Is Richard A Psychopath?

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There is a storm brewing in the studio as Marina finds out how Richard arranges his bookshelves. Copyright in comedy. How often do people think of the same joke and who, if anyone, owns it? We also all enjoy a brand new quiz thanks to listener Rhys Durham.
Producer: Neil Fearn + Joey McCarthy
Executive Producers: Tony Pastor + Jack Davenport

Inside This Episode

Discussion Topics
- BBC News Studio: Marina and Richard discuss the unique live backdrop of the BBC news studio.
- Rapid Publishing in Journalism: The fast-paced environment where journalists draft articles even as events unfold, citing examples such as the 1999 Champions League final.
- Book Arrangements and Aesthetics: Conversation on the trend of arranging books by colour for aesthetic purposes, with Marina calling it “psychopathic” to arrange books by colour alone.
  Link: A look inside the private library of Umberto Eco
  Link: Nicky Haslam Tea Towels
- Quizzes on Podcasts: Richard and Marina ponder why quizzes haven’t gained popularity as podcasts and discuss their personal experience with quizzes.
- Copyright in Comedy: The topic of joke ownership and similarity is addressed, including anecdotes about parallel joke creation.
Listeners’ Questions
- Addressed questions on journalism’s immediacy, the aesthetic use of books, and if authors write with an intent to appeal to ‘aesthetic’ bookshelf displays.

Media Mentions

Television Shows
- BBC News
- A Touch of Frost
- Only Connect
- It’s a Royal Knockout
Movies
- The Thomas Crown Affair
- Top Gun: Maverick (Referenced indirectly through Glenn Powell’s recent fame)
Books
- The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
- A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
- Various art monographs by Taschen and Giorgio de Chirico
Live Events
- Champions League Final (1999)
- Upcoming live show at the Royal Albert Hall on 4th December
Podcasts
- Guestimators
- Lateral with Tom Scott

Hot Takes

“Books in colour order – I think that is psychopathic.”
“[Books are] a fairly cheap… way of making a house look great.”
“I would not be doing my duty as an entertainment podcaster if I didn’t talk about Glenn Powell every week.”
“Arranging books by colour is like Christmas Day. It doesn’t count!”
“There are much madder people than you out there.”