That's Not for Me to Say (with Munya Chawawa)
5/28/202635 min
Fresh from a trip to America, Munya Chawawa joins Armando to discuss the political art of saying nothing.
Munya recently looked at the parallels between Trump and Wrestling, and talks about how the language and theatre of WWE has inspired Trump's political style.
They then turn to Andy Burnham's tightrope walk, and his desire to be clear and direct, whilst also avoiding the elephant in the room - what effect does that have on his language?
Danny Kruger's defence of Reform's candidate also reveals some tricks of the political language trade, and we ask - can politicians engage on social media without being cringe?
Got a strong message for Armando? Email us at strongmessagehere@bbc.co.uk
A full list of candidates running in the Makerfield by-election is as follows
Jake Austin - Liberal Democrats Count Binface - Count Binface Party Andy Burnham - The Labour Party Dan Clarke - The Libertarian Party John Dyer - Independent Ed Gemmell - Climate Party Paul Gould - Independent Alan 'Howlin' Laud Hope - The Official Monster Raving Loony Party Robert Kenyon - Reform UK Robert Pownall - Independent Rebecca Shepherd - Restore Britain Sarah Wakefield - Green Party Peter Ward - Rejoin EU Michael Winstanley - The Conservative Party
Sound editing: Rich Evans
Production Coordinator: Giulia Mazzu
Executive Producer: Richard Morris
Recorded at the Sound Company
Produced by Gwyn Rhys Davies. A BBC Studios production for Radio 4.
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsMunya Chawawa· Guest0:00
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Speaker 20:41
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Armando Iannucci· Host0:45
[upbeat music] Hello, and welcome to Strong Message here from BBC Radio 4, a guide to the use and abuse of political language. I'm Armando Iannucci. I'm joined this week by comedian Munya Chawawa. Hello.
Munya Chawawa· Guest1:01
Armando.
Armando Iannucci· Host1:02
How are you?
Munya Chawawa· Guest1:02
This is crazy for me, by the way.
Armando Iannucci· Host1:04
Why?
Munya Chawawa· Guest1:04
Because inadvertently, you kind of were like a catalyst to my satirical journey because you retweeted one of my videos in lockdown.
Armando Iannucci· Host1:14
Yes.
Munya Chawawa· Guest1:14
[laughs] And I messaged you, and I thought- Yeah ... there's no way he's gonna reply.
Armando Iannucci· Host1:17
No.
Munya Chawawa· Guest1:17
And you said, "Keep going, kid."
Armando Iannucci· Host1:19
Yeah.
Munya Chawawa· Guest1:19
[laughs] And that's the accent I read it in.
Armando Iannucci· Host1:21
Really?
Munya Chawawa· Guest1:21
And, uh- Did you genuinely think I talk like that? Yeah, yeah. Like, um- Like a kind of Tom Hanks figure kind of with- Yeah, with a Robert De Niro-esque figure- Yes.
Armando Iannucci· Host1:27
[laughs] Yeah ...
Munya Chawawa· Guest1:27
in the back of my brain. So- Well, that's good ... thank you for that, by