The Allusionist: 1. Ban The Pun

January 14, 2015 8:58 AM

NEW PODCAST ALERT! In late 2014, China announced it was to ban puns. Helen Zaltzman wishes she could ban puns in her own family. Warning: this episode features some hideous incidences of wordplay.

Show notes available here. Mailchimp Randomly Selected Word Of The Day: "gralloch"

Visit theallusionist.org to find out more about the show. The Allusionist is a proud member of Radiotopia.fm for PRX.

posted by jazon (2 comments total)

I thought this was a bumpy start. The interview with Andy was surprisingly stilted and uninformative on the process of punning. The interview with her father was more interesting but the telephone audio quality got in the way; I was listening in the car and couldn't make out much of his side of the conversation.

I kinda wish she'd also talked to John Oliver as a fellow pun-sufferer. Part of what makes Andy's pun-runs on The Bugle so funny is John's comedically pained reactions; although I always suspect that secretly he's enjoying them.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 2:24 PM on January 16, 2015

I really wanted to like this. It's Radiotopia, nerdy, and woman-hosted. But I just felt...meh. It didn't delve into puns very deeply, and it was mostly people making puns and talking about how the felt about them. There was no...narrative?

I also had a lot of issues with the audio too. The brits other than Helen talked really fast, and the audio on the call with her dad was terrible. She should have shipped him a mic to do a tape sync.

I will try to pick up this podcast again later to see if it picks up its stride.
posted by radioamy at 3:41 PM on January 28, 2015