Helen Zaltzman

{{Infobox comedian

| name = Helen Zaltzman

| image = File:Helen Zaltzman on stage in Los Angeles 14 April 2017.jpg

| alt = Half-length portrait of Helen Zaltzman speaking into a microphone

| caption = Helen Zaltzman performing in Los Angeles, 2017

| pseudonym =

| birth_name =

| birth_date ={{birth year and age|1980}}

| birth_place = Kent, England

| nationality = British

| medium = Broadcaster
Podcaster

| notable_work = Answer Me This! (podcast)
The Allusionist

| spouse = Martin Austwick

| relatives = Andy Zaltzman (brother)

| website = {{URL|helenzaltzman.com}}

}}

Helen Zaltzman is an English podcaster, broadcaster and writer. She produces the linguistics podcast The Allusionist, the entertainment podcast Answer Me This!, and the Veronica Mars recap podcast Veronica Mars Investigations.

Career

=''Answer Me This!''=

File:Helen and Olly (8029375790).jpg

Zaltzman began the comedy podcast Answer Me This! with Olly Mann in 2007. The duo met in 2000 studying at St Catherine's College, Oxford. The podcast began in Zaltzman's living room in Crystal Palace, London, with assistance from Martin Austwick (a.k.a. "Martin the Sound Man"). In 2009, Zaltzman and Mann made history by being the first podcasters to be given their own national show on BBC Radio 5 Live, Web 2009 with Helen and Olly.{{cite web|url=http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/multi-platform/bbc-radio-5-live-to-answer-me-this/5008609.article|title=BBC Radio 5 live to Answer Me This!|publisher=Broadcastnow.co.uk|date=27 November 2009|accessdate=16 July 2014|author=Shepherd, Robert}} They went on to present several other specials for BBC 5 Live.

The podcast won a silver Sony Award in 2010{{cite web|url=http://www.radioacademyawards.org/winners/2010/programme-awards/best-internet-programme/|title=The Winners 2010 – Best Internet Programme|publisher=Radio Academy Awards|accessdate=16 July 2014|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140522091047/http://www.radioacademyawards.org/winners/2010/programme-awards/best-internet-programme/|archivedate=22 May 2014}} and gold in 2011,{{cite web|url=http://www.radioacademyawards.org/winners/2011/programme-awards/best-internet-programme/|title=The Winners 2011 – Best Internet Programme|publisher=Radio Academy Awards|accessdate=16 July 2014|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006114558/http://www.radioacademyawards.org/winners/2011/programme-awards/best-internet-programme/|archivedate=6 October 2014}} and in 2012 a European Podcast Award. It has been voted one of the Top 10 Comedy Podcasts in the World by The Guardian.{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2009/jul/27/top-10-comedy-podcasts|title=Top 10 comedy podcasts|work=The Guardian|accessdate=16 July 2014|author=Benedictus, Leo|date=26 July 2009}} It has received critical plaudits in numerous publications including Q, The Times, Time Out, and Radio Times.{{cite web|url=http://www.answermethispodcast.com/press|title=What The Papers Say…|date=29 March 2008|publisher=Answermethispodcast.com|accessdate=16 July 2014}} Due to the podcast's success, Faber and Faber published a companion book in November 2010.{{cite press release|url=http://www.booktrade.info/index.php/showarticle/27096|title=Faber To Publish Answer Me This! Book From Celebrated Comedy Podcasters in November 2010.|publisher=Book2book|date=30 April 2010|accessdate=13 November 2014}}

=''The Allusionist''=

In January 2015, Zaltzman launched a new linguistics podcast called The Allusionist.{{cite web|url=http://theallusionist.org |title=The Allusionist|accessdate=19 May 2015}} Zaltzman was the first British broadcaster on the Radiotopia podcast network. The Guardian describes the Allusionist as "an antidote to all the whither-life-and-how-to-understand-it podcasts".{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/jul/31/the-10-best-holiday-podcasts|title=The 10 Best Holiday Podcasts|date=31 July 2015|accessdate=14 October 2015|author=Sawyer, Miranda|website=TheGuardian.com }} The Allusionist was iTunes UK's best new podcast of 2015.{{Cite web|url=https://helenzaltzman.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/itunes-best-of-2015.png|title=Allusionist best of 2015}} At the 2018 British Podcast Awards it was named ‘Smartest Podcast’ and Zaltzman was awarded ‘Podcast Champion’.{{cite web|url=http://www.radiotimes.com/news/radio/2018-05-20/british-podcast-awards-2018-cariad-lloyds-griefcast-sweeps-the-board/|title=British Podcast Awards 2018: Cariad Lloyd's Griefcast sweeps the board}}{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/may/20/the-week-in-radio-mental-health-minute-chris-hawkins-jo-whiley-simon-mayo-daniel-kitson|title=The week in radio and podcasts: Mental Health Minute; Chris Hawkins; Jo Whiley and Simon Mayo; British podcast awards and more|first=Miranda|last=Sawyer|date=20 May 2018|website=the Guardian}} The Allusionist left the Radiotopia network in October 2020.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theallusionist.org/allusionist/leaving-radiotopia|title= The Allusionist has left the Radiotopia network|date= 21 October 2020}}

=''Veronica Mars Investigations''=

In August 2019, Zaltzman launched an episode-by-episode recap podcast of the TV show Veronica Mars, with co-host Jenny Owen Youngs, musician and co-host of Buffering the Vampire Slayer podcast.

=Other audio=

Zaltzman is a regular on The Bugle podcast, hosted by her brother Andy, and has appeared on podcasts including The Bugle Presents... The Last Post, Jordan, Jesse, Go!, The Chuck Tingle Podcast, Hello from the Magic Tavern, Ologies, 99% Invisible, Potterless{{cite web|url=https://www.potterlesspodcast.com/episode-74|title=Ep. 74 Deathly Hallows (Ch. 23) w/ Helen Zaltzman & Martin Austwick|publisher=Potterless|accessdate=16 October 2019}} and ZigZag.

Mann and Zaltzman were internet correspondents on BBC 5 Live's Saturday Edition{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tl9cb|title=BBC Radio 5live – Saturday Edition|publisher=BBC|accessdate=16 July 2014}} and on Steve Wright in the Afternoon. She was a panellist on the third series of Charlie Brooker's So Wrong It's Right{{cite web|url=http://www.comedy.co.uk/guide/radio/so_wrong_its_right/|title=So Wrong It's Right – Radio 4 Panel Show – British Comedy Guide|publisher=Comedy.co.uk|accessdate=16 July 2014}} and won. She hosted the Radio 4 show Four Thought during 2016–2017. She has appeared on Woman's Hour, The News Quiz, The Richard Bacon Show, Transatlantic with Rory Bremner and Ian Collins's radio show, and was one of the contributors to discussions about the 2012 Olympics on BBC Radio Scotland. She has guested on podcasts, including The Guardian's Media Talk and Maximum Fun's International Waters, Potterless, Judge John Hodgman and guest-presented a special edition of the Radio Academy's Radio Talk.

Zaltzman was a judge in 2012 on the Sony Awards.{{cite web|url=http://www.radioacademyawards.org/judges/VWXYZ/helen-zaltzman/|title=Radio Academy Awards|publisher=Radio Academy Awards|accessdate=16 July 2014|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140725134727/http://www.radioacademyawards.org/judges/VWXYZ/helen-zaltzman/ |archivedate=25 July 2014 |df=dmy-all }} In May 2013, Zaltzman began hosting a monthly podcast for Sound Women, an organisation which campaigns against sex discrimination in the radio industry.{{cite web|url=https://soundcloud.com/soundwomen/|title=Sound Women's sets on SoundCloud – Hear the world's sounds|publisher=Soundcloud.com|date=1 May 2013|accessdate=16 July 2014}}{{cite web|url=http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/article/1336123/sound-women-future-proofing-career|title=Sound Women is about future proofing your career|work=Media Week|date=2 March 2015|accessdate=14 October 2015|author=Birch, Nicky}} In September 2020, Zaltzman hosted the Duocon 2020 Livestream, a world-wide live conference for the language learning platform Duolingo.{{cite web|url= https://www.duolingo.com/duocon|title= Duocon live stream|publisher= Duolingo|access-date= 2020-09-26}}

=Writing=

Zaltzman is a comedy writer, with radio credits including The Now Show, The Milk Run on Radio 1, and Newsjack, and TV credits including Celebrity Juice, Keith Lemon's Lemonaid, Britain Unzipped, and Animal Antics. She has written for The Observer,{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/profile/helen-zaltzman|title=Helen Zaltzman|work=The Guardian|accessdate=16 July 2014}} Classical Music Magazine,{{cite web|url=http://www.classicalmusicmagazine.org/author/helen-zaltzman/|title=Author Profile: Helen Zaltzman|publisher=Classical Music Magazine|accessdate=14 October 2015|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151030011806/http://www.classicalmusicmagazine.org/author/helen-zaltzman/|archivedate=30 October 2015}} The Big Issue, The Daily Telegraph, The Times, and the BBC.

=Performance=

Zaltzman is a crafter, and has painted numerous posters for comedians' Edinburgh shows. She has created props, including a giant inflatable Boggle set; dinosaur costumes; and dolls of Tony Benn, Robert Plant, and Donald Rumsfeld.{{cite web|url=http://helenzaltzman.com/category/craft/|title=Archive for 'craft'|publisher=Helen Zaltzman|accessdate=16 July 2014|author=Zaltzman, Helen}}

Zaltzman has acted in plays at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and will occasionally perform live comedy, most often with Josie Long and Robin Ince. In 2007, during a three-week run of Long's show Trying is Good at the Soho Theatre, she sat onstage embroidering a quilt depicting scenes from the show.{{cite web|url=https://tryingisgoodquilt.wordpress.com/|title=The Trying Is Good Quilt|date=14 December 2007|accessdate=14 October 2015|author=Zaltzman, Helen}} In 2010, Zaltzman and Mann wrote and starred in a series of videos around Britain, Great British Questions, in association with Visit Britain.{{cite web|url=http://answermethispodcast.com/Britain|title=Helen and Olly's Great British Questions|date=14 July 2010 |publisher=Answermethispodcast.com|accessdate=16 July 2014}} In April 2017, Zaltzman delivered a talk entitled 'Writing as a form of time travel' on the main stage at TED2017.{{Cite news|url=http://blog.ted.com/tales-of-tomorrow-the-talks-of-session-10-of-ted2017/|title=Tales of tomorrow: The talks of Session 10 of TED2017|date=28 April 2017|work=TED Blog|access-date=5 May 2017}}

Personal life

Zaltzman is the younger sister of comedian Andy Zaltzman and the daughter of South African sculptor Zack Zaltzman. She is of Lithuanian-Jewish descent, and is an atheist.{{cite web|url=https://helenzaltzman.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/|title=Lies about love|publisher=Helen Zaltzman|accessdate=14 October 2015|author=Zaltzman, Helen}} She grew up in Tunbridge Wells and won a scholarship to Sevenoaks School, then studied English at St Catherine's College, Oxford.{{cite web |title=Catz Alum is Podcast Champion |date=4 June 2018 |url=https://www.stcatz.ox.ac.uk/catz-alum-is-podcast-champion |publisher=St Catherine’s College, Oxford |access-date=12 April 2024}} In April 2011, she married musician and physicist Martin Austwick after a nine-year relationship.{{cite news|url=http://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/28084897/sennockian-2010-11-sevenoaks-school|title=Alumni Review|work=Sennockian 2010 – 11 – Sevenoaks School|year=2011|accessdate=15 October 2015|location=Sevenoaks|page=118}} In April 2023, she confirmed that she and Austwick had relocated to Canada.