Owen Smith shot his 2015 stand-up special using just 10 iPhones: “Good Luck Everybody”

Owen Smith bought 10 iPhones, filmed a stand-up hour with them, and then returned the phones the next day at the Apple Store.

True story.

“The best iPhone comedy special of all time,” according to Chris Rock in a testimonial quote on Smith’s page.

Also the first iPhone comedy special, as far as we know. We’ll have to check the records…in the meantime, “Good Luck Everybody.” That’s the title for Smith’s newest hour, recorded at Mi’s Westside Comedy Theater in Santa Monica, Calif. Smith bought 10 iPhones for the recording — and hilariously returns them to an Apple Store the next day, on camera — but you wouldn’t know it if Smith himself hadn’t told you in the introduction.

Why film it this way?

“I had something to say and didn’t want to break the bank to say it like I did back in 2007 when I spent my life savings to self-finance what is now probably the most expensive demo-tape on YouTube, Owen Smith: Anonymous,” Smith told The Comic’s Comic. “Plus, everyone consumes so much content on their phones anyway, and the cameras on these things have gotten so great, that I said why not shoot something on the very device most of us can’t live without!  And Sean it came out great!!  I didn’t have people on the audience hold the phones.  I got a professional DP Bill Berner who I’ve worked with on several tv shows to help me lay it out.”

Smith also directed and executive produced Good Luck Everybody, with Barry Katz also serving as an EP, and Jeff U’ren (Dave Chappelle’s Killin’ Them Softly, specials by Lewis Black, Kathy Griffin and Greg Giraldo) editing the hour.

For his second hour special, Smith — whom you may recognize from a State Farm fan-cam dancing ad, also has writing credits on both coasts, for Everybody Loves Chris, Are We There Yet?, WhitneyArsenio Hall, Deon Cole’s Black Box — fondly looks back on his days in the dating game, blaming his mother for raising him not to act like a player. Not that that matters any longer, since Smith since has gotten engaged and married. Which means he really can open up about his dating past and relay what he has learned to all of the single men still out there playing the game.

He compares a $65 date to his “light bill” to show you his frame of mind, and draws broader comparisons in relationships to Mary J. Blige songs of today and as far back as the original Biblical relationship of Adam and Eve. Smith isn’t afraid of crossing lines, whether it’s a clever but down-and-dirty bit about anal intercourse, or a deconstruction of a statistic that a man hits a woman every seven seconds. But it’s mostly a light and relatable hour exploring the differences between how men and women view relationships, with a closing routine that shows what happens when you agree to treat your wife as if she’s your best friend.

Roll the clip!

Owen Smith: Good Luck Everybody is available for $5 via Smith’s site and VHX.

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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