“You’ve just got to commit to it”
What we asked Andy Zaltzman, comedian and podcaster
Andy Zaltzman is a comedian and podcaster, currently on tour with The Zaltgeist, stopping at the Quarterhouse in Folkestone on 19 April and the Hazlitt Theatre in Maidstone on 5 May. Steven met him in his studio/shed via Zoom, where they spoke about important topics like where he keeps his Taskmaster trophy and casual topics like the state of the world today...
What is your official occupation?
Comedian and cricket statistician. I guess that's two occupations.
Is there one that takes precedence?
Well, comedy takes up more of my year.
Is that a failing of the cricket system that there isn't more cricket to fill the time?
Well, there is cricket all the time, I just work on the test matches and one-day internationals. There is cricket pretty much every day of the year somewhere around the world.
Do you still play yourself?
I play a little bit. I used to play for Penshurst in my late teens and twenties, and then real life got in the way. Cricket and playing cricket was rather interfered with by having to work at weekends doing stand-up, but a few years ago I started playing, coming down from London to play at Penshurst again. I play seven or eight games a year down there. Beautiful ground, and I still play a bit, to keep that link to my previous life going.
What additional roles, paid or unpaid, do you have?
Not much apart from, I guess, parent.
You have The Bugle.
Yeah, podcaster, radio host, but that's all within comedian. The Bugle's been going 18 and a half years now. That's been a big chunk of my working career.
I was hoping all the problems in the world would have been sorted out by now, but that regrettably hasn’t happened
What can you tell us about your current tour?
The tour, The Zaltgeist, is in its second chunk. I did a run late '24 and early '25. I was hoping all the problems in the world would have been sorted out by now, but that regrettably hasn’t happened. I am doing more of the shows. It's a general look at the state of the planet. But I am also harnessing the power of AI, through a robot, which, without wishing to give too much of the show away, is not the most high-tech or authentic AI robot, to solve the world's problems, as demanded by the audience. At each gig, I take requests before the interval for the things people want fixed by AI, and then work away during the interval and come up with some answers in the second half.
In brief, how would you summarise the state of the world today?
Could do better, I think it's fair to say. I think everyone would agree on that. Whatever their political persuasion, definitely could do better.
Sport is my refuge, and I'm lucky to have that within my working life. Increasingly, sport is becoming more politicised. It always has been to an extent, but it seems that politicians are trying to leverage sport to their own benefits. It's harder to use as a pure escape from politics when politicians keep cropping up and interfering with it. That's something I'll talk about a bit in the show, but generally the planet is not functioning to 100% of its potential, I think.
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Your comedy is political in nature, with The Bugle and The Now Show. Was there anything about growing up in Tunbridge Wells that prepared you for a political comedy life?
Not really. I wasn't really particularly into politics until I got to university. The news was always on in our house. We'd have the Today program on in the car on the way to school and over breakfast. I guess I was soaking it in gradually. Political comedy, I think my interest in that probably develops a bit later, while I was at university and then my early years on the comedy circuit. I don't think growing up in Tunbridge Wells particularly shaped that side of things.
I did do work experience at the Kent Messenger. It would have been about 1991, and I remember going into the, I think the magistrates' court and wrote up some sort of driving offence case or something. I do remember in terms of the politics side of things, Michael Heseltine came to Maidstone and did some little press briefing. It was shortly after he'd been instrumental in Thatcher being deposed, and I remember thinking I'll try and ask a question. So, I said, “Do you think you being back in cabinet will help heal the rift in the Conservative Party?” And he said, “I've never been aware of any rift in the Conservative Party”. Which is quite impressive, I think, just to style it out.
The essential question I have to ask: Where do you keep your Taskmaster trophy?
Ah, well, I can show you that. I'm in my office shed in the garden. It's in the corner, facing the wall.
It's a nice thing to have, but I don't want Greg Davies staring at me 24/7.
