Andrew Garfield Roasts SmartLess Before He Even Gets a Mic

On the September 7 episode of SmartLess, titled "Andrew Garfield," the actor got a few licks in before Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett ever said hello. Guests on the show typically sit in a virtual holding pattern while the hosts run through their usual banter, and Garfield used the downtime to wonder aloud whether any of it was necessary.

The bit ran during the show's cold open, ads and all, before cutting to Garfield mid-wait. He questioned how long the hosts actually talk before getting to their guest, then needled the format itself, joking that the podcast's right to exist is up for debate. He also copped to being surprised by just how long that wait actually is — a detail that suggests this wasn't a planned bit so much as a real-time reaction captured and kept in the edit.

That's worth sitting with for a second. Most celebrity podcasts sand down anything that looks like a guest getting restless or annoyed; producers cut it, or it never happens because everyone's on their best behavior. Bateman, Hayes and Arnett leaving it in — and apparently finding it funny enough to open the episode with it — says something about what SmartLess is actually selling. It's not polish. It's the illusion (or reality) that nobody involved, including the guest, is entirely sure what's about to happen.

It's a small moment, but it lands because SmartLess has built its whole identity on unscripted chaos — Bateman, Hayes and Arnett famously don't tell each other who's coming on, and guests often get thrown into whatever tangent the hosts were already having. Garfield's gripe fits right into that house style: half genuine complaint, half bit, delivered deadpan enough that it's hard to tell where the joke ends. That ambiguity is the point. A guest who's clearly performing exasperation reads as a good sport playing along; a guest who's actually a little exasperated reads as an authentic peek behind the curtain. SmartLess tends to get credit for both at once, which is part of why the format has outlasted a lot of copycats — the show's whole pitch is that even the guests don't know what they signed up for, and Garfield saying it out loud just confirms the premise rather than breaking it.

The episode also included the hosts ribbing each other about a recent boat trip, with photos apparently making the rounds online — the kind of inside-baseball tangent that's become a SmartLess staple, since a chunk of every episode is reliably burned on Bateman, Hayes and Arnett needling one another before the guest gets a word in. But the Garfield cold open is the moment worth knowing about if you're skimming rather than listening. It's a reminder that on this show, the guest doesn't wait quietly — and sometimes the best material happens before the interview technically starts, precisely because nobody, including the person being interviewed, is fully in on the plan.

Heard on SmartLess — "Andrew Garfield" (2026-09-07).