Satirical comedy podcast The Bugle, hosted by JOHN OLIVER (The Daily Show with Jon Stewart) and ANDY ZALTZMAN (7 Day Sunday on BBC Radio 5Live) has found a new home, following its departure from The Times in January 2012.

Fans were able to download the 179th issue of the newly-independent Bugle, featuring JOHN and ANDY in their respective home cities of New York and London, on Friday 20th January, via iTunes or www.soundcloud.com/the-bugle, and the show’s new website, www.thebuglepodcast.com.

Last year, the podcast had an average of over 2 million downloads per month. It has regularly featured in the official iTunes podcast top 10 in both the USA and UK, and has topped the iTunes comedy charts. In the wake of Friday’s relaunch, The Bugle reached the number ten spot on the iTunes chart. As of Sunday night, The Bugle was in the top 5 comedy podcasts in the USA and UK, as well as in the top 10 in Australia, Canada and New Zealand, and was the UK’s highest-ranked independent podcast.

Issue 179 of The Bugle saw JOHN and ANDY reunite to cast their unique perspective over the week’s major news stories and protagonists. Subjects covered with their trademark cocktail of political satire and outright nonsense include the Wikipedia internet blackout, the Republican nominations race, and the Queen’s proposed Jubilee yacht. The Bugle, which debuted in October 2007, is a transatlantic comedy show, in which JOHN and ANDY are connected via ISDN. It has built up a devoted worldwide following, and is listened to in more than 145 countries, including Yemen, Armenia, Burma and Gabon. Listeners have also emailed in from Afghanistan, Darfur and Antarctica.

The numerous topics the show has covered include: the 2008 U.S. presidential election, the 2010 U.K. general election, the global economic crisis, the Arab Spring, the crackpot antics of the world’s various despots and lunatics, the 2011 Cricket World Cup, and Lou Reed’s epoch-defining 2010 concert for dogs. The Bugle has left no satirical hot potato unbuttered. The first podcast of 2012 can be downloaded from www.iTunes.com / www.soundcloud.com/the-bugle
Official website: www.thebuglepodcast.com or visit www.facebook.com/buglepodcast

The Bugle’s Twitter feed is @hellobuglers.
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For more information please contact: Alex Sayer, Nicola Wilkinson or Dan Lloyd at Avalon Press & Publicity. Tel: +44 (0) 207 598 7222 or Email: alexs@avalonuk.com, nicolaw@avalonuk.com or danl@avalonuk.com

JOHN OLIVER

One of Britain’s leading comedy exports to the U.S., JOHN is a resident writer and correspondent on the multi-award-winning The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, which he joined in 2006. He has gone on to personally win both Emmy and Writers Guild Awards for his writing on the show. In addition to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, he has also been busy with John Oliver’s New York Stand Up Show which sees JOHN invite his favourite U.S. stand-up comics to perform in front of a live New York City audience. The show is in its third series and transmits on Comedy Central in the U.S. and Channel 4 in the U.K.. JOHN also won the Breakout Award at the Aspen Comedy Festival in 2007 and appeared in his first Comedy Central stand-up special, John Oliver: Terrifying Times, in April 2008.

JOHN has additionally written and starred in three series of The Department (BBC Radio 4) alongside CHRIS ADDISON and ANDY ZALTZMAN. In addition, John was a regular panellist on the first few series of Mock the Week (BBC Two), and also starred in the first two series of NBC’s hit situation comedy Community.

ANDY ZALTZMAN

ANDY has firmly established himself in the vanguard of British comedy with his unique brand of political comedy. Alongside John Oliver, Andy co-wrote and starred in the BBC Radio 4 shows Political Animal, based on their satirical live stand-up show, and The Department. He also conceived and hosted Yes! It’s The Ashes for BBC Radio 5Live, and has been a regular panellist on 5Live’s 7 Day Sunday since its inception in 2010. ANDY also writes and performs on BBC Radio 4’s Tonight With Rory Bremner, and is a columnist for ESPNCricinfo.com.

ANDY has made a number of guest appearances on TV and radio including Russell Howard’s Good News (BBC Three), The Now Show (BBC Radio 4), and Bremner, Bird & Fortune (Channel 4), for which Andy also wrote for several years. ANDY also appeared on John Oliver’s Comedy Central stand-up special Terrifying Times, and will be seen on series 3 of John Oliver’s New York Stand Up Show.

Andy has been a regular at the Edinburgh Festival since being nominated for the Perrier Best Newcomer Award in 2001, and in 2011 performed his seventh one-man show, Armchair Revolutionary, at The Stand, as well as hosting the Political Animal live show. In 2004 and 2005, he and John Oliver performed sell-out Edinburgh Fringe runs as a double act. In 2007, Andy performed at the Melbourne Festival, winning the comedians’ comedian Piece Of Wood Award, and, in 2011, performed at Naveed’s Comedy Club in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Andy’s first book, a satirical take on the credit crunch, entitled Does Anything Eat Bankers?, was published in November 2008 by Old Street Publishing.

SoundCloud

SoundCloud, launched in 2008 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, is a social sound platform that lets anyone create, record, promote and share their sounds on the web, in a simple, accessible and feature-rich way. SoundCloud allows sound creators to instantly record audio; upload large files; share them publicly and privately; embed sound across websites and blogs; receive detailed analytics, plus feedback from the community directly onto the waveform player. For more information go to: http://soundcloud.com