The first 3 episodes of Agony Art Series 1 hit podcast stores tomorrow, and with anticipation reaching unprecedented levels (no, really - my mum asked me how she could listen to it the other day), we thought we'd answer all the biggest questions we've been asked so far, to clear things up before the big day.

If you have a question that isn't answered here, whack it in the Comments section. We'll see if we can answer it without a lawyer present.


What is Agony Art?

Agony Art is a podcast in which three lovers of books, films and music aim to solve your trivial and/or fictional problems using examples from the great art of our age. As Liam puts it, it's like an agony aunt column mixed with a media studies course. Except, if you paid for a media studies course that was this bad, you'd want your money back.

You can find out a bit more here - What is Agony Art?


When is Agony Art released?

The first three episodes are coming out on December 2, 2020, and a new episode will release every Wednesday after that. No one knows how many episodes there will be in series 1, so we can't say when that weekly schedule will end yet. Let's not think about the end, when we haven't even begun yet.


Where can I listen to Agony Art?

Eventually, Agony Art will be available on the vast majority of podcast platforms. However, due to delays in approval on some platforms, release is currently delayed in some places. Links to all available outlets can be found below:


I liked the sound of a book/film/song you spoke about on the podcast, but I forgot which one. Can you remind me?

Yes, we can. Every episode has its own blog post, which features a link to every piece of art we mentioned in that episode (even the ones we just quoted or mentioned in passing!), so if you find the blog post for that episode on this very site, you'll find your reminder there.


I noticed a factual error in one of your episodes. Are you ever going to stop misleading people?

We try to make sure everything we say is accurate or could at least be twisted into some semblance of accuracy, but sometimes we still get things wrong. Feel free to let us know when you notice a mistake - we'll be including a list of corrections in every one of those blog posts we mentioned before.


Why do you go on and on about the problems you cover being trivial or fictional? I have a real problem and I want it solved!

We're sure that once everyone hears how good we are at using books, music and films to solve everyday problems, they will all be queueing up to have their real-life problems solved by us. Alas, even if it sounds like we're qualified to solve life's hardest pickles, we're actually just three Average Joes who know barely anything about overcoming even the smallest struggles. We don't want to give you bad advice that leads you down the wrong path - we really just want to recommend art and make you laugh. So, we'd rather the problems you submitted were either very trivial or very fictional. That way, no one gets hurt or upset when we give all the wrong advice.

If you're feeling down about a real world problem that's far too serious for us to solve, please visit Real Help Resources - the links there will take you to people much more qualified and helpful than us.


Okay, so I've got a pretty trivial problem that I think would be perfect for you. Can I submit it?

Yep! Just click Submit a Problem above. Please note that we might be in touch with follow-up questions, and we might not be able to answer it until series 2, or maybe even series 3, or maybe even never. We've got such a huge pile of problems to work our way through that we really can't guarantee we'll ever respond. But we'll try, and that is an Agony Art Promise.


Why are you so shady about your identities? Who are you?!

We're not in this for the fame or the money. We're in this to help people. Is that so terrible?!


I've heard tell of a pilot episode, so funny and interesting that it made everyone beg for more. Will you be releasing that as bonus content?

You heard true. Nearly a year ago, on a cold and wet day in a log cabin in the garden, we recorded a pilot episode which ended up being passed from person to person like a whisper on the wind, changing lives everywhere it went. We weren't proud of the production values and it had none of the catchy jingles you'll hear in the episodes of series 1, but still, our audience loved it. So, we had no choice but to commit to the idea, and record an entire series. 

That series is all anyone will ever hear now - after we started recording properly, we went on a quest to find every copy of the pilot episode (a difficult task, since those "copies" were distributed digitally), and once we'd found them all, we piled them up and burnt them in the desert in Arizona.

Some say that one copy escaped, and still exists out there today. We hope not, because that pilot was a bit rubbish, to be honest.


I can't believe I've made it this far through this drivel. Why am I still reading?

We don't know, that sounds like your problem to us. Maybe you should write in to an agony aunt podcast to find out what's wrong with you.