Free With Ads - Casters on Casters: Jordan Morris and Mallory O'Meara

Episode Date: April 20, 2026

It's MaxFunDrive. And here, for the first time, we give you an exclusive look (well, listen) at the craft of podcasting: presenting Casters on Casters. In this episode, Mallory O'Meara (Reading Glasses & Reading Smut), and Jordan Morris (Free with Ads & Jordan, Jesse, Go!) improvise a musical number, sing the praises of one another, and Yes, AND...with one another. It's a hilarious conversation with a few life lessons sprinkled in. If this glamorous, in-depth journey into what makes your favorite hosts tick inspires you, support them by joining as a member at maximumfun.org/join. Edited by Jesus Ambrosio and Produced by Laura Swisher for Maximum Fun. Happy MaxFunDrive! Right now is the best time to start a membership to support your favorite shows. Learn more and join at https://maximumfun.org/joinfreewithads

Hi, everybody. It's me, Jordan Morris, and you're about to get a treat. Why am I giving you a treat, you ask? Well, because it's the first day of the Max Fun Drive, the most excitingest time of the year for Max Fun Podcasters. This is your treat. It is Castors on Castors. I'm going to sit down for a very special, very candid conversation with one of my favorite podcasters, and I think probably one of yours too. Mallory O'Mara from Reading Glasses and Reading Smut, we're going to sit down. get in the ring and chop it up about podcasting. Yeah, that's right. I call this a ring. So stay tuned. Mallory and I are going to have a really fun chat. And while you're enjoying it, if it's safe to do so, go to maximum fun.org slash join and support this network and the show. Welcome to Casters on Casters. Conversations about the art and and craft of podcasting with the masters of the media, magicians of the microphone, finessers of ad reads,

so Byzantine, that you'd never even know you were listening to one. On today's show, Jordan Morris of Free With Ads, and Mallory O'Meara of Reading Glasses and Reading Smut. Hi, listeners, you know who I am. I've been on this show before. Are you a real listener?

Have you listened to all these episodes? My name is Mallory O'Meara. I'm the host of Reading Glasses and Reading Smut with my good friend, Brea Grant. If you have never heard our show before, do you like books? Do you like reading? Do you wish you liked books and like reading? That's where Reading Glasses comes in. We can help you read better, not harder, not faster.

Read better. We take the shame and guilt out of your book life and make you laugh while doing so. And for Reading Smut, we, I mean, does what it says on the tin, folks. We read Smut and we talk about it. It's less of a book review show and more of a like, okay, merman, enemies to lovers, only one bed, friends to lovers. Why do people like these things? What do they get out of them? And most importantly, we treat Smut like it deserves to be treated like a good girl.

Just kidding. Like real literature. And if that sounds like you, come over and check us out. Hi, I'm Jordan Morris. I co-host Jordan and Jesse Go, the absolutely nonsensical, pointless chat comedy show with Jesse Thubb. with Jesse Thorne every week we sit down with a special guest from the world of entertainment, comedy, the arts, etc.

And we have an absolutely stupid conversation with them that we hope makes you laugh. I'm also the co-host of Free With Ads, a podcast that has a little bit more of a point. I do that with Emily Fleming and Matt Lieb. We watch all kinds of movies as long as they're free, classics, cult classics,

camp classics, any kind of movie, as long as it's interrupted periodically by super loud car insurance, commercials. It's so real. Yeah. Yeah. A person staying at home, you probably leave sometimes, right?

And when you do, you're going to need car insurance. Right. So, Jordan, you are one of my favorite podcasters. Cut it out. No. No. Hey, the feeling is mutual. The feeling is mutual.

And something I really admire about you, and I think is really cool about a lot of really good podcasters is you have training in being this good. what you do seems really effortless every single time you've ever been on any of my shows every single time i've been on a show with you which is quite a bit at this point you're always effortlessly funny you're so fast which is amazing but there's a lot of like training and work to get to that point i'm assuming yeah i mean listen am i embarrassed about the amount of time i've spent an improv classes yes i am but i do think it served me well when it comes to podcasting because you know even if you've never taken an improv class the thing you've probably heard of about them is they want you to say yes and yes and and it's like dorky as that is i do think it's really important because yeah i mean if you've ever listened to a podcast and you've like not felt it it's probably because like the guests or one of the host is like shutting someone down or they're not agreeing to the premise of the show or they're giving one word answers and then suddenly the

interviews over in five minutes right yes and um and and yeah and i and i and i and i And I think as a podcaster, you know, you want to be kind of active in the conversation. Yes. You want to be like adding to it. And so yes, those one word answers, that'll shut down a show. And, you know, like crapping on the premise of the show will stop the show. So like, yeah. So when I go on a show, I like to, you know.

Lean in, baby. Lean in baby. So yes, improv. It turned out to be good for something. other than getting chicks. That's not true. Can you hear those screams folks? That's all the women that are waiting outside the building for Jordan Morris to come out the back door.

Yes. I had to fight my way through them to get in. Oh, boy, I know. They're rough. They're biters. Yes. Mallory, something I like about you as a podcaster is that you have a topic which people could approach in a way that would be. be snooty, but both reading glasses and reading smut are so much fun and they're so funny.

I think that like when you think book podcast host, you think of a... Turtle neck, tote bags. It doesn't help that I'm literally in a suit and tie right now, but... You are. But I'm in a cool, snoozy and tie. It's like cool. You're kind of like, it's kind of like ironic. It's kind of got a David Byrne thing going on.

But yeah, I like how, and I just love how much fun you have. You always have so much fun. We do. And yeah, and I would love to hear more about if that was something you talked about when you started reading glasses or if that's just how the show is because that's how you are. It was extremely organic. It was not part of the DNA, planned DNA of reading glasses or reading smut. Well, actually, it was for reading smut because we started reading smut about a year ago. So eight years in, we were like, let's have a baby.

This is going so well. But reading glasses really, it didn't start that way. We were just like, this is really, we want to have a book show where you don't have to have read anything to listen to it. And that's just kind of how Brea and I are. Reading Occupies is really interesting space where it is entertainment, but people elevate it higher than video games, than watching movies, than these other things, because when you're in school, you're assigned to read. So people still, we get a lot of listeners that are like, oh, I came out of grad school and it ruined my reading life. So reading is like the most admirable way to pass the time for some reason. So there's a lot more rules about it.

And like you said, there's a lot of snootiness to it. And that's just not who Brea and I are. Every single time someone emails in and says, I had a kid, I went to grad school, whatever it is. And now, and it ruined my reading life and I listened to reading glasses and I was able to get back to it. I get wings. I have a lot of wings at this point. I can almost fly. You're like a biblically accurate angel.

I'm so close. I get to go to heaven. So soon, Jordan. It's great. A thousand wings. It's great. But it's, yeah, it's something that has become very important to us. I'm a high school dropout, you know, I'm quite an un-ed-jured.

I didn't know that about you. Yeah, I'm a rough and tumble kind of gal. Smoking in the alley, you're rolling dice. I took a motorcycle to get you. Whoa! Plowed through all my screaming fans. Yeah, that's how I got in, actually. Aira style, yeah.

The only way I could. Oh, yeah. But it's, yeah, it's something that. that's, I love reading so much and I just want more people to do it because I think it can really improve your life. And there's so many people that feel that there's a barrier to entry. And so we wanted to take that ethos from reading glasses and bring it to reading smart because a lot of people read those books and they're like, well, they're trash. They don't count. They don't count because they're fun. And they do. There's still books, even if they're, some of them are quite bad.

But there's still books and they're still fun. And you can read to improve your life and you can read to increase empathy and make yourself smarter, but it is also just as valid to read to entertain yourself and have fun. And that's why we're here. Reading smut is so fun and interesting. I've done it twice. Honestly, the last episode we did with you and Jesse was the funniest one we've ever done. Oh, so much fun. The book was a Queenie and the Crackens about a woman who has a polycule with a merman biker gang. Yep. It's the greatest book ever written. But you're missing the best part, Jordan, is that the merman, they're not just merman shifters, their motorcycles shift as well. Right, yes.

Into mur motorcycles, murder cycles, if you will. So hunky fishmen, magic motorcycles, this book has it all. Where else can you get stuff like this? Tell me about interacting with glasses. In what ways do they shape the show with feedback? I mean, that probably was and is my favorite part about reading glasses from the get-go, was that almost immediately we started getting just a, massive amount of emails.

And I still answer all the emails myself because we use so much listener feedback in the show. You know, we start reading glasses off with listener feedback. A lot of our segments are answering listener questions, answering recommendation requests. So I still answer all the emails, even though we get just a, I wish that they were real letters, like, because they would just come in, you know, those like, like in cartoons when someone gets just like a bag full of letter. A fan mail. Yeah. I really miss that. I feel like your listeners probably would write physical letters if you gave them a P-O box. They probably would actually. They'd like burn the edges to make them look old-timey. I actually, I do that. I do have a wax seal.

Do you? With an M on it. That's great. It is pretty cool. You're your own little taskmaster. So we started getting so many emails right away and we started incorporating them into the show and because of that it really shaped the show and I I love that I think that's something that I love about podcasting the most is that because we're also both writers so in writing you can create something and you don't it doesn't see fans for years sometimes you know but with podcasting it's such an immediate art form and yeah we're calling it an art form uh-huh get ready we're elevated we're elevated this is basically opera it's a lot of screaming it's a lot of screaming it's a lot of

Yeah. Yeah. You know. Sometimes I wear a little hat. There's a lot of veils. Vails, yeah. But with podcasting, it's such an immediate thing. You can record it and put it out the next day if you want.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We do batch our episodes. We record them two at a time. So it does take us a little bit. But if someone writes in or there's something we want to talk about, we can usually

get an episode out within a month or so. And so right away, the fans started shaping the show. with what they wanted to see. And it's really funny looking back on old episodes of reading glasses. We're, because we're nine years in right now. Next year is going to be the 10, what do you get for 10 years? Wood, paper? Sure.

Silver. I forget. A horse. Oh, wow. He's going to bring each other horses. Honestly, into that. That'd be fun. The horse anniversary.

It's the horse year. There's definitely a smart book about this. Oh, sure. I don't doubt it. I saw a smut book the other day on our Instagram that said, save a horse, ride a cowman. Oh, wow. I said, Brea, damn, why didn't we do this one?

Yeah. But yeah, they've just shaped the show so much. And so early episodes of reading glasses were definitely, we were like, oh, we got to do the history of this and we got to do. And we stopped doing episodes like that because we really focused in on the reading life aspect of it. Like, what's the best reading light to not wake your husband up when you want to sleep, when you're reading in the middle of the night? what's the best snack that doesn't leave marks on the pages?

Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think we've discussed snacking while reading on the show before. Yes, very controversial subject. Yeah, the best one, if you need to know, is an un, like a gummy, a gummy worm, but with no sour on it. No dust. Just a nude gummy worm. Yeah, sure.

And really good, no residue. How do you think your life has been changed by the listeners of your shows? Oh, that's a really good question. Thank you. I'm a podcaster. I can tell. You've thrown me for a loop. I think that like when things seem dark, you know.

He's about to burst into song. Yeah. When things seem dark, you got to talk and do your mic. Talking to your mic. Oh, boy. The spotlight is gone on Jordan. You know, when you pay attention to what's happening in the world, you're like, well, fuck, this sucks. Yes.

I think. And I bet you agree that like the listeners we have cultivated. Now are they as numerous as some other podcast maybe hosted by celebrities? They're not. But they are nice, lovely people. I mean, like, it's nice. It's every time we hear from them, it's like it's a nice person who is probably cool. It's probably a librarian.

Yeah. You know, maybe. Do you get it at signings? Like, do you get your listeners? like when you do book events and comic events? Oh, let me tell you this, Mallory. Let's tell it to me. So the...

Give it to me. So, one, always nice when people who know you from a podcast will follow you to other stuff. Yes, which not a lot of people do. Yeah, totally. It doesn't always translate. It does not. But yeah, when people like come out to a book event or check out a comic I wrote, that always, like, feels really nice. And yeah, and it's interesting going to a, to like, a Comic-Con.

And, you know, you get a lot of intense people at cons. and I always find myself going, oh, thank God, this is a podcast listener. Yes, 100%. When the podcast listener is the less weird one in the room. Always. I have never done a book event where we're not reading glasses listeners. That's awesome. That's really cool.

Not a single one. And it has become my security blanket. I'm like, you know what, if no one got me, at least the glasses got me. Yeah. Yeah. That's been really nice for sure. It is so wonderful. So are there any anything?

Like looking back over almost 18 years. I know that's, I mean, how many episodes? It's got to be a thousand. We're in our, boy, where are we episode number wise? Let me check on that. Because we're 440 something right now. And then however many bonus episodes. Is there anything that, like an ongoing joke or a particular podcast episode or just

like a get, like something that you remember that was really good or really funny? And you're like, I'm proud of that. Oh, yeah. So just to get. Give some numbers. We need the data. We just released episode 941. Oh my God, you're getting cold.

What are you going to do on the thousands episode? We're going to pass away on my. You're going to get a horse. Yeah, we're going to get a horse. Ah, finally, a horse. And the horse is going to host the show moving forward. Honestly, give him some peanut butter. That is a.

Oh, yeah. That's great. That's going to be pretty funny. Honestly, that's great. So this is kind of interesting. So we've had some running jokes that have like almost been going on 20 years. This is like some, you know, some very. very, very old running jokes.

And one of the first ones was the history is a little shaky on this one, but I think... As in shady or as you don't remember? We don't remember that. Well, so someone will have to go to the tapes. I wasn't sure if you're like, it's a little... It's a little shady. Don't look too far in New York. Yeah, sure.

Don't look into where we got the money to start the podcast. It was through drugs. Selling. Noted peddler. Jordan Morris. We don't do it anymore, but we needed some startup capital. You know, after 17 years. Yes. So we we had these like stupid names, Chip Dipson and Dipson.

And we just thought they sounded funny. They do. They do sound funny. They're funny. They're really good. So we kind of like gave those names to the listeners and said, what can you put that in? And so like we've had like, you know, people name their pets that. Wow.

So just people doing things with Chip Dipson and Dipson. It is so great. And one of the, you know, one of the coolest things. There is a great comics writer, now also a podcaster, Chris Hastings, and he put Chip Dipson into a Marvel comic. Oh, my God. So there's a Dr. Chip Dipson in an issue of Deadpool, I think, who, like, discovers this, like, alternate universe.

So, like, on the Marvel Wiki, if you, like, search Chip Dipson. So something fun that happened recently. Wow. I've started writing some Marvel comics. Pretty exciting stuff. I got to put Dipson into a Marvel comic. Which one? And your Spider-Man?

Web of Venom. Web of Venom. Dr. Dip Dobson makes his first appearance? What about, do you think Dip and Chip are ever going to get to interact with each other? I mean, we'll see. We'll see. That's the dream. That's the dream.

That's the dream. I'm not like, geez, I would love, that would be great. Oh, my God. And just, yeah, just a weird culmination of a running podcast joke that no one can remember the zenith of. Wow. Or the source of. I actually, on the way to record this, I was talking to Bria, because I said there's so many

we were recently featured in the New York Times very exciting for reading glasses and we've been getting a lot of new listeners and there's so many running jokes we have on the show that I realized I was like we should do a little intro episode because people might not even know what we're talking about and one of them is that

we call our listeners Sarah's because one day very early in the show I was looking at our inbox in the first 20 or 15 emails were all from someone named Sarah. No way. We get so many Sarahs. We don't really know why.

And so we just started calling them all Sarah. It is wild. But the other thing is we started, when listeners started to write in and give out cool book tips, we started to do a sort of like car talk, hot book tip in the morning. Wee, wee, we, you. Right. And then someone sent us a slide whistle, and it became a really important, and part of reading glasses.

That was live, people. If you're just listening to this, that was a live slide whistle. I've been keeping a slide whistle in my pocket. I am happy to see. see Jordan. I was happy to see you too. Also, I can bring a slide whistle in my pocket. Now I have to snack on this banana I brought with me.

Jordan, this was really fun. I had the time of my life. I would even say that we had maximum fun. Yes. We've finally done it. We've achieved maximum fun. You're all getting a horse. Everybody's getting a horse.

You're getting a horse and you're getting a horse and you are getting a horse. Look under your seats. There's a horse there. Might be dead. We have not been feeding them. Imagine you look under a chair. and there's just a horse face looking directly. But if you're listening and you're enjoying,

you're a fan of Jordans or you're a fan of my shows, and maybe your name is Sarah and you want to get in on this, you know where you can go, where everyone's going to know your name. Oh, yeah, maximum fun.org slash join, baby. It's maximum fun drive. It's the best time of the year. We're doing all kinds of exciting stuff. And we've been doing these shows for a long time,

and the reason why we've been able to do them so long, Jordan, is because we have amazing members who support us. That is the reason. Yeah. All of our shows require a lot of time and effort, improv classes, slide whistle purchases. Bulk horses. The amount of, hey, we have to buy folks,

is really putting us in there. Alpha prices are going through the roof. You think eggs are expensive. That's right. Sourcing some alfalfa. Go to maximfund.org slash join. Sign up to support even on the $5 level. You really support us.

You support the network. which is a co-op. And as far as we know, the only co-op podcast network. Yeah, it's really nice to be doing a podcast for not a giant evil company. Yeah, especially when right now a lot of our listeners are writing in saying, I don't want to support Amazon, I don't want to support this, what do I do? It feels like everybody is evil. One place you can count on to not be evil is maximum fun. No evil here.

Yes. There's too many horses. We don't have room for evil. Exactly. Maximumfund.org. slash join. Yeah, like Mallory said, five bucks a month goes a long, long way. There are other levels you can give at if you're feeling sassy, but five bucks a month is awesome. We love it. We'll take it. And you get a bunch of bonus stuff. And a free horse. And a free horse may not. You get to do one of those fast disclaimers.

The horse is a joke. That's a bit we're doing. And you want to get a horse. Remember FDIC. Thank you, folks. And happy Max Fund drive. Max Fun Drive. Maximum Fun. A worker-owned network of artist-owned shows. Supported directly by you.