Disruptive Behavior, Disruptive Podcast: I AM RAPAPORT

May 31, 2018 9:27 am

It’s pretty typical for friends to call each other to shoot the breeze. Michael Rapaport and Gerald Moody have been doing it for decades. For the last few years though, they’ve been doing it for a global audience, on their podcast, I AM RAPAPORT: STEREO PODCAST.

Actor, director and host of I AM RAPAPORT: STEREO PODCAST, Rapaport, and his co-host, Moody, have known each other since 1982. Moody, who is originally from Brooklyn, and Rapaport, from the Upper East Side, met at the Boys’ Club and started playing basketball together regularly thereafter.

“We just became friends. And I would go around his block, chill with him, and I would invite him to Brooklyn,” said Moody. “We formed that friendship based on hoops. The love of hoops and a similar sense of humor, and it just stayed.”

The podcast officially launched in 2014 but Rapaport said that, unofficially, he and Moody have been podcasting since they were kids.

Moody said he came on board around the 13th episode. Since then, the duo has been producing the podcast consistently with the help of two “audiocats”: Jordan Winter and Miles Davis. Dean Collins has also been on frequently as a guest co-host since the beginning.

The team puts the podcast out three times each week. Episodes are released on Tuesday and Friday mornings and on Wednesdays they release what Rapaport called “primetime” episodes. They also release “Emergency EPs”. All of their content is available on their app and premium access is available for $2.99 each month which unlocks videos and archived material in addition to primetime content.

Making the podcast was Rapaport’s idea originally.

“I’d always been a fan of the podcast medium,” he said. “It’s unrestricted and free flowing. I felt like it was for me because I have a lot to say.”

Rapaport asked Moody to join him on the podcast shortly after he started.

“I just always knew that he [Moody] would be great at it since we’ve been podcasting unofficially since 1982,” said Rapaport. “He’s one of the funniest people I know.”

Their relationship gives them the ability to be completely honest with each other. That close relationship is the reason the podcast has exploded to include a global audience according to Moody.

“We can talk in depth about a lot of things that other guys –other podcasts– are afraid to get into. That’s why it works, it really works like that,” said Moody. “You can put two people together but there’s nothing that can match up to the chemistry of knowing somebody for 35 years.”

They cover anything and everything—the comfortable, the uncomfortable and all that is in between. Rapaport calls it “Disruptive Behavior”.

“Disruptive Behavior is a way of life,” said Rapaport. “I was disruptive in school growing up and our podcast is the home of Disruptive Behavior because we speak out on topics that people want and need. It’s important to have uncomfortable conversations about society, race, politics, inequality and more.”

Rapaport’s favorite parts, he said, are the “sh*t talking” and the “freedom to tackle issues that others can’t or won’t speak on.”

The team doesn’t fact check, which is something they mention frequently throughout the show. Moody said they’ve done the podcast without fact checking because of the format: their podcast is essentially a conversation between two friends. If you were having that conversation in daily life, Moody said, you probably wouldn’t have been fact checking everything or have every fact about the subject in discussion anyway.

“If you’ve done a ton of research it doesn’t add to the entertainment of the conversation,” said Moody. “That’s why the no fact checking is great, because in real life people make arguments based on what they think not facts.”

This helps listeners to “feel the chemistry” between Rapaport and himself according to Moody.

The podcast, which could be referred to as comedic, offensive and raunchy, has appealed to a large audience. Moody said that they’ve received positive feedback from fans aged anywhere between 13 and 70.

They usually record the podcast over the phone or occasionally in person but this summer, they are headed on tour. This isn’t the first time they’ve taken their show on the road.

“It’s really fun, it’s amazing to be sitting on the stage and doing the sh*t I used to do with this guy on the phone,” said Moody. “The fans love it, taking pictures with 300 or 400 people all from just talking with my friend and the way we do it. It’s great. I love doing that, I love going on the road. People have actually came and said ‘yo, you get me through the day, through the workday.’ That’s the best sh*t you can tell me because I know how that sh*t is.”

Though the show isn’t released everyday, Rapaport said that someone is always listening regardless of date, place or time, which is something he appreciates about the medium.

“Disruptive Behavior never sleeps,” said Rapaport.

Having been in the podcasting game for a bit of time, Rapaport said that the industry has evolved in a positive way. He said he likes listening to all kinds of podcasts but he also said that he thinks the podcast world is a little oversaturated at this point.

“Podcasts are like assh0les, everybody has one,” said Rapaport. “Not everyone is meant for this podcast life and they burn out.”

I AM RAPAPORT: STEREO PODCAST, though, is nowhere near fizzling out.

“We never steer you wrong, only steer you strong,” said Rapaport. “Podcasting is a real community, I really enjoy it and look forward to helping push it forward.”

And as they move forward they plan to continue to serve as a “home for Disruptive Behavior” and they want to make sure that there’s something for everyone in each episode they release.

“We can’t stop, won’t stop and we’ll never fact check,” said Rapaport.

Images courtesy of the I AM RAPAPORT: STEREO PODCAST team