Smith & Waugh Talk About Satire

Talk About Satire

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An award winning* podcast in which Drs Adam J Smith and Jo Waugh talk about the form, function and future of satire. They also talk about the history of satire, but that doesn’t alliterate. Adam and Jo are joined by a series of special guests who will also talk about satire. * 'Best Pedagogical Project', The YSJSU Awards 2019

FEB 26

EP84. "Zombie" "Satire": 28YL The Bone Temple (+ Bonus Boning Up on "Wuthering Heights")

In this episode, Jo and Adam trace the long, shuffling history of the satirical zombie, from the consumer cannibalism of Dawn of the Dead to the suburban self-recognition of Shaun of the Dead, and the bleak media mirror held up by Dead Set. Along the way, they consider the evolving satirical function of the undead in the 28 Years Later franchise, with passing reflections on the undying TV universe of The Walking Dead. The main focus of the episode is the release of 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, a film that has already provoked confusion, fascination, and a number of deeply questionable audience participation trends. Jo and Adam examine the film’s unsettling satirical architecture through the figure of Sir Jimmy Crystal, asking what it means to construct a character so insistently entangled with Britain’s most toxic celebrity legacies. They explore the strange and troubling phenomenon of American cinemagoers attending screenings in costume, and ask what happens when satire escapes the screen and becomes a form of ritual. The conversation also considers the film’s deeper literary inheritance, tracing unexpected connections to Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver's Travels, and reflects on how the zombie narrative continues to draw on older satirical traditions of isolation, scale, and estrangement. Elsewhere, the episode briefly turns to the internet’s response to the arrest of Prince Andrew, asking what contemporary satire does with figures whose public identities already border on the grotesque. Finally, Jo offers a preview of next month’s episode, which will explore the latest adaptation of Wuthering Heights. Satire, as ever, refuses to stay buried.

1h 10m
JAN 27

EP83. Sidney Sweeney Has Bad Satire: The Housemaid, The Traitors & Stranger Things on Toast

Jo and Adam ease themselves into the new year by asking some deceptively simple questions about contemporary culture. They discuss Paul Feig’s latest film The Housemaid, and try to pin down why so many viewers are describing it as satire (and what, exactly, they mean by that). Along the way, they turn to meme culture, looking at online responses to the latest series of The Traitors and the internet’s collective processing of the final season of Stranger Things. We also get to know Toast Man better, learn what a person sounds like when they’ve just finished buttering their toast, and discover, to Jo’s horror, that Adam cannot say “cutlery”.

1h 1m
12/20/2025

EP82. The Grinch who Stole Satire: A Christmas Feast of Partridge, Plur1bus, Dead Man & Toast

Jo and Adam are back with their annual festive sketch, this year titled “The Grinch Who Stole Satire”: a cheerfully mischievous look at irony, earnestness, and why people keep declaring satire dead. Along the way, they explore the extraordinary new sci-fi satire Plur1bus, which imagines the horror of a world where everyone is happy; the satirical fuel behind Netflix’s cosy crime hit Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery; and Alan Partridge’s latest appearance in How Are You, It’s Alan (Partridge). Add festive banter, Christmas cheer, and the long-awaited return of everyone’s favourite recurring character, Toast Man, and you’ve got a properly festive Smith & Waugh feast of satire. Pass the peer reviewed mince pies.

1h 9m
11/29/2025

EP81. [Sat]Ire, ink & Enmity: The Art of Literary Feuding

Join us for an episode filled with spectacular spats, bruised egos, and top-tier literary shade. This month, Adam introduces a riotous tour through Britain’s greatest writerly bust-ups: from Lady Mary Wortley Montagu shredding Swift in more ways than one, to Pope’s poisonously personal vendettas, to the mutual mockeries of Anne Ingram, Mary Leapor, Thackeray, Woolf, Gibbons, Brontë, and beyond. Notably absent from the episode is Jo Waugh herself, rumoured to be lying low after some spirited listener feedback concerning a certain comment she made about friend-of-the-pod Ben Garlick. Will Ben forgive us? And were the best writers really the “good haters” Samuel Johnson claimed? Tune in to find out.

1h 16m
10/30/2025

EP80. Happy HaLEIGHween! A Spooky Satire Special with Leigh Stein

It's all treat and no trick this SpoOooky Season, as Jo and Adam welcome back Best Friend of the Pod, acclaimed novelist Leigh Stein, for a bumper Halloween special (rustle rustle). Together they discuss the origins and development of Leigh's new novel, IF YOU'RE SEEING THIS IT IS MEANT FOR YOU, a gothic satire set inside a TikTok hyper house. Leigh also fills us in on life as TikTok's resident expert on satire, pulling off her own viral satirical hoax and what Tiktok has done to publishing and the way we read more generally. Jo also updates us on the Brontë Parsonage Shirley Read-a-Long (Shirley, Charlotte Brontë's second novel, which is definitely satirical) and Adam tells us what he learnt about satire and alcohol during his most recent international escapade at the University College Dublin.

1h 29m
09/30/2025

EP79. Smith & Waugh Are Not Helping: Sketchy Sketch Show Satire

Inspired by the return of sketch show comedy to British television in the form of the surprisingly satirical Mitchell and Webb Are Not Helping, Jo and Adam go on a whistle-stop tour of British sketch show comedy and even have an argument (live on air!) about whether there is something intrinsically satirical about the sketch show format. They also check in on the alarming satire-related events taking place across the Atlantic, with some blaming South Park for the tragic death of Charlie Kirk, and others observing that some of the bullet casings used in his assassination were etched with messages from the hugely popular satirical video game Helldivers 2. Adam also reflects on his recent visit to the Storm Museum of Humour and Satire in Copenhagen and Jo shares a charming breakfast update about a Toast Man.

1h 2m
08/29/2025

EP78. Cartoon Comebacks: Animated Satire in King of the Hill & South Park

In this episode, Jo and Adam turn their attention to American animated satire, revisiting their own memories of cartoon-watching while asking what makes animation such a distinctive vehicle for social and political critique. From King of the Hill’s return in the Trump era to South Park’s take on immigration, right-wing troll culture, and ChatGPT, they explore how animated satire has adapted to address the controversies of Donald Trump’s second presidency. Along the way, they share updates on their recent media appearances and reflect on Jane Austen’s place in the history of satire.

53 min
07/31/2025

EP77. 28 Grab-bags Later: A Satirical Summer Dilly-Dally

This episode isn't a grab-bag in the sense of an oversized packet of Monster Munch, but it is a kind of mystery bag of miscellaneous treats that you might grab from a caravan site kiosk during the summer holidays as a child in the 1980s or 90s. What's inside? Stickers? Sherbet? A colourful pencil? A fake tattoo of a Power Ranger? Or a horrible old Moomin? On this occasion it is a bunch of stuff even better than all of those things... In this episode Jo and Adam talk 28 YEARS LATER, and if it is satire; new SQUID GAMES, and if it is satire; new ALAN PARTRIDGE: FROM THE OASTHOUSE, and if it is satire; new SOUTH PARK, and if it is satire; the COLDPLAY KISSING COUPLE, and if they are satire. Jo also tells us about her recent trip to France and the shoes they wore there, and Adam recounts his recent experience delivering a lecture to The Thackeray Society of the Reform Club. And that's not all! Stick your hand in and see what you find, we promise it probably isn't a Moomin.

1h 10m

An award winning* podcast in which Drs Adam J Smith and Jo Waugh talk about the form, function and future of satire. They also talk about the history of satire, but that doesn’t alliterate. Adam and Jo are joined by a series of special guests who will also talk about satire. * 'Best Pedagogical Project', The YSJSU Awards 2019

Creator

Talk About Satire
Years Active

2019 - 2026
Episodes

93
Rating

Explicit
Copyright

© Talk About Satire
Show Website

Smith & Waugh Talk About Satire