It's time for O.P.P. again, Other People's Podcasts! This week we get international and political with The Bugle hosted by Andy Saltzman and John Oliver.
Who? The show is hosted by two British stand-up comedians Andy Saltzman and John Oliver. Andy Saltzman has performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe since 1999 and has worked with John on two BBC Radio programs, Political Animal and The Department. John Oliver was a correspondant at The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and now hosts his own HBO show Last Week Tonight With John Oliver and plays a recurring character on Community. The two have been doing The Bugle together since October 2007.
What's This Show? Andy and John are both fond of politics, dick jokes and satire. Andy is fond of pun runs and cricket while John likes Pippa Middleton's badondadonk and singing pop songs on occasion. Since Andy is in London and John is in New York City assuming neither are touring there is both American and British politics under the satirical lense along with a good helping of international news.
There is no subject beyond the reach of their bitingly silly satire. The show was originally produced by TimesOnline, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch, during the News International phone hacking scandal of 2011 the jokes came just as quick as they always did, biting the hand that produced the show became the norm. In January 2012 The Bugle became an independently produced podcast and has soldiered on ever since. Production became more infrequent once Jon started hosting his HBO show but Zaltzman has announced the imminent return of the show.
Best Way In: This is another podcast that will not be for everyone but for political and satire junkies this should come quite quickly. It is rather necessary to have at least an interest in if not knowledge of politics, the hosts do a good job of contextualizing the satire but it is at it's heart a satirical news show.
