Andy Zaltzman might be a new face to comedy audiences in the U.S. But his verbal dexterity and his literary connections run deep within the U.K. comedy, radio and podcast scenes: as a stand-up taking part, annually, in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, as a radio performer on self-created British programs such as Political Animal and The Department and through podcasts such as the wildly popular The Bugle. Those last three shows were written and performed in tandem with his old friend John Oliver, who eventually left the U.K. to find American fame courtesy of The Daily Show and his own Last Week Tonight. Zaltzman continued on in the U.K. and became renowned for his love and use of puns—he is the king of “pun run” riffing—and his caustic look at politics and sports. MAGNET caught up with Zaltzman in London preparing for his trip to America, with dates starting tonight at Laugh Boston in, well, Boston.
Twenty years since your start, are you as excited to twist the language as zealously as you did in 1999, or are you wearied by the turn of political events, often so bizarre it may be rough to lampoon?
Both. I still love my “job,” and it is always a challenge to find fresh approaches, twists and angles for comedy. And the news, the capricious idiot that it is, never ceases chundering out a generous deluge of events. That said, the world is so ridiculous that comedy can now sometimes be found in presenting a less absurd version of reality.
Not as if you were doing anything fringe-like such as speaking through a whale bone or hanging from a tree limb while doing a monologue, but, how do you feel your work has changed in terms of its presentation, its drama—its sense of theater—since the start?
I’ve become increasingly interested in performance over the years. I only really thought about material in my early years on the comedy circuit in the U.K. I think much more about how to convey material, how to engage and surprise audiences with more than just the words I’ve written.
What does one get, as a comic, from a father who is a sculptor? I ask since both you and your sister are comics and podcasters?
The idea that getting a proper job is not the only way to conduct an adult life.
I have interviewed a lot of podcast hosts, some of whom do comedy—Greg Proops comes to mind—who keep their stand-up work and podcast work separate. Does one influence the other? Can you pull each apart enough so to create individual monologues?
They definitely influence each other; The Bugle podcast is, largely, a written comedy show, so it’s an expression of my comedic ideas in the same way that my stand-up is, and I will touch on the same, or similar, topics in both. I often develop material I’ve written for The Bugle into a longer, less specifically topical, stand-up routine. Most of my stand-up audience comes from The Bugle.
I understand that you chose to remain in the U.K.’s Brexit vote and once told The Guardian, “I voted to remain and I feel European as much as I feel British. The whole tone of the leave campaign was negative and xenophobic, and a lot of the remain campaign was just selfish.” Now the Conservatives are grousing over the no-deal after May’s defeat. So, where do you stand now?
The entire story has shown British politics and democracy in a very bad light—there has been too much short-termism and self-interest, and a deep confusion over what we want and expect from our democratic system. Brexit has been an object lesson in how not to do democracy, from all sides. There is no happy way out of it now, and everyone is fighting to see their preferred least-rubbish solution put into action. Democracy is in a delicate, borderline-dysfunctional state around the world, I think. We are all going to have to raise our game.
Whether you miss working with John Oliver is one thing. What do you think of his humor now that he is mostly Americanized? I do believe that his HBO show does its best at global outreach, perhaps more so than other comic news shows, while his recent stand-up was more U.S. focused.
I do miss working with John—we’d written and performed together for almost 15 years, and always had a good rapport and complementary ideas. That said, I’ve also really enjoyed the rebooted Bugle, working with different comedians from around the world. His show is doing journalistic satire supremely well, and his outsider perspective as a Brit in America gives him a strong, independent comedic voice.
Your use of American partners at The Bugle, co-hosts Hari Kondabolu and Wyatt Cenac: Why them, and their U.S perspective?
When I restarted The Bugle, I wanted to use a range of cohosts from around the world, and they were two comedians I liked and admired.
What was the first pun you ever heard that pricked up your ears?
My father was a significant punfluence on me in my formative years.
You are not alone in your love of the pun. I know you have been asked this before, surely, but, why is it so rich, and how do you believe that you have made it your own form considering how tried-and-true it has become, and how often it is made awkward?
There is something timelessly joyous and pointless about comedic wordplay. Puns were prominent in Ancient Greek comedy, and I imagine they’ll be prominent 2,500 years from now as well, assuming the dinosaurs haven’t retaken the world by then. I’d never really used puns in stand-up, but the endless comedic acreage of a weekly podcast brought out my dormant punstincts. I tend to go for the ludicrously convoluted set-up when indulging in pun-type material, much of the comedy—or, most appropriately, intended comedy—comes from creating absurd scenarios and images, with the promise/threat of a word-play payoff at the end.
I am not asking to give me your entire U.S. set, but, do you have an idea of what you have planned for the States?
It will be mostly topical, so it depends what is in the news. It will be, essentially, an episode of The Bugle, with some added visuals, and Alice Fraser, a regular cohost and brilliant comedic mind, live on screen via the internet. Assuming the internet works.
—A.D. Amorosi
