Pantomime: the most peculiarly British of festive entertainments. Each year, we Brits gather the family together to watch the same old stories. To cheer at the hero, hiss at the baddies, and watch a bloke in drag doing the same call-and-response routines that have enraptured crowds since the days of music hall. Why? ERIC POTTS is a maestro of the genre. As head writer for First Family Entertainment, he churns out ten panto scripts per year, and even finds time to play the Dame in one of them. In this insightful interview with Olly, he explains how super-producers have duopolized the industry, how they persuade Hollywood stars to come over and tread the boards (it’s not just the money), and why the key to panto success is not tradition or nostalgia - but ADVENTURE. (Oh Yes It Is!) Also this week: Ollie Peart uses his Instagram account as an experiment in automation, and, after an extended Super Mario Run session, offers up one-handed gaming to The Zeitgeist. Plus, why the pen-and-paper notebook just *might* be a thing of the past. And - jingle your balls! - Alix Fox finishes us off with a festive Foxhole for all the Modern Mann family. You’ll learn about ‘the Smith’s Salt N Shake of condoms’, why you should ‘get lusty with leftovers’, and how ‘sex Bisto’ might change your bedroom in an XXXmas edition of Alix’s favourite party game, ‘Tip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah!’. The Foxhole is proudly sponsored by our friends at MyCondom.Com - use the discount code ‘FOXHOLE’ to get 15% at Checkout. Finally, Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas without a good sing-a-long, so do wrap your ears around our song of the week, ‘Honest’, by Martha Gunn. And remember, in this time of goodwill to all Mann, that we are always thrilled to receive your monies in exchange for this humble podcast... If you’d like to donate, we’d be ever so grateful, guv. Just visit MODERNMANN.CO.UK, and click Beer Money. Merry Christmas one and all - we’ll see you straight after the holidays, for our season finale! Presenter: Olly Mann. Contributors: Ollie Peart, Alix Fox. Producer: Matt Hill. Theme Music: 'Skies Over Cairo' by Django Django. Graphic Design: Jenny Mann. Copyright: Olly Mann / Rethink Audio 2016. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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