Jason Mraz's personal 'assistant' and comedy collaborator, Eric Schwartz, aka Smooth-E, reveals all

November 5, 1:09 PMJason Mraz ExaminerTrina Yannicos

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Jason Mraz and Eric Schwartz, aka Smooth-E, in a scene in one of the Grati-Tube comedy
skits (Courtesy Eric Schwartz)

Who could inspire Jason Mraz to become an ancient Asian guru named "Papa Mraz" or practice yoga at a gas station in one of six original YouTube comedy skits? None other than Eric Schwartz, a.k.a. Smooth-E, L.A.'s non-traditional stand-up comic who mixes comedy with smooth-talking rap parodies.

This summer, Jason Mraz fans were treated to six original comedy sketches starring Jason Mraz and his "personal assistant" Eric Schwartz. These humorous one to three-minute videos were a parody of sorts of Mraz's Gratitude Cafe tour, appropriately titled "Grati-Tube". Topics covered included "healthy eating" and "yoga to go."

While some may have bought into the fact that Eric / Smooth-E is actually Mraz's real assistant off-screen, in reality that title was just a clever disguise used onscreen. Schwartz was approached by longtime friend, Mraz, to work together in a comedy collaboration. Schwartz wrote 8 different scripts, six of which were filmed to become the six Grati-Tube episodes.

"Jason was great," Schwartz reflects on working with Mraz. "I was surprised. I knew he would be good. But I didn’t know he’d be that good. He’s funny and a really good actor.”

Schwartz, who describes his own stand-up act as mixing a lot of genres into a "nice delicious frosty beverage", first met Jason Mraz around 2001 at open mic nights in small venues in Los Angeles. While Jason would sing and Eric would tell jokes, they both had a love of hip-hop and rap. They would end up onstage together doing impromptu jam sessions, along with Bushwalla, and put their own brand of comedy into freestylin' rap.

Schwartz, who goes by the stage name of Smooth-E ("Eric Schwartz doesn't sound good in a scratch"), recently re-lived the old days by joining Mraz and Bushwalla onstage for an impromptu jam session at an aftershow held at the Roxy in Hollywood after Jason's concert that night at the Hollywood Bowl.

"I was blown away that people got to see another side of me that night at the Roxy," Schwartz remarked. He imagined people would react by saying, “Whoa, that guy can spit fire!”

In January, Smooth-E released his own CD/DVD of rap parodies called "Parodies Nuts!" Songs and music videos include "Crank that Kosha Boy", "A Milli Vannilli" and one of Jason's favorites, "Suburbia", a parody of Rihanna's "Disturbia."

Schwartz is always adding new music videos to his website including this hilarious spoof on "Britain's Got Talent" star Susan Boyle called "Susan Boyle Goes Gangsta."

Schwartz says they've received great feedback on the Grati-Tube vidoes and he hopes to work with Jason Mraz again in the future. "Comedy comes really naturally to him,” Schwartz observes about Mraz. "He’s funny and he’s musical and he really appreciates art in general and being an artist.”

All six Grati-Tube videos done with Jason Mraz can be found on Eric/Smooth-E's official YouTube channel. For more info on Smooth-E, visit his official website at http://www.smoothe.tv

Catch Eric Schwartz at one of his upcoming live appearances in Southern California including the Jon Lovitz Comedy Club in LA and the LXM Pro event in Santa Ana. Visit http://www.smoothe.tv/tour.html for the complete schedule

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