Like I'm A Six-Year-Old

Nick Boshier (Trent from Punchy, Bondi Hipsters) and Jazz Twemlow (Tonightly with Tom Ballard lol) are two very nice men and good comedians who have created a new satirical sketch show for Amazon Prime, The Moth Effect.   The dudes let me know the guiding philosophy behind the show's satire, their favourite sketches, the irony of taking the piss out of corporatism while working for Amazon, giving less of a shit about the insane news cycle and how to do comedy about the shortcomings of "wokeness" without being a douchebag.  Join the LIASYO Facebook group here please and thank you WE ARE ALL IN THIS is scheduled for the Brisbane Comedy Festival in November @JazzTwemlow @nickboshier Watch The Moth Effect on Amazon Prime Jazz's Leftie Bootcamp sketch from Tonightly ARTICLE: Big-name cast members Bryan Brown, Jack Thompson elevate Moth Effect  ARTICLE: New woke lineup for The Wiggles slammed by outspoken Nationals Senator Matt Canavan  ARTICLE: The ghosts are not silent by ABC Background Briefing  Cause of the Week: The Great Koala National Park (koalapark.org.au) Cause of the Week: International Rescue Committee (rescue.org)

Mehreen Faruqi has been a Greens senator for NSW since 2017. Her memoir Too Migrant, Too Muslim, Too Loud was released in July, describing her life, politics and reflections on being a progressive and outspoken migrant in Australia.  Here Mehreen and I discuss how her perceptions of what Australia is have changed over the past thirty years, her thoughts on compromise and incrementalism and the Greens' role in pushing big bold ideas, as well as her desire to see a "feminist, anti-racist Australia".  (Sincere apologies for the long time between podcast episodes, everyone: I have been going LOOPY in lockdown and have been having a bit of a rough trot that stopped me doing very much at all. I am much better now though thank you. I hope you are ok too. The end. As you were.) Join the LIASYO Facebook group here please and thank you My two shows and special filming at Chapel Off Chapel have been rescheduled to October 8th & 9th WE ARE ALL IN THIS is scheduled for the Brisbane Comedy Festival in November @MehreenFaruqi mehreenfaruqi.org.au Mehreen's book Too Migrant, Too Muslim, Too Loud is out now through Allen & Unwin ARTICLE: Coalition supports Pauline Hanson motion to ban critical race theory teachings  My episode with outgoing Greens Senator Rachel Siewert Cause of the Week: Greyhound Rescue (greyhoundrescue.com.au)  

Victor Kline is a writer and barrister who is the leader of a new political party, The New Liberals. The party was born out of a frustration that Victor and some close friends felt by the current state of Australian politics and the lack of any party that truly represented them. Here we discuss what Victor believes it means to be a truly "liberal" party, why they want to reclaim that name, the party's political strategy, and what I would argue is liberalism's limits: its inability to wrestle with questions of class and political economy.  I’m doing Dry July please help me/cancer research I went on "Miners Driving Teslas" with Daniel Bleakley and it was fun If you’ve got the means please support this show by becoming a Patron Join the LIASYO Facebook group here please and thank you WE ARE ALL IN THIS will be at the Brisbane Comedy Festival in August There’s an encore Sydney show of WE ARE ALL IN THIS on August 20th My two shows and special filming at Chapel Off Chapel have been rescheduled to August 27th & 28th @victorklineTNL newliberals.net.au ARTICLE: New Liberals' registration approved despite Liberal party objection over "voter confusion" ARTICLE: New Liberals leader outlines his party's politics Cause of the Week: The New Liberals (newliberals.net.au)

Luke McGregor is a beloved Australian comedian who co-stars in the ABC series Rosehaven alongside Celia Pacquola and presents "Lukenomics" on The Weekly. He's also my very nice friend and one time we got KFC together.  A month on from his appearance on Q&A alongside (now Nationals leader) Barnaby Fucking Joyce, Luke talks to me about the frustrations of public debate, why studying economics stopped him being a Liberal voter, and the ins and outs of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT).  I'm doing Dry July please help me/cancer research  If you’ve got the means please support this show by becoming a Patron Join the LIASYO Facebook group here please and thank you My book I, Millennial: One Snowflake’s Screed Against Plague, Boomers, Billionaires & Everything Else will be published in December WE ARE ALL IN THIS will be at the Brisbane Comedy Festival in August There’s an encore Sydney show of WE ARE ALL IN THIS on August 20th My two shows and special filming at Chapel Off Chapel have been rescheduled to August 27th & 28th @LukeWMcGregor Luke's Facebook page  Luke's appearance on Q&A Lukenomics explainer on MMT Free online event: MMT and the Media: Taking Charge of the Narrative with Luke & Bill Mitchell  Daily Mail article on Luke's appearance on Q&A Cause of the Week: Brightside Farm Sanctuary (brightside.org.au) 

Josh Callinan is the Secretary of the Retail And Fast Food Workers' Union (RAFFWU); a young fighting union which represents thousands of overwhelmingly younger Australian workers in highly casualised and insecure industries.  RAFFWU was set up in opposition to the right-wing "yellow" union the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (the SDA), aka Christian Porter's favourite union. In this conversation Josh explains just how bad the SDA has been for workers, the scourge of casualisation and how RAFFWU is organising for a better deal and a better future.  If you’ve got the means please support this show by becoming a Patron Join the LIASYO Facebook group here please and thank you This Sunday is World Refugee Day! Please help out the ASRC if you can My book I, Millennial: One Snowflake's Screed Against Plague, Boomers, Billionaires & Everything Else will be published in December WE ARE ALL IN THIS will be at the Brisbane Comedy Festival in August There’s an encore Sydney show of WE ARE ALL IN THIS on August 20th My two shows at Chapel Off Chapel have been rescheduled to August 27th & 28th @JoshCullinan raffwu.org.au RAFFWU's "SDA Facts" ARTICLE: Precarious workers held out to dry by Josh Cullinan ARTICLE: Australia's Youngest Union Is Organising Retail and Fast-Food Workers (in Jacobin) ARTICLE: Shopped Out by Ben Schneiders & Royce Millar Cause of the Week: RAFFWU! Join them yourself or spread the word (raffwu.org.au)  

Tim Hollo is a former staffer for the Australian Greens, is the Greens candidate for the federal seat of Canberra and works as the Executive Director of the official Greens think tank, The Greens Institute. He's currently working on a book laying out his theory of "ecological politics"; a a self-organising democracy grounded in the natural world and connection. Tim wants a politics seeks to go beyond the neoliberal capitalist status quo, rejects the far-right's "solutions" and avoids what he considers to be the limits of socialism. We discuss the details of Tim's theory, as well as his reflections on the Greens' strategy around Kevin Rudd's CPRS, how fossil fuel companies killing off the possibilities of climate action, decentralising power and why consensus decision making isn't centrism. If you’ve got the means please support this show by becoming a Patron Join the LIASYO Facebook group here please and thank you WE ARE ALL IN THIS will be at the Brisbane Comedy Festival in August There's an encore Sydney show of WE ARE ALL IN THIS on August 20th My two shows at Chapel Off Chapel have been rescheduled to August 27th & 28th @timhollo greeninstitute.org.au Tim's writing at The Guardian OPINION PIECE: The End Of The World As We Know It by Tim Hollo OPINION PIECE: Tim Hollo on an ecological democracy where "everything is connected" and embedded in nature  Cause of the Week: IndigenousX (indigenousx.com.au)

Emma Dawson is an ALP member and a former adviser to the Rudd and Gillard governments on public broadcasting policy. These days she’s the Executive Director of the think tank Per Capita, “an independent, progressive think tank, dedicated to fighting inequality in Australia”. After very kindly providing me with a nice lunch, Emma explains where her politics come from, the Labor Party's neoliberal legacy, the role of markets in society and her passion for social democracy. She lays out the policy complexities with the #80ADay JobSeeker campaign and the tensions between idealistic, activist politics and brutal electoral math.  (Note: at one point I think Emma accidentally said Linda Reynolds when she was referring to Linda Burney.)  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’m taping a comedy special across two shows at Chapel Off Chapel next week feat. my best jokes of the past three years You can see my show WE ARE ALL IN THIS at the Newcastle Comedy Festival this weekend WE ARE ALL IN THIS will be at the Brisbane Comedy Festival in August @DawsonEJ percapita.org.au ARTICLE: Unemployment doesn't just happen to "other people". It can happen to you by Emma Dawson ARTICLE: Centrist Joe is precisely the president America needs by Emma Dawson ARTICLE: Income support 'not the only lever': Labor's plan to tackle disadvantage The 2021 Per Capita Tax Survey What Happens Next? edited by Emma Dawson & Janet McCalman Cause of the Week: The Australian Unemployed Workers' Union (unemployedworkersunion.com)

Jonathan Biggins is a legendary Australian satirist, actor and writer, who is currently performing his one-man show The Gospel According To Paul - a theatrical biography of the reforming Labor Treasurer and Prime Minister, Paul Keating.  I asked Jonathan about his thoughts on Keating's complicated legacy - the good and the bad - and how his (often arrogant, but politically effective) leadership contrasts with the shit we have today. We discuss "economic rationalism", the waging of culture wars and identity politics and Jonathan's grave concern about the effect that social media technology is having on our society..  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'm taping a comedy special across two shows at Chapel Off Chapel in early June, feat. my best jokes of the past three years You can see my show WE ARE ALL IN THIS at the Newcastle Comedy Festival in May  WE ARE ALL IN THIS will be at the Brisbane Comedy Festival in August jonathanbiggins.com.au The Gospel According To Paul by Jonathan Biggins is on at the Arts Centre in Melbourne until May 23rd  It then tours to Bendigo and Brisbane ARTICLE: Scott Morrison wants a big, simply country. With Labor dumbstruck and blindsided, he's getting one by Guy Rundle Cause of the Week: The Actor's Benevolent Fund (actorsbenevolentfund.org.au)  

Richie Merzian is the Director of the Climate & Energy Program at The Australia Institute.  With Australia embarrassing itself on the global stage when it comes to setting actual reduction targets that might actually do something, this was a great chance to check in with where the climate debate is at. Richie lays out just how lacking our commitments are, what they should be and what other countries are doing, as well giving me the rundown on electric vehicles, carbon accounting tricks, just transition models, fossil fuel subsidies and the (relatively straightforward) path to addressing this existential crisis.    If you’ve got the means please support this show by becoming a Patron Join the LIASYO Facebook group here please and thank you My 2021 show WE ARE ALL IN THIS is on at the Melbourne Comedy Festival NOW – just 6 shows left! My new show WE ARE ALL IN THIS is coming to Sydney for two nights only in May Or you can see WE ARE ALL IN THIS at the Newcastle Comedy Festival on May  I was on the latest episode of the Confessions of the Idiots podcast and it was great fun Support Shane Bazzi's legal fund because he's being sued by Peter Dutton  This was a great article on my friend Naser Moradi, a brilliant artist who has been in Australian immigration detention for more than six years @RichieMerzian australiainstitute.org Hot Mess - Richie's summary of Morrison's performance at Biden's climate summit The US is charging ahead on climate action, so where the bloody hell is Australia? by Richie Merzian ARTICLE: Labor backs coal beyond 2050 RESEARCH: Australian fossil fuel subsidies hit $10.3 billion in 2020/21  Cause of the Week: The Juice Media (thejuicemedia.com) 

Hello! Sorry for the radio silence - I have been busy being too hot for TV and annoying Andrew Bolt. Apologies.  This week's ep is a slice of a conversation I had with socialist councillor Stephen Jolly and Leftist intellectuals (and previous LIASYO guests) Alison Pennington, Jeff Sparrow and Guy Rundle for Stephen's new podcast, Melbourne Calling.  We had a wide-ranging chat about the state of the Australian Left in the wake of COVID, the sexual assault crisis in Canberra, workers' power and ideology.  You can watch the full chat here. If you’ve got the means please support this show by becoming a Patron Join the LIASYO Facebook group here please and thank you My 2021 show WE ARE ALL IN THIS is on at the Melbourne Comedy Festival NOW - just 6 shows left! WE ARE ALL IN THIS is coming to Sydney for two nights only in May Please watch my lip sync tribute to Greta Thunberg at the Melbourne Comedy Festival. We put a lot of work into it lol  @StephenJolly99 @ak_pennington @Jeff_Sparrow MelbourneCalling.com.au The Melbourne Calling YouTube page Cause of the Week: Pay The Rent (paytherent.net.au)