Notes from a Small (Cold, Dark, Miserable) Island

With the local elections coming up we're here to explain the UK's complicated political system, why it doesn't neatly map onto American politics and how to pronounce Plaid Cymru. Plus all the hot and cold takes from the King's comedy tour of Washington.Mike recounts a bank holiday encounter with farmer hawking raw milk out in the shires and Matt runs down his list of top fictional transatlantic couples, not all of which met a tragic end. Which fav of yours didn't make the list? Tell us here:  [email protected]

What's more British than a proper British holiday resort with proper British people eating proper British food, somewhere far away from Britain?This week the hosts are joined by Matt's neighbour Max Geller, a Bostonian who explains how he found love on the campaign trail and how that eventually led to, uh, package holidays on the Mediterranean.While Matt and Max each spent their recent holibobs with their famalams in one of those Great British foreign resorts, Mike didn't even leave the country and instead went on long walks around villages and rocky beaches. So of course under this nation's strange class rules, his vacation was posh.Yes, British holidays can be an absolute minefield - particularly since, fellow Americans, you're expected to actually take those vacation days - but we're here to break it all down. Chips with everything!

Your hosts tackle the wide world of British sport, from football (soccer) to snooker (pool, but much, much more difficult). Will we ever make a proper footie fan out of Matt. And what's the right way to appreciate "the beautiful game"? Mike argues that all the British sports are basically just different versions of the American games you know and love. Go team! Plus a mercifully brief update on what's going on the world, and why you should think twice before you take your Trader Joe's tote out of the house.***Mike's latest work on the blood sport that is the current battle for the Republican Party can be found on BBC Sounds: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002sf55

As the homeland goes to war once again, we pick over the state of the union and find it ... totally great, no problems, all good. Cheap eggs, too.Really though, your hosts Matt and Mike play a quick game of two truths and a lie, and provide an urgent update for those of you with more than one passport. Plus, is half of Royal Mail really stool and urine samples? We investigate. Because let's face it, nobody else is going to.Get in touch: [email protected]

Today we're on a journey from Chicago to LA, via Indiana and New York, but as we know, all roads lead to ... Yorkshire.Actor, Windy City native and improv scene veteran Derek Miller tells us about winning money off of Green Day, finding love on the high seas, Tim Burton's strangely normal affect and how he ended up being the only American in the village. Derek shares his thoughts on the UK comedy scene and how he landed a gig playing himself on current affairs television. Plus in news corner we ask why the Epstein scandal is claiming scalps in Britain but seems to have left all the powerful people back home completely untouched. Weird, huh? We're making a list of who we should have on next. Get in touch: [email protected] read more about Derek here: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2479885/bio/

Was our good friend Tom Cruise forced from London by a smash-and-grab robbery, the relentless rain, or anti-Scientology villagers?Matt and Mike take on an impossible mission: decoding the sourcing in a story that has enthralled the tabloid press.In other news, we find that a Proud Boy punk plans to tour the UK later this month.Plus practical updates: on Indefinite Leave to Remain, which banks actually accept American customers, and what are the British equivalents of Venmo, Craigslist and Depop? Finally, should the politics be confined to our theme tune? Let us know: [email protected] more on the Misfit Proud Boy: https://thedayofreckoning.substack.com/p/exclusive-proud-boy-punk-who-wasAnd on Tom Cruise: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/met-police-tom-cruise-knightsbridge-flat-rolex-robbery-london-b1269206.html

Erich von Gehren survived the Beirut port explosion and after his dramatic brush with death decided to ... buy a pub in Hanwell. He joins us this week to fill us in on all the details of a long, exciting career in the restaurant industry, and a much less exciting 1,000-page visa application. The Duke of York, which Erich and his wife Lisa are refurbishing, is at 161 Uxbridge Road W7. It will be open the week after Easter, because to open on Easter weekend would be way too stressful. And there's more information about Erich's cultural recommendation, the Hanwell Hootie, at www.hanwellhootie.co.uk.All that, plus if you listen to the end you can see if Matt's proposed theme tune makes the cut?!

BAFTA-nominated film and TV editor Sacha Szwarc joins us in the studio to recall his first encounter with Matt, back when bowling in London was a bit of a thing. Even Prince Harry was into it!Sacha's credits include Sherwood, Time, The Long Shadow, The Last Post, Des and most recently The Hack starring David Tennant - and before all that he was slinging pancakes and shooting films in a Parisian cafe devoted to American diner food.We have some sage advice for yankee newbies hoping to steal our jobs, plus we catch up on events in the homeland and hecklers at the NBA's London game, which was won by ... who cares really?

The holidays are over and your hosts are picking over the leftovers. Matt continues to make the case that pantomime is not really good for anybody involved, while somehow Mike managed to swerve the Boxing Day show. We have reports and regrets from New Year's and wildly inaccurate predictions for 2026.All that plus stories of mild family strife and peril, made worse by cross-cultural misunderstandings. Or maybe better? We can't tell? Because this is Britain and maybe it was all just irony? Roll on new year.

Mike and Matt are back with a flaming festive cracker.  Yes, it's that time of the year again. The time when we ask questions like: What is bread sauce? When do you open your presents? What does cricket mean, and why do England lose it?In a word, it's the season of The Snowman featuring David Bowie (but only in certain editions). And if you've never truly experienced the joy of a British Christmas, don't worry, by the end of this episode you'll be just as befuddled and tipsy as anyone else on these isles.Plus, news from the homeland of extortionate World Cup tickets and a trade deal going south. Merry Happy Christmas!

Mike and Matt talk holidays, particularly the best and most American holiday, as long as you're not a turkey. How did you spend your Thanksgiving Black Friday, mate?This week also includes two new features: Relevant Recos - cultural tips for transatlantic types - and Visa Stories, the first of which is weirdly funny.Later, a news update about an Ohio senator who wants Americans to pick one nationality and stick with it, no duals allowed. Is this idea as Moreno-ic as it sounds and will it stand a turkey's chance of surviving the holidays?Plus, what British phrase makes you irrationally angry? Reddit has opinions, and so do your hosts. All of that, plus Matt invokes the spirit of grunge for his latest attempt at a theme tune. Will it be better than the first one?

Mike and Matt have found themselves stranded on this strange island after decades of bobbing about on the stormy seas of the North Atlantic. How did they get here from Ohio, via Chicago, Copenhagen, Toronto and Norwich?Our hosts have some tips for their fellow fresh-faced Americans on how to navigate the mean streets of London and the cryptic utterings of the people who live here.Plus a first-hand report from the homeland and finding refuge from the madness in a playground in Angola, Indiana.And Matt makes his first attempt at developing our theme tune. It won't be his last.