I come from the Translation/Observatory/CAA school of branded entertainment >>> ads. When I arrived at Audible’s UK office, I started creating show pitch decks and sharing them with anyone who would listen. And why wouldn’t I? Audible brings customers the most beloved stories ever. There’s endless fodder for us to create actual entertainment with.

My first such opportunity was Audible Booksmart. The team was already on the hunt for a better way to do the usual roundtable interview content. Why not do so in the form of Britain’s favorite genre of programming: A panel of comedians doing a thing. The premise is this: a bunch of comedians get together to compete in a gameshow about a featured book. The catch? One or more of the comedians have been explicitly told NOT to listen to the book in advance. The host then has to sniff out who listened and who is BS’ing. It’s Traitors meets Jeopardy meets Audible.