On a very hot day in a very hot Cannes, when every other brand is touting very hot AI solutions, I happen to have a meeting with the coolest guy in town. Who? It’s JB Smoove, that’s who, the Hollywood multi-hyphenate actor-comedian-producer-SNL writer best-known for his work as Larry David’s layabout house guest on Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Tall, languorous, velvet-voiced, Smoove comes across as unperturbed by the craziness on the Croisette. Some interviewees shorten their interviews by glancing at their publicist or their wristwatch. He seems happier shooting the breeze in his North Carolina drawl or chuckling at the absurdities of fame.
I’m meeting him, along with his business partner Jarrod Moses, to talk about his latest venture. Smoove is starting up an agency called The First Darrin. Positioning itself as a comedy-focused creative agency, it promises to offer brands support in creative, production, social and experiential. First off, though, the name. Is it a nod to Bewitched?
“You got it!” His eyes light up. “I used to watch that show when I was a kid. They had a guy called Darrin, played by Dick York. But then he was replaced by Dick Stevens. But I always preferred The First Darrin. And we wanted something cool.”
Cool it is. But I wonder what the personal impetus is to move from entertainment to marketing. Smoove, after all, has done very well in TV comedy by any measure. Moving into another field might be stretching himself too thinly.
“This is all a part of my trajectory. As comedians and artists, we have to sell ourselves all the time. You know, we sell ourselves to you and you stay for the laughs. So, setting up an agency was the natural next step.
“Think about it like this. When you’re selling a product, you want mannerisms, you want eyebrows to raise, you want people to lean forward.” While saying this, he visibly leans forward in his chair.
“You want all the things that I naturally do in my profession. It’s really all the same. It’s all a form of entertainment.”
It all seems very rosy, but there’s a ‘but’ here. The outlook faced by many agencies is bleak: tough economic conditions, the encroachment of AI and the fact that many brands are doing creative work in-house. It would seem now isn’t the best time to be starting up an agency, whether dependent on comedy or otherwise. It could even be the worst.
His business partner, Moses, chips in. “There’s $400bn of advertising in the US and they estimate that one sixth of all conversions in digital are prompted by humorous advertising. What does this mean? I’d say there’s a huge opportunity here.”
What kind of brands do they plan on working with at The First Darrin? Smoove is vague on this (“You know, I’m across the board”), but Moses is a little more direct. “We’re going to be announcing our first clients soon and you’ll hopefully start seeing the activation of our work by the fall. We’ve already got 22 members of staff on board, based in New York, LA and London.”
How will Smoove contribute to the agency’s output? He talks about his contribution in an almost mystical way, saying: “As a comedian, I have you in my hands already. And that rule applies to whether you’re on stage or doing a TV commercial. And we’re gonna put the right people into our advertising. That’s about knowing the rhythm of a comic or a comedic actor or whoever we put in these commercials. And that’s the same rhythm that you have to have when you’re trying to attract someone to buy your product.”
But one of the biggest benefits, as he sees it, is not just his knowledge of comedy but the ability to have more time. “I worked on an improvised show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, where I had to create in the moment. Now imagine someone who knows comedy, someone who loves advertising and someone with a little more time. You can have a little input in there and make it really come home. Man, it’s a win-win situation,” he grins.
On the subject of time, our time is up. We stand up, shake hands, take a photo or two. “Been a pleasure meeting you, Paddy,” says Smoove. He means it. The details of his agency might seem a little sketchy and his client list, as yet, undefined, but The First Darrin might well go a very long way on charm alone.
