Answer Me This! is a monthly comedy podcast by Helen Zaltzman and Olly Mann in which they answer questions submitted by the general public. Until recently, the podcast was recorded in Zaltzman's living-room in Crystal Palace. It began in January 2007 and has since become one of the UK's most successful independently produced podcasts. It has been named Podcast of the Week in the Radio Times, The Times, The Independent, and Time Out, as well as receiving plaudits in Q Magazine, the Financial Times, the Sunday Express, the London Metro, and The Observer. In 2009, the show became the first non-musical act ever to play the iTunes Festival. Answer Me This! was nominated for Sony Radio Academy Awards in 2009, 2010, and 2011, in the category "Best Internet Programme"; in 2010, the podcast won the silver award and in 2011, it won the gold award. In 2012, it won a European Podcast Award. The broadcast frequency was changed from weekly to fortnightly in January 2014, then to monthly from December 2016. The 300th episode was broadcast in October 2014.
Cast
Answer Me This! is hosted by Zaltzman, Mann, and Dr. Martin Austwick. Mann is the gadgets and games columnist for Reader's Digest and a regular pundit on Sky News and BBC Breakfast; Zaltzman has written and performed comedy on BBC Radio 1 and Radio 4, and performed live with Josie Long and Robin Ince's Book Club and School for Gifted Children. Zaltzman and Mann met at St Catherine's College, Oxford, where they both studied English. Austwick, a musician and singer, has a DPhil in quantum physics and was a full timeuniversity lecturer until 2017, and is now an Honorary Senior Lecturer. In 2011, Zaltzman and Austwick got married, with Austwick subsequently changing his name to Martin Zaltz Austwick.
Format
The format of the show is Zaltzman and Mann answering listeners' questions, submitted via email, answerphone or Skype, with subjects ranging from personal problems and factual queries to philosophical dilemmas or everyday petty quibbles. The episodes are punctuated by jingles, many of which feature comedians Joanna Neary, Holly Walsh, Tom Price, Lizzie Roper and Stuart Goldsmith, and musicians Martin White, Jay Foreman, and Gavin Osborn. Guests on the show have included Helen Zaltzman's brother Andy Zaltzman, Isy Suttie, Ian Collins, Pappy's Fun Club, Josie Long, Jackie Mason, and Jon Ronson. For the 200th edition of the show in December 2011, Helen Zaltzman, Mann, and Austwick travelled to East Sussex, Stanmore and Wolverhampton to interview their families for a special episode of the podcast.
Critical success
The show has been Critic's Choice in numerous national publications, including The Times, Time Out, Radio Times, Q Magazine, and The Independent. On 27 July 2009, the show was chosen by The Guardian as one of its "Top 10 comedy podcasts in the world"; the following day, The London Paper also named the show in its chart of the "Top 10 homemade podcasts in the UK".
Albums
In March 2012, Zaltzman and Mann released , a one-off, hour-long album featuring material about Queen Elizabeth II, the British Royal family and the forthcoming Diamond Jubilee, exclusively on iTunes. On its first day of release, the album entered the UK Top 20 Album chart, and became the No. 1 Comedy Album in the UK. They also released special albums entitled Sports Day, Holidays, Christmas, Love and Home Entertainment. The Home Entertainment album was released in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, to reflect the preventitive measures of social distancing and self isolation.
Book
In October 2010, Zaltzman and Mann revealed that they had written a book adaptation of the podcast. Called Answer Me This!, the book was published by Faber & Faber on 4 November 2010 and features questions from the podcast as well as brand new ones. Answer Me This!
Radio show
Zaltzman and Mann made broadcasting history in December 2009, becoming the first podcasters to be given their own national radio show. "Web 2009 with Helen and Olly" was broadcast on Radio 5 Live on 31 December 2009. A second programme, called "Web 2010 with Helen and Olly" was broadcast on Radio 5 Live on 4 July 2010, and since September 2010, Zaltzman and Mann have been the resident internet experts on Saturday Edition, 5 Live's weekly magazine programme presented by Chris Warburton. Each week at 8.15pm they talk through the web news of the week.
In Summer 2010, Zaltzman and Mann released a series of five videos called "Helen and Olly's Great British Questions". These were made for VisitBritain and each focussed on one specific question, such as "Where is the best cup of tea in Britain?" or "Where is Britain's Hollywood?" The titles of all the videos are:
Episode One: Cheese
Episode Two: Film
Episode Three: Romance
Episode Four: Tea
Episode Five: Bathrooms
In addition, a sixth video was released called "Great British Bloopers" which featured various outtakes and bloopers from the filming of the other five videos.
In December 2007, frustrated at having only reached as high as number 21 in the UK iTunes charts, the Answer Me This! team spent one day in Luxembourg attempting to crack the Luxembourg iTunes top 20. Their publicity stunts, including giving away free biscuits at the Christmas market and appearing on the ARA City Radio breakfast show, saw them reach number 13 in the charts within only 24 hours. They then went on to reach number 3 by the end of the week. Their Luxembourg endeavour was featured in The Telegraph and on Sky News, and it is documented in a video on YouTube.
