'The Bugle' began life in 2007 as a
satirical podcast recorded between Andy Zaltzman and John Oliver, two close
friends sparring over the week’s news with easy rapport. The show quickly
gained worldwide success and led to John Oliver transferring stateside to work on
his own HBO hit show; ‘Last Week Tonight’, much to Zaltzman’s faux chagrin (He
affectionately fired shots at “little Petey Primetime” in tonight’s Lowry show).
Without Oliver, the show looked lost and took an indefinite hiatus. But in the
last two years The Bugle has returned with regular “guest co-hosts” including
Helen Zaltzman, Alice Fraser and Nish Kumar, who have brought the show back to
its full glory. However, it is in its latest incarnation that the podcast has
found its voice. With downloads averaging 2 million per month, it was clear
that there was an audience for the show and live recordings to paying fans were
the next logical step for an audio podcast in which live responses and
interaction with audience could breathe life into the comic performances of the
hosts. So as a bona fide fan, I found myself amongst hundreds of converts in
The Quays Theatre at the Lowry to attend the live recording of “Bugle number 4083”.
The stage was set with a laptop,
two standing mics and two lecterns, which served as a reminder that this show
was to be read, not memorised and slickly delivered by its performers. Zaltzman
arrived and began his customary introduction to the podcast, with warm up
material about whether we are in Salford or in Manchester and then began The
Bugle proper, by reading us the section of the ‘audio newspaper’ that
inevitably (cue the audience shouting their first catchphrase of the night)
goes “in the bin”. It was a fun routine about whether having a baby is better
than getting a puppy, which has a decent hit rate. It is worth remembering that
this routine, like everything else we heard tonight, was making its first and
last appearance, and like all of tonight’s content, was decent comedy.
After the introduction, Andy and
producer Chris (welcomed by the audience with the customary abusive shouts of
“F.U. Chris!!”) were joined by Alice Fraser, an Australian comedian and Bugle
regular. She had an affable style and like Andy, enjoyed wordplay and the rhythm
of comedic writing. This was fine, but these two are at their best when they’re
accompanied by someone with a more relaxed, natural style like Kumar or Helen
Zaltzman.
Tonight’s episode covered issues
such as the Kavanagh nomination for supreme court, Theresa May dancing onto
stage in the conservative party conference and the brawl that concluded the UFC
title fight. Regular punchlines made an appearance and Zaltzman launched into
the ever-unpopular “pun-runs”. The audience delighted not in the convoluted puns
Zaltzman subjected us to, but the pain these groaners induced in his compatriots
on stage. Particular highlights of pun-free routines included Andy’s viscerally
imaginative re-telling of the UFC title fight and an excellent segue into body-shaming the planet Venus, which began life as a routine about being a climate
sceptic based on comparative stats with other planets that the media aren’t
worried about.
Inevitably some routines were
better than others; some dragged and some felt excessive, but this is the charm of
attending a live recording of a weekly satirical show. At the time of recording
the Kavanagh news was less than 24 hours old, whilst the McGregor v Khabib
ruckus would have given Fraser & Zaltzman about 12 hours to write material.
When one steps back and thinks about Andy Zaltzman’s achievement with The Bugle,
(which he works on alongside his touring stand-up shows that also require him
to write new material every night) it was very impressive indeed. Each week the
podcast generates a whole hour of consistently funny, deftly written and up-to-date satire with a sprinkling of the absurd. No other comedy writer is out there
producing material at the rate that Andy Zaltzman is, and few are producing satire of this quality.
The Bugle is available on all
podcast platforms and 'The Bugle Live' will continue to post new dates at venues
across the country.
Reviewer - Ben Hassouna-Smith
on - 7/10/18
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