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Burn After Reading

Last updated: 3/21/2025

Burn After Reading

A joke that only works aurally, the Coen Brothers movie Burn After Reading was re-titled, er, Burn After Reading by Mark Kermode - with "Reading" being pronounced like the town in Berkshire, implying that, were one on a train heading west from London, conflagration would occur somewhere around the Didcot Parkway area.

During Mark's setup explanation, Simon got bored and said "cut to the chase" - only for Mark to explain that that was precisely the point; there was no chase to cut to.

One listener said that, based on the trailer, they thought Beverly Hills Chihooahooa (another aural gag that doesn't really work written down) was the better film, because at least that did exactly what it said on the tin.

The review of the film also revealed Mark's dislike of The Big Lebowski, which triggered a wave of appalled listener correspondence.