That's Life: with Konstantin Kisin

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4.4 • 785 Ratings

🗓️ 28 January 2020

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Russian-British comedian Konstantin Kisin joins journalist Benedict Spence and comedy club founder Andy Shaw on the latest episode of That’s Life - a sideways look at the events, people, words and ideas that shape the news agenda. Andy and Benedict talk to Konstantin about whether we’re witnessing the end of woke-ism and the many foxes that have hit the headlines recently - from Laurence Fox to the unfortunate fox in Jo Maugham’s garden.

Konstantin made headlines of his own in 2018 when he refused to sign a university ‘behavioural agreement’ form before a gig requiring his humour be ‘respectful and kind’. He has been named Jewish comic of the year and is a regular contributor to the BBC, ITV and Radio 5 Live.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just before you start listening to this podcast, a reminder that we have a special subscription offer.
0:04.7	You can get 12 issues of the Spectator for £12, as well as a £20,000 Amazon voucher.
0:10.3	Go to spectator.com.uk forward slash voucher if you'd like to get this offer.
0:20.2	Zadrads and welcome to a brand new decade, a brand new podcast episode.
0:25.7	It's 2020. The royal family are being disappeared.
0:28.8	A man called Boris leads the nation, and an iron curtain now separates us from the rest of Europe.
0:33.7	Everywhere, traditional Russian pastimes of days gone by are back in vogue.
0:39.3	The UK has become our one-party state. People denounce the neighbours for wrong-think, and the bourgeoisie protest to anyone who will listen, that their country has been stolen from them.
0:46.3	And behind the scenes, everything is controlled by bot farms in Vladivostok.
0:51.3	So sit down, pour yourself a vodka, and relax. Welcome to That's Life.
0:56.5	That's right, ladies and gents. We're back for another year of glancing sideways at the world around us.
1:01.6	I'm Benedict Spence. And I'm Andy Shaw. And on this podcast, we'll be opening up a bottle of wine together and poking fun at the words, people and ideas that have popped up in the news over the past few weeks.
1:12.4	Today we're joined by comedian Constantine Kissin.
1:15.7	Konstantin made international headlines in 2018 when he refused to sign a university
1:20.9	behavioral agreement form before a gig, which sought to ban jokes, which could be considered
1:26.0	offensive, and insisted that his humour must be respectful and kind.
1:31.3	Constantin successfully dodged that bullet, but sadly is no longer allowed to play universities, which is why he's ended up here.
1:37.3	Constantin, it's great to have you with us.
1:39.3	And before we get started, we can just assure you that this is a safe space for you and your humour. So please do
1:44.8	have some wine and be as rude and defamatory as you can possibly be. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers. Thanks for
1:51.0	having me. How have you been? Very good. Very restful time over Christmas so I'm back ready to
1:57.3	annoy people. Are you optimistic about 2020? I was, yeah, but I don't think that's happening with some of the stuff we're going to be talking about.
	...

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