A FOLLOW UP TO "A Tale of Two Scottish Referenda and One British"
First, the List of Satirists I'm hoping to draft into the Cause:
To the Agents:
For target audience: I have in mind as prime candidate, Mr. Maher's two projects: Real Time with Bill Maher, a panel show out of Los Angeles on HBO or his podcast, Club Random, later possibly with traction to be followed the Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and The Daily Show (currently guest hosted by a slew of top rate American Comedians).
Currently, The Daily Show rotates hosts after Commonwealth host, Trevor Noah. This can be good and bad. Meanwhile once Mr. Oliver is aboard, and remember his former partner is Andy Zaltzman, the other major node in this with ties all over the Commonwealth. If you do this--if you get your client on Mr. Maher's platform working material on your Supreme Court's unconstitutional, or given you lack a constitution, internationally illegal action to attempt to deny the Second Scottish Referendum, not to mention the BrExit debacle, buying off the DUP with money that PM May lacked while ye settle into strikes and austerity, five PMs in how many months? etc. will be a bonus.
HBO in America is not only a massive international platform which will explode your client's career, especially if that client is younger or less established than some of the old dogs who have been at this for thirty years, but HBO can fly people to CBS studios in Los Angeles.
Once there, they seem to be able to not only sit for Real Time with Bill Maher, but if he chooses, come to an "undisclosed location" (his property) to "talk--not be interviewed" one-on-one where they will be treated to whatever California legal delicacies they want: fine spirits, cigars, other stuff. It's a podcast called Club Random, named for parties he used to throw there.Sometimes the not-ready/right for Real Time, appear at Club Random, sometimes just people Mr. Maher seems to want to befriend end up there, and sometimes they've already done Real Time and he wants an even more real experience with them.
It's incredibly casual. For Mr. Maher's Club Random podcast, which is also video recorded, guests meet one-on-one in a kind of bar that he owns at "an undisclosed location," which seems to be on the property of his very home. No guests have been Skyped into that location since its inception c. 18 months ago, but are routinely Skyped into CBS studios for Real Time and HBO seems to fly guests in. Few have ever heard anything like this at this level of industry/profession because he has deliberately stripped away all of the excess. One can even see it in the comments. Fans seem to love or hate Club Random.
I see it as a place for younger comedians and also those who might need more preparation of whatever kind for Real Time. He seems to see it in the other way--if Real Time is less limited than his first show on ABC/Disney, Politically Incorrect, then Random is less limited still. So to me: as a rhetorician, this says that it's a mentoring for the younger comedians who can see this salt dog or old hand in his natural habitat with the only difference being that cameras and audio is rolling--no production staff. It's a fresh format and a great place for your client to stretch out--and if timed properly, traveling out to his place in LA might just be subsidized by HBO when doing Real Time.
And your client is going to have what Mr. Maher wants: information about his ancestral homeland, especially, given that he's a student of Civics and History, during a crisis of 316 years in the making that affects, like mine, his Island a short ferry's ride across the Irish Sea.
If you're not fighting for this, what the hell are you doing? This isn't simply win for you, win for your client, win for Mr. Maher, win for HBO--this is a historical win for the Scots because when the Scotch-Irish in America (more than the population of the UK and Ireland combined) wake up to what your Supreme Court is trying to do, the Scots will demand that First Minister Yousaf hold the Second Referendum as scheduled and once it's won the International Courts will hear the case. It's what we call, in Philosophy, a tautology: how can the SC, which Scotland is voting to cease to recognize, attempt to hold on, like an... well, you get the idea. In 1707, the discourse called it a marriage. Nobody made such a claim about Ireland in 1801. Supposedly Scotland entered willingly and so willingly it can also...
Satirists in Scotland Itself
First, the connected crew.
*Des Clarke and his Casting Producers for Breaking the News (BBC Radio Scotland).
I know I have heard at least half of a dozen who could Satirize the process brilliantly, but I'm not familiar with their names. I will return later to provide my own list as well from the above radio program. I need to revisit the archives.
Mr. Clarke and his Casting Producers can provide a list of Satirists and Agents that the BBC Radio Scotland can have hosted during the last couple of years: a good mix of Scottish women, men, and non-British nationals, all of whom track Scotland well enough to appear in the US.
*Susie McCabe
*There's a farmer.
*There's a heavy-set brilliant comedian who had hurt his feet with his boots. (Thick Highlander Brogue).
Mr. Clarke's Casting Crew and himself will have a list of Scottish Satirists best for American consumption and some who aren't even Scottish but who track this like Tiff Stevenson.
Mr. Maher has expressed a desire to know more about the British Isles in general and Ireland in particular. One cannot understand Ireland today without noting Scotland's historic (like 1707 historic) impeding decision. See Below.
Satirists in the Greater UK
Andy Zaltzman's Crew for the Bugle podcast (still occasionally hosted by his friend and co-founder, John Oliver) in the UK outside of Scotland. If Mr. Clarke is the node for Scottish Satirists, then Mr. Zaltzman is the node for other British and Commonwealth Satirists.
*Mark Steel. A stone assassin. To this day my favorite Bugle episode is when Mr. Steel brings his A-game and impresses Alice Fraser, who studied Law at the graduate level.
*Andrew Maxwell, protestant Irishman, but who lives in the S. UK nearish London. He tracks British politics from an outsider's perspective but with their country-men's long view.
*Nish Kumar. Somehow I stupidly left him off my list when trying to contact Mr. Maher's casting team so we're going to right that wrong right now. This fellow is young and like Ms. Fraser, deadly. If anyone is going to neutralize the UK Supreme Court to free First Minister Yousaf to hold the referendum and see it through to the International Courts--where it will go when Scotland votes 52% to leave this time--it will be this fellow, another assassin.
*Hey, fuck you Chris, isn't there a fellow named Mr. Chris? Addison? (some bland name like that) who lives in London--a weird kinda Ausi/Kiwi sounding accent but actually British? This fellow worked with Mr. Zaltzman more than a decade ago and hadn't appeared on the Bugle until the last 18 months or so. He came in hot after fifteen years of not collaborating with Zaltzman. He made A. Fraser feel under-prepared, which is saying something. She studied graduate level Law. He was razor sharp and would prepare for something like Mr. Maher. Maybe 2020-2022 with Alice Fraser. Chris will know who this is. Ms. Fraser commented about needing to have better prepared, he was that prepared, which doesn't happen to her. Find that guy, because he could go on Bill Maher immediately. It must have been during the pandemic because I remember that Mr. Zaltzman commented on his preparedness to which he replied that he'd nothing much else on. Yet he killed--second favorite show after Steel/Fraser during Fall of... 2021?
*Tiff Stevenson not only works for The Bugle, but she's married to and does a comedic piece about a Scot who sounds like a Glaswegian. And if she hasn't already done Des Clarke's show, it's an easy transition for her.
*Now if you want a rhetorician, FINALLY a rhetorician, it's Mr. Zaltzman's sister, Helen. And she's funny. Ms. Zaltzman can pick Mr. Maher's panel up on the language, but gently.
Satirists in the Greater UK Commonwealth and Anglophone Scene
Andy Zaltzman's Crew for the Bugle podcast (still occasionally hosted by his friend and co-founder, John Oliver)
runs deep, NZ 2 fellows they're gonna have to identify. "Fuck you, Chris," you probably have those names at hand if HBO comes calling. One is Maori and the other is a transplant with a thick Kiwi accent. I'm pretty sure he's gay and has his own podcast. Eventually, I'll get to tracking these down along with a brilliant London-based fellow who sounds. And then there's a fellow who sounds like he's from the Pacific with a bland name, like Chris Addison, maybe, is that a person?
*Alice Fraser (Australia). She works for the Bugle, she's brilliant, well-educated, and spends a good deal of time in the UK where I gather she took her graduate degree. More importantly, she'll know the Kiwis, this Addison or whoever it is, and any other Commonwealth killer I've forgotten. E.g. there's an Indian woman who's got a great laugh and a fantastic personality for a panel show like Real Time. She's got a Netflix special that I've actually seen. Ms. Fraser will have these names at her fingertips.
*Anuvab Pal (India). This is the subtlest satire I've heard in years--the kind that would slow Mr. Maher down so that he could admire the craft.
*Hari Kondabolu and *Nato Green (old friends who will be able to speak about Scotland despite being US.[NYC and SF respectively]).
Second, the Reprise:
Drafted & Edited Properly in a Word Processing Program rather than Abysmally on the Cloud
I've deleted the post from a few days ago as I learned this inferior word-processing platform. The piece was riddled with typos as I struggled with it. This time, I've ignored the platform until the last minute. Any formatting problems, or any type-setting decisions that it rejects are the problem of the designers because, saving attaching a PDF, I've no reliable way to ensure quality-control.
A Tale of Two Scottish Referenda and One British
Finally, after more than fifteen years, I am on Social Media so reluctantly in order to reach the larger platforms like Real Time with Bill Maher to put Scottish and Commonwealth Satirists, Journalist, Intellectuals, etc. onto the situation regarding the 2nd Scottish referendum. Mr. Maher is on record wanting more information on Ireland, but one cannot understand Ireland today without grasping Scotland's current struggle.
A timeline:
2014. There is a referendum on whether Scotland should leave the UK. The Tories are in power but with a more even-headed leader. Those who actually vote do so 52% remain with the UK, 48% leave the UK. Remember Scotland has the oil. This occurs mainly because those who are 16-24 simply couldn't be arsed back then.
2016. in sheer propaganda Boris Johnson leads leads a bus campaign into rural (White) England (not so much Wales or Scotland where the Exit from the EU is less popular. They label this BREXIT as in British Exit. They succeed by a similar narrow margin to leave the EU throwing all existing trade and treaty into chaos: e.g. if Ireland is in the EU but Northern Ireland as part of the UK has left, then how does one trade/travel to the Irish Island, something which they as of 2023 have yet to resolve. (Later, Johnson, as Prime Minister, will barely survive a vote of no confidence by his peers. He will claim victory but will leave shortly thereafter, seemingly not governing once resigning such that the UK will lack a governing prime minister for two months--a feat that rarely occurs.) First Minister of Scotland would be Prime Minister of Scotland if it were independent. FM Nicola Sturgeon announces plans for a Second Scottish Referendum to leave the UK and rejoin the EU without England, Wales, etc. Eventually she will schedule it for the third week of October 2023.
Winter 2022/2023. FM Sturgeon makes announcements as reminders of the impending Referendum. Possibly illegally the UK Supreme Court rules that no Second Scottish Referendum shall occur. This might be illegal under international law and if the vote goes the other way, which looks as such in March, then it will be taken to the international courts. However, Sturgeon resigns stating family and three more candidates arise to take her place all stating that they seek Scottish independence (including Kate Forbes and Ash Regan); they are the Scottish Independence Party after all, but one will also be First Minister of Scotland, Humza Yousaf.
March 2023. First Minister Yousaf intends to continue FM Sturgeon's progressive policies. We want to give him all the help he requires to hold the 2nd referendum on schedule in October.
I'm trying to sway public opinion toward this. Sturgeon had threatened to hold it anyway. I want to ensure FM Yousaf has the support he needs to hold it. The projections are clear: if it is held, Scotland will vote at least 52% to leave (and these are outward numbers which may increase as the day draws nigh).
So I'm reaching out to US comedians, research media, etc. to interview UK and Commonwealth Satirists, Research Journalists, Intellectuals, etc., bringing the heavy hitters to this invisible cause. Why?
That prediction of 48% remain, 52% leave the UK is based on three main realities. Notice it's the exact reverse of 2014 results, which is why I wrote it backwards.
1. Those 16 year olds are now nearly 26 with kids, shitty jobs, etc.
2. Brexit took them out of the EU whose effects they could not surmise and which they didn't really want.
3. Austerity since 2019. Strikes, staggering loss of jobs, etc. Basically poverty like the 1970s because Brexit.
4. Moreover, a rudderless government in London (which is seen by many Scots as belonging merely to England, not Scotland) something like 5 Prime Ministers in 18 months--3 of them leaving in disgrace.
It's a good plan. But we need a platform for this initiative. Maybe we'll submit this to the London Times to get these people to appear on US TV--especially Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, The Daily Show, Real Time with Bill Maher.
Remember: Hollywood no longer even publishes email addresses, which I've been seeking since October 2022. Agencies charge quite a bit for access. So I'm writing a letter to the building in LA to try to get the casting director, whose name I do not even know, to pass this along & forward to the above as well as reach Mr. Maher who's an Irishman.
Will probably revisit. Tuesday, March 28th, 2023. US
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