Dan Ilic is a political satirist who employs what he calls “evidence-based shit-stirring”. He loves taking the piss in all sorts of media; his sensibilities can be found in The Ronnie Johns Half-Hour, Can of Worms, The Mansion, Hungry Beast, his ads for GetUp!, his labour of love satire collective A Rational Fear and more recently his work for Al Jazeera’s AJ+.
In this chat (recorded in a very SPECIAL LOCATION featuring a SPECIAL CAMEO), Dan and I reflect on the furore surrounding Q&A and discuss his amazing family story, how his “inner rage” fuels him to do what he does, the saga surrounding his piece (that was originally titled) Beaconsfield: A Musical In A Flat Minor, why he recently got fired and where he sees Australian political satire going in the future.
My show at the 2015 Phoenix Fringe in London
Taxis & Rainbows & Hatred at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2015
Article: ABC cowers in the face of Q&A fallout by Jonathan Holmes
Article: Democracy means even a jerk get a say by Annabel Crabb
The Saturday Paper Editorial: Furore over ABC's Q&A mishandled
Article: Arrogant ABC's left bias lets down taxpayers by Janet Albrechtsen ($)
Sketch: Where the bloody hell are you?
Sketch: David Hicks on MTV’s Cribs
Sketch: The National Muslim Hotline
Sketch: Corby’s Political Fix-O-Kit
Bad Ground: Inside The Beaconsfield Rescue by Tony Wright
Media reaction to Beaconsfield: The Musical
Cause of the Week: Sanfilippo Children's Foundation (sanfilippo.org.au)
Waleed Aly (aka Nazeem Hussain) is a politics lecturer, columnist, author, radio broadcaster and co-host on Channel Ten's The Project.
Waleed has an extraordinary reputation for making considered and insightful contributions to public debate. We discussed how he's finding the world of commercial television, how the act of writing informs his ideas, the political philosophy of conservatism (what it is and what it isn't), marriage equality, Middle Eastern politics and why ISIS' appeal to young Muslim people in the West might be working.
At one point I hit the mic with my hand and at another point a chair collapses.
Q&A: Between A Frock And A Hard Place
Waleed Aly's writing for Fairfax
Daily Mail Article on Waleed's on-air joke
Waleed's editorial: How Chan and Sukumaran of the Bali 9 Were Let Down
Waleed's editorial: Australia's Renewable Energy Target Failure
Bill Maher's monologue on political correctness
What's Right? The Future of Conservatism in Australia by Waleed Aly
Q&A episode featuring Zaky Mallah
Cause of the Week: Possible Dreams International (possibledreams.org)
This week - something a bit different.
I am a very big fan of former Bluejuice frontman, comedian and broadcaster Jake Stone and feel very lucky indeed to count him as a friend. I think he's extremely funny and creative but also has a darkness and a brutal honesty to him that I find fascinating.
This chat - recorded back in January of this year - covers Jake's career with Bluejuice, the band's philosophy, the state of today's music industry, the major break-up in his life that inspired him so much and stilll haunts him, mental health issues and the experiecne of writing a good pop song.
Jake even kindly gave me a special little musical treat, just for this podcast: his cover of How Will I Know?. Enjoy!
My upcoming dates on the MICF Roadshow
ABC's Q&A Special: Between A Frock And A Hard Place (hosted by me)
Cause of the Week: Music NSW (musicnsw.com)
Newsreader, journalist, writer and philanthropist Tracey Spicer doesn't tolerate make-up, God, prudishness or sexism in the workplace. She rips through bullshit with a smile and had stories to burn from her time studying, working in the trenches at Channel Ten and Sky News and her colourful personal life.
Tracey told me about how liberating it is to shake off the image of the "perfect" newsreader, how Joh Bjelke-Petersen inspired her to become a journalist, the issue of bias in journalism, her work as an ambassador for World Vision and the time she almost killed her mum.
My upcoming dates on the MICF Roadshow
Q&A's forthcoming special panel on Between A Frock And A Hard Place
Tracey on the ABC's Confession Booth podcast
Daily Mail Article: Tracey Spicer's VERY spicy confessions
Article: What If We Admitted To Children That Sex Is Primarily About Pleasure? by Alice Dreger
Article: I'm Sorry I Didn't Kill You, Mum
The Lady Stripped Bare: A TED Talk by Tracey Spicer
Cause of the Week: Dying With Dignity (dwdv.org.au)
Nic Holas is a moustached writer and advocate living with HIV. He's written for Junkee, Hello Mr., Star Observer, Cosmopolitan and others, he's appeared on the ABC's Q&A and he's co-founded a social media umbrella for positive people.
He's fearless, frank and funny and I love him for it. In this chat Nic shared his story about becoming positive and we discussed the ins and outs of what HIV is, the spectre of the 80s epidemic, shame, sex education, the problem with condoms, same-sex marriage and wolf-daddies.
My upcoming dates on the MICF Roadshow
Photo Opp with Julia Gillard at Giant Dwarf Theatre
Holding The Man by Tim Conigrave
Article: How Do We Solve A Problem Like Condoms
Cause of the Week: The Institute of Many (theinstituteofmany.org.au)