Grand Designs and Made-up Bands

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Does any money change hands for those taking part in Grand Designs? Kevin Mcleod answers directly! The Grand Tour has come to it’s conclusion and as ever featured some amazing stunts but what is the process for shows cleaning up after themselves? Why are book shelves featuring so many Japanese cat books? Plus, is AI gaming music streamers?

Producers: Neil Fearn
Executive Producers: Tony Pastor + Jack Davenport

Inside This Episode

Hosts: Marina Hyde and Richard Osman discuss a variety of entertainment topics in a lighthearted Q&A format.
Music at the Gym: A listener asks about royalty-free music at their gym, leading to a discussion about AI-generated music scams, where people create fake bands and songs using AI to game streaming platforms.
AI in the Entertainment Industry: They talk about Lionsgate selling rights to an AI company, allowing AI to assist in editing and trailer production.
Japanese Authors Writing About Cats: A listener asks why there are so many Japanese novels featuring cats, leading to a discussion about Japan’s long-standing cultural and literary connection with cats.
Grand Designs: Discussion around whether the show provides money for homeowners to furnish their homes. The hosts clarify that no significant financial support is provided for furnishing.
Spy Drama Sensitivities: A question about whether spy dramas avoid offending certain countries by portraying them as villains. The hosts discuss how commercial pressures influence the portrayal of certain nations in TV dramas.
Jeremy Clarkson and The Grand Tour: A listener asks if “The Grand Tour” cleans up after launching cars off cliffs. Clarkson clarifies they do clean up meticulously.
Nostalgic TV Quirks: A listener asks about the purpose of a flickering box on TV screens before ad breaks in the 1980s, leading to an explanation of regional variations in adverts and the technicalities of live broadcasting.

Media Mentions

The Chase (TV Show)
The Wolf of Wall Street (Film)
The Batman (Film)
The Penguin (TV Show)
Grand Designs (TV Show)
24 Hours in Police Custody (TV Show)
The Great House Giveaway (TV Show)
Top Gear (TV Show)
Clarkson’s Farm (TV Show)
The Grand Tour (TV Show)
Slow Horses (TV Show)
Borat (Film)
The Godfather (Film)
The Wire (TV Show)
My Neighbor Totoro (Stage show)
Megalopolis (Upcoming Film)
Tehran (TV Show)
Wet Wet Wet (Band)
Robinson Crusoe (Book)
The Tales of Genji (Book)
Call of the Wild (Book)
Old Yeller (Book)
The Travelling Cat Chronicles (Book)
Before the Coffee Gets Cold (Book)
The Full Moon Coffee Shop (Book)
I Am a Cat (Book)

Hot Takes

“I still love Leonard Nimoy’s two autobiographies: ‘I Am Not Spock’ and ‘I Am Spock.’”
“[Michael Smith] absolutely flooded Spotify with huge amounts of songs and had bots listening to them [and] he made more than $10 million”
“The My Voluptuous Disease guy is going to be going: ‘Please stop listening to it because the police are around!'”
“The mafia loved the Godfather, didn’t they?”

Notable Numbers

$10 million: Michael Smith made from AI-generated music scams by flooding streaming platforms with fake songs.
30 new novels a month: Mentioned as a phenomenon of Japanese authors writing about cats.
8 to 1: Ratio of cats to humans on certain Japanese islands.
20 years in prison: Maximum sentence per count for Michael Smith’s AI music scam.
3 weeks: Time taken to clean up after stunts, like launching a VW Beetle off a cliff on The Grand Tour.