Michael Cogan

"I looked at all the leaders around the table, and I asked, ‘is everyone at this table willing to put a 200% secondary tariff on China?’ And you know what? Everybody suddenly wanted to see what kind of shoes they were wearing.”

EU leaders want to armchair quarterback Trump's meeting tomorrow with Vladimir Putin to prevent him from making an agreement "behind our backs," while they're unwilling to actually take the steps themselves with regards to Russia.

They will continue to buy Russian energy indirectly through China and India while expecting the US to continue doing all of the heavy lifting on our own.

☕️ SLEDGE HAMMER ☙ Thursday, August 14, 2025 ☙ C&C NEWS 🦠 Sandwich hurler charged in DC crime crackdown; Bondi-Patel RussiaGate drops roll on; Luna teases Biblical aliens on Rogan; Trump meeting rattles Europe; DC court lifts final DOGE block; more.

"So let’s put a bow on it. This week, Harvard gave us the full syllabus of civilizational rot: a tenured professor of honesty caught falsifying honesty data; a morgue manager shipping faces and hands to gothic craft stores; and now, a planet whose oceans are going dark from lack of sunlight — possibly from geoengineering experiments cooked up by the same technocratic priesthood that once taught ethics from behind ivy-covered walls."

open.substack.com

Continuing our 'Mummy' season, we are working on Bram Stoker's classic mummy tale 'Jewel of Seven Stars'; a novel adapted into 3 episodes by Arnold Schmidt and Julia Warren.

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Barrister Malcolm is awoken during the night by an urgent message - he arrives at the house of archaeologist Trelawney to begin a journey of creeping terror and stunning discoveries...

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Adventure, mystery, and ancient magic, coming soon!

​I will be appearing as Professor Trelawney, who is as far removed from the flighty hypochondriac Professor Mondragon in "The Mummy" as is humanly possible.

Thrills and chills as only Bram Stoker could provide.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/30eXYYijkXqzV6zx68UwIe?si=5b1aa808c1984860

Finally here!!! Only flaw is the pronunciation of my name as 'Michael Coggan'.

"The Mummy; or, The Elixir of Life" Tales from the Penny Bloods: Stories of Victorian Britain · Episode

Premieres April 4th 6pm PST

I play Professor Augustus Mondragon, who hopes to marry off his daughter to obtain an Egyptian mummy to complete his collection. His wife, his daughter and her beloved have other ideas. Hilarity ensues.

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About The Penny Bloods
Tales from the Penny Bloods presents a series of audio shows done in the tradition of "old time radio plays." These include adaptions of stories from prestigious Victorian gift annuals like the Keepsake and Forget-Me-Not, and from popular magazines like Charles Dickens's All the Year Round and Household Words.

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Along the way, of course, our programs will also feature stories from the so-called "Penny Bloods" or "Penny Dreadfuls," (think G. W. M. Reynolds's Mysteries of London), bringing you thrilling tales in which London's high society meets the city's underworld.

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Our episodes will entertain you with adventures and romances, ghosts and criminals, with a dash of comedy thrown in.

THE

PENNY BLOODS
PODCAST

Latest Episodes
The Haunted Cow

(as heard on KCBP-FM Radio Theatre)



The Haunted Cow, written and directed by Arnold A. Schmidt.



It's 1826, and Captain Lambert is sailing his stately frigate, complete with cow, across the Caribbean. All is at peace - until some unexpected guests turn up, strange things start happening and Abigail the Cow is .... haunted?



Pirates, ghosts and no milk - what is going on?

Tune in to our Spotify and Youtube channels to find out!

Listen
Leonardo_Diffusion_XL_A_dimly_lit_students_room_at_Oxford_Univ_0.jpg

New Episode
Lot 249

(as heard on KCBP-FM Radio Theatre)



Arthur Conan Doyle's Lot 249, adapted and directed by Julia Warren.



It's 1884, and Abercrombie Smith is studying medicine in his rooms at Oxford when he is called to assist his neighbour and fellow student, Bellingham, who has fainted from shock. Smith can't help noticing how Bellingham's room is filled with ancient artefacts, including the sarcophagus of an Egyptian mummy.



Strange things start to happen and Smith is soon on the track of a very mysterious felon of the night...



Egyptologists, mummies, magic and mystery combine in this early tale of the weird and wonderful - can Abercrombie Smith uncover the unseen assassin?

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Tune in to our Spotify and Youtube channels to find out!

Listen
Tales from the Penny Bloods is a series of

radio plays based on stories from popular

19th-century magazines. We hope you'll enjoy these tales of crime & the supernatural, romance

& adventure, with a few laughs along the way.

​

Teachers: you'll also find original texts,

notes, vocabulary, & lesson plans.

I must hurry for my next copy of the Penny Bloods.png

Upcoming episodes
We are currently working on an exciting new episode, continuing our 'Mummy' season with a fun-packed farce by Arnold Schmidt, based on a comic play by William Bayle Bernard from 1833 : The Elixir of Life.

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Professor Augustus Mondragon is an avid collector of antiquities - including Egyptian mummies! The prize of his collection is a sarcophagus - alas, it is empty! But Sir Charles has a mummy to spare - and so does Captain Bantam. What's more, there is an elixir that will bring the mummy back to life.

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Capers and chaos, drunken mummies, with a touch of romance in this vaudevillean comedy, coming soon!

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Earlier
Episodes
Catch up on all the earlier episodes here...

​

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talesfromthepennybloods | mysteries talesfromthePennyBloods is a series of radio plays based on stories from popular 19th-century magazines. We hope you'll enjoy these tales of crime & the supernatural, romance & adventure, with a few laughs along the way. Teachers: you'll also find original texts, notes, vocabulary, & lesson plans.

A Table Read is much more than simply the initial read-through of a script after initial casting. The Table Read gives creators an eyes-and-ears-on opportunity to gauge and refine their creation in real time; it also results in a tangible product to show to producers, networks or investors.
Looking forward to helping get "Friends and Family Plan" up and running!
I am delighted to be creating the role of Cecil, the rather dipsy father of the hero Alex in a comedy of mistaken identities and the bonds of family.

Delighted to be cast as Professor Augustus Mondragon in “The Mummy, or The Elixir of Life”, a comedy from 1833 retold by the creative director of The Penny Bloods podcast, which specializes in dramatizing Victorian-era “Penny Dreadfuls”, which were serialized novels usually dealing with gory crimes or the occult.
Had a very enjoyable first read-through with the director and cast last week, and we begin recording later this week.
Excited to be participating in this trans-Atlantic endeavor (Albert the director and I are here on the west coast, and EVERYONE else is in the UK—no pressure being the only Yank in the six member cast).

By Mouth Productions releases the first of two Eugene O'Neill works, THE EMPEROR JONES

Watch it on YouTube, Rumble, or at

By Mouth

Delighted to be cast in By Mouth's upcoming production of "The Iceman Cometh" by Eugene O'Neill.
Check out their outstanding catalogue of dramatizations of the works of Joseph Conrad and Ayn Rand.

By Mouth The streaming of sound--on our phones, tablets and computers--has changed how we experience audio drama. No longer must we “tune in” at a