Adam Murciano on ‘Supermarket’ Season 1 and Working with Sugith Varughese

Imagine a sitcom for your ears — that’s how 911 Podcasts founder Adam Murciano describes his latest project, Supermarket. The comedy series marks a new genre for the podcast creator and voice actor, who’s also behind the hit podcasts Cascadia, a supernatural thriller, and Ice-Cream, a horror. Two months after its debut, Supermarket has already peaked at #1 on the Apple Podcasts Comedy Fiction Charts.

The podcast stars Murciano (Van Helsing, Teenagers, Riverdale) as the voice of Carson Carson, a sitcom star who gets blacklisted in Hollywood after his “grotesque” sex tape leaks. He subsequently returns to his hometown and begs for his old job back at the local Singh Singh supermarket, where things “quickly go bananas.” There, he’s forced to confront his obnoxious Hollywood ways and learn to co-exist with his coworkers.

Murciano created, wrote, executive produced, sound designed, and directed the series. Additional starring cast includes Sugith Varughese (Kim’s Convenience) as Suheil Singh, Graham Parkhurst (Glamorous) as Theo, Ryan Rosery (Riverdale) as Elijah, and Alexandria Benoit (Degrassi) as Ember. Antonio Cordero and Benoit also serve as co-directors, creators, and writers.

The Nerds of Color sat down to chat with Murciano about Supermarket, 911 Podcasts, and his career as an actor and creator. Here’s what he had to say:

THE NERDS OF COLOR: So first, can you just tell me a little bit about how the Supermarket podcast first came to be? What was the development process like?

MURCIANO: Developing this show took almost two years to do. It was my first time ever writing a comedy, and it was hard. Although I had an amazing team of writers around me, I still kept second guessing myself with every episode, scene, line and word. Even though my team thought the scripts were hilarious, I kept asking myself, “Is this funny enough?” or “How can we make this better?” I just wasn’t satisfied.

It eventually got to a point where I had to shelve the entire project because I was so in my head about it. After a few months, I decided to start totally from scratch [and] rewrite everything, but this time I made the conscious decision to release any and all fear of what people may think and just run with it. Whatever happens, happens. This was the secret. We went into the writing process a second time around, totally open and carefree that things just flew out of us. It wasn’t forced and we found ourselves hysterically laughing throughout the entire writing portion. I knew at this point that we had something special and we were ready to move forward and record the show.

You wear many hats on Supermarket: not only are you a voice actor, you’re also an executive producer, director, writer, and sound designer. How do you manage to juggle all of these different roles?

It’s very hard. When I’m writing the show, I’m thinking, “Will this translate to audio? Who would be a good actor for this role? Would the editing work if we did this gag?” When I’m recording the show, I’m listening to the other actors while recording my part and thinking what would work or not work when it comes to editing. … You kind of just have to do it, and immerse yourself in the entire creation process. However, I love this so much that it doesn’t even feel like work. It’s truly my passion. I feel like if it wasn’t, I would be so overwhelmed but as we keep progressing and making different series, it gets easier to navigate. Plus I have an incredible team that helps along the way.

On top of all that, you’re also the founder of 911 Podcasts. What inspired you to start your own podcast company and how did you go about forming it?

All my life I was told that as an actor you must create your own work. However, I never had the funds or connections to ever do this when I was younger. Flash forward to 2020. Everyone is locked away and isolated in their homes. I was so creatively frustrated that I just had to do something. Everyone was doing podcasts, so I figured why not try my hand at it. Except, instead of the standard interview type show, I wanted to make a movie for your ears. A cinematic, immersive experience, but in a podcast format. All my actor friends weren’t working due to the pandemic, so they had time on their hands, plus I knew how to sound design. And before we knew it, 911 Podcasts was born.

Prior to Supermarket, you created and starred in the podcasts Cascadia, a sci-fi thriller, and Ice-Cream, a horror. Supermarket marks a shift in genre for you — what was it like working on a comedy compared to your previous projects?

Once we had the scripts where we wanted them to be, it was just an absolute blast. We record our shows in a recording studio, so it was just nonstop laughter from day one. Our first two shows were quite dark and even though they were fun to do, I remember leaving the recording studio everyday emotionally drained. This time, however, I left the studio emotionally drained but in a different way. [I was] drained from giving 110% of my energy for every take. My character Carson Carson is very chaotic and his emotions are all over the place, so I had to bring and keep that energy for maybe eight-to-nine hours each recording day.

As a voice actor, how do you approach conveying humor without visuals?

In an audio fiction comedy, we don’t have the visual or physical gags that you would perhaps see in a sitcom for television. So instead, we had to heavily rely on the story and performances. If the episode and situation weren’t funny or entertaining, then we didn’t have the foundation. That’s why we took our time creating strong plotlines with funny scenarios, because then we could just go into the studio and play and let loose. Each actor came in and brought their energy and that helped elevate the scenes to another level. We really took the time to shape each character to have a unique voice. This helps the audience distinguish who’s talking, but [it’s] also very entertaining to listen to a range.

Was there anyone in the Supermarket cast you were especially excited to work with?

One particular person I was very thrilled to work with was Hillary Warden, who guest stars as Oprah on our show. The way we discovered her was very unique. In the early stages of writing, I put out an anonymous casting call under a burner account on Reddit looking for Oprah voice impersonators. Someone recommended Hillary and by chance said she was located in Toronto … So I then found Hillary on social media, reached out and pitched the show to her. She loved the idea and concept, so I asked her to send me a little audition tape of her doing an Oprah impression. From the moment I pressed play on her tape, I knew that she was our girl. She then came into the studio and just absolutely blew us all away by her performance and professionalism. I’m so proud to have her on the show and very excited to see where her career goes. She is such an outstanding actress.

You and Sugith Varughese (Suheil Singh) seem to have a fun dynamic. What was it like recording together?

It was an absolute blast to banter back and forth in the scenes with him. Sugith came into the studio and killed all of his performances. I mean, the guy barely had any bloopers and most of his stuff you hear on the show are quite literally the first and only takes because he was that good.

How would you describe your character, Carson Carson? If you were to meet him in real life, how do you think you’d get along with him?

I believe Carson Carson is actually a lot of fun to hang out with outside of work. We see him struggle and get frustrated because he is in a setting and environment that is simply unfamiliar to him, therefore his obnoxious ways become glaring. However, I believe he is a good person deep, deep down and is actually quite loyal. We see his loyalty throughout the season with him and Suheil and his own family. I also really admire how he didn’t give up on the supermarket, even when the going got tough for him.

Supermarket is a comedy, but it also explores class, identity, and what it means to be “canceled.” What do you hope listeners take away from it?

I think the core message in this show is to not judge people based on their history. Every character in this series comes from a different walk of life and background and somehow, the universe has brought them all together to work at this supermarket. In the end, you never really know what someone is going through and I think it’s always important to not just jump to conclusions. Regardless if you’re famous or not, we’re all complex humans with many different layers and emotions.

What’s next for you? What other genres or types of stories would you like to see 911 Podcasts take on in the future?

Currently we are working on the second season of our debut series Cascadia. Once that’s complete we will jump right back into season 2 of Supermarket. A genre I’d love to explore with 911 Podcasts is a true crime story, but totally dramatized. Think American Crime Story or Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story on Netflix, where they focus a season on a real crime that has occurred, but it is told in a scripted way. However, I know that this will take much more time and care to develop, as there are real people involved and lots of research has to be done in order to do the story justice.

Throughout your career, you’ve acted on numerous shows, web series projects, and podcasts. Do you have a favorite role you’ve played?

I feel like Carson Carson is my favorite. He’s just so out there and says things that I would never dream of saying. It’s fun teetering between hero and villain, which I think Carson does a lot. I feel like I don’t get to do a lot of comedy, so this was a very fun experience. I can’t wait to do it all again in Season 2.

Who are your biggest acting inspirations?

My biggest inspiration is people. I observe how my friends deal with conflict and or good news. If my friend is going through a breakup, how are they reacting? If my friend got a promotion, are they humble about it or out and about bragging? I observe personality traits and how those traits react in various situations. It’s fascinating to me. I also do the same for myself whenever a milestone or something bad happens. I self-reflect. How did I deal with that? Why was that my reaction? Why was I feeling that emotion? Those are the raw and genuine reactions to real life situations [that] I keep stored in my mind. When characters I play find themselves in similar situations, I can then pull my memory bank and use that within the scene.

Finally, if you could guest star on any TV show, past or present, what would you choose?

Right now I’m binging The Golden Girls and boy, do those ladies crack me up. Plus it still holds up. I think some of the jokes were very ahead of its time. It would be so fun to guest star on that sitcom and especially work opposite queen Betty White.