Episode 121 - Boys Don't Cry

An ad for the New York Cosmos that ran in DC Comics in 1977.

We are happy to finally have Kieran Maguire (@kieranmaguire) from the Price of Football podcast on the show. Even though he only a few miles up the road in Philadelphia last week, this episode was a Trans-Atlantic recording, done both late night and early morning. While his teaching day job brought him to the States, he managed to get to see his Brighton and Hove Albion squad take on Chelsea in one of this year’s Premier League pre-season matches taking place here. We started off discussing how he found the atmosphere of the match, both on- and off-pitch, desegregated crowds and exorbitant concession prices. That branched out into a general chat about football in England and the growth of MLS, the thorny topic of American ownership of British teams and the old chestnut, promotion and relegation. We also talked about some recent US-related topics that had come up on the Price of Football that related to US sports, like public salaries and agents’ fees.

Believe it or not, I wanted to keep the football chat to a minimum, but it was the first half of the episode. After that, we talked about Kieran’s other great cultural love, music, particularly the 70s and 80s bands in what some call the Second British Invasion. We discuss how the Manchester music scene in the early 80s influenced where he went to university and our mutual love for bands like New Order and Joy Division, OMB, the Smiths and the Cure. Also, some love for the New Music Express, Danny Kelly and Danny Baker, the intimacy of podcasts vs modern radio and more.

We wrap up with some video game chat. Kieran and co-host (and former podcast guest) Kevin Day were both playing the new Zelda game, Tears of the Kingdom. We talked about how he has found the game so far, comparing it to Breath of the Wild, using video games as decompression time and more.

We had hoped to do a separate show with Kevin and pair them together, but scheduling issues kept that from happening. Hopefully, Kevin will be on before or in conjunction with the next Price of Football book, Unfit and Improper Persons, where the guys discuss how to start a local pub team and build it all the way up to Champions League success and what the financial realities are in such an endeavor. And yes, we did talk about how an unlikely Odd Couple of a Crystal Palace supporting comedian and Brighton supporting academic have managed to produce a successful podcast.

Episode 104 - He Who Laughs Last

Sean Lock, Jimmy Carr and Jon Richardson play Carrot in a Box on 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown.

We’re very happy to welcome back writer, comedian and podcaster Kevin Day (@kevinhunterday) back to the show to talk comedy, football and more.

The reason we wanted to have Kevin back on the show was to discuss the British panel show on TV, following the death last year of Sean Lock. Kevin worked with Sean on a number of shows and has written for dozens of shows including Have I Got News for You, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, Here Comes the Buzzcocks and many more. We talk about why they are so popular in the UK and haven’t really worked as well in the US. But we do talk about one of the shows that has succeeded in both places and that’s Whose Line Is It Anyway. We talk about improv comedy, the genius of Paul Merton and Tony Slattery, among others, the culture of improv in the US vs the UK and the challenge of doing improv vs stand up. We also talk about the problems of diversity in booking panel shows and the difficulties of avoiding tokenism.

We also talk about podcasts as a means for young comedians to get exposure and segue that into chatting about comedians doing football podcasts, including Quickly Kevin, Comedians Playing Fantasy Premier League and, maybe the grand dame of the genre, The Tuesday Club. We also reminisce about Kevin doing the Chappers podcast more than a decade ago with Mark Chapman, Graham Poll and Roy Meredith.

That leads into actual football chat. We recorded this on Transfer Deadline Day, but not much talk about that. We discuss the arrival of Patrick Viera at Crystal Palace and how much Kevin is enjoying the football at Selhurst Park this year, the rivalry (derby?) with Brighton and the challenges that brings with hosting The Price of Football with Seagulls supporter Kieran Macguire. We also talk about the proliferation of London football clubs, rivalries and tribalism and comparing that to American sports. (Disclaimer: I accidentally swapped Alabama and Auburn in my story and flip-flopped the fandom of the tree killer in that heated blood feud. My apologies to the fans of both teams.)

Kevin is always a great guest and we hopefully to get back in the near future to continue the chat about British sportswriting vs American sportswriting and the other stuff we ran out of time to discuss.