Late Night Live - Separate stories podcast

Tim Minchin, the Australian comedian and musician known for his theatrical work, opens up about turning 50 and running his first marathon. He shares the joys of fitness, the creative process behind his new album, Time Machine, and revisiting his earlier songs. Minhcin discusses the impact of quitting social media on his mental health, his dark humor, and the consequences of his political satire, including his song about Pell. He reflects on family dynamics, the essence of songwriting, and the balance between authenticity and performance in his life.

In the winter of 1900, Wiradjuri man Jimmy Governor and his brother Joe murdered nine people across New South Wales, in a rampage that caused panic in the colony on the cusp of nationhood. Apparently triggered by a racist incident, they killed men, women and children, evading a vast manhunt for months until they were finally captured. The story of the Governor brothers later inspired the popular book and later film The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith. Professor Katherine Biber re-animates this true crime story, using extensive archival research as well as conversations with Governor descendants. Guest: Professor Katherine Biber, author of The Last Outlaws: The Crimes of Jimmy & Joe Governor and the Birth of Modern Australia, Simon & SchusterOriginally broadcast on 26 June, 2025

Some of the same countries that are in conflict right now are sitting in United Nations meetings together to discuss the future of outer space. Steven Freeland is charged with helping these nations find a common sense of purpose.Guest: Steven Freeland, Australian international lawyer, Emeritus Professor, Western Sydney University, and Professorial Fellow, Bond UniversityProducer: Ann ArnoldOriginally broadcast on 26 June, 2025

Zane Grey was an American western writer, celebrity and big game-fisherman. In so many ways, his life was larger than most. But it was in Australia, in the 1930s, that he sought to make his life even larger — pursuing big game fishing, a secret love affair, and what he hoped would be a movie that would rescue his precarious financial situation. Guest: Vicki Hastrich, author of The last days of Zane Grey: the untold story of a Hollywood legend in Australia and his hunt for the great white shark (Allen & Unwin)Producer: Ann ArnoldOriginally broadcast on 30 July, 2025

The largest excavation in a lifetime is underway at the famous archaeological site of Pompeii — the Roman city buried in ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD. Remarkable new discoveries continue to be unearthed. Guest: Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of Pompeii Archaeological Park, author of The Buried City: Unearthing the Real PompeiiProducer: Jack SchmidtOriginally broadcast on 30 July, 2025

John Menadue has been at the heart of Australian public life for over fifty years, working for the Whitlam, Fraser and Hawke governments. He oversaw the effective end to Australia's White Australia Policy, was CEO of Qantas and set up the Centre for Policy Development. In the media he ran The Australian for Rupert Murdoch, launched the online weekly New Matilda and founded the influential public policy platform, Pearls and Irritations. Now aged ninety, John reflects on Australia's media, in particular its coverage of the war in Gaza, our attitudes to race relations, AUKUS, our relationship with the United States and how Australia is navigating its place in the world during a global power shift. Guest: John Menadue, Founder and Editor in Chief of Pearls and Irritations Producer: Catherine Zengerer*This show originally aired on 20 August 2025

In 1998, the former Chilean head of state Augusto Pinochet was arrested on charges of crimes against humanity and genocide. Philippe Sands was called to advise Pinochet on his claim to immunity, but would instead represent a human rights organisation against him.Guest: Philippe Sands, author of 38 Londres Street: On Impunity, Pinochet in England and a Nazi in PatagoniaOriginally broadcast on 17 April, 2025

At the turn of the 20th century, one American became obsessed with the idea of life on Mars. He carried his obsessions into a public movement that may have sparked actual space exploration and scientific advancement.Guest: David Baron, author, journalist, broadcaster, and public speaker who writes about astronomy and other sciences. His latest book is 'The Martians: A True Story of an Alien Craze that Captured Turn-of-the-Century America'Producer: Alex TigheOriginally broadcast on 1 October, 2025

In the last decade, courts around the globe have granted legal personhood or explicit rights to rivers, largely driven by environmental activism. In his new book, 'Is a River Alive?', renowned nature writer Dr. Robert Macfarlane tracks the progress of that movement, in addition to visiting some of the world’s most pristine (and not so pristine) environments.Guest: Dr Robert Macfarlane, Professor of Literature and the Environmental Humanities at Cambridge UniversityProducer: Ali BentonOriginally broadcast on 14 May, 2025

For millennia, wool has been more than just a textile fibre for cold climates—it has played a strategic role in warfare, both supporting armies with essential clothing and fuelling conflicts through control and manipulation of its supply.GUEST: Trish Fitzsimmons, co-author of Fleeced, Unravelling the History of Wool and War published by BloomsburyPRODUCER: Ali Benton *This story originally aired on 21 August 2025