Podcast Summary: Hoy por Hoy — "Las bromas, a veces, salen caras"

Date: September 29, 2025
Host: Àngels Barceló
Main Guests/Collaborators: Pablo Ortiz de Zárate, Sergio Castro, Teresa Truchado, various collaborators
Length of content covered: 00:02–06:56

Overview of the Episode

This lively episode of Hoy por Hoy playfully dissects the consequences of office jokes, highlighting how a well-intentioned prank about art became a real on-air topic by mistake. The team reflects on their mishap with humor and honesty, using the incident to discuss broader themes: workplace communication, trust in routines, and the importance of critical thinking—even in seemingly trivial settings. The segment closes with a fascinating bite of art history from Pablo Ortiz de Zárate about Goya’s witch paintings, urging listeners to look beyond surface explanations and resist the allure of easy beliefs.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Office Jokes Gone Wrong: The Pizarra Incident

• The episode’s central story revolves around a recurring inside joke: playful, sometimes nonsensical topics added to the newsroom whiteboard (la pizarra) that guides show planning.
  • Pablo Ortiz de Zárate starts by quoting a famous song, setting a slightly dramatic mood. (00:20)
  • Collaborators admit to occasionally writing humorous, invented topics on the board—such as “Picasso es más azul que rosa” or “Goya y el sexo”—which usually never leave the newsroom. (01:19)
  • This week, however, a joke listing ‘los cuadros más redondos del arte’ (“the roundest paintings in art”) appeared plausible enough that it accidentally made it into the show’s morning promo and rundown. (01:56)

2. How the Mistake Played Out

• Teresa Truchado confesses that she presented the gag topic as fact on air, completely convinced by what she saw on the pizarra. (02:03)
  • “Que me perdone todo el mundo, sobre todo Pablo Ortiz de Zárate, porque esta mañana yo he dicho tranquilamente que vamos a hablar de los cuadros más redondos, más perfectos del mundo del arte. Y me he quedado claro, ancha como yo sola.” (02:03)
• Several voices chime in, recalling the chain of assumptions and misplaced confidence in the sacredness of the newsroom’s whiteboard—“el DNI de este programa”. (02:55)
• Team members negotiate blame candidly and humorously:
  • “Con la pizarra no se juega, ¿verdad?” (Àngels Barceló, 02:54)
  • “Es que con la pizarra yo entiendo que no se puede jugar porque es el DNI de este programa.” (Colaborador 3, 02:55)

3. Reflection, Solutions, and Running Jokes

• Suggestions abound about verifying topics in the future (“triple check”, call the source before airing), revealing both embarrassment and camaraderie.
• The group jokes that even genuine topics are now suspect, such as “el Murillo de Pink Floyd” (a mashup of Spanish painter Murillo and the band Pink Floyd) that is obviously a fabrication. (04:07)
• A sense that “la niña sufre”—the person who accidentally airs a joke topic feels the brunt of the embarrassment, adding a human touch to the mishap. (03:55)

4. Art History Interlude: Goya and The Witches

• To wrap, Pablo Ortiz de Zárate brings content about Goya’s series of witchcraft paintings, highlighting along with an art expert how myths and misinformation can endure for centuries.
  • Key interpretation: The famous painting El aquelarre shows a demonic figure and women offering babies—reflecting period beliefs about witchcraft.
    “El bulo es lo fácil. Tú te puedes creer lo que quieras porque es más sencillo, la verdad, es mucho más complicado. Y es exactamente lo que pasa hoy. ¿Queréis ser estas señoras ignorantes que ofrecen sacrificios al líder que te controla o queréis ser un poco más inteligentes?” (Art expert, 05:01)
• The anecdote connects history and the morning’s events: we often accept attractive simple explanations (like a pizarra topic) instead of questioning further.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [02:03] Teresa Truchado:
  “Que me perdone todo el mundo, sobre todo Pablo Ortiz de Zárate, porque esta mañana yo he dicho tranquilamente que vamos a hablar de los cuadros más redondos, más perfectos del mundo del arte. Y me he quedado claro, ancha como yo sola.”

• [02:54] Àngels Barceló:
  “Con la pizarra no se juega, ¿verdad?”

• [02:55] Colaborador 3:
  “Es que con la pizarra yo entiendo que no se puede jugar porque es el DNI de este programa.”

• [03:55] Teresa Truchado & Colaboradora 1:
  “Que la niña sufre.”
  “Yo sufro mucho.”

• [05:01] Art Expert (sobre el cuadro de Goya):
  “El bulo es lo fácil. Tú te puedes creer lo que quieras porque es más sencillo, la verdad, es mucho más complicado. Y es exactamente lo que pasa hoy. ¿Queréis ser estas señoras ignorantes que ofrecen sacrificios al líder que te controla o queréis ser un poco más inteligentes?”

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:20–01:19 — Discussion of the prank/joke topics on the pizarra
• 01:56–03:42 — Discovery and fallout from the mistake (accidental on-air mention)
• 03:54–04:07 — The team discusses how to avoid future mishaps, with jokes and self-deprecation
• 04:14–05:55 — Goya’s witches: myth, art, and the human tendency toward easy explanations
• 06:19 onward — Musical and closing segment (content not summarized)

Tone & Atmosphere

• Playful, self-deprecating, and honest: The team mocks itself for the blunder while using it as a lesson about double-checking sources and never taking work routines for granted.
• Warm camaraderie: Mistakes are acknowledged in good humor and serve as fodder for affectionate teasing rather than blame.
• Didactic reflection: The episode’s art history closer subtly turns the story into a cautionary tale about critical thinking, both in journalism and in life.

Summary

This Hoy por Hoy episode is a masterclass in how mishaps can foster learning, laughter, and meaningful reflection. A joke about “the roundest paintings” escapes the newsroom and becomes the day’s story, leaving hosts and collaborators to untangle how trust and routine sometimes replace critical inquiry. Their playful debrief becomes serious when connected to a lesson drawn from Goya’s paintings: the dangers of believing the easy story over the complex truth. The show ends with a call for vigilance—whether reading a whiteboard or interpreting art—reminding listeners that, in life as in art, critical thinking is essential.