Author Archives: Tom

37 – Aamer Rahman

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Comedian, writer and activist Aamer Rahman jokes about race and detention centres and terrorism and hip-hop and comic books and cultural appropriation. Formerly of the comedy duo Fear Of A Brown Planet (with previous guest Nazeem Hussain), he now tours his stand-up internationally being very funny and very on-point.

Here Aamer articulates how the Adam Goodes controversy sums up the issues of Australia’s race problem, how he views the impact of his work, cultural appropriation, Iggy Azalea, ethnic faces on TV, Bill Maher, Cornel West and political correctness in comedy.

My gigs at the Comics’ Lounge this week

MyTunes with me and Darren Hanlon at Giant Dwarf Theatre

The A to Z of LGBT: my piece for SBS Sexuality

@aamer_rahman

Article: What Adam Goodes’ Invisible Spear Shows Us by Aamer Rahman

Aamer’s Reverse Racism routine

Buzzfeed article on Aamer and the Bollywood Industry Party

Aamer & Cornel West in Q&A

Cause of the Week: Refugees, Survivors & Ex-Detainees (riserefugee.org)

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The A to Z of LGBT

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I wrote a piece for SBS Sexuality on the LGBT alphabet soup.

…the slightly-less-exhilarating option that emerged around the same time is the acronym “LGBT” (“Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender”), or its now slightly unwieldy descendent, “LGBTQQIPAA” (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer Questioning Intersex Pansexual Asexual Ally).

Heck, if you’re feeling particularly inclusive, why not whack a “2S” (“Two Spirits”) in there to acknowledge the tradition of some indigenous peoples that considers sexual minorities to possess both male and female spirits?

But then what about the Kink community? And Swingers? And Polyamorous People? And Bears? And Twinks? And Rice Queens? And Butches? And Femmes? And Nudists?

And Parents, who should really be in a completely different sexual class of their own so we don’t have to think about them touching each other?

I normally love a mouthful, but “LGBTQQIPAA2SKSPPBTRQBFNP” might be bordering on excessive.

Read the whole thing here.

36 – Out of Canberra w/ Alice Workman, Sam Dastyari & Prof. James Arvanitakis

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Here’s a live panel on where the jolly hell Australian politics is heading at the moment, recorded at This Is Not Art 2015 in Newcastle, as part of Critical Animals. The panel featured myself, Labor Senator Sam Dastyari and academic Professor James Arvanitakis and was moderated by Alice Workman from triple j‘s Hack program.

We discussed political leadership, immigration, marriage equality and titles.

Critical Animals is a creative research symposium held annually as a part of tINA; find out more at criticalanimals.com.

My episode of Q&A in Toowoomba 

First Tuesday Comedy Club

MyTunes with Darren Hanlon

The National Young Writers’ Festival

triple j’s Hack

Senator Sam Dastyari

Professor James Arvanitakis

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MyTunes

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In this great new series from Giant Dwarf theatre, music nerdlings get to sit down with their musical heroes and gush their love for them and request them to play their favourite songs and gush some more, all in front of a live audience.

On Wednesday November 18th, I’ll be sitting down with the master of twee wordplay himself, Darren “Dazza Hazza” Hanlon.

I’m so excited for this and hope that if you’re a Hanlonian like me, you’ll be able to make it. Tickets are on sale here and do get in quick: the first instalment with Zan Rowe and Paul Dempsey completely sold out.

 

Q&A live from Toowoomba

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On Monday night I hosted Q&A live from Toowoomba in Queensland. I was joined on the panel by Rural Health Minister Fiona Nash, Shadow Agriculture Minister Joel Fitzgibbon, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Southern Queensland Jan Thomas, Mayor of Toowomba Paul Antonio and singer-songwriter Katie Noonan.

Things got pretty PASSIONATE as we covered everything from CSG extraction, resettling refugees in rural areas, medical marijuana, obesity and daylight savings.

You can watch back the whole thing here if you like.

Walk Together 2015

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I believe in all of those things and am happy to be saying welcome at the Melbourne Walk Together on Saturday October 31st.

There are walks happening all over the country; find out if there’s one near you here.

 

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35 – Senator Sarah Hanson-Young

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At just 33, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young already has eight years of experience serving as a Greens Senator for South Australia in the federal parliament. Once a protégé of Bob Brown’s, Sarah now holds the portfolios of Immigration & Citizenship, LGBTI rights and Youth, Early Childhood Education & Childcare for the Greens.

In this chat, recorded just before Sarah took to the stage at a Rally for Refugees in Melbourne, we discuss the future of her party, her path from student politician to youthful senate candidate, the 2009 CTRS decision, party donations and the horrible shit she’s seen in her visits to offshore detention centres.

The Sydney Just For Laughs Stand Up Series

Danny Bhoy at the State Theatre In Sydney

@sarahinthesen8

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Article: Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young partied at Mardis Gras with taxpayer money

Sarah on The Chaser’s The Hamster Decides

Cause of the Week: Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (asrc.org.au), No Business In Abuse (nobusinessinabuse.org)

 

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