The Bugle

The Bugle is a satirical news podcast, hosted by John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman. It was initially distributed by TimesOnline, but has been produced independently since January 2012. Focusing on global news stories (but primarily on UK/US news items), the show was launched in 2007 following John Oliver's move to New York to work on The Daily Show, allowing Oliver and Andy Zaltzman to continue a partnership that had previously enjoyed success with Political Animal and The Department.

The podcast depends solely on donations and sales of merchandise. As of April, 2015 it received over 500,000 downloads a month.^[1]

Overview

In 2007, comedians Andy Zaltzman and John Oliver were approached by The Times to do a satirical podcast, shortly after Oliver's move to New York. The first episode of The Bugle was released on 14 October 2007. New episodes of the podcast were generally recorded and published on Fridays with related material appearing on its official website.

Until January 2012 The Bugle was distributed by TimesOnline, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News International. During the News International phone hacking scandal of 2011, The Bugle satirised its parent company in a manner which the New York Times characterized as "blistering" in an article published 15 August.^[2] Over the course of a few weekly episodes prior to the New York Times' article, Zaltzman and Oliver had gone "straight for the jugular" regarding News International, its newspapers, and Murdoch himself.^[2] Their barbs included a comment that The News of the World "would not be missed at all", as well as the assertion by Oliver—in response to the shaving cream pie attack on Murdoch—that despite the humor inherent in the attack, "[you] just don't want to find yourself with any misplaced sympathy for Rupert Murdoch."^[2] The comedians jokingly marveled with one another that no one in News International had yet shut down their podcast, with Oliver tapping his microphone and asking, "Should this not have been stopped by now? It doesn’t make sense!"^[2] In response to the report from the New York Times, in an episode of The Bugle released 19 August, Oliver gave this opening monologue:

"Welcome to any first-time Buglers who are here because they might have read The New York Times' story on us earlier this week…but now that the story's in a newspaper that I'm guessing [Murdoch] reads cover to cover every day, I'm thinking there's an even smaller chance of us managing to not get fired now. So thanks very much, New York Times! Your trumpeting of this podcast may well turn into bugling the Last Post. I guess what I'm saying is—to our new listeners—'Hello and goodbye!'"^[3]

On 14 December 2011, Zaltzman announced that Times Online would soon cease hosting and distributing The Bugle.^[4] He stressed that he did not believe that this decision was connected to The Bugle's coverage of the News International phone hacking scandal.^[5] He also stated that both he and John wished to continue creating the podcast, and so Zaltzman "[does] not see this as the end of The Bugle".^[6]

The first episode of the newly independent podcast was published on 20 January 2012. As of October 2012 the podcast has moved to being funded by listener donations and runs most weeks.

During mid-2014, The Bugle was put on hiatus, the show's first official break since it began, so that Oliver could focus more on his new television show, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. It resumed regular editions in the fall of that year.

Since mid-2015, episodes have been released intermittently when the hosts' work schedules have permitted. In July it was announced that The Bugle would become a monthly podcast and in December it was announced that this would begin in 2016.^[7]

Producers

For the first several episodes of the show, various "producers" are mentioned by name on air, however none of them are featured in the show's content. The first to be featured on air is "Tom the Producer".

Tom

Tom Wright,^[8] known solely on The Bugle as "Tom the Producer", was the producer of the show from episodes 1 through to episode 107. He was first mentioned in episode 11 as Zaltzman announced his plans for the Hotties From History calendar. He is first heard in Episode 64a responding to Andy's question about Al Pacino. In later episodes he contributed more often, with listeners often addressing their e-mails to him directly. According to Tom's on-air answers he was married, has a daughter (as fetted in Episode 69), is Scottish, enjoys his job and does not ski.

In February 2010, Tom and his family emigrated to Australia. A week before his departure, he announced his intention to continue producing The Bugle remotely. However, in episode 106 (6 March 2010), it was announced that the next Bugle would be Tom's last as he had found another job. When asked by John and Andy what his new gig was, he refused to identify it on the grounds that it was a sensible show and that mentioning it by name would result in it being abused by Buglers. John and Andy agreed that this was an accurate characterization of their audience and did not pursue the matter further on the air.

In episode 200, Tom's 'character' was killed off in an apparent poisoning. The hosts remarked that this was the first person to be killed on The Bugle and would surely result in a ratings boost.

In episode 247, Tom came back for a short segment, speaking from Australia. In that episode, Tom confirmed that he currently works for the ABC.

Chris

After Tom left, he was replaced by Chris Skinner. Chris has previously worked with Andy on "Yes, It's the Ashes" radio show on BBC Radio 5 Live in 2009 and also produces "The Game" podcast for Times Online along with other podcasts. When Chris first began producing The Bugle, he restructured the standard musical cues quite a bit to jarring effect (e.g., he once played the podcast's closing music during the middle of an episode), but over time, his production became more similar to Tom’s. Chris occasionally participates in banter with Oliver and Zaltzman with his guest spots increasing in volume over time, an example being an extended conversation about the state of Australia in Bugle 140. Chris has been the subject of semi-ironic hate mail (and fan mail) from listeners,^[9] apparently for no reason other than that he is not Tom, and this became a running joke of the show. Chris was the focus of the website fuckyouchris.com, a site which was devoted to chronicling fans' ironic hatred of Chris.

Chris is the only member of The Bugle staff to be a regular poster on the Bugle Facebook page – often insulting buglers and taunting them with his power to release Bugles late or badly cut. Chris "does not ski", and ran in (and lost) the London Marathon 2012 (ep 192). In Episode 237, it was revealed that Chris had purchased the domain name fuckdungeons.com, which redirects to the podcast's home page.

Ped

Ped subs for Chris when the latter is ill or on holiday. Not much is known about Ped. Vague attempts at getting a Chris-style hate campaign going against Ped have not succeeded. Ped also deputies for Chris on The Game. Ped reacted angrily on the Special "Producer Chris Podcast" episode when Chris stated he "let" Ped substitute for him on The Bugle, giving strong support for an earlier (jestful) insult thrown at Chris.

Offshoots

• The Bugle Website – Created in January 2012, the site contains updates on new shows, funding information, notes from the producer and technical information. A site with the same URL (http://www.thebuglepodcast.com) had existed previously as an unofficial site.
• @hellobuglers, a Twitter account.^[10] Although it began as a complement to The Bugle, primarily publishing one-liner political jokes, it also serves as Andy Zaltzman's own Twitter feed. For example, Andy has used it to announce his guest appearances on other programs.^[11]
• @Buglesamerican, a Twitter account^[12] from occasional guest "The American" (voiced by Rory Albanese).
• @ProducerChris, a Twitter account^[13] from show producer Chris Skinner, providing news and updates.
• BugleMars, the home of The Bugle's attempt to land a small probe on the Martian surface and transmit back puns.

Reception

The Bugle has received many positive mentions in the media. A review by American blog Frozen Toothpaste described the podcast in a 2007 review as 'a usually delightful, witty and deadpan satire'.^[14] Computing website Philosophical Geek praised The Bugle for its unique wit, saying that the reviewer found himself 'laughing too hard to concentrate on anything else'.^[15] The Bugle, according to The Nerd Rage Blog, is 'a thing of beauty' and 'is quite simply, hilarious'. Zaltzman's 'bullshit facts' are complimented, as is Oliver's 'biting sarcasm'.^[16] BBC Comedy review show What's So Funny described The Bugle as the benchmark in satire, in an episode dated 27 May 2011.^[17]

References

External links

• The Bugle Podcast Website
• Podcast (MP3)
• The Bugle on Twitter
• The American on Twitter
• The Times website
• Podcast of the week: the satirical charms of The Bugle, The Times
• Newsnight Review: Andy Zaltzman, BBC
• Comedy Podcast Inside News Corp. Feasts on A Scandal, The New York Times