Answer Me This!

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Answer Me This! is a weekly comedy podcast by Helen Zaltzman and Olly Mann in which they answer questions submitted by the general public. Recorded in Zaltzman's living-room in Crystal Palace, since its humble beginnings in January 2007 it has gathered thousands of listeners each week, and in February 2008 spent several weeks at number 9 in the UK iTunes top 100 comedy chart and no.10 in the overall chart. In doing so, it became the most popular independent podcast in the country. 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 the Financial Times, the Sunday Express, the London Paper and Podwatch^[2].

1 Cast
2 Format
3 Hit in Luxembourg
4 References
5 External Links

[edit] Cast

Answer Me This! is hosted by Helen Zaltzman and Oliver Mann, with contributions from Martin the Sound Man. Mann wrote the 2006 play Bloggers and is a regular pundit on Sky News. Zaltzman has written and performed comedy on BBC Radio 1 and Radio 4, and is a regular member of Robin Ince's Book Club. She is also the sister of comedian Andy Zaltzman of The Bugle podcast. Martin the Sound Man is the pseudonym of Martin Austwick, a quantum physicist and musician with The Sound of the Ladies and the Monroe Transfer.

Mann and Zaltzman met at St Catherine's College, Oxford, where they both studied English.

[edit] Format

The basic format of the show is Helen and Olly answering listeners' questions, submitted via email or answerphone message, with subjects ranging from personal problems to philosophical dilemmas or everyday petty quibbles. The episodes are punctuated by jingles, which feature many guest performers including comedians Pappy's Fun Club, Joanna Neary, Holly Walsh and Stuart Goldsmith, and musicians Martin White and Gavin Osborn.

[edit] Hit in Luxembourg

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, saw them reach number 3 in the charts within 24 hours.

Their Luxembourg trip was featured in the Telegraph^[3] and on Sky News, and is documented in a video on YouTube.