Jacob Reed has an extensive career as a director and writer and hangs his hat on having directed some absolute legends like Ving Rhames, Elisabeth Shue, Bernie Sanders, and C3PO.
Yes, that C3PO.
His involvement with pop culture bellwethers like Jimmy Kimmel Live, Comedy Central, and Funny or Die primed him for his latest project Jacob Reed and Me, which is actually the first narrative release coming out of Reed’s award-winning studio, All Trades Co.
As part of our March 2nd feature of Jacob Reed and Me, we were lucky enough to track him down and ask all the questions we could to understand what it takes to make a podcast that pursues all the people you could find that share your name.
This is the first entry in a multi-part series with the team behind Jacob Reed and Me.
SO: A lot of narrative podcasts start with a mystery and end with a resolution. Jacob Reed and Me seems comfortable living inside the weirdness of the premise itself. How’d you get to that point with this project?
JR: I come from an improv comedy background and one of the core tenants of improv is that you don’t need to invent things. If you explore deeply enough, you will discover that you already have an ending in your beginning. We have some ideas about how our show might ultimately end, but I trust that the more we explore the interesting people along the way, the more I’ll grow as a character, and the more obvious the ending will become. That said, I do think we’re only comfortable releasing each individual episode if we can reach a satisfying resolution to the existential question that pops up at the beginning of the episode. We bumped four possible episodes from this season that will hopefully be part of a future season because a big part of our show is dependent on stories unfolding that we have no control over. There are another handful of stories that are indefinitely on hold — even some that we put months or years of reporting into — because they haven’t reached a conclusion yet.
SO: Among the hundreds of namesakes you catalogued, what was the moment where you thought: okay, this could actually sustain a series?
JR: Once I had more than a hundred on the spreadsheet it felt like the possibility of stories was dense — by the time we got past 700 it felt like we could sustain almost indefinitely. And, once Danny, Chris, and Margot signed on to be my collaborators, it felt like we had the creative team we needed to make several seasons worth of incredible stories.
SO: Were there any Jacob Reeds you deliberately decided not to contact?
JR: Yes. I can’t say more yet though.
SO: So, you’ve got your favourite Jacob Reeds then?
JR: I’ve really loved meeting every Jacob Reed so far. There are so many that I admire and respect. Many that I just think it would be fun to hang out with, and a bunch that fit both of those categories. I don’t think I could name a favourite — but the one that seems to have the closest life to mine, but is just cooler than me, is Jake Reed the drummer. He’s just a dad in Pasadena like me, we even go to the same doctor, but he regularly plays at the Hollywood Bowl and The Baked Potato. And I…. don’t.
SO: Hypothetically, which Jacob Reed would you consider handing the podcast off to?
JR: If I were going to hand off this mundane multiverse to someone else, I think I’d want it to be someone else with a common name. Preferably a woman. Too many dudes host podcasts.
SO: What’s something about the process of making the show that listeners would never guess??
JR: We put so much work into each story. I think our average is around 100-200 hours of tape for every 45-55 minute episode of the show. Sometimes there are entire ‘side quests’ we take that either don’t pan out, or become only a few minutes of the show. Like, embedding myself with a group of Internet scammers for several months, or learning enough about economics to write a real 112 page book. There are so many great lengths that we’ve gone to that aren’t even in finished episodes yet. Oh — also, all of the seemingly ‘fake’ products we advertise are real rabbit holes you can go down. If you ever hear anything on the show and think “that can’t be real,” the answer is: it is real.
SO: Did your debut at Tribeca alter the course of the podcast? What did going indie allow you to do that you didn’t think was possible otherwise?
JR: Getting into Tribeca was huge. It immediately gave the show a literal badge of honor that helped people take it seriously. We couldn’t be more thankful to Davy and the entire Tribeca community. We’ve been able to lean on our Tribeca audio cohort for advice and connections — and some of the ways the show has grown came directly from people we met at Tribeca.
SO: Reflecting on the journey to get here, are there things that are now within reach that weren’t before you got Jacob Reed and Me published and in people’s feeds?
JR: Not yet. But hopefully soon! The biggest thing I’m hoping for is support — from advertisers, a network, or a kind-hearted podcast loving multi-millionaire — so that we can keep making the show.
SO: How has the response been from your audience so far?
JR: We’ve been getting a really great response. One of my favorite reviews so far is from someone who apparently listens to every podcast Apple features. They said “The premise sounded stupid, but the storytelling is so strangely compelling that I think I will continue on. I’ve also gotten a lot of positive comments from people who are rooting for us as an independent creative team in today’s (bleak) media landscape.
SO: What’s next for this Jacob Reed?
JR: We’ve got a live variety show (complete with other Jacob Reeds) here in Los Angeles on April 3rd at one of the best venues for comedy in the world: Dynasty Typewriter. It’ll also be available streaming online for two weeks if you don’t live in LA. And, I’ve got a bunch of other projects coming out soon. Jacob Reed and Me is the first narrative project from an award-winning studio I launched last fall called All Trades Co. We have several other podcast, feature, and episodic projects in the pipeline that I hope to be able to share more about soon.
Jacob Reed can be found on Substack at Jacob All Trades, and on Instagram and Threads at @jacobreedfilm.
Jacob Reed and Me is available now with new episodes every Wednesday.
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