Comedian-actor-writer-producer-director-stoner-author-ceramic vase maker Seth Rogen has added another hyphenate: -podcaster. Storytime With Seth Rogen (available on Stitcher) has a deceptively simple premise — “Do you have a great story?” he asks potential guests, “And if you do, will you tell it on my podcast?” — but “each episode plays like a little audio documentary, a feature presentation unto itself, with supporting interviews and archival tape woven into each story with a rhythmic editing style.”
In an interview with Vulture about Storytime, Rogen gave an example of an episode — one that confirms everything you want to believe about Paul Rudd being a good person. His guest is writer, comedian, and author Quinta Brunson, who once considered giving up comedy after a bad breakup to become a Jehovah’s Witness. “Then one day, on a date with this guy where they’re going to see Inglourious Basterds, she meets Paul Rudd in the theater, whom she’s a huge fan of,” Rogen recapped. “He was very nice to her, and she told him about her dream of pursuing comedy; he told her if she was serious about it, she might as well do it. That conversation changes the course of her life.”
Rogen spoke to Rudd for the podcast in the hopes that he’d remember the interaction, “but he had no memory of it. He changed her life, and it was a result of him being a nice dude in general.” I can already hear the iconic laugh.
Storytime With Seth Rogen launches on October 6.