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New RNZ comedy podcasts: A Titanic conspiracy and 1970s v Gen Z entertaining

22 August 2022

Get ready for a double serving of comedy with two laugh out loud series Did Titanic Sink? and The Art of Entertaining coming soon from RNZ Podcasts. 

In Did Titanic Sink? local podcasting legend Tim Batt (The Worst Idea of All Time) collaborates with comedian and writer Carlo Ritchie (Improv Theatre Sydney) to try to get to the bottom of Carlo’s life-long obsession with the Titanic conspiracy - i.e. that it didn’t actually sink. Conspiracies are powerful force in the world right now, and if you're going to go down a rabbit hole, this is the most fun one you could choose.

Did Titanic Sink? features an all-star line-up of guests including Rhys Darby, Urzilia Carlson and Mel Bracewell and brief appearances from some of New Zealand's best known broadcasters. The first of six episodes is set to be released on Tuesday 30 August. 

In The Art of Entertaining, Jamie Poipoi (Sis The Show) and Maria Tanner (Vai) use the 1973 book New Zealand Practical Guides: Party Planning to plan the greatest formal dinner party New Zealand has ever seen. They’ve never hosted a dinner party before, so it’s highly unlikely that anything will go wrong. 

Jamie and Maria compare 1970s social etiquette to Gen Z ideals and social norms, menus, stylings (your own and the table) and entertainment across 10 episodes that build up to a dinner party for 20 unsuspecting guests. The series launches on Monday 3 October. 

RNZ’s Executive Producer of Podcasts Tim Watkin says comedy is consistently one of the top podcast genres globally and while many of RNZ’s podcasts feature humour, such as William Ray’s Black Sheep, these are the first comedy podcasts to be commissioned since The Worst Sitcom Ever Made (awarded Bronze at the 2020 New York Festivals Radio Awards.) 

“We’ve been eager to get back into comedy podcasts and these two came to us with standout pitches when we put the word out. It’s really exciting to finally be working with podcast trailblazer Tim Batt, as well as podcast newcomers Jamie Poipoi and Maria Tanner who bring their storytelling chops from the local TV industry as they figure out how to adapt jellied meats, flower arranging and way too much paisley for a 2022 dinner party.

“With Covid and this grim winter, we’re keen to give New Zealanders a laugh." 

RNZ podcasts are available at rnz.co.nz/series and all the usual podcast platforms. 

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Did Titanic Sink? Listen to the trailer now.

Did Titanic Sink?  

The RMS Titanic is among the most famous man-made disasters of all time. Despite its sinking 110 years ago, the tragedy remains a fascination, the world over. Everyone has heard of The Unsinkable Ship that hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage and proved to be very sinkable indeed. 

 After decades of his own “independent research”, Titanic-obsessive Carlo has become convinced the narrative printed in history books washes over the real events of the Titanic disaster. Over six episodes, Carlo presents what he believes really happened. It’s a tale of grand conspiracy involving one of the world’s richest men and possibly, history's largest switch-a-roo.  

New Zealand comedian and podcaster Tim Batt hosts Carlo Ritchie, an Australian improviser, writer and amateur historian who would like us to consider; Did Titanic Sink? 

Joined by comedy heavyweights Rhys Darby, Urzila Carlson, Guy Montgomery plus the voice talents of Kim Hill, Jeremy Wells, Leigh Hart and many others, this series will make you laugh, think and question; Did Titanic Sink? 

Listen every Tuesday from 30 August at rnz.co.nz or wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 1: Titanic - The Sinkable Ship  
The sinking of the RMS Titanic is one of the most famous man-made disasters of the modern era, forever changing icebergs from freezing friends, to frozen foes. From Greenland to Southampton, Tim and Carlo summarise what they know about the creation, launch and sinking of the RMS Titanic. Is everything as it seems?  

Episode 2: Meet My Sister  
If the Titanic didn’t sink, which ship did? Carlo introduces Titanic’s twin sister, The RMS Olympic and traces her career from Darling to Disaster of the White Star Line. From the drawing rooms of Haarland and Wolf to the frozen North Atlantic, Carlo and Tim uncover a tale of jealousy, greed and villainy.  

Episode 3: Fire In The Hull! 
We’ve all heard the story of Titanic’s sinking but few know that Titanic was on fire the day it launched. For up to three weeks, a coal bunker blazed in the lower decks of the ship. Tim and Carlo explore how much damage this fire may have caused and more chillingly, whether it was deliberately lit? Could an insurance-fuelled switch-a-roo really be at the heart of Titanic’s downfall?

Episode 4: She Was Not Alone 
Over 1500 souls perished the night the ship calling itself “Titanic” sank. Just 706 were saved. Eight kilometres away, the SS Californian watched the disaster unfold, yet for some reason did not intervene. Why? Carlo introduces evidence from officially documented Marconigrams (morse-coded radio communications) and the official inquiry which show that Californian was not the only ship that watched. There were others, who disappeared the next morning into the ice field never to be seen again. What could explain the bizarre behaviour of these nearby vessels?    

Episode 5: The Wake of Titanic 
Two large-scale official inquiries took place immediately after the Titanic’s sinking, one American, one British. Each had wildly alternative motives behind them and both had something to hide. Heroes and villains alike were created in the course of these inquiries but was this all part of someone else’s fiction? Carlo outlines what these inquiries taught the public and what was shielded from us.  

Episode 6: Switch-a-Roo 
Carlo pulls all the tantalising pieces of the story together to present a compelling alternative narrative of what really happened to Titanic. A story that has been hidden from us for over a century. Is Carlo out of his mind? Or are we all mistaken about the most famous ship the world has ever known? 


Credits

Writer: Carlo Ritchie 
Co-writer: Tim Batt
Producers: Tim Batt and Carlo Ritchie
Engineer: Blair Stagpoole 
Director: Chelsie Preston Crayford 
Executive Producers: Justin Gregory & Tim Watkin  
Graphic Designer: Hannah Lawless 
Original Theme Song: Eilish Wilson 
Inquiry transcripts courtesy of the Titanic Inquiry Project.  
Marconigram transcripts courtesy of Sean Coghlan 

This work would not be possible without the work of the Titanic Inquiry Project.  
 


Meet the creators

Tim Batt is an award-winning comedian, podcaster and producer. His podcast The Worst Idea of All Time is New Zealand’s most successful comedy podcast, with over 20 million downloads. Tim has made headlines several times for his comedy shenanigans over the years, including buying the URL for Hannah Tamaki’s political party and redirecting it to the first episode of TVNZ OnDemand’s The Male Gayz - a show he produced, hosted by Chris Parker and Eli Matthewson. He also caused a stir online for his NZ Christmas Comedy Gala appearance after calling America’s healthcare system worse than that of violent video game Grand Theft Auto. During the first Auckland lockdown, Tim created HAPPENING!; A livestreaming comedy and art show, for which he won the NZ Comedy Guild Award for Best Online Production. Most recently, Tim hosted an episode of TVNZ’s Laughs Unleashed.

Carlo Ritchie is an improviser, actor and writer. As one half of acclaimed improv comedy duo, ‘The Bear Pack’, he has sold out tours both at home and abroad, notably at the Edinburgh Fringe and the invite only “Cat Laughs” festival in Ireland.  

Carlo has performed stand-up across his native Australia even as far as the remote desert opal town of "Andamooka", the comedy capital of South Australia. As a complete disclaimer, most of his stand up centres around the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912 or as we say in the business, the 'comedy goldmine'. In addition to being a regular guest in Dictionary Corner on SBS Australia's "Celebrity Letters and Numbers" his television credits include ABCs "Mikki Versus the World" and "Prank You Very Much" and a "A Beginners Guide to Grief” for SBS on demand. Carlo wrote and performed for the ABCs Lockdown comedy success, “Home Alone Together” and is currently a writer for children's television institution, "Play School". 

Carlo is also one of the last speakers of Wymysorys, a minority language of Poland, in which he published the first Children’s book “Ynzer Boümmüter” (‘Our mother the Tree’). He has performed in Wymysorys, German and Polish.

Media contact

Please contact Josie Campbell with any queries josie.campbell@rnz.co.nz.

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