Kermode & Mayo’s Take

Although it still ranks below Shakespeare, Kermode Mayo’s Take is now undoubtedly several rungs above the Beatles on the hierarchy of great British cultural exports. Listen in awe.

Podcast has continually gone downhill with fewer reviews, short run times, seemingly more attention paid to conning paying customers into listening to Shrink the Box because no one else would. The producers are doing a terrible job. Poor episode descriptions that are missing words and have improper spellings. And these new titles?? I imagine someone told them this was good for SEO or algorithm but it’s a withering slap in the face to the people who have listened to this show for decades. Ben Bailey Smith is hard to listen to on The Take, why would I seek him elsewhere?

Every week Take 2 gets shorter. Are we being tested? How much do we love Mark and Simon? How little content will we still be prepared to pay for? I haven’t unsubscribed yet but given the quality is definitely deteriorating and the pod seems increasingly lazy and undisciplined since they left the BBC, the drastically reduced quantity is testing me.

I am a sarcy native of the UK’s shores living with the “oh so pleased with themselves” techarati in Silicon Valley and this is hands down my favourite listening of the week. Feels like two old friends sitting at my kitchen table with a suitable beverage making me laugh, shout, disagree and learn in the same debate, question the nonsense but celebrate the really talented, creative stories and people we have in this choppy world. Cheers to you both - for a naturally optimistic soul with a grumpy gene like me, I feel like I have my tribe with me three times a week!!