Hollywood Babble-On


Hollywood Babble-On is a weekly podcast featuring filmmaker Kevin Smith and radio personality Ralph Garman. The show features Smith and Garman discussing the week's celebrity, movie, and other pop culture news.

Show history

Kevin Smith was a frequent guest on a popular Los Angeles Ca, Radio show Kevin and Bean on 106.7 KROQ-FM, and suggested to Ralph Garman they do a show on the station. They recorded two pilots, which were passed on. The show was called The Showbiz Beat and was released in 2012 as Hollywood Babble-On #91. In August 2010, Garman and Smith started recording Hollywood Babble-On at Smith's SModcastle theater; the podcast was subsequently moved to the larger capacity Jon Lovitz Comedy Club & Podcast Theatre, formerly known as the Jon Lovitz Comedy Club. The show also tours, but this is limited due to Garman's day job. On April 22, 2013, Smith announced through Twitter that the podcast would no longer be recorded at the Lovitz after a falling out with Lovitz. He announced on April 25 that the show's new regular home will be The Hollywood Improv from May 24 onwards. Said comments and a further explanation on the falling-out with Lovitz were addressed at the beginning of Episode #126 of the podcast.
Garman gained a significant amount of public attention in December 2017, after being let go from his long-time position at KROQ, due to downsizing by new management. On a wave of support from local, national, and international fans Garman launched his own new podcast called The Ralph Report. He now hosts this podcast full-time, as well as co-hosting Hollywood Babble-On. With Garman no longer tied to KROQ, Hollywood Babble-On has been freed up to tour more than it was able to in earlier years.
On September 14, 2018, Ralph Garman announced that both and he and Kevin Smith were being sued by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce for unauthorized use of the image of the Hollywood sign, and of the Hollywood Walk of Fame Star in their visual representation of the show.

Format

The show discusses current events happening in Hollywood, and includes segments such as:
Each segment is preceded by a characteristic lead-in introduction song.
Recurring segments discuss actress Lindsay Lohan, singer Miley Cyrus, "singer" Justin Bieber, pornographic actress Kim Kardashian, reality star Farrah Abraham, and actress Amanda Bynes, during which Ralph and Kevin discuss the latest exploits of these persons. Some of these segments have been retired through the show's six-year history.
When discussing current events with Smith, Garman will also perform impressions of famous actors such as Harrison Ford, Al Pacino, Charlton Heston, Adam West, Truman Capote, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ed Wynn, and Sylvester Stallone. Fans of the show have created an informal drinking game, which the hosts have mentioned approvingly.

''Hollywood Babble-On'' guests

While the show is primarily hosted by Smith and Garman, there have been several occasions when Smith was unable to record, and his place was filled by a guest.
NameEpisode
Jon Lovitz25, 31, 37, 52, 70, 89
Adam Carolla27
Bill Burr29
Catherine Reitman38, 47, 54, 63
Brad Williams51, 80
Patton Oswalt76
Jay Mohr84
Mike Catherwood86
David Koechner87

''Hollywood Babble-On Comic Con Theater''

Smith has had all three issues of his comic series ' "dramatized" during three special episodes of his podcast, entitled Hollywood Babble-On Comic Con Theater. Primarily performed by his co-host Ralph Garman, who used several of his better-known impressions to represent the main characters, both episodes were essentially a read-through of one of the issues of the story. Garman's voicing of the main characters included the "voices" of Adam West as Batman, Ed Wynn as the Joker, Sean Connery as Commissioner Gordon, and Al Pacino as Maxie Zeus. Smith acted as the "omnipotent narrator" and voice of Onomatopoeia in both episodes. In the first episode, an audience member was brought up to cover several other minor character roles; in the second episode, Smith brought in voice-over actor/announcer Kyle Hebert to voice Alfred and others, and cohort Jason Mewes to voice most of the female characters.
Smith's other comic ', which is a six-part series, is also being "dramatized" on Hollywood Babble-On Comic Con Theater.
Garman and Smith also acted out their collaborative comic series special issues where Batman and Green Hornet met again to take on General Gumm and The Joker. The comic series is significant for being the first crossover between the 1966 Batman series and The Green Hornet series since the 1967's episode "Batman's Satisfaction".
In Episode 306, Ralph and Kevin perform Babble-On Theatre for the first time on a work not written by either. Batman 66, Issue 27 "Bane Enters the Ring", serves as the centerpiece for the episode.
In Episode 337, Ralph and Kevin perform a portion of Kevin's Green Arrow: Quiver comic book.
ContentEpisode
' Episode 143
Batman: Cacophony Episode 265
Batman: Cacophony Episode 3104
' Episode 1147
Batman: The Widening Gyre Episode 1, 2268
Batman '66 Meets the Green Hornet Issue 1Fatman on Batman Podcast #66
Batman '66 Meets the Green Hornet Issue 2175
Batman '66 Meets the Green Hornet Issue 3180
Batman '66 Meets the Green Hornet Issue 4184
Batman '66 Meets the Green Hornet Issue 5188
Batman '66 Meets the Green Hornet Issue 6193
Batman '66 Issue 27306
Green Arrow Vol 3 Quiver Issue 4337

TV show

In July 2012 Smith and Garman announced they were in negotiations with an unnamed network about a Hollywood Babble-On TV show. They revealed in February 2013 that it would not be going ahead as the network wanted them to stop the podcast as a part of the deal and other network negotiation/communication issues.
In November 2013 the duo revealed that AMC had shown interest in a TV show and in March 2014 The Hollywood Reporter confirmed AMC have ordered a pilot which will be filmed on Sunday August 3 following an August 2 rehearsal.
On October 10, 2014, AMC announced that they have decided not to continue its line of Unscripted Television shows except for Comic Book Men and Talking Dead. Because of this the Hollywood Babble-On TV Show was not picked up. The pilot was released via BabbleVision in 2017.

BabbleVision

Starting from June 2, 2017, each show of Hollywood Babble-On is now available as a full, professionally shot, video at BabbleVision.com as part of SModCo's subscription based service SModCost. During weeks in which there is no show, supplementary bonus material will be provided in the way of Classic Babble episodes. The show is shot and edited by Josh Roush of Roush Multimedia.

Awards and recognition

In 2010, the podcast was placed upon iTunes' Best Podcasts of 2010 and won the 2012 Stitcher award for Best Film & TV podcast. It then won the Best Entertainment + Pop Culture podcast at the 2013 Stitcher awards.