The Europeans

Paris, France — Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer are part of the much maligned community of expatriate-Brits living on mainland Europe. A reporter in Paris and an opera singer in Amsterdam, they thought that it was time we started talking about Europe through the lens of something other than Brexit. And it seems there is an appetite for it.

Five episodes in, their podcast The Europeans is already gathering fans from Germany to Sweden -- and, of course, back at home in the UK.

If you’re looking for a dry interview with an EU commissioner you should probably go elsewhere.

This podcast doesn’t take itself too seriously. The concept is pretty simple: Katy and Dominic call up interesting people around Europe -- friends, colleagues and complete strangers -- to talk about what’s been going on where they are, be it art, music, politics, or food.

They end every episode with an uplifting story from somewhere around the continent, in the much beloved segment known as Dominic’s Happy Ending (innuendo very much intended).

This week, they talk about the unexpected comeback of Luxembourgish, an officially endangered language, and ask why a baby born in Bulgaria will have a much shorter life expectancy than one in Spain.

They’ve already interviewed a load of interesting people around Europe including Dutch author Anousha Nzume, host of the hit podcast Dipsaus for Dutch women of colour; gay travel supremos Couple Of Men; and Politico’s Man About Brussels Ryan Heath.

They’ve covered everything from French pop to “festive” blackface in the Netherlands, racial diversity in Brussels to kebabs.

“Our idea is for a show that sounds like you’re in a room full of the cool European friends you never knew you had,” says Katy, who is France correspondent for AFP news agency, based in Paris.

“People said we couldn’t make a half-hour podcast about Europe sound like anything less than torture, but we’ve managed to make something that is genuinely fun to listen to.

“Dominic and I have been friends for more than a decade and that comes across in the way that we host the show. We’re serious when we need to be, but the rest of the time we just take the piss out of each other.”

“We noticed that people don’t often think about stories in a European context,” says Dominic, a baritone singer who works across the continent and is a regular at the Dutch National Opera.

“I’m not a real-life journalist, but I’m a certified news-addict who likes talking and who likes Katy and that seems to lead to some nice things for people to consume in their ears.

“By looking at things across the continent, we try to put things in perspective and strengthen the community. This podcast makes the world a better place ;-).”

Katy Lee is a correspondent with international news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP). She lives in Paris and covers French news with a beady eye on the rest of Europe. Over the last few years she’s reported from Greece on the refugee crisis, as well as from Spain, Turkey and a bunch of other places. She grew up in Southend-on-Sea, an English town which prides itself on being host to the longest pleasure pier in the world. She used to live in Hong Kong and spends a lot of her time in Chinese restaurants pretending she never left.

Dominic Kraemer is an opera singer and part-time political junkie living in the tourist-hating city of Amsterdam. He was born in London in the late 1980s, delivered by a local midwife who was the mother of original UK Big Brother contestant, Melanie Hill. His singing takes him across Europe with recent stints in Munich, Aix-en-Provence, Bergen, Gent and London He is definitely not qualified to talk to you about Europe but his great-grandfather did invent the pips that you hear on the radio before the news.*

*He recently discovered that this may have been an urban legend within the family. We will keep you posted with any developments.