Every edition of Answer Us Back features your responses to/observations upon previous episodes of AMT, some of them many many years old – but today’s episode is packed to the rafters with what you had to say about our most recent episode, AMT419!
Detta has baked a version of the Tom Cruise coconut-white chocolate bundt cake – “A lot of faff, but worth it.” Here’s a recipe similar to the one Detta tried.
Anonymous from the Allusioverse has actually eaten a cake gifted by Tom Cruise! Not the coconut bundt though – a lemon one, strong enough to taste “remarkably like having your taste buds bashed out”. Mmm, great. Also, if you want to buy yourself the standard Olly Mann Baby Gift, here you go.
A different Anonymous writes about the practice of film stars buying end-of-shoot gifts for all the crewmembers. Also, if you want to get yourself some Olly Mann-endorsed Podcast Notes, here you go!
Alastair in Kilmarnock gives some fun Scottish examples of stadiums being corporately renamed…
…and Mark tells us some of the creative approaches that stadiums have taken to cover up their usual corporate logos during the World Cup.
Meagan in Oakland CA wonders when, if ever, it would be OK to wear her Houston Astros shirt from 25ish years ago which has the Enron logo on it?
On the topic of which fun British vegetables Dan in Pennsylvaniacould grow on his farm, Emily in Canada is screaming, “King Edward potatoes!!!”
Dan himself writes back, supplying the cuke pic below – no, I said ‘CUKE’ – and noting the ladybird fuckfest that was mentioned in AMT419.
As well as buying ladybirds to sort out her garden’s aphids, Isabel treats herself to a few praying mantis egg sacs, to enjoy a miniature horror show when they hatch.
And Erica responds to the previous Answer Us Back, where we mused upon the potential disappointment of seeing one of us audio podcasters in the flesh.
If AMTs 1-419 left you with lingering questions and opinions, share them with us for future episodes of Answer Us Back. And as always, send in your questions, in voicenote or written form, to answermethispodcast@googlemail.com. All new AMT420 will be in your podfeed on 30 July 2026.
Help keep AMT going by signing up at patreon.com/answermethis, where you can get an ad-free version of the show, monthly bonus bits, our video livestream Petty Problems, AND access to our ENTIRE back catalogue, including all our paywalled episodes, our special albums, and all the Retro AMT episodes.
Now, feast your eyes on Daniel in Pennsylvania’s white cucumber (not a euphemism):
AMT is sponsored by:
• Cozy Earth, luxurious bedding, sleepwear, loungewear, and towels for bath and beach. Shop at cozyearth.com and get 20% off using our code ANSWER. • Quooker, the the tap that does it all, from instant 100-degree boiling water to chilled, filtered, and sparkling water. Shop at quooker.co.uk and until the end of August, you can use our code ANSWER to get free installation and your free Quooker glassware set. • Taskrabbit, the online and mobile marketplace, available in the UK, that connects you with skilled, reliable local freelancers to help with everything from furniture assembly and home repairs to moving, gardening, and more. Get ahead of your to-do list with £10 off your first task at taskrabbit.co.uk or on the Taskrabbit app using our promo code ANSWER.
If this Christmas, one of us starts Instagramming pics of us smugly showing off a white chocolate coconut bundt cake sent by Tom Cruise, this episode is why. And the question is also why – why does Tom Cruise send cakes? Why does he send this cake? All is explained in AMT419, along with:
living statues growing mushrooms off a book/bath corporately-named stadiums after the sponsorship deal ends the spiky side of the cheese grater the Brixton Bovril building mangelwurzels joeys – the baby animals, not the Tribbiani koala vaginas Martin the Sound Man’s pet ladybirds shoes as gifts what happens to retired police cars the best Midlanders and Olly’s guide to the books of George Orwell.
Got questions for an episode, trivial troubles for our Patreon-exclusive Petty Problems, or feedback about an AMT old or new? Send them in writing or as voice notes to answermethispodcast@googlemail.com, or you can call 0208 123 5877 to leave us a message. AMT420 will be out 30 July 2026 and the next Answer Us Back will land on on 16 July.
Support AMT at patreon.com/answermethis, and in return you get an ad-free version of the show, you can join us for our video livestream Petty Problems – next happening 28 June, 10pm UK time – and the highest tier gets access to our ENTIRE back catalogue, including all our paywalled episodes, our special albums, the Bonus Bits of Crapp on the AMT App (RIP) and all the Retro AMT episodes.
Helen makes the entertainment podcast about language, The Allusionist, which pertinent to this AMT has episodes full of facts about ladybirds and unusual types of apple.
Martin makes the weird experimental podcast Neutrino Watch, where each episode is a little different each day you download it. He also has a new album coming out soon, so get hyped for that by digging into the back catalogue of his songs, available via his Bandcamp.
AMT is sponsored by:
• Quooker, the the tap that does it all, from instant 100-degree boiling water to chilled, filtered, and sparkling water. Shop at quooker.co.uk and until the end of August, you can use our code ANSWER to get free installation and your free Quooker glassware set. • Taskrabbit, the online and mobile marketplace, available in the UK, that connects you with skilled, reliable local freelancers to help with everything from furniture assembly and home repairs to moving, gardening, and more. Get ahead of your to-do list with £10 off your first task at taskrabbit.co.uk or on the Taskrabbit app using our promo code ANSWER. • Squarespace, the all in one platform for creating and running your online realm. Go to squarespace.com/answer, play around with the two-week free trial, and when you’re ready to launch, get a 10% discount on your first purchase of a website or domain with the code ANSWER.
Ten years. Ten years! TEN. YEARS. Ten years we’ve been doing this show. TEN.
In that time, technologies have waxed and waned; world leaders have come and gone; yet here we still are, answering the questions that you supply, just as we did in episode 1 all the way back in January 2007, and in every episode in between.
To celebrate the show’s birthday, in Answer Me This! Episode 346 we provide a thrilling glimpse into the AMT Process, receive a gift from a musical hero, and tackle a question on Olly’s favourite third favourite subject. We also discuss:
Mickey Mouse
sentimental dehydrators
rubber fetishes
grown-up purchases
Helen’s lost engagement ring vs Helen’s lost copy of Heathers
Warhol’s Campbell’s soup cans vs Campbell’s actual soup cans
graphic design vs fine art vs graphic design
file-in-cake-based prison breaks
British bears
British beavers
and
why you should never lend things to friends if you ever want to get those things back.
In today’s Bonus Bit of Crap on the App – available for iPadPhones, Android and Windows devices – we consider another problem for a Mickey Mouse reboot: the voice. Disney, if you’re listening, we have a suggestion for who should play Mickey. Go on, give it a go…
You should give our album AMT Love a go, if you want to hear an hour of us talking about sex and relationships. It’s available from the AMT store – you can also get it from iTunes and Amazon, if you prefer – along with our other albums and our classic episodes. We can’t pretend that listening back to the first episode today didn’t make us wince, but for just 79.9p it’s a good price for a wince.
Thanks to our friends at Squarespace.com for sponsoring this episode, and for giving you 10% off their website-hosting and -designing services for a whole year if you use the discount code ‘answer‘.
Bigger thanks to YOU for listening and sending in questions and supplying kind messages and buying our stuff and generally supporting us during the past decade.
Good news! Well, good news for Olly and everyone worried that his nocturnal job was causing him to collapse in on himself like a dying star: he’s got a new job on LBC, presenting a show 8-10pm Fridays and 6.30-10pm Saturdays. The first one is tomorrow, so tune in! Meantime, listen to Answer Me This! Episode 311:
Therein:
the Queen of Starbucks (scroll down to the bottom of the post for the NSFW original Starbucks logo)
the Hollywood Walk of Fame (apply here for a star)
a bowling alley in your home
the dangers of being a stock photo the other Michael Jackson the other Harrison Ford
the real struggle in Moby-Dick
Buddha vs Budai Night Nurse vs Night Nurse
lazy Barbra Streisand critiquing your dick pics (link extremely NSFW)
and
the first known waterbed.
Plus: Olly would rather that rats do not accompany his sexytimes; Helen is still laughing about the typo on her grandmother’s gravestone; and and Martin the Sound Man enjoys his own parallel version of AMT.
In today’s Bonus Bit of Crap on the App (available for iThings, Android and Windows gadgets) we realise why it’s probably for the best that we don’t have a spare £200,000 to install a home bowling alley. Just imagine the bloodshed…
We’ll return on 16nd April 2015 with AMT312, joiiiiiiin ussssssssss,
Helen & Olly
••• AMT311 Child-Friendly Rating: 40%. Strong swear word very near the beginning. 10 minutes in, there’s a question about nudie photos that you may wish your younglings to avoid. But after that, it’s pretty safe. If you start listening around 15 minutes in, it’d be at least 80% child friendly. •••
Cor, get a load of those stems, listeners! This week, the men of AMT (that’s Olly and Martin the Sound Man, in case you couldn’t work it out) show off their shapely pins – but whose pins are shapelier? Cast your vote in the comments for the left or right pair of legs. Self-esteems depend upon it. Why? Find out in Answer Me This! Episode 295:
We also find out about:
OS maps
Freshers’ Week
the price of buses
Kent vs France
psoriasis vs Parkinson’s
Helen’s dad’s genes vs Helen’s dad’s jeans
bat detectors
human meat
William Seabrook
Andy Serkis
auctioneers’ patter
mature students
existential questions at Buckler’s Hard
bereavement
corporate tangrams
and
Helen’s first teapot.
We also wonder whether Martin the Sound Man has gone completely batshit, as he tries to converse with bats, thinks jackets = character, and yet again airs his obsession with Holly Hunter. Turn off the lights and pretend you’re not home, Holly!
In today’s Bit of Crap on the App (available for iDevices, Android or Windows gadgetry), we tackle a question from Tori about rumours about teachers that swirled around school. In our cases, most of those rumours were cleaner than the reality.
Thanks very much to our benevolent sponsers Squarespace.com for supporting both this episode and your website-building endeavours: enter the code Answer for 10% off their website-hosting, -designing and -troubleshooting services for a whole year and build, build, build!
We shall return with AMT296 on 21st August, unless this leg rivalry means Olly and Martin will no longer agree to be in the same room as each other. It’s pretty serious.
Helen & Olly
••• AMT295 Child-Friendly Rating: 86%. A couple of swears, but no lascivious content. •••
Answer Me This! Podcast 