Will Becton of Jett Road Studios
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SUMMARY
Will Becton spent 12 years at Team Coco, where he served as videographer, editor, and eventually the engineer who built and ran the studio for Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend from its 2018 launch through 2022. In this conversation with Sebastian, Will traces his path from shooting Clueless Gamer segments to engineering one of the most downloaded comedy podcasts in history — and then walking away from a steady job to launch Jett Road Studios, the independent production company and network he runs with his wife and executive producer, Amber Becton, out of Studio City.
It's a candid look at the craft and business of podcasting: the technical learning curve of going from video to audio, why three voices like Conan, Sona, and Matt Gourley "sit well in the mix," what it felt like when SiriusXM acquired the operation, and why he eventually took the leap to build his own thing. Will also digs into the realities indie podcasters face today — discoverability in a four-and-a-half-million-podcast marketplace, the pilot-as-development-slate model behind Jett Road Studios Presents, the YouTube tension, and his belief that podcasting, done with good intentions, may be the medium with the best shot at actually changing minds.
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IN THIS EPISODE
(01:12) The origins of Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend — the in-house approval process at Team Coco where Conan owned the show, early experiments like Serious Jibber Jabber and writer-led test recordings, and how Adam Sachs (from Earwolf/Midroll) helped make the case as the TV show wound down.
(05:21) Shooting Clueless Gamer and the Super Bowl segment with Marshawn Lynch and Rob Gronkowski — the kind of "constant state of readiness" backstage work that made Conan comfortable working with Will.
(06:41) How Sona was set as co-host from the start, and how Matt Gourley went from veteran producer to on-mic third co-host almost immediately.
(09:59) Building the first studio — cobbling together gear from the defunct Super Deluxe and the old basic cable band dressing room, and learning the Earwolf workflow from lead engineer Brett Morris.
(10:51) The audio signature of three distinct voices — why Conan is the most challenging to mix for dynamic range, and the debate over compressing on the way in versus recording clean.
(13:12) Memorable early sessions — Will Ferrell recording before the studio was finished, Marc Maron questioning the borrowed mics, Jeff Goldblum, Timothy Olyphant, and Ben Stiller being the first to ask to come on.
(16:30) Whether Conan became more vulnerable and human on the podcast — the looseness versus the time pressure of TV tapings, the bananas Mila Kunis episode, and the David Sedaris session Will calls his favorite of the 2018–2022 run.
(21:13) Will's surprise jump from video to audio engineering — the humbling compression learning curve and the lesson that there's "no default compression for the human voice."
(24:18) How improv shaped his editing — his UCB years (2000–2004 in New York), the "yes, and" ethos, the Chicago influence on Conan's writing staff, and a love of editing "structured improv."
(29:00) Leaving Team Coco after 12 years — the "Irish goodbye" during COVID, engineering three shows at once out of the sunroom, the move to Largo, and the Larchmont studio build-out.
(32:21) Mixed feelings about the SiriusXM acquisition — the engineer role becoming narrower and "less playful," and losing the "lunatics running the asylum" vibe.
(37:17) The 2 a.m. moment at June Lake when Amber told him they were starting their own studio, and building a home studio that mirrors his professional workflow.
(41:19) The origin of the name "Jett Road" — his childhood street in Atlanta, the open-door "collection of misfits" environment, and the house later being sold to Andre 3000.
(43:13) The Jett Road Studios Presents model — a podcast where every episode is a pilot for a different show, functioning as an "outward-facing development slate" or "sushi menu" of activatable concepts. Includes Mixed Generation, Three Day Champion, and the award-winning pilots.
(56:20) What he looks for in a host or concept — chemistry, avoiding the "too many cooks" overcooking he saw at Team Coco, and getting the "pure distillation" of what the host has in mind.
(59:43) The business of getting picked up — why "nobody's developing shows right now, they're acquiring shows," the 50,000-downloads-a-month threshold, and how making 12 pilots expanded his network.
(01:02:04) The Bad Elizabeth success story — a Guardian write-up and Apple carousel placements, and the sense-memory of the download difference being on versus off the carousel.
(01:04:10) What success looks like for Jet Road over five years — staying lean versus staffing up as a full network, a season two of Presents, and exploring TV/IP avenues (with Hulu in the conversation).
(01:08:11) Podcast marketing for indies — the slow burn, getting on the Apple carousel, and being "all the places you can be," including Podnews.
(01:09:18) The YouTube tension — why he sees video as the "next frontier" and a non-negotiable discovery platform, even as it multiplies editing workload, plus his measured take on AI tools.
(01:16:14) Cross-promotion, feed swaps, and email — why he needs to "templatize" promotion, and his thinking on Substack versus Patreon as monetizable audience-retention tools.
(01:22:58) Podcasting and public discourse — the Conan O'Brien Needs a Fan episodes (including the blind rock climber that inspired Conan's travel show), the echo-chamber problem, and why podcasting has the best shot at changing minds.
(01:26:46) Will's three podcast recommendations and where to find him online.
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RESOURCES & LINKS
Will Becton & Jett Road Studios
- Website
- YouTube
- Instagram
- Substack
Shows mentioned
- Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend (Team Coco / Earwolf) - Best episodes of Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend
- Jett Road Studios Presents — the pilot-per-episode development slate
- Bad Elizabeth, Mixed Generation, Three Day Champion — Jett Road pilots/shows
- Serious Jibber Jabber with Conan O'Brien
- Clueless Gamer (Team Coco)
- Never Not Funny (Jimmy Pardo)
- Superego and I Was There Too (Matt Gourley)
- Comedy Bang Bang / Bang Bang World (Scott Aukerman)
- May I Elaborate? (JB Smoove & Miles Gross, Team Coco)
Will's three podcast recommendations
- Wrong Turns with Jameela Jamil
- Past Due with Ana Marie Cox & Open Mike Eagle
- Origin Stories with Matt Shaer (Campside Media)
People & industry figures referenced
- Amber Becton (executive producer, Jett Road Studios)
- Adam Sachs (former head of Team Coco / Earwolf-Midroll)
- Brett Morris (lead engineer, Earwolf)
- Matt Gourley, Sona Movsesian (co-hosts, Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend)
- Ariellle Nissenblatt (EarBuds), James Cridland (Podnews), Tom Webster (Sounds Profitable), and the Signal Awards
- UCB founders and alumni: Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts, Matt Besser, Matt Walsh; Conan writers Brian Stack and Brian McCann
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