From prank shows to dad's t-shirt
Plus: a Dutch take on Mitt Romney
Double Act
Episode: “Maniacs In A Living Hell” | Podcast: Coyle And Sharpe: The Imposters | 6m09s
In the early 1960s, San Francisco radio hosts Mal Sharpe and James P. Coyle roamed the streets conducting interviews with strangers. They wore sharp suits and presented themselves as researchers, or even employers, looking to find candidates for prospective schemes. In fact, this was an early example of the now ubiquitous prank show, and this podcast series contains one hundred short excerpts from the conversations they taped. Here, they offer a man a job working in a flame-filled pit designed as an artificial hell. The pay is $46 a week and he has to eat a bat. He is interested in the position (6m09s)
Going Dutch
Episode: “The Viral Racism Edition - Week 6 - 2019” | Podcast: Dutch News | 54m08s
English language podcast about Dutch current affairs. It’s a rapid fire conversational show covering a mixture of international and domestic news from the perspective of the Netherlands. In this edition, they cover Mitt Romney’s vote to impeach Donald Trump as well as the fallout from coronavirus, which saw a government minister condemn the emerging practice of shunning Asian tourists on public transport. Episodes are well structured and edited. It’s a rare chance to hear how the world looks from another place — usually impossible unless you speak a local language well enough (54m08s)
Eagle Flies
Episode: “A T-Shirt Hug From Dad" | Podcast: Mementos | 15m38s
Series about how objects contain memories. This episode is about a blue T-shirt, a gift from a daughter to her eccentric, hard to please father. She customised it by adding an appliqué eagle, a reference to a family in joke about a religious misunderstanding when he was a child. When her father was killed suddenly in a car crash, the shirt became a repository for memories of him. Wearing it feels to her like receiving a hug from her dad and makes her laugh as if he’s just told her a joke. She’s careful to save it for only special circumstances, though, for fear of wearing it out (15m38s)
