Shortly after the inauguration of Donald Trump in 2017, a new podcast launched in which former White House staffers under President Barack Obama — Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Tommy Vietor and Dan Pfeiffer — mulled over political events. Billed as the progressive answer to conservative talk radio, the twice-weekly Pod Save America was chatty, clever and unashamedly partisan. It was also funny, which is a tall order in a fast-moving political podcast. Such was its success — it averaged 1.5mn listeners per episode — it spawned HBO TV specials and audio spin-offs including the foreign-policy-focused Pod Save The World.
Now, six years later, a British version has arrived. Pod Save the UK is hosted by journalist Coco Khan and comedian Nish Kumar. If its arrival feels long overdue — if Pod Save America held liberal listeners’ hands through the Trump years, left-leaning Brits could surely have done with the same during Boris Johnson’s turbulent premiership — there is still plenty for the hosts to chew on as the cost of living crisis deepens and the country prepares for next year’s election.
The series kicks off with confidence with a one-off conversation with Favreau, Lovett and Vietor, who compare political notes with Khan and Kumar. Much comic mileage comes from identifying the differences in the respective political systems of the UK and the US. “I think it’s very cool that when your party wins, they get to implement their agenda. We don’t have that,” says Lovett sardonically.
The latest episode is called Protest, Eurovision and Showgirls. Among the topics is the controversial new Public Order Act, which allowed police to arrest a number of anti-monarchy protesters during the King’s coronation earlier this month. The hosts interview the barrister and environmental activist Paul Powlesland, who made headlines recently by climbing a tree that was about to be cut down in Northamptonshire, and who examines what the new law means (conclusion: the wording is vague and open to exploitation).
If that makes it sound a bit serious, the tone is anything but. Khan and Kumar have chemistry and an unruly energy, and the ratio of serious to funny is expertly judged. There are noticeable differences between the US and UK editions: the hosts of Pod Save America are former political insiders armed with huge amounts of knowledge on the workings of power, while the UK version provides more of a baffled outsider’s view.
This feels right given that Pod Save the UK’s biggest British rivals — LBC’s The News Agents, with Emily Maitlis, Jon Sopel and Lewis Goodall, and The Rest Is Politics, with Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell — broadcast from inside the Westminster bubble. Both those shows have their merits, but there is a gap in the market for a political series that understands what is annoying voters and treats its listeners as equals. Pod Save the UK fills that gap nicely.
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