Joanne McNally Investigates (Various Seasons)
4.8/5
Critic Rating
Joanne McNally is back on the investigative trail…. and with the Avril / Melissa theory no longer giving her sleepless nights, she’s keen to find a new story to get her teeth into. Top of her list, after some deliberation is a story from the late 90’s… about a soft toy, the Furby, which took over the world and became the no.1 gift for Christmas. But Joanne has found headlines that claim the toy was banned, suspected of being a spy, linked to international espionage… there couldn’t be any truth to it… could there?
Critic Reviews
Score: 5
Alexi Duggins • The Guardian • Sep 12, 2024
"(Series: Furby's) The latest fun, self-aware “investigation” from the comic sees her calling up aviation authorities and heading to the house of a Furby collector who dries their skins on her washing line. An enjoyably daft yarn."
Score: 5
Fiona Sturges • Financial Times • Sep 8, 2024
"(Series: Furbys) the tone of Joanne McNally Investigates is light and funny, even though it is underpinned by real anxieties about surveillance culture. The series leans heavily on the charisma of its host who, as she warns us at the start, “swears like a soldier” and finds just the right balance of curiosity, scepticism and gags. The aim may be to confirm something we already know, but it’s an enjoyable ride nonetheless. …"
Score: 5
Lauren Passell • Podcast The Newsletter • Aug 5, 2024
"...silly things taken with the utmost seriousness...host Joanne McNally explores all of these things with the vigor of a spy on a mission to save the human race. Seriously, every angle is dug into and tested. "
Score: 4
Gregg Stockdale • The Podcast Geek • Jun 9, 2024
"One popular conspiracy theory is the "celebrity replacement". In this (possibly) newest iteration, Joanne McNally searches for Who Replaced Avril Lavigne?"
Score: 4
Jenny McCartney • The Spectator • Mar 16, 2024
"Although the nonsense of the premise soon wears thin, even in jest, what emerges is a kind of wandering satire on what can happen to a brain long steeped in the internet, with disorienting glimpses of the energetic logic that can weave itself around great gaps in common sense. …"
Score: 4.8
Miranda Sawyer • The Guardian • Mar 16, 2024
"...an airy, almost weightless new podcast...McNally does her darnedest to serve the jollies, charming her way through vox pops...Initially, I found the constant diversions a little trying, but that’s because I thought this was an investigative show. It’s not. It’s a comedy one."
Score: 5
Lucy White • Irish Independent • Mar 16, 2024
"Anyone looking for a forensic investigation should cover their ears as McNally’s scattergun approach is but a vehicle for her quirky comedy. Just as conspiracy theories fall down rabbit holes, so too does McNally..."
Score: 5
Stephen O. • Podcast Delivery • Mar 11, 2024
"...anything but ordinary...is sure to amuse and fascinate anyone intrigued by pop culture's wilder theories and anyone who grew up in the early oughts."
Score: 5
Hollie Richardson • The Guardian • Mar 7, 2024
"She’s not even a Lavigne fan, which only adds to the hilarity of her Stacey Dooley-like ambitions."
