Answer Me This!

Answer Me This! is a monthly comedy podcast by Helen Zaltzman and Olly Mann in which they answer questions submitted by the general public. Until recently, the podcast was recorded in Zaltzman's living-room in Crystal Palace. It began in January 2007 and has since become one of the UK's most successful independently produced podcasts. It has been named Podcast of the Week in the Radio Times, The Times,[1] The Independent, and Time Out, as well as receiving plaudits in Q Magazine, the Financial Times, the Sunday Express, the London Metro, and The Observer. In 2009, the show became the first non-musical act ever to play the iTunes Festival.

Answer Me This!
Presentation
Hosted byHelen Zaltzman
Olly Mann
GenreComedy
Publication
Original releaseJanuary 2007 (2007-01) – present
Cited asBest Internet Programme (Silver, 2010; Gold, 2011) Radio Academy Awards
Websiteanswermethispodcast.com

Answer Me This! was nominated for Sony Radio Academy Awards in 2009, 2010, and 2011, in the category "Best Internet Programme"; in 2010, the podcast won the silver award[2] and in 2011, it won the gold award.[3] In 2012, it won a European Podcast Award.

The broadcast frequency was changed from weekly to fortnightly in January 2014, then to monthly from December 2016. The 300th episode was broadcast in October 2014.

Cast
Zaltzman and Mann in 2012

Answer Me This! is hosted by Zaltzman, Mann, and Dr. Martin Austwick (a.k.a. "Martin the Sound Man"). Mann is the gadgets and games columnist for Reader's Digest and a regular pundit on Sky News and BBC Breakfast; Zaltzman has written and performed comedy on BBC Radio 1 and Radio 4, and performed live with Josie Long and Robin Ince's Book Club and School for Gifted Children. Zaltzman and Mann met at St Catherine's College, Oxford, where they both studied English. Austwick, a musician and singer, has a DPhil in quantum physics and was a full time university lecturer until 2017, and is now an Honorary Senior Lecturer. In 2011, Zaltzman and Austwick got married, with Austwick subsequently changing his name to Martin Zaltz Austwick.

Format

The format of the show is Zaltzman and Mann answering listeners' questions, submitted via email, answerphone or Skype, with subjects ranging from personal problems and factual queries to philosophical dilemmas or everyday petty quibbles. The episodes are punctuated by jingles, many of which feature comedians Joanna Neary, Holly Walsh, Tom Price, Lizzie Roper and Stuart Goldsmith, and musicians Martin White, Jay Foreman, and Gavin Osborn.

Guests on the show have included Helen Zaltzman's brother Andy Zaltzman, Isy Suttie, Ian Collins, Pappy's Fun Club, Josie Long, Jackie Mason, and Jon Ronson. For the 200th edition of the show in December 2011, Helen Zaltzman, Mann, and Austwick travelled to East Sussex, Stanmore and Wolverhampton to interview their families for a special episode of the podcast.[4]

Critical success

The show has been Critic's Choice in numerous national publications, including The Times, Time Out, Radio Times, Q Magazine, and The Independent.[5] On 27 July 2009, the show was chosen by The Guardian as one of its "Top 10 comedy podcasts in the world";[6] the following day, The London Paper also named the show in its chart of the "Top 10 homemade podcasts in the UK".[7]

Albums

In March 2012, Zaltzman and Mann released Answer Me This! Jubilee, a one-off, hour-long album featuring material about Queen Elizabeth II, the British Royal family and the forthcoming Diamond Jubilee, exclusively on iTunes. On its first day of release, the album entered the UK Top 20 Album chart, and became the No. 1 Comedy Album in the UK.[8]

They also released special albums entitled Sports Day, Holidays, Christmas, Love and Home Entertainment. The Home Entertainment album was released in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, to reflect the preventitive measures of social distancing and self isolation.

Book

In October 2010, Zaltzman and Mann revealed that they had written a book adaptation of the podcast. Called Answer Me This!, the book was published by Faber & Faber on 4 November 2010 and features questions from the podcast as well as brand new ones.[9]

Radio show

Zaltzman and Mann made broadcasting history in December 2009, becoming the first podcasters to be given their own national radio show.[10] "Web 2009 with Helen and Olly" was broadcast on Radio 5 Live on 31 December 2009.[11] A second programme, called "Web 2010 with Helen and Olly" was broadcast on Radio 5 Live on 4 July 2010,[12] and since September 2010, Zaltzman and Mann have been the resident internet experts on Saturday Edition, 5 Live's weekly magazine programme presented by Chris Warburton. Each week at 8.15pm they talk through the web news of the week.[13]

Great British Questions

In Summer 2010, Zaltzman and Mann released a series of five videos called "Helen and Olly's Great British Questions". These were made for VisitBritain and each focussed on one specific question, such as "Where is the best cup of tea in Britain?" or "Where is Britain's Hollywood?" The titles of all the videos are:

  • Episode One: Cheese
  • Episode Two: Film
  • Episode Three: Romance
  • Episode Four: Tea
  • Episode Five: Bathrooms

In addition, a sixth video was released called "Great British Bloopers" which featured various outtakes and bloopers from the filming of the other five videos.

Luxembourg audience

In December 2007, frustrated at having only reached as high as number 21 in the UK iTunes charts, the Answer Me This! team spent one day in Luxembourg attempting to crack the Luxembourg iTunes top 20. Their publicity stunts, including giving away free biscuits at the Christmas market and appearing on the ARA City Radio breakfast show (Luxembourg's only English speaking radio station), saw them reach number 13 in the charts within only 24 hours. They then went on to reach number 3 by the end of the week.

Their Luxembourg endeavour was featured in The Telegraph[14] and on Sky News, and it is documented in a video on YouTube.

gollark: National security reasons, I assume.
gollark: If you enforced that, everything would just instantaneously become SaaS.
gollark: I introduced a bug while I was compactifying it slightly. I found out where the bug is, but it would be really annoying to fix.
gollark: Yes. This is just another one. I'm using it to make my code completely incomprehensible for a competition.
gollark: Sure.

References
  1. The arts online Times Online, 31 March 2007
  2. Winners – Best Internet Programme 2010 Sony Radio Academy Awards
  3. Winners – Best Internet Programme 2011 Sony Radio Academy Awards
  4. Episode 200 – family special Episode 200 – family special
  5. What The Papers Say Answer Me This! A list of reviews from newspapers and magazines
  6. Top 10 Comedy Podcasts The Guardian, 27 July 2009
  7. The 10 best podcasts Archived 31 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine The London Paper, 28 July 2009
  8. Zaltzman, Helen (24 March 2012). "The AMT Jubilee".
  9. Oh look, we wrote a book! Answer Me This!
  10. BBC Radio 5 live to Answer Me This! Broadcast, 27 November 2009
  11. BBC Radio Five Live Announces Christmas Treats Archived 29 November 2009 at the Wayback Machine News on News, 27 November 2009
  12. Web 2010 with Helen and Olly BBC Radio 5 Live, 4 July 2010
  13. Saturday Edition on BBC 5 Live BBC website
  14. How we cracked the iTunes top 20 The Telegraph, 12 January 2008
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