August 14, 2014

This week, a lot of you will want to hear the 2010 episode of WTF where Marc Maron talks to Robin Williams. Here it is, with a new intro from a choked-up Marc. Get your hankie ready.
You might also want to hear Lauren Bacall tearing it up on Desert Island Discs from 1984, here. Now please excuse me while I get lost in the Desert Island Discs 60-year archive. Again.
Not a million miles from Desert Island Discs is BBC 6 Music’s The First Time With…, in which musicians talk about the songs that made them. Sorry if you were expecting a show in which famous people discuss losing their virginities. (Does such a show exist? Aside from this one?)
I’m intrigued to listen to this programme about the politics of Dr Seuss: Dr Seuss and the Butter Battle. And if you’re intrigued to hear the AMT take on Dr Seuss, you can find it in the Answer Me This! Christmas album. You may think it’s unseasonal to listen to a Christmas show in the middle of August, but there’re only 132 days to go! (‘Only’. That’s still more than a third of a year. But it doesn’t stop a film called Santa With Muscles being played on one of the more remote Freeview channels every damn day.)
Finally: if you’re keen to start making your own podcasts, you can learn everything you need to know at the Essentials of Podcasting Guardian Masterclass on 20th September. I’ll be there to share all my podcasting knowledge, which should take around five minutes; luckily you’ll also be taught all about hardware, software, editing, production, formatting, publicity etc from the likes of Bugle producer Chris Skinner, Guardian podcast producer Jason Phipps, and software inventor Drew White. Book your place here.
PS: if you’re at Green Man festival this weekend, say hi to me and Martin! I’ll be doing Pappy’s Flatshare Slamdown at 1am on Saturday night/Sunday morning. Martin will be playing songs on the Solar Stage on Friday and Sunday, and demonstrating 3D printing in Einstein’s Garden every day. 3D printing at a folk festival? Apparently so.
Which shows have been delighting you lately? Recommend some in the comments.
Tune in to our various other gigs:
• Catch up on AMT295 and the episodes preceding it.
• AMT episodes 1-170 and the special AMT albums are all available for a piddling little price at answermethisstore.com, and if you buy any of them you’re bankrolling the podcast, for which we are extremely grateful. At this time of year, whisk yourself away on the AMT Holiday – a bargain minibreak at only £2.49.
• Olly’s on LBC every weekday 1am-4am. Set your alarm.
• I host the monthly Sound Women podcast and am on Let’s Talk About Tech from BBC 5 Live.
• Martin the Sound Man makes numerous other podcasts, including Brain Train, The Global Lab and The Sound of the Ladies.
Tags:6 Music, BBC, Christmas, Desert Island Discs, Dr Seuss, Falling Tree, Lauren Bacall, Marc Maron, podcasts, Radio 4, Robin Williams, Roy Plomley, Thursday Listening Party, WTF, WTFpod
Posted in podcasts other than AMT, Thursday Listening Party | 1 Comment »
November 21, 2013

Christmas has come early, AMTpals, because the Answer Me This! Christmas Album is out NOW, available to buy from iTunes, Amazon and our very own Answer Me This! Store:



If you take the plunge and purchase it, you’re not only funding the podcast, you also get one hour of all-new Christmas chat about such festive topics as:
✯ FOOD! ✯
Audio is entirely calorie-free, so feast your ears on mince pies, trifle, Brussels sprouts, poisoned turkey, lutefisk, Sandra Lee’s Kwanzaa Cake and what Christmas pudding can teach you about atomic physics (which is better than eating it).
✯ ENTERTAINMENT! ✯
Christmas titans Eric’n’Ernie face off against Mike Yarwood; Olly fails to be swept away by ‘Fairytale of New York’ (and don’t even get him started on ‘Christmas Wrapping’); and the Grinch stole Dr Seuss’s doctorate.
✯ CUSTOMS! ✯
How the Norse deities Frigga and Baldur got you to snog people under a bunch of a poisonous parasitic plant; why Rudolph’s got a red nose; how the first ever Christmas card managed to be offensive; why Kwanzaa was invented; and Santa on waterskiis.
✯ CRISIS MANAGEMENT! ✯
How to salvage the situation if your partner’s bought you a brilliant present and you got them something shit; what to do if you dread staying at your in-laws’ house; how to uninvite people from your party; and why you’re more likely to end up getting a divorce at Christmas. It really is the most wonderful time of the year.
✯ DECORATIONS! ✯
Let us deck the halls of your ears with Christmas jumpers, Christmas crackers, double beards, and paper hats, even though everyone looks like a dick in the paper hats. Especially because everyone looks like a dick in the paper hats.
The Answer Me This! Christmas Album is fun for all the family – no, it really is, because we don’t even swear. So Great-Grandma Gladys and Tiny Tim can listen happily together while you sneak off and neck the cooking brandy.
✯ Buy it now from the Answer Me This! Store, iTUNES and AMAZON. ✯
Tags:abroad, adultery, aesthetics, All I Want for Christmas, America, Ancient Romans, arguments, babies, Baldr, Baldur, bangs, beards, beds, berries, black history, Blitzen, Bob Hope, Bridget Jones's Diary, Bruno Mars, Brussels sprouts, cake, Caravan of Love, cards, Caribbean, cartoons, celebrations, Charlie Brown, childhood, children, China, Christ, Christmas, Christmas cards, Christmas crackers, Christmas dinner, Christmas jumpers, Christmas movies, Christmas pudding, Christmas specials, Christmas Wrapping, clothes, Comet, confectionery, cracker jokes, crackers, Cupid, currants, Dancer, Dasher, dinner, disharmony, divorce, Donner, Dr Seuss, dried fruit, Fairytale of New York, families, family, father, Father Christmas, festive, festivities, films, Finland, fire, Florida, food, food poisoning, freezer, Frigg, frozen food, fruit, garments, gifts, god, gods, grapes, greetings, gunpowder, Holland, Housemartins, husbands, indulgence, inventions, Jesus, Jesus Christ, jews, John Lennon, jokes, Joseph, Judaism, jumpers, kids, King Herod, knitwear, Kwanzaa, Lapland, legends, Linus and Lucy, logs, Loki, Love Actually, lutefisk, lye, Mariah Carey, Mary, Maulana Karenga, meals, meat, messiah, Mike Yarwood, mince pies, Ministry of Defence, mistletoe, Morecambe and Wise, mother, mother-in-law, movies, music, My Favourite Things, myths, nativity, Nazareth, Norse, North Pole, Norway, nostalgia, panto, pantomime, paper hats, parents, parties, partners, Paul McCartney, peanuts, pelicans, plumbing, pop, poultry, Prancer, presents, raisins, reindeer, relations, relatives, religion, Richard Donner, rows, Rudolph, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, saints, Sandra Lee, Santa Claus, satsumas, Saturnalia, Scandinavia, Scrooge, Second World War, Shoreditch Box Park, showers, sleeping arrangements, Snoopy, songs, specials, spouses, St Nicholas, sultanas, surnames, sweaters, sweets, symbols, tact, telly, The Darkness, The Grinch, The Night Before Christmas, the Queen's speech, The Sound of Music, The Waitresses, toy shops, toys, tradition, traditions, trends, trifle, turkey, TV, USA, vegetables, virility, Vixen, war, winter, wives, World War Two, WWII, Xmas, Yule log
Posted in albums | 9 Comments »