Mark Humphries is a comedian who regularly makes satirical sketches for the ABC’s 7:30 along with Evan Williams. He always makes me laugh and I’ve been lucky enough to become friends with him over the past few years.

Mark joined me via Zoom from deep in the heart of the ABC to discuss his politics, his (haphazard) journey into comedy (featuring some stories involving ME!!!), Mark Latham and the state of Australian right-wing media craziness and the limits of satirising it. We had a good ol’ giggle and we barely talked about coronavirus at all.

If you’ve got the means please support this show by becoming a Patron

Join the LIASYO Facebook group here please and thank you

Please support Alex Makes Meals if you can: he’s providing free meals for healthcare workers! What a cool guy! 

My discussion with Refugee Legal Executive Director David Manne about the challenges people seeking asylum face in COVID-19 – please support them at refugeelegal.org.au

@markhumphries

Mark’s twitter account about musical theatre is @MarksMusicals

Mark’s satire for 7:30

His sketch on The Greta Thunberg Helpline

Mark on The Roast

VIDEO: Bogan Train Trip Girl Australia

Cause of the Week: Multiple Sclerosis Research Australia (msra.org.au)

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Nick McKim is a Tasmanian senator and the co-deputy leader of The Australian Greens.

He joined me via Zoom (sorry) from Tasmania to discuss the Morrison government’s (sometimes okay but generally shitty) response to the COVID crisis, the neoliberal Labor Party, how this pandemic affects folks in immigration detention and the current Greens’ plebiscite on the election of the federal leader.

If you’ve got the means please support this show by becoming a Patron

Join the LIASYO Facebook group here please and thank you

If you’re a Greens member who supports the One Member One Vote model for leadership election, please consider adding your name to this open letter

@NickMcKim

Nick’s page on the Greens’ website

Join The Greens (if you like)

Information about the Greens’ leadership plebiscite

ARTICLE: The Greens are founded on the principle of grassroots democracy – the leadership vote should be no exception by Michael Berkman, Mehreen Faruqi, Tammy Franks, Tim Hollo & Scott Ludlam

ARTICLE: As former Greens leaders, we ask members not to shut the party room out of leadership votes by Bob Brown, Christine Milne & Richard Di Natale

ARTICLE: It’s out decision: electing the parliamentary leader by Dylan Griffiths

ARTICLE: So how much power does the leader of the Australian Greens actually have? by Jonathan Sri 

If you’re a Greens member who supports the One Member One Vote model for leadership election, please consider adding your name to this open letter

VIDEO: Why the Green New Deal matters

Causes of the Week: The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (asrc.org.au), The Unemployed Workers’ Union (unemployedworkersunion.com) 

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Tash Heenan and Anna Sturman are ecosocialist academics who are writing about and organising around the possibilities of a Green New Deal for Australia.

They both joined me via Zoom (I AM VERY SICK OF ZOOM) to lay out what their vision for a GND entails, its “four Ds” (decarbonisation, decolonisation, decommodification, democratisation), how much currency it had as a political idea prior to the current COVID crisis, the possibilities these new conditions could bring and the dangers of eco-fascism.

If you’ve got the means please support this show by becoming a Patron

Join the LIASYO Facebook group here please and thank you

I went on the Twink Revolution podcast with the darlings Gian & Sam

I also went and talked a bit of bullshit on Nazeem Hussain’s Survivor’s Guide to Coronavirus podcast

If you’re a Greens member who supports the One Member One Vote model for leadership election, please consider adding your name to this open letter

@tashellenheenan

@anna_sturman

Climate Justice Collective – @greennewdealau

climatejusticeaustralia.org

ARTICLE: Five Orientations To The Green New Deal by Tash & Anna

ARTICLE: Australia Needs A Green New Deal, Not More Centrism by Tash Heenan, Jon Piccini & Jeremy Poxon

ARTICLE: The Greens’ New Deal by Paddy Manning

ARTICLE: Capitalism is a virus by Jeff Sparrow

VIDEO: Why the Green New Deal matters

Cause of the Week: Sisters Inside (sistersinside.com.au)

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Caleb Bond is a 21-year-old political commentator who describes himself as “conservative with a splash of libertarianism”. He writes a regular opinion column for the Adelaide Advertiser and regularly appears on Sky News.

Caleb kindly gave me his time a few weeks ago when I was in town for the Adelaide Fringe (before the PLAGUE HIT US ALL AND LOCKED US IN OUR HOUSES). We had a wide-ranging discussion about his experience of being a young conservative giving his opinions in public, the politicisation of youth, the Opinion Industrial Complex, Newscorp, the idea that people naturally become more conservative as they get older, socialism, free markets, FREEDOM and his stance on drugs.

My show GRANDILOQUENT has been cancelled at the Brisbane and Melbourne Comedy Festivals: all tickets will be refunded in full 

The show’s season at the Belvoir Theatre in Sydney in June and at the 2020 Edinburgh Fringe Festival are also not going ahead

The live instalment of LIASYO with Andrew Denton at MICF has also been cancelled  

Join the LIASYO Facebook group here please and thank you

If you’ve got the means please support this show by becoming a Patron

I was on the latest episode of The Little Dum Dum Club

@TheCalebBond

cbond.com.au

ARTICLE: The Strange World of an Australian Conservative Political Commentator by Toby McCasker

Cause of the Week: Youth Insearch (youthinsearch.org.au)

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Gian and Sam host a great podcast called Twink Revolution, which they describe as “cultural and political commentary on current events from a homo-leftist viewpoint”.

They joined me from their isolated apartment in San Francisco to explain how they came to Marxism and queerness (via anarchism and libertarianism), the failures of identity politics, what happened to the Sanders campaign (and how sad we should feel about it) and what the COVID-19 pandemic could mean for the Left. It was all very interesting, very funny and very gay.

(Giant & Sam) 

My show GRANDILOQUENT has been cancelled at the Brisbane and Melbourne Comedy Festivals: all tickets will be refunded in full 

The show’s season at the Belvoir Theatre in Sydney in June and at the 2020 Edinburgh Fringe Festival are also not going ahead

The live instalment of LIASYO with Andrew Denton at MICF has also been cancelled  

Join the LIASYO Facebook group here please and thank you

If you’ve got the means please support this show by becoming a Patron

I was on the latest episode of The Little Dum Dum Club

@twinkrev

Sam’s twitter is @RevTwinkComrade

twinkrev.com

Twink Revolution’s YouTube page

Sam’s queer history of socialist nations (starting with the USSR), Gaylag Archipelago

The What’s Left? episode on Coronavirus and the Sanders campaign

The People’s Republic of Walmart by Leigh Phillips & Michal Rozworski

Cause of the Week: The SF Queer Nightlife Fund (sfqueernightlifefund.org)

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Hello! This week’s ep is a bit early: my plan is to (try) to start posting multiple episodes a week if possible. Let’s see how we go.

Sean Kelly is a writer who writes for a range of Australian publications. He’s a former adviser to Prime Ministers Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard.

I’ve always been a fan of Sean’s analysis and writing and was keen to get his thoughts on how COVID-19 is unfolding in Australia, particularly in terms of the Morrison government’s response. We take a look back at how the Coalition has tackled the crisis since January (sometimes okay but generally pretty bad!), why Sean thinks it’s vital we see the modelling the government is relying on, the possibilities of nationalisation, the threat of “disaster capitalism” and how the ALP has responded to this situation.

Please note that just after minutes we finished recording, the government announced the $130 billion JobKeeper economic package.

My show GRANDILOQUENT has been cancelled at the Brisbane and Melbourne Comedy Festivals: all tickets will be refunded in full 

The show’s season at the Belvoir Theatre in Sydney in June and at the 2020 Edinburgh Fringe Festival are, at this stage, still going ahead 

The live instalment of LIASYO with Andrew Denton at MICF has also been cancelled  

Join the LIASYO Facebook group here please and thank you

If you’ve got the means please support this show by becoming a Patron

@mrseankelly 

Sean’s writing for the Nine Fairfax papers

Sean’s writing for The Monthly

Sean’s writing for The Saturday Paper

ARTICLE: Morrison must give us more detail if we are to trust his judgment by Sean Kelly

ARTICLE: Scott Morrison’s efforts at hazard reduction by Sean Kelly

ARTICLE: After the Coronavirus, Australia and the world can never be the same again by Katharine Murphy

ARTICLE: Scott Morrison’s COVID-19 two-person rule explained from ABC News

ARTICLE: How each state will be enforcing the coronavirus two-person rule on gatherings from midnight from ABC News

Cause of the Week: The Indigenous Literacy Foundation (indigenousliteracyfoundation.org.au)

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Emerald Moon is a Brisbane-based Leftist activist and former candidate for the Australian Greens who’s passionate about climate action and renters’ rights. Emerald ran for the Greens in the safe Liberal seat of Bowman in 2019 and is currently working on the up-coming Brisbane local and Queensland state election.

Amid the insanity of COVID-19 (I hope you’re all okay!), I ask Emerald about how she arrived at her socialist politics, how the Queensland Greens are making real progress with socialist ideas and policies, the truly cooked housing situation in Australia and how we can have a revolution while also practising social distancing.

My show GRANDILOQUENT has been cancelled at the Brisbane and Melbourne Comedy Festivals: all tickets will be refunded in full 

The show’s season at the Belvoir Theatre in Sydney in June and at the 2020 Edinburgh Fringe Festival are, at this stage, still going ahead 

The live instalment of LIASYO with Andrew Denton at MICF has also been cancelled  

Join the LIASYO Facebook group here please and thank you

If you’ve got the means please support this show by becoming a Patron

I’m on the latest episode of The Bugle with Andy Zaltzman and Nish Kumar, many LAFFS about the virus

I was on the latest episode of The Little Dum Dum Club live in Adelaide in front of what is now an illegal-sized crowd

@emeraldxmoon

The Queensland Greens

classwarxxx.bandcamp.com

ARTICLE: The Politics of the Virus by Mick Armstrong

ARTICLE: Here’s a mad thought: let’s save the real things like, er, the people by Guy Rundle

ARTICLE: What I like about the Coronavirus by Slavoj Zizek

Cause of the Week: Australian Unemployed Workers Union (unemployedworkersunion.com)

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Welp. Gosh. Here we are, then. I hope you’re doing okay.

Amidst the chaos of the global Coronavirus pandemic, previous LIASYO guest Osman Faruqi joins me (via Skype) to reflect on what the hell is happening. Osman is a journalist is the editor of The 7am Podcast for Schwartz Media and has been tweeting and writing a lot about the unfolding situation.

Here Oz and I discuss the most egregious examples of capital exploiting this crisis and the insane contradictions about this economic system it exposes, the Australian government’s shitty response and how much needs to change in our society to make sure this kind of thing can never happen again.

It was a slightly depressing but very cathartic conversation and I hope it gives you some comfort and ferments your (justifiable) rage towards those in power in these wild times.

My show GRANDILOQUENT has been cancelled at the Brisbane and Melbourne Comedy Festivals: all tickets will be refunded in full 

The show’s season at the Belvoir Theatre in Sydney in June and at the 2020 Edinburgh Fringe Festival are, at this stage, still going ahead 

The live instalment of LIASYO with Andrew Denton at MICF has also been cancelled 🙁 

Join the LIASYO Facebook group here please and thank you

If you’ve got the means please support this show by becoming a Patron

@oz_f

7ampodcast.com.au

ilostmygig.net.au

ARTICLE: Should I keep my children home from school due to Coronavirus? (ABC) 

ARTICLE: Super-rich jet off to disaster bunkers amid Coronavirus outbreak by Rupert Neate

UNICEF’s Coronavirus Appeal

Cause of the Week: Support Act (supportact.org.au)

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