RIDE – a new podcast by Benito Skinner and Mary Beth Barone

Your favorite besties & tastemakers Benito Skinner and Mary Beth Barone have come together to undoubtedly give us the best podcast this Spring has to offer. RIDE’s first episode aired on March 15. Mary Beth Barone is a Manhattan-based comedian, improviser, and actor. She is known for Good Sets (2016), Mary Beth’s Sex Tape (2017) and Dicks. Benito Skinner, known for his online persona Benny Drama, is also an American comedian and actor from Boise, Idaho. A mega social media persona, Benny Drama performs celebrity impression, skits, and original characters on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.

Join them every Wednesday on your way to listen to their musings on life, the universe, existence, and what they currently ride for. If you’ve longed to hear two absolute bimbos talk about looping, Schrödinger’s cat, being a lizard, and SO much more, you’re gonna absolutely live/die for this podcast. NOTHING is off limits.

FEATURE INTERVIEW

How did the two of you meet?

MB: We met at a bar in Bushwick called Our Wicked Lady of all things. We were both booked on a comedy show there and sparks just absolutely flew.

B: I remember watching her set and being like… I’m gonna Stan her for the rest of my life. And then 3 days later I asked her if she would play Mary Magdalene in a sketch I was making. Fairytales are real 🙂 

How did you agree on the contents of the podcast?

MB: We think of each other as geniuses and are both very rooted in YES. So we will throw out ideas and build off of them together. We love learning from each other and, of course, gabbing with each other. So each recording is usually around 50 minutes and then we edit it down to 25-35 minutes to give you nothing but the BEST.

B: I think my favorite part of recording Ride is hearing what Mary Beth will be riding for every week. I think I know everything about her and then she’s like “I’m gonna ride for traditional family values today.” And I’m like “that’s my girl.” And it’s allowed me to really feel comfortable being a little freak on the show. 

Shot by @terrencefoconnor
Graphics by @leagarn
Styled by @chrishoran20 assisted by @greerheavrin
Mary Beth’s makeup by @lilly_keys
My makeup by @nikkideroest
Hair by @stacyerin_hair

Who is your target audience? What can listeners expect?

MB: Our target audience is everyone, weirdly.

B: What if we were like, we want to take Joe Rogan’s spot? Lol. Wait, I guess we do? But I thing the initial target was the people and beautiful community we built from our first show. And now we want their stepbrothers to listen to the new pod too <3 Our boyfriends will never listen though. You can’t win ‘em all!

How is your creativity disrupting culture and pushing boundaries?

MB: We are both bimbos and we think through RIDE, we humanize that segment of the population. Bimbos have rights! And we are actually very creative with language. 

B: And also deranged. I think this time around we loved the idea of treating everything like it was the most serious thing in the world. The cover art, the videos, a billboard in Hollywood. For a pod that’s supposed to feel like hanging out with your besties on the way to Sephora, us staring at you on a motorcycle all horned up oddly makes sense. That’s Ride. 

Have you created any special characters for the series?

MB: One amazing thing about the podcast is that we can really truly be ourselves. We have been working on those characters since birth. It’s our life’s work.

B: I was always so scared of being myself and I really credit this podcast and Mary Beth for helping me feel so comfortable stepping out of all my characters and the costumes. I’m being earnest for this answer, don’t be mad! But I think after 6 years of sketches, being myself with Mary Beth feels like something completely different and fresh. 

What is your favorite sketch you can’t wait to air?

 B: I just filmed one as Lana Del Rey and then I also play a fan who won’t leave her alone. Probably one of my first autobiographical sketches lol! And I think Deliverance Richards is going to be a wedding planner soon. She kind of has to be. 

The cover for the RIDE podcast is serving. What was the shoot experience like?

MB: Honestly, it was a dream. Everyone involved showed up ready to create something beautiful and join in our mission to bring sex into the podcasting space. And that’s what we did!

B: That day was so fun, oh my god. My boyfriend (Terrence O’Connor) shot it and the entire team just tore it up. Mary Beth kept saying “this is for a podcast,” as we were trying to hold up a bike, serve, arch our backs, and have a huge fan pumping in our faces. We do it for the girls! 

What were some bumps you encountered during the production process of the podcast? How do you feel this strengthens your dynamic as co-hosts?

MB: We haven’t had many bumps other than getting the lighting right in the studio so we didn’t look like trolls in the video recordings. What’s great is we love to complain but we also get shit done so whenever there’s a problem we bitch for 14 seconds and then we go into work mode and find a solution.

B: I think the scariest thing was trying to deliver what our listeners from the last pod had been asking for, and also make something that felt fresh and exciting. And obviously funny. It strengthens our connection because I think at every point in the process, I feel so lucky I get to do it with her. Any nerves or stress I had went away the second I got to ask Mary Beth what the hell she had been up to that week. 

What’s it like working with Dear Media?

MB: Working with Dear Media has been so gorgeous. Their team is so experienced, organized, and hardworking. They have launched like a million successful podcasts – they have it down to a science as far as production and the technical side. So we just get to come in and do what we do best (live, laugh, love).

B: WE LOVE! I just feel like, if we’re going to be taking up people’s days, and asking them to listen to another pod, then everything needs to be amazing. And Dear Media has championed our psycho attention to detail. The best example would be what our producer (Marshall we love you, sweat!) did with the intro and outro… give me chills! When people want to do the work and not just mail it in, that’s rare and has really made this podcast something we are both so proud of. It’s our joy!!

TEAM CREDITS

Photographer: Callum Hutchinson

Galore Features Editor: Shirley Reynozo @moyamusic_

Galore Art Direction: Perrin Johnson @editsbyperry

Editor in Chief: Prince Chenoa @princechenoastudio

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