After another bit of a delay and SOME JOLLY CRAZY HAPPENINGS in Australian politics, we’re back. Hello.

Erik Jensen is the definition of “precocious”. He’s in his mid-twenties and he’s already won a Walkley Award and he’s responsible for the launch and editing the highly-respected Saturday Paper – a weekly, centrist newspaper dedicated to long-form narrative journalism.

Plus he’s written a critically-acclaimed biography of artist Adam Cullen, he likes cool music and is very funny. What an arsehole.

In this chat Erik tells me about his beginnings in and passion for journalism, the over-arching philosophy behind TSP, the media and bias, the Abbott government’s “paucity of ideas”, leaks and opinion polls and just where things might go with Malcolm Turnbull as our new Prime Minister.

My upcoming stand-up gigs

My blog on Just For Laughs & Edinburgh Festival Fringe

@erikojensen

@satpaper

TSP Editorial: Kicking The Abbott

TSP Editorial: Close Nauru

TSP Editorial: Dutton For Punishment

Cause of the Week: The Refugee & Immigration Legal Centre (rilc.org.au)

Direct download         iTunes          libsyn

Again, apologies for the delay, everyone. It’s been a while, but I’m back with a doozy of an episode.

Philip “Dr. Death” Nitschke has been the face of the controversial right-to-die debate in Australia for almost 20 years. He is the founder and director of the pro-euthanasia group Exit International and author of The Peaceful Pill Handbook – a book describing ways to commit suicide that has been banned in Australia.

I’ve always been fascinated by Philip’s arguments and his tenacity in presenting them. When I heard he was performing a one-man comedy show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival about his life and various suicide techniques, I had to find out more and jumped at the chance to sit down with him.

Here Philip explains how he came to be performing this show, how he got involved in the euthanasia debate to begin with, his personal approach to death, his response to all the objections, censorship, the failings of modern medicine, “rational suicide”, what it’s like to help someone die and where he sees the debate going next.

My show Taxis & Rainbows & Hatred at the Soho Theatre

@philipnitschke

Dicing With Dr. Death reviewed in the Telegraph, on TV Bomb

Trailer for The Last Cab To Darwin

Article: The Death Treatment for The New Yorker

Article: Don’t Get Sucked In By Philip Nitschke by Chris Ilsey

Article: Philip Nitschke’s Edinburgh Fringe show visited by police

Article: Euthanasia will fight devastates son

The Peaceful Pill Handbook on wikipedia

Causes of the Week: Exit International (exitinternational.net), Voluntary Euthanasia Party (vep.org.au), Big Life Foundation (biglife.org)

Direct download        iTunes        libsyn

Hello! I’m back! Sorry about the wait for a new episode. I’m in Scotland, so let’s talk to a Scot.

Kieran Hurley is a playwright and poet based in Glasgow. His work touches on the human stories involved in political events and he was a vocal supporter of the “YES” campaign in last year’s referendum on Scottish independence.

Together Kieran and I talked about the UK government banning rave music in the 90s, the London riots, May’s general election and what it means for British politics, Jeremy Corbyn, austerity, “Torycore”, nationalism and why he’s occasionally happy to be considered a “traitor”.

My show Taxis & Rainbows & Hatred at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (6 shows left!); at the Soho Theatre in September 

The Something Wonky podcast

@kieran_hurley

Kieran on making Beats

Kieran’s 25 Reasons for Voting “YES”

Tory-core explained

Lost Voice Guy’s stand up

Lost Voice Guy’s Disabilty For Dunces at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Cause of the Week: The Black Triangle Campaign (blacktrianglecampaign.org)

I think Damien Power is one of the most exciting comedians in Australia right now. He opened for Tenacious D on their Australian tour a few years back (I saw the show and he crushed it) and his 2015 stand up show I Can’t Believe I Cared was nominated for the Barry Award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.

Damien’s comedy is not only hilarious, it’s extremely well-informed and socially conscious. In this chat we covered cats (shout-outs to Jerry the Persian), what the film Jurassic World tells us about capitalism and the growth economy, anarchy, conspiracy theories and the impending World War III that’s coming to obliterate us all. Enjoy!

My show Taxis & Rainbows & Hatred at the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe & the Soho Theatre in London

My Chortle piece on comedy and gay rights

@damienpower01

damienpower.com

Damien’s podcast, Power to the People

Slavoj Zizek’s The Pervert’s Guide To Ideology and The Pervert’s Guide To Cinema 

Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the United States

A Short History of Stupid by Helen Razer & Bernard Keane

Cause of the Week: GetUp!’s campaign to shut down Manus Island and Nauru (getup.org.au)

Direct download       iTunes       libsyn

Van Badham exudes passion for political action. She’s a playwright, novelist, columnist for The Guardian, proud union member and vocal activist who’s appeared on Q&A, The Drum and Radio National.

Van outlined the case against the federal government’s approach to arts funding and spoke to me about the importance of the arts to a society’s understanding of itself, our lazy attitude to democracy, politicians’ failure to listen to the people, asylum seekers, education, taxes, why the marriage equality debate gives her hope and tackling trolls.

My show Taxis & Rainbows & Hatred at Phoenix Fringe, Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Soho Theatre

@vanbadham

vanbadham.blogspot

Van’s pieces for Guardian Australia

Article: Extremist groups wilt under public scrutiny by Van Badham

Jean-Paul Sartre’s Dirty Hands (Le Mains sans)

Richard Marles on Q&A, July 6th

Causes of the Week: Yes2Renewables (yes2renewables.org), Sisters & Brothers NT Launch Pozible campaign

Direct download         iTunes          libsyn

Rod Quantock recently received a Medal of the Order of Australia for his 45+ years of being an outspoken comedian/environmentalist activist/shit-stirrer. He is a living legend of Australian comedy who has relentlessly used his work to explain, dissect and call out political issues that really piss him off.

In this wide-ranging chat, Rod told me about his thoughts on music, his political radicalisation, the origins of his groundbreaking shows Tram and Bus, the community campaigns he’s been involved with, being physically beaten at a protest at the 2000 World Economic Forum, his plans to close down the Murdoch press, how he keeps faith in the political system (or doesn’t) and how the realities of climate change colour his view of the future.

My show Taxis & Rainbows & Hatred at Phoenix Fringe, Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Soho Theatre

quantock.com.au

Catch CO2: A TedX Talk by Rod Quantock 

What Happened Miss Simone? trailer

combatwombat.com.au

The Last Tim Tam pozible campaign

Save The Planet political party

Cause of the Week: Quit Coal (quitcoal.org.au)

Direct download      iTunes      libsyn

Tim Wilson is a former policy director at the Institute of Public Affairs, Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner, public commentator and tea-drinker. He describes himself as a economic and social liberal and a cultural and institutional conservative. He’s passionate about his principles and isn’t afraid to wade into whatever controversy those principles might him lead to.

Together we discussed the criticisms he’s faced since taking on his role at the AHRC, asylum seeker policy, what it’s really like at the IPA, his opposition to plain packaging cigarettes, the balance of marriage equality and religious freedoms, anti-discrimination legislation and his thoughts on the recent Q&A controversy.

My show Taxis & Rainbows & Hatred at Phoenix Fringe, Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Soho Theatre

Tim on The Fifth Estate podcast with Sally Warhaft

@timwilsoncomau

timwilson.com.au

The Australian Human Rights Commission

The Forgotten Children Report

The Resilient Individuals Report

Article: Tony Abbott’s human rights man Tim Wilson racks up $77000 in expenses

Culture War Two: conservatives get high on their own supply by Jason Wilson

Tim Wilson: Freedom Fighter by Tim Elliott 

Religious freedom and same-sex marriage need not be incompatible by Tim Wilson

Tim Wilson on Q&A episode Radicalisation, Religion & Recognition

Cause of the Week: The Australian Indigenous Education Foundation (aief.com.au)

Direct download            iTunes             libsyn

Vegan lawyer Shatha Hamade is a former prosecutor for the RSPCA and is now the Head of Investigations for Animals Australia. She’s passionate about advocating for animal rights and challenging social conditioning when it comes to the way we treat our fellow earthlings.

In this chat (recorded in the AA offices, where DOGS JUST RUN AROUND FREELY IT IS SO COOL) we discuss her “wake-up” moment, the kind of godawful abuses she’s witnessed, the law’s approach to animals accoridng to their “use”, inherited thinking, the links between animal cruelty and a myriad of other social problems, the live export and live baiting investigations and the non-humans right movement.

A warning: animal cruelty is described in explicit detail here, some listeners may find it disturbing.

The Wanda Sykes Gala at Just For Laughs 2015

Taxis & Rainbows & Hatred at London’s Soho Theatre in September

My opinion piece: Eric Abetz is confused about marriage equality

Article: Pets at work policies proving beneficial for both humans and dogs

@AnimalAus

The RSPCA

Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer

Article: How Lyn White rewrote the rules on animal welfare

The “zombie steak”

The Yulin dog-eating festival

The Conquest: A Cane Toad Documentary

Video: Restore your faith in humanity – humans saving animals

TED Talk: Chimps have feelings and thoughts. They should also have rights by Steven Wise

The Non-Human Rights Project

Cause of the Week: Animals Australia (animalsaustralia.org)

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 2015 Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Article: ABC cowers in the face of Q&A fallout by Jonathan Holmes

Article: Malcolm Turnbull doesn’t understand the concept of an independent broadcaster 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 ($)

@danilic

danilic.com

A Rational Fear on Facebook

Sketch: Where the bloody hell are you?

Sketch: David Hicks on MTV’s Cribs

Sketch: Censordyne

Sketch: Fuel Watch

Sketch: Climate Cleverer

Sketch: The National Muslim Hotline

Sketch: Jihadi Joe

Sketch: Corby’s Political Fix-O-Kit

Bad Ground: Inside The Beaconsfield Rescue by Tony Wright 

Media reaction to Beaconsfield: The Musical

AJ+ on youtube

Cause of the Week: Sanfilippo Children’s Foundation (sanfilippo.org.au) 

Direct download        iTunes         libsyn

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.

Barack Obama on WTF

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)