Political Animal (radio show)

Last updated

Political Animal
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Language(s)English
Home station BBC Radio 4
Hosted byAndy Zaltzman, John Oliver
No. of series2
No. of episodes11

Political Animal is a performance and radio show created by British comedians John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman in which various stand-up comedians perform political material.

Contents

Political Animal began at the 2004 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and has returned regularly since, it was initially co-hosted by Zaltzman and Oliver but since 2006 hosted by Zaltzman alone except for some of the 2011 fringe where Oliver returned. In 2007 Political Animal also became a radio series on BBC Radio 4. It returned for a second series in 2008, running for 10 episodes. [1] The series took the form of a stand-up show, with Zaltzman and Oliver performing in between the acts they introduced. [2]

Previous guests have included Frankie Boyle, Daniel Kitson, Stewart Lee, Richard Herring, Jeremy Hardy, Marcus Brigstocke, Robert Newman, Chris Addison, Russell Howard and Russell Brand.

Episodes

Pilot


EpGuestsOriginal air date
1Edinburgh Festival Special: Stewart Lee, Steve Hughes, Mark Watson 31 August 2005

Series 1

EpGuestsOriginal air date
1 Pete Cain, Jeremy Hardy and Glenn Wool 4 April 2007
2 Wil Hodgson, Tony Law and Robert Newman 11 April 2007
3 Russell Brand, Natalie Haynes and Andy Parsons 18 April 2007
4 Nick Doody, Richard Herring and Russell Howard 25 April 2007

Series 2

EpTitleOriginal air date
1 Mark Steel, Paul Sinha and Lewis Schaffer 10 June 2008
2 Frankie Boyle, Ian Stone and Stewart Lee 17 June 2008
3 John Mulaney, Mike Birbiglia and Lee Camp 24 June 2008
4 Glenn Wool, Shappi Khorsandi and John Hegley 1 July 2008
5 Steve Hughes, Natalie Haynes and Nick Doody 8 July 2008
6 Stephen Grant, Chris Addison and David Cross 15 July 2008


Controversy

In 2010, BBC apologised for Frankie Boyle's joke in which the comedian compared Palestine to a cake being 'punched to pieces by a very angry Jew'. [3]

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References

  1. "Political Animal - Radio 4 Sketch Show - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  2. BBC. "BBC Radio 4 - Political Animal". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  3. Jones, Sam (30 April 2010). "Frankie Boyle criticises 'cowardly' BBC for Israel joke apology". The Guardian . Retrieved 28 May 2018.