All things going to plan, you’ll see me telling jokes on this show. You can see the full line-up here and you can chip in some cash to the amazing work that Oxfam does here.
Adelaide’s Welcome Centre is an initiative of Welcome To Australia, an organisation dedicated to changing the conversation around Australia’s immigration policies and to providing support to asylum seekers, refugees and new arrivals.
My guests were Kate Leaney, the Centre’s manager, and Ali, an Iranian refugee who was kind enough to share his story of fleeing his homeland and coming to Australia by boat. We discussed the notion of being welcoming, faith, children in detention, fear and hope.
My Brisbane Festival blog for The Daily Review
#youarewelcomehere
The Welcome Centre on Facebook
Article: Turning Back The Boats Is A Moral And Legal Failure Say Academics
Article: Goodwill Letters To Asylum Seekers On Nauru Returned Unopened
Cause of the Week: Welcome To Australia (welcometoaustralia.org.au), @welcome2aussie

This is an interesting Buzzfeed list on LGBTI rights in Australia. Still a shitload of work to do, methinks.

I’m hosting this panel at the Wheeler Centre for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival on Monday March 30th.
Here’s the blurb:
Comedy aims to make us laugh, but it’s not all sweetness and light. Humour can be a way of taking control over the dark side of life: for the comedians who write the jokes and the audiences who relish them.
The ‘sad clown’ cliché is often true, with high-profile comics increasingly coming out of the closet about their struggles with mental health, partly due to an increased awareness and acceptance. Can seeing the world from a skewed or outsider perspective make humour easier, even if it makes life harder? When we joke about mental health, is there a line between catharsis, or boundary-pushing, and offence? Join host Tom Ballard, Lawrence Mooney and Sarah Kendall as they peek out from behind the red curtain to share their insights.

Click here to read my blog from the Brisbane Comedy Festival, featuring great fan feedback (see above), audio of confused Dutch people and shout-outs to late legends.
The one-and-only Arj Barker is hilarious on stage, but serious when it comes to reports and lore surrounding Unidentified Flying Objects. He told me about the cases and evidence that have influenced his thinking, the philosophy surrounding the idea of extra-terrestrials and the nature of belief.
We also covered his interest in meditation and his former life as a bit of a stoner.
Arj investigates UFOs for The 7PM Project
Jacques Vallée’s Passport To Magonia
President Jimmy Carter on his UFO experience
Cause of the Week: The RSPCA on the greyhound racing industry (rspcavic.org/)
Here’s the last one from Adelaide Fringe, featuring the above photo, audio of old people and a cute kitty.
Ahead of Gay Christmas, I wrote some little thoughts down on the internet.

For pedestrian – On X-Men & What Mardi Gras Means To Me

For junkee.com – 14 Pro Tips To Making The Most Of Mardi Gras
Happy Mardi Gras to us all. Remember you can watch me, Magda Szubanski and Patrick Abboud broadcasting the action from the parade on SBS ONE this Sunday night at 8:30pm.

Jimblah (aka James Alberts) is a producer, MC and vocalist based in Adelaide, SA. He hails from the Larrakia Nation and on his two albums to date, Face The Fire and Phoenix, he’s produced smart, self-aware, passionate and original music.
Our conversation covered his recent philosophical evolution and the focus for his new album, pervasive racist systems, Australia/Invasion/Survival Day, love, power and eating meat.
Jimblah performs “March” live on triple j
Article: Hip Hop A Poor Cop In A White Man’s World
Cause of the Week: The Hilltop Hoods Initiative (hilltophoods.com), AIME (aimementoring.com)