Premise
The series is created, written, and presented by Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones. [2] [3] [4] Mark Cooper-Jones is a former geography teacher, [3] [4] and the pair met at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where both were performing in 2009 or 2010. [4] [5] The series started in 2016, [4] and has aired for four complete series, with a fifth one currently airing. The episodes are a mix of comedy and geography, [4] with each episode answering a short geographical question, often involving maps. [4] The style has been compared to Horrible Histories [2] [3] and the pair cite their inspiration as Monty Python. [4] The videos feature deadpan, split-second visual gags, and comic sketches. [3] [6] The title for the series, "Map Men", was created by Cooper-Jones as a pun name based on the American drama series, " Mad Men ". [7]
The pair have attributed the show's success to the growing redundancy of maps as an everyday item, making them a more "geeky" topic. [4] They attribute the channel's success to its unique mix of comedy and geography. [6] In 2021, the series was nominated under the "learning and education" category for the 11th Streamy Awards, losing to Veritasium. [8] In 2024, an edited version of the video about why some British place-names are hard to pronounce won 'Video of the Year' in the inaugural UK and Ireland TikTok Awards. [9]
In October 2025, the duo released the book This Way Up: When Maps Go Wrong (And Why It Matters) ( ISBN 978-0-3697-7503-0).
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