Come in, and know my satire, man! It is that time of year once again, when satire is all around you and you are cordially invited to the Smith & Waugh Festival Satirical Party! This year Jo and Adam take a look at the Christmassy satire of Stella Gibbons' Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm, the festive scenes in George and Weedon Grossmith's Diary of a Nobody and the contagious comedy of Nancy Mitford's Christmas Pudding. Jo also revisits a cherished Christmas story from her childhood and, of course, no Smith & Waugh Christmas would be complete without our very special, extremely self-indulgent Christmas sketc h(featuring a wonderful cameo appearance from our friend, Ben of The Pod)!

Jo and Adam reflect on their recent experience of venturing to a special screening at York Picture House Cinema on Halloween night to watch a film so disgusting viewers have been reported to have left the cinema to be sick. The film is The Substance, and Adam and Jo are here to analyse its satire. Heralded as a satire on female beauty standards, we wonder if it is actually having too much fun laughing at grotesque caricatures of the ageing female body? Is patriarchal capitalism really the target, or is it the vanity of Demi Moore's character for hoping she still had a place in it? Intergenerational conflict is also the theme of our second study in this episode: Ben Wheatley's Generation Z, which announces itself as a 'satirical horror series in which Baby Boomer Zombies eat their relatives' -- but is that really all that is going on? Also, Jo and Adam talk about the role of satire during the American presidential election, and the suggestion that big tech should use AI to label online content as satire.

Is there something strange [rustling and leaving faeces] in your neighbourhood? Who you gonna call? Smith & Waugh, of course! SpoOoky season is upon us once again and, as the veil between worlds draws thin, we invite you on a perilous journey into the liminal spaces that exist, sometimes, (for those open to possibilities beyond...), between the modes of satire, and of HORROR. Are these two things the same? Do they ever intermix? Or are they completely irreconcilably different? To find out, Jo and Adam are here to take you on a tour that will visit the worlds of Danny Robins, the BBC Sounds Uncanny parody Follow The Rabbit, our favourite ever episodes of Inside No 9, the phenomena of the "satirical horror movie", and two recent(ish) films: Speak No Evil and Late Night with the Devil. But be warned, dear listener, this is a journey so spoOoky you will almost certainly soil yourself. Happy Halloween!

As a new term begins, Jo and Adam get back in the mood for another year of learning and teaching by having a wonderful conversation with comedian, broadcaster, BBC writer, novelist an 8 time BAFTA winner Dave Cohen; best known, of course, for writing songs for the TV version of Horrible Histories. Dave talks to us about this comedy inspirations for the show, the day-to-day production of the show, its reception over the years, its skirmish with cancel culture, and about how satire played a part in the show's educational mission. (Adam also apologizes for a grievous error in the last episode, which we are ashamed to have broadcast).

Don’t you even know what a brat summer is? Well, It can go that way, like, quite luxury, but it can also be so, like, trashy. Just, like, a pack of cigs, and, like, a Bic lighter, and, like, a strappy white top. With no bra. That’s, like, kind of all you need. And it is in full flow, big time. Jo and Adam take a deep dive into the world of brat, satire of brat, brat satire and the way brat satire is fuelling the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. They also discuss the frighteningly prescient 1979 novel Benefits, a feminist dystopian satire, before looking at responses to the riots taking place across the UK at the time of recording and the memes inspired by the 2024 Paris Olympics. 

Pour yourself a spenny natty wine, pump up the aux and get yourself gassed for a snappy genylex afters that is hundy p dank vibes. And if that makes no sense to you whatsoever, fear not, Jo and Adam are here to help. [Translation: Pour yourself an expensive glass of natural wine, turn up your sound system and prepare to laugh with us at our Snap General Election Afterparty which is going to be 100% cool]. Yes, in this bumper episode, Jo and Adam investigate the alleged "satire" of popular TikTok man Henry Rowley, survey the satirical aftermath of the 2024 General Election, reflect on their recent trip to Northampton University for a conference on satire, humour and history, discuss parallels between Bridgerton and Gustave Flaubert's wonderful novel Madame Bovary (1857), dig up the (deservedly) obscure 2013 movie Austenland and react to Steven Moffat's new star-studded drama, Douglas is Cancelled. Wham, bang, wallop, what a grab bag!

Jo and Adam are back sooner than expected with an episode so topical it'll almost certainly by out of date by the time you finish reading this sentence! Rishi Sunak has called a general election, but something seems different this time... At the time of writing, there seems little expectation that the Tories can keep hold of office and, with one PR catastrophe after another, some are even speculating that they're actually TRYING to lose. Meanwhile, Labour seems to be expending all of their energy on pumping out memetastic TikToks whilst Ed Davie is apparently having the holiday of a lifetime. Suffice to day, the internet is drowning in satire. But fear not, Adam and Jo are here to sort the Juvenalian from the Menippean, identify the various subjects of critique and say then everything is bathos. Also featuring further updates on the Mitford sisters and the 18th Century.

We need to talk about campus satire, again. Jo and Adam take a deep dive into two recent cultural takes which wear their satirical ambitions very much on their sleeves: the movie American Fiction, written and directed by Cord Jefferson, starring Jeffrey Wright and based on the novel by Percival Everett, and the controversial new novel by Lionel Shriver, Mania. Each examine their respective satirical targets through the lens of an academic protagonist on the edge, and each wield the blistering scalpel of satire with varying degrees of success. Jo also explains why the Mitford sisters would never want to be confused for one another. SSE!

Hot on the heels of their sell-out live show at the York Literature Festival (which only saw a slight drop off on the day in terms of the expected number of visitors), Jo and Adam return to investigate a series of urgent satirical questions. Was Anne Brontë the most satirical Brontë? Did Charlotte Brontë like Jonathan Swift? Are the viral Reborn Doll videos on TikTok sincere or satirical? And where oh where is amateur photographer Katherine (or Kate) Middleton?