working in the office and none were related - Pat Kelly, Chris Kelly and Maddy Kelly!!!
SO: Did Jacob’s “spreadsheet of Jacobs” inspire you to do something similar?
CK: What’s funny is that I had a very similar idea to Jacob many moons ago called The Chris Kelly Convention. Like Jacob’s show, I would contact other Chris Kelly’s (which there are a lot of - many quite famous - see: Chris Kelly, head writer of SNL or Kris Kelly member of Kris Kross), learn about their lives and invite them to the “Chris Kelly Convention” that would be the final episode of the series held at a hotel ballroom. Jacob’s idea is better.
SO: Kelly&Kelly was recently acquired by New Metric Media which I imagine opens up new opportunities for you and your team. Anything you can share or tease on that front?
CK: It’s a huge opportunity and we’ve loved working with New Metric over the past six months. There’s not much I can share at this point but all I can say is it is allowing us to do more of what we love to do: Produce great stories and shows with our signature blend of comedy and storytelling.
SO: For nearly 20 years, you’ve worked on award-winning narrative podcasts. Podcasts are pervasive but there’s a quality ceiling that many creators get trapped by. What advice would you give to those creators trying to make something ambitious without studio backing
CK: Keep going. Jacob Reed and Me is a perfect example. This show had real ups and downs with buyers and development over its life cycle — but the team just kept making the show they wanted to make. Your own time is the one thing you can control, and when you dedicate more of it to a project, the project gets better. Podcasting is still a relatively light lift in terms of hard costs. It doesn't require a lot of money. It requires a lot of time. Use it!
SO: What’s your hot take on the media landscape as we enter the second quarter of the 21st century?
CK: Video podcasts are here to stay but we're going to see a correction, the same way we saw one in the narrative podcast market. In the rush to pivot to video, I think we've forgotten what makes audio so unique: it's slower, it's more intimate, and you can listen to it while you do other things. Podcasting is starting to feel a lot more like the rest of the internet. And we all know what the rest of the internet feels like right now. Kinda gross. My hope is that we find our way back to some of that 2014 podcast spirit while holding onto the best of what video can offer.
Chris Kelly can be found on Instagram at @christophergeorgekelly. Kelly & Kelly is a New Metric Media company and can be found on Instagram at @kellykellyinc
Jacob Reed and Me is available now with new episodes every Wednesday.
Listen to Kelly&Kelly and New Metric Media’s latest narrative show, The Cult Queen of Canada or if you’re looking for a deep belly laugh check out their weekly video podcast, The Town Show which recently had a episode featuring Jacob Reed and the San Diego Chicken.
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