#News quiz press clippings funny series#

The first volume of “Significant Objects”, which debuted over the summer, swiftly proved Messrs Walker and Glenn’s theory that stories add immeasurable value to objects. What a thrill to be the nominal owner of a tale told by a favourite author, and to possess the very thing that inspired them - even if that significant object is too darned ugly for any sensible person’s mantelpiece. Significant Objects combines one of the oldest of all media - the near-improvised short story - with the reinvigorated writer-reader relationship afforded by Web 2.0. If this is a cynical marketeer’s scam, rather than a mildly romantic social experiment, then consider me conned. And a red wooden mallet, which sold for $71 (not to me), is no longer just another red wooden mallet.Ĭouch Surfer (The Independent of London):

Indeed, a few days after I spoke with Walker he e-mailed to mention that the better known his project is becoming, “the more valuable, in theory, any object that was part of it might become.” In other words, the fabrication of a story about the object becomes a part of the story we tell. It tells us that stories add value even when we know the story is manufactured. The idea, dreamed up by, is simple: invite several dozen authors to make up interesting stories about random objects picked up at thrift shops, post them on eBay, and let consumer fetishism take it from there. Looking for a nice literary artifact? Edith Wharton’s letters - a packet sold at auction for more than $180,000 last month - may be out of reach, but collectors willing to settle for Lydia Millett’s chili cat figurine or Kurt Andersen’s Santa nutcracker will find plenty of bargains over at the new Web site Significant Objects. “Brain Food” columnist Aditya Chakrabortty Rob Walker and Josh Glenn were able to conduct one of the most life-affirmingly cheeky studies I have seen for ages… This wasn’t a scientific experiment, although it would be astonishing if some goateed PhD student wasn’t even now imitating the study in lab conditions with a proper control - and thereby sucking all the blood out of this particular orange.

On New Hampshire Public Radio’s Word of Mouth.

On WYPR, Maryland Morning - includes both Lizzie Skurnick (Pen Stand) and Laura Lippman (Motel Room Key) reading their stories!.

On WFMU, Benjamen Walker’s Theory of Everything.

Hear one or the other Significant Objects co-founder (but never both at once!) interviewed:

So sit back and enjoy the highlights of a news-packed year in the company of some of the best and brightest commentators.A March 2011 story in the Los Angeles Times suggested that Significant Objects may be the literary vanguard of a trendy branding strategy. To add to the hilarity, newsreaders Alan Smith, Corrie Corfield and Kathy Clugston read a selection of humorous press cuttings contributed by listeners. The panellists find the funny in topics ranging from Donald Trump to Morris dancing, and from by-elections to pie selections, taking in Brexit, Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn, urban foxes and an unorthodox lifeguard recruitment drive - not to mention the small matter of a UK General Election.

#News quiz press clippings funny series#

These four shows from Series 92 and 93 take a tongue-in-cheek look at current events, with chairman Miles Jupp presiding over a pack of keen newshounds: Jeremy Hardy, Zoe Lyons, Susan Calman, Charlie Higson, Andy Hamilton, Vicki Pepperdine, Helen Lewis, Sarah Kendall, Lucy Porter, Mark Steel, Hugo Rifkind, Rich Hall and Katy Brand. 2017 marked the 40th anniversary of The News Quiz, ?the finest topical comedy panel game known to radio? and a guaranteed provider of headlines, punchlines and sparkling satirical wit.