molière and the fat lad

une petite balade automnale ...

moliere, fat lad, and their north america correspondent, present their new, regular (but frankly, irregular) politics pod. they tell it how it is. but is it listening? and is junior j junior the third senior paying attention? we can but hope.

... but it's just more rubbish really. cos it's 2020 innit, aka the end of days. an international summit, matfl style, attempts to right the wrongs and left the right.

.. an original take on a country stroll ..

moliere modestly rewrites everything you may have gleaned from your history books, in revealing that the age of revolution probably commenced on his very own estates, wherein a surly tenant farmer (possibly fly-clad) not only makes defiant eye contact with our favourite toff guru, but also conspicuously fails to tug at any forelock whatsoever. a cock, a cockatoo and a fatlad also make cameo appearances. the chaps discuss le potager du paresseux by didier helmstetter.

extraordinary events on the estates, as the ever benign moliere actually invites some unfortunate varmints in to pilfer from his own fig trees. after much fruity frolicking and illicit barbecuing, fat lad smells a rat. the chaps discuss maudit héritage by béatrice davault.

while it might be considered wise - in this most benighted of all years - to walk fearlessly into a better future dressed only in carpe diem, the chaps decide instead to indulge in a proustian wallow through all the low points and low points of the supposed summer gone. for your delectation they ramble through molière's elysian fields, and they also find time to discuss endgame by samuel beckett and la mare au diable by george sand (again).

moliere is busy collecting his tithes in his northern estates. but he has not forsaken the listener. rather, he has recorded a choice selection of audio delights from his aquitaine environs - to both delight and to pleasure his devoted followers. marvel - as he and the other (unaccountably still breathing) toffs beat the bracken for the sans culottes! swoon - as his happy serfs gambol merrily in his fields! gasp - at the brazen and seditious mutterings in the marketplace! tremble - as moliere returns to the bouledrome for the very first time since his digit drew the ire of that unruly and ungrateful mob of many episodes ago. all recorded for the discerning audiophile on the very finest seventeenth century working steam-powered analogue reel to reel to real. so kick off your culottes, fix yourself a pernod, nibble on a french fancy, settle back on your chaise lounge, have a bout de souffle gently unwinding in the corner, play a little air accordeon, and be transported to deep france. recommended background balm for everything you might conceivably get up to in life. try it on for size as gentle meditative background for work and for play, for haymaking and for lovemaking and for much ado. this is bliss. and we are not worthy. and we are grateful. the chaps discuss absolutely nothing at all, but normal service will be resumed next time.

moliere eyes new climes, commercial opportunities and territories, irritated by the constant, crawling ranting of his own over-familiar peasants. fat lad falls in love, and just falls in general. the chaps discuss dig me out by jovana babović.

things are getting serious, as moliere takes his eco-friendly sky-chariot to the new world to learn just how free the land of the free still is. back on terra firma, he finds himself caught between a rock (upon which he berates some faux toffs who are disturbing the peace on his estates) and a hard boule that a naked peasant may or may not have dropped on his digit. fat lad takes issue with most of the world. the chaps discuss too much and never enough by mary l. trump. thank you, john.

moliere berates the youth of today for their rampant technologies and their lack of revolutionary fervour. fat lad envies moliere's boulangerie. the chaps discuss la mare au diable by george sand - and moliere even gets to spend an agreeable night in her hotel.

moliere muses on the apparent influence of the scottish enlightenment on contemporary continental european politics. fat lad wonders whether a popular retro primetime drama may in fact be a socialist utopian hidden-camera documentary. and the show comes with free soothing bucolic vintner sounds for all wannabe executive producer types. the chaps discuss germinal by emile zola.

molière wonders about corruption as he wanders his chateau gardens. are the aristocrats really beating the bracken, yonder, for the benefit of the sans culottes? fat lad goes off on one about the plague - he's very quiet in this episode, but he is shielding and he is very shy. in the literary section the chaps discussed 'a vision for europe 2020 nothing but an alternative' edited by david adler and rosemary bechler.