Why You Need to be Tuning-in With the Broadcasting Duo
Both veteran broadcasters, it wasn’t until relatively recently that the dream team that is Simon Mayo and Mark Kermode joined forces for their incredibly popular radio show and later podcast – Kermode and Mayo’s film review. It does what it says on the tin, really, offering a witty and opinionated take on recent releases which has gained a loyal following since it began in 2001.
Aficionados affectionately refer to the show as “wittertainment” thanks to knowledge, passion, charisma and humour of the presenters, and it’s a podcast that’s consistently ranked amongst the best in the world. That isn’t to say that the show is mild-mannered – far from it, Mark Kermode’s 8-minute takedown of the film Entourage in which he describes it as a: “foul, soul-sucking horrible vacuum of vile emptiness has surely gone down in the history books.
Simon Mayo
A veteran broadcaster who has been on the airwaves for well over 30 years, Simon Mayo has won scores of awards for his radio work, including Speech Broadcaster of the Year at the Sony Radio Academy Awards, where he was lauded for being, “a master of light and shade, handling serious and lighter issues with aplomb.”
Mayo became a household name presenting the Radio 1 breakfast show and remained with the station for 23 years. In his final broadcast on Radio 1 he said, “I always thought as a kid working at Radio 1 would be the most fun and the best place for any presenter to work and I still think that’s true.”
Mark Kermode
A veteran film reviewer and chief film critic for the Observer, Mark Kermode has been reviewing films for the BBC since 1993. He later joined Simon Mayo’s breakfast show on Radio 1, where the pair first began talking about films together.
Kermode also presents The Culture Show on BBC 2 along with a host of other film-reviewing posts for the New Statesman and various other shows and publications. He was once described as: “a feminist, a near vegetarian (he eats fish), a churchgoer and a straight-arrow spouse who just happens to enjoy seeing people’s heads explode across a cinema screen, in reference to his penchant for horror films.
Asked to list his favourite films, Kermode has listed them as: Brazil, The Devils, Don’t Look Now, The Exorcist, Eyes Without a Face, It’s a Wonderful Life, Mary Poppins, A Matter of Life and Death, Pan’s Labyrinth, and The Seventh Seal, a mix of films which can be described only as eclectic!
The Dream Team
The fanbase which Kermode and Mayo have built for their film review show and podcast is nothing short of astonishing. The most popular film podcast in the world, it’s downloaded by fans globally and each episode is dissected by the most loyal fans.
Because the show has now been running for many years, the pair have developed many in-jokes and running arguments which are shared with their fans, and in 2010 established, with the help of fans, an unofficial Cinema Code of conduct.
The Movie Goers Code of Conduct
- No Eating
- No Slurping
- No Rustling
- No Irresponsible Parenting
- No Hobbies
- No Talking
- No Mobile Phone Usage
- No Kicking of Seats
- No Arriving Late and
- No Shoe Removal
Book Simon Mayo and Mark Kermode with MN2S celebrity talent agency.
Both Kermode and Mayo are available to book as celebrity guests through MN2S – and if you’ve an audience of film fans you want to really treat, we’d suggest you book them both! The perfect people to facilitate a discussion about film, their clever banter will be sure to engage even the most reluctant film fan.
Get in touch to find out more about booking a celebrity like Simon Mayo and Mark Kermode.