Ah, back to this series again. Simon Evans presents a range of talks on economic topics, in a surprisingly deep manner for such a light-hearted show. Very much in the vein of shows like Big Problems with Helen Keen.
It's lasted as long as it has because Evans can combine the two strands of economic theory and stand-up in a very clever manner. He is capable of being informative, while still inducing a fair few belly laughs. Part of that is the silly approach they take to various topics (such as this week's obsession with sex robots), but it's also a remarkably tightly written comedy show, with the co-presenters (Tim Harford, Timandra Harkness) playing the "straight man" rather well. (Though poor Tim does occasionally corpse.)
This week's topic is social media, and the seeming paradox inherent to something like Facebook providing entertainment to two billion people (possibly with a couple of duplicate accounts) while not charging them a penny. Naturally, the old phrase "if you're not a customer, you're a product" comes into play, and there's something of a dig into the value of a person's data to advertisers and so on.
Frustratingly, some of this is hidden even here, mostly due to the remarkably secretive operation of these sort of data controlling enterprises. There is probably an hour long special in who is actually buying the information. I've written a very angry Facebook post about it.
Evans has a pleasantly casual style, never afraid to poke a little fun, especially at himself, an excellent example of which comes in his attempt to speak "yoof". You can hear him speaking in inalics.
If you've not listened to him before, this is a perfectly reasonably jumping off point, particularly since it seems he's managed to get even pervier than he was in previous seasons. And if you know who he is, be glad! He's as sharp as ever.
Highly recommended.
Tagged: Radio Comedy Cast Informative Economics