Uncomfortable Conversations with Josh Szeps
The world has never been more connected. Yet never more divided. We yell at each other from inside our echo chambers. But change doesn't happen inside an echo chamber. It's time to get out, to stretch our legs, to step on some land mines. It's time to have an uncomfortable conversation with Josh Szeps.
Episodes
The Gays Who Reject "LGBTQ+"
What's the "queer community"? Who's "LGBTQIA+"? When did sexuality get hitched to a queer cultural movement aimed at deconstructing gender, colonialism and white male privilege? What happens when a boring old gay guy dissents?
Ben Appel found out.
Raised in a fundamentalist Christian community, he expected his Ivy League University experience to be one of liberation. Instead, he found the minds
WTF? Gladiator Battles on the White House Lawn: How MMA & the Manosphere Took Over America (& the White House)
On Sunday, mixed martial arts fighters will beat the crap out of each other in a 90-foot-tall Ultimate Fighting Championship cage on the South Lawn of the White House. Senator John McCain once denounced the sport as "human cockfighting". President Trump loves it so much he's made it a centrepiece of the United States' 250th birthday celebrations.
Trump isn't alone. Not long ago, MMA was considered
"Smile! Civilisation is Collapsing" with Sarah Wilson
In a world of catastrophic fires, record floods, collapsing democracies and rising unrest, our lives have rarely felt more precarious. So how do we keep living meaningfully through it? And if (or when) it all comes apart, what kind of people do we want to be?
Sarah Wilson is a New York Times bestselling author, whose new book, ‘I Eat the Stars’, chronicles how we might live meaningfully, sanely, a
Matt Taibbi, America's Top Gonzo Journalist, on How the Media Lost Its Mind
Get 30% OFF an Annual Uncomfortable Conversations Subscription at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe/sanity
What happened to the news media? What does it have to do with why Hillary Clinton couldn’t fill a room, while Trump filled stadiums? Did diversity kill objective journalism? And what does a journalist who lived in the Soviet Union think of free speech in the West toda
“What the Hell Happened to L.A.?” with Meghan Daum
Los Angeles was once the city where people went to reinvent themselves. Space, sunshine, stardom. How did it become the city where people go to disappear into homeless tent encampments?
Meghan Daum is one of America’s sharpest cultural essayists, a former LA Times columnist and a longtime Angelino.
While Josh is in L.A., he and Meghan livestreamed from the Hollywood Hills in this Memorial Day co
Where Does Anti-Zionism End and Anti-Semitism Begin?
Is it possible to criticise Israel without being anti-Semitic? How do we even know if you cross that line?
It’s a question that has divided dinner tables, ended friendships, and split the left in half since October 7th, and with recent events, is no longer a theoretical debate. The oldest hatred in human history is once again at the surface.
Israeli President and Prime Minister Shimon Peres called
What Australia's Covid Frontman Regrets
As the Hantavirus and Ebola pop up in the news, what did we get wrong during Covid?
Dr Nick Coatsworth was the Australian government’s deputy chief medical officer during the pandemic’s first wave, when he regularly appeared on radio and TV to provide the public with information. He became the face of the vaccine rollout. Today, he’s more reflective. He shuns vaccine mandates, wants a national Co
Josh vs the News: Think Bigly! with Reverend Szeps
The world is seemingly on fire. Iran, Ukraine, China, Trump, AI, climate, antisemitism, the Australian budget. It’s an avalanche of bad news, until Reverend Szeps arrives on the scene to put it all into perspective.
Plus: Shakira vs the Spanish government, might be the most inspiring thing you’ll read this week.
Just Josh: Why Can't Politicians Answer A Question?
Hey! Politicians! Stop talking like cardboard cutouts (if you're mainstream) or lunatics (if you're not).
If politicians can't figure out how to have uncomfortable conversations, voters will elect populists who can.
Last Thursday, Australia's flagship current affairs TV show grilled the opposition leader, Angus Taylor. It wasn't pretty. Obfuscations, snarkiness, waffling, pre-rehearsed speechify
What Trump & Xi are Really Up To! with fmr White House Official Tom Wright
Trump is in China, and you need to know what he and Xi are up to. What new world order are they creating?
Today, Josh sits down with a senior US former national security official to understand how three men - Trump, Xi and Putin - are remaking the world.
Tom Wright was a special assistant to President Biden and the Senior Director for Strategic Planning on the US National Security Council, where
Josh vs the News: BUDGET BONANZA!
It’s the biggest day in a generation for Australian economic reform (and for those of you abroad observing our friendly foreign land). From house prices to entrepreneurship to the far right to the abundance agenda Josh brings you everything you need to know about the 2026 Budget but were afraid to ask.
Nazi Salutes = Free Speech? with John Safran
Is anything too offensive for our post-cancel-culture world? When Trump & Elon wield "freedom of speech" as a way to silence their enemies, who's defending unpopular voices? When anti-Zionism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia can be weapons, how do we decide what's beyond the pale?
John Safran is Australia's Michael Moore, a provocateur and writer whose new documentary is ‘Shut Your Big Fat Mouth’
Should You Be A Nationalist?
Does nationalism have to be xenophobic or racist? What would it mean to be a nationalist who isn’t a blood-&-soil bigot but a pluralistic liberal? How can multicultural societies like ours sustain strong national identities? Could we actually reinvigorate democracy with a big ole dose of chest-thumping and flag-flying?
David Moscrop, is a Canadian writer, academic and public intellectual. He has
Josh vs the News: Trump Cancels "Project Freedom!"
The latest chaotic development under “Operation Epic Fury” has continued to show the catastrophic strategic position the United States has found itself in. But it could be worse! It’s not like the Iranians know about the midterms, and the impending electoral annihilation coming for Trump if this latest oil shock isn’t resolved. Oh wait…
Josh breaks down the the failure of “Project Freedom”, how I
Jimmy Carr: "The World is Being Rebuilt from Scratch"
Jimmy Carr is one of the most successful stand-up comics on earth (and one of our most recurring guests).
His hilarious, brutal crowd work is a viral sensation, and his television credits include hosting some of the UK’s longest running panel shows such as 8 Out Of 10 Cats, Big Fat Quiz Of The Year and his smash-hit Netflix specials, Natural Born Killer, and His Dark Material.
Whilst touring Aus
Why Smart People Make Dumb Choices
Life’s biggest decisions are always the most Uncomfortable. Should you have a baby? Should you quit your job? Should you move to a new country? Should you drop acid?
Anytime you’re faced with a decision that is likely to change who you are, you’re faced with a unique conundrum: The person you’ll be - who’ll judge whether you made the right call or the wrong one - is future you.
They’re a differe
'Truth' in an Age of A.I.
What will reality feel like when we receive most of it via all-knowing machines?
Our shared understanding of the world has been fractured by social media’s echo chambers of news, entertainment, misinformation, and distraction. Could A.I. help re-establish common facts? Or will it only make the truth even slippier?
Steve Rosenbaum is an Emmy-winning former television news producer, TED Resident
Josh vs the Anti-Abortion Activist
For an issue we don’t normally know how to talk constructively about, can Josh and one of the most outspoken anti-abortion activists model what a genuine, but respectful, disagreement can actually look like?
Joanna Howe is best-known for her viral videos on YouTube and social media debating people in the street about abortion, confronting politicians outside their offices, and smacking down pro-
BLOCKADE COUNTDOWN: What's the End Game?
What is the end game in Iran? What is the blockade achieving? What cards does Iran still hold?
Last week, the end was in sight with a two-week ceasefire. Then talks in Pakistan between the US vice president and the Iranians went nowhere, and Trump suddenly imposed a blockade.
Since Monday, U.S. forces say they’ve now completely halted all economic trade leaving Iran’s ports. Iran say they’ll
Philosopher A.C. Grayling in the Most Mind-Expanding Episode of the Year
Today, a delightful and scintillating and inspiring and disconcerting and thought-provoking and discombobulating and many-other-multi-syllabic words-ing romp with one of the most celebrated philosophers in the English-speaking world.
A.C. Grayling is a British philosopher who has written more than thirty books on everything from the nature of consciousness to the history of freedom to what it mea
Josh vs the News: Blockade Games, Orban Ousted, & Elon Notices Australia
On this week's thrilling instalment of the world's favourite livestream, Josh vs the News:
• Hormuz gets a Big, Beautiful naval blockade!
• How Viktor Orbán was defeated by a ranch full of zebras!
• and why is Elon tweeting about Australia this week?
Plus, Professor Szeps answers your questions: "why is US petrol expensive if America doesn't import Iranian oil?"
Tune in live every week
"Nuremberg" & the Psychology of Evil
Were top Nazi leaders mad? Were they evil? Were they like religious fundamentalists, committed to a deranged ideology? Or were they just amoral narcissists grasping for power in the wrong place at the wrong time?
Jack el-Hai wrote the book which became the movie "Nuremberg", in which Russell Crowe plays Hermann Göring. In Nuremberg jail, awaiting trial, 22 senior Nazis were interviewed by a young
Writing for 'SNL' with Sam Jay
Sam Jay is an Emmy-nominated comedian and former writer on Saturday Night Live. She walked away from becoming an SNL cast member to host her own HBO talk show about uncomfortable conversations called 'Pause with Sam Jay'. She has a Netflix stand-up special, an HBO stand-up special, and her latest show is We The People, nominated for Best Comedy Show at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards last year.
Thi
BREAKING: Trump Always Chickens Out (Thank F*ck)
Donald ‘Taco’ Trump has once again lived up to his nickname. After weeks of escalating threats to obliterate Iran's power plants, bomb them back to the Stone Age, and declare that "a whole civilization will die tonight," the President has blinked. Again.
Josh breaks down the entire chaotic timeline of Trump's Iran strategy, and argues that these past two weeks may have written Trump's political
Dave Hughes Has a Problem With Josh
Dave Hughes is a legend of Australian television, radio and stand-up comedy. He has been so ubiquitous on TV and radio for the past 30 years that almost every Australian has a Dave Hughes impersonation.
This episode is part of the Uncomfortable Conversations Comedy Festival extravaganza. Josh headed to Melbourne for a ten-hour Substack Live marathon with five of the greatest comedians. You’ll
The King of Late Night TV, Steve Vizard
Steve Vizard is Australia's Johnny Carson. Tonight Live with Steve Vizard was Australia's Tonight Show in the 1990s, after Vizard had previously created two of Australia's biggest-ever sketch comedy shows.
This episode is part of the Uncomfortable Conversations Comedy Festival extravaganza. Josh headed to Melbourne for a ten-hour Substack Live marathon with five of the greatest comedians. You'l
A Black Muslim Comic & Gay Jew Walk Into an Uncomfortable Conversation
Zainab Johnson is a black muslim female New Yorker with a half-million instagram fans and the title of Variety magazine’s Top 10 Comics to Watch.
This episode is part of the Uncomfortable Conversations Comedy Festival extravaganza. Josh headed to Melbourne for a ten-hour Substack Live marathon with five of the greatest comedians. You'll get a new episode every 48 hours for the first two weeks of
Nazi Jokes & Stand-Up Taboos with Tom Ballard
Think of Tom Ballard as a young John Oliver, who hosted Australia's national nightly satirical news television show ,"Tonightly with Tom Ballard".
He returns to the show to discuss his getting cancelled for doing a Nazi salute, punching down, anti-semitism, Gaza & Zionism, cancel culture and offensive comedy.
This episode is part of the Uncomfortable Conversations Comedy Festival extravaganza
Manosphere, Feminazis & the "Six Tribes" of Young People
Across the West, young people are finding it harder to build their careers, afford homes, and start families. But have we assumed they’re all the same, and been so busy treating the symptoms of their unhappiness that we've accidentally made them more miserable?
A major new study has divided young Australians into six "tribes": from far-left student activists to family-oriented nationalists, fro
Everything is Awesome! Just Ask Josh
Everything is awesome humans. Well at least it is when Uncomfortable Conversations Community Manager (and resident Tocqueville expert) Evan Pivonka joins us.
Josh and Evan went live to answer your questions and explore some underreported stories: Ozempic zombies, insider trading allegations, humans about to return to the moon, and the lost art of talking to strangers.
Top Trump Diplomat Tells All: fmr Deputy Secretary of State Inside the Room Where it Happens
What is going on with Trump’s foreign policy? Attacking Iran, decapitating Venezuela, threatening Cuba. Is America flexing its greatness, or flailing? Is there a method to the madness? What is really going on inside the room where it happens?
Stephen Biegun was the United States Deputy Secretary of State in the first Trump Administration. He was also the special representative for North Korea, ch
"Mr Mamdani, THIS is What Makes a City Thrive" with Eamon Waterford
Cities that rock and cities that suck do a few things differently. They need to hit a bullseye on high-vs-low density, walkability, law and order, red tape, congestion pricing and a host of other things. Which cities nail it? And how can yours do better?
Eamon Waterford is a world expert on what the best cities get right. He's the chief executive of a think tank, the Committee for Sydney, that re
Josh Vs The News: Feel Better with Reverend Szeps
Step away from the doomscrolling. Take a breath. Let the waves crash.
In this week's edition of Josh vs the News, Josh offers something different: a tonic for tumultuous times. Instead of dissecting the latest outrage or geopolitical crisis, he invites you to zoom out and remember what actually matters.
How do you find peace when artificial intelligence threatens widespread, fast, and traumatizi
The Mind-Boggling Magic of Math with Adam Spencer
How can a bunch of equations on a piece of paper reflect the deepest facts about reality? How is it that every single object, from a skyscraper to a black hole to your liver, obeys mathematical gobbledegook? And how do physicists deduce that gobbledegook just by solving written puzzles?
Today's episode will blow your mind with curiosities about the fabric of reality, the size of the biggest num
Josh vs the News: How to Think About Iran Without Losing Your Mind
Everyone’s had something to say about Iran. But they're missing the most important piece.
In this week's powerful editorial, Josh invites you to shift focus away from the tsunami of hot takes, of Trump takedowns, of condemnations and victory proclamations and self-certainty on both sides.
Take a reprieve from the chatter and consider the question most commentators have skipped.
"Turning Point" Leader vs Josh
The national director of Turning Point Australia (the Aussie chapter of Turning Point USA) isn't your typical Christian nationalist. He's a 28-year-old Lebanese-Australian influencer, educator and activist.
How should we understand the goals of the new, nationalist right? From Trump to Farage to the National Rally in France, from the Alternative für Deutschland in Germany to the meteoric rise of
‘The Iran Conversation No One Is Having’ with David Frum
David Frum had a front-row seat the last time America went to war against a Middle Eastern adversary. He was in the George W. Bush administration in the lead-up to the Iraq War. In fact, as one of Bush's speechwriters, he wrote the line that came to define American foreign policy for the first decade of the 21st century. Four months after the World Trade Center towers were turned to rubble, Presid
A.I., Iran, & Automated War with Prof. Toby Walsh
Among the first responses by Iranian state media to the US-Israeli war on Iran was a propaganda video. It flaunted row upon row of gleaming Iranian drones, safely lined up in an underground weapons cache, ready to strike Israel, Arab states and US bases.
Drones. Precision-Guided Munitions. A.I. war games. Autonomous Weapon Systems. At the Pentagon, at Anthropic, for Trump and in Iran, they're re
How Big Tech Destroys Learning
How do you learn things? Does it come easily or is it hard? Are you drawn to e-readers, or books? Typing, or handwriting? Duolingo, or moving to a Tuscan villa for six months to drink wine and debate epicureanism?
We’re all alert to the problem of smartphones, screentime, kids and social media. But what if the problem is bigger? What if our brains and bodies are fundamentally hardwired to learn
What's China Up To?
Military purges. DeepSeek AI. Social credit scores. Taiwan.
Why has the Chinese leader purged five of the seven members of the military's top decision-making body (one of the remaining two members being himself)?
Next month, the Chinese Communist Party will enact its fifteenth Five-Year Plan. It's a biggie, because 2027 is the centenary of the People's Liberation Army - a date when China ha
Our Spectacular Future of Solar-Generated "Fossil Fuels"
Imagine a world where vast solar arrays produced cheap, abundant energy for everybody... while also powering hyper-scaled superintelligent A.I. data centres, as well as factories that suck carbon from the atmosphere to make cheap natural gas from nothing but sunlight and air.
It's within our grasp. Solar is the cheapest form of energy. The only impediments are regulations that were written in t
The Ultimate A.I Survival Guide (for Humans)
How much will A.I. change your life in the next few years? In what ways? How will you navigate the upheavals? How will the society around you do so?
"Normies" are finally waking up, it seems, to the scale of what's happening. The dam broke this week in part thanks to an essay which went viral by the A.I. founder and investor Matt Shumer, titled ‘Something Big is Happening.’ It's a clarion call f
Violent Clashes at Israeli President's Bondi Visit
Violence erupted this week as police in downtown Sydney clashed with thousands of activists protesting a visit to Australia by the Israeli President, Isaac Herzog. He was invited to Australia in the wake of the anti-Semitic Bondi terrorist attack.
In his weekly livestream, ‘Josh vs the News’, Josh sits down to sift through the media reporting and how we might best think about protest, free speech
Fmr John Oliver Writer on Bias, Blackface & Making Sense of the News
Has our culture had a grown-up conversation yet about race and gender? Or did the media flip from the casual bigotry of the 20th century to the censorious hysteria of the 2010s in a way that empowered the rise of the New Right? And what was it like to work as a comedy writer on a hit progressive comedy show as the culture underwent The Great Awokening?
Jeff Maurer was a writer on Last Week Toni
Just Josh: America on the Brink
Minneapolis. ICE. The arrest of journalists. The indictment of political opponents. The pursuit of election officials. The killing of protestors.
Is the U.S. government openly pursuing authoritarian rule? What is the risk of a low-grade, neighbour-against-neighbour spate of Balkan-style violence? How do we stitch American democracy back together? How does the Trump Administration end?
Take thi
Don Lemon Arrested: Trump, ICE & the Prosecution of the Press
With the arrest of the high-profile journalist Don Lemon, the protests in Minnesota have become the new frontline of press freedom.
Is the Trump Administration openly hunting down journalists now? Or, in the aftermath of Snowden, Manning & Assange, is Trump just more shameless in cracking down on voices he disapproves of? What happens to a democracy when reporters and commentators are targeted in
An Anti-Zionist & a Pro-Zionist on “Apartheid Violence” in the West Bank
Does Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank call into question its legitimacy as a state? Or is the occupation a necessary evil to defuse the threat of an intractably hostile Palestinian population?
While everyone's been focused on Gaza, the larger, more populous chunk of Palestine - the West Bank - has seen a dramatic escalation of violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civil
“Genes & Free Will: Pedophiles, Ozempic & Self-Control” with Prof. Kathryn Paige Harden
How much are you a product of your genes, and how much are you a product of your experiences? Or are you a free agent, acting in spite of your biology and environment?
Kathryn Paige Harden is a world-renowned psychology professor who specialises in how genes affect our behaviour. She was nearly cancelled during the era of Peak Woke for her book 'The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Eq
“Why the West Should Be Like Wikipedia” with Nicholas Gruen
How much influence do you actually have over how you are governed?
Markets reward clickbait. Politics rewards tribalism. Social media rewards outrage. Almost imperceptibly, our public institutions have drifted away from their core purpose of serving your interests.
Economist Nicholas Gruen argues there’s a better model hiding in plain sight. Using as his intellectual models TikTok, Wikipedia, re
Steven Pinker on Moral Panics, Media Bias, and Why We Hoarded Toilet Paper During Covid
Steven Pinker may be the world’s best-known cognitive psychologist, a public intellectual who for decades has used his fame to help us understand how we think, how we develop language, and how our behaviour is shaped by evolution and biology.
He’s a professor of Psychology at Harvard and his most recent book is a hugely entertaining reflection on social norms, cooperation, outrage cycles, social
"Should We Ban Hate Speech After Bondi?" with Andrew Lowenthal
There’s a lot of big events happening in the world at the start of the year, but between bushfires and flash flooding, Australia is grappling with the aftermath of the Bondi terror attack.
Hate speech laws are being tabled in Federal Parliament, pro-Palestinian authors are Writer’s Festivals are being cancelled, and the question of whether Australia’s uniquely successful multiculturalism can su
Josh's 'Big-Dick-Little-Dick' Theory of American Militarism
It’s been an eventful start to the year. Josh went live to share his thoughts on Trump, Venezuela, and the end of American exceptionalism.
"The 'LGBTQ' Threat to Gay Rights" with Prof. Ronan McCrea
Is the success of the gay rights movement guaranteed? Or are there hints that, eventually, gay rights could be reversed?
One of the most peculiar strategies of gay activist organisations has been to hitch their wagon to a revolutionary, non-binary, gender-fluid, LGBTQIA+ ideology. Is it time for gay rights and trans rights to quietly uncouple?
Ronan McCrea is a Professor of Constitutional an
Eddie (Suzy) Izzard & Josh in London!
One of the most successful comedy performers on the planet, Eddie Izzard (who now goes by Suzy) has spent more than thirty years touring groundbreaking shows at sold-out venues like the Hollywood Bowl, Madison Square Garden, the Sydney Opera House, London's O2 Arena and Radio City Music Hall.
They've won two Emmys, performed stand-up specials in multiple languages, run dozens of marathons for cha
“Comedy, Self-Deprecation & Punching Down" with Comedian Sammy Petersen
Happy New Year, humans. Here's a funny, reflective start to 2026. Josh sits down with a stand-up comic who suffered a heart attack on stage at the age of 26 and emerged rawer than ever. Sammy Petersen joins Josh to chat about how comedians disarm audiences, whether "punching down" makes sense, and why humour can be both a shield and a form of truth-telling.
Behind the Scenes: A Year of Uncomfortable Conversations
The show's community manager, Evan Pivonka, joins Josh to review 2025 through the lens of Uncomfortable Conversations' best, worst and weirdest episodes. They reveal the show's creative and editorial strategies, behind-the-scenes gossip, and Josh's expectations for 2026. Happy new year, humans.
Konstantin Kisin & Josh: Multiculturalism, Migration & the Media
Britain’s infrastructure is crumbling. Petty crime is part of daily life. Illegal immigration costs millions per day. The tax burden is the highest in peacetime history and the economy hasn't grown since 2008.
That’s the argument of Konstantin Kisin, co-host of Trigonometry, one of the world's most popular podcasts. He’s held up as a poster boy for certain elements on the right following a vir
Christmas! Food! Farts! E. Coli! with food scientist Gary Kennedy
For how many hours can you leave out a Christmas ham? Will turkey stuffing give you the runs? Is it okay to refrigerate hot take-away fried rice? Why does America have the world's worst E. coli? Can soft cheese really kill unborn babies? Why does asparagus make your pee smell?
Every Christmas, families sit down to feasts... and Josh sits down with one of his favourite regular guests, Gary Kenne
Josh vs the News: Bondi, Multiculturalism & Jew Hate
Josh takes questions about the news on his weekly livestream. No prizes for guessing the big story this week. That's right: The French Snail Robbery.
BONDI ATTACK: Josh's Thoughts on Terrorism, Freedom & the Asymmetry of Anti-Semitism
Sydney is shell-shocked after the deadliest terrorist attack ever on Australian soil. Sixteen people are dead and at least 40 wounded after gunmen executed Jewish families celebrating the first night of Hannukah at Australia's most famous beach.
As his city picks up the pieces, Josh shares his feelings and his thoughts about extremism, free speech, Israel, Islam, anti-Zionism, anti-Semitism, mul
“The Secret Power Behind World Leaders” with Phoebe Saintilan-Stocks
The image of a singular political leader is misleading. Why? Because they can barely function without a team behind them. Chief among that team, being their Chief of Staff: part strategist, part consigliere, part javelin-catcher.
But the real job is even stranger. They are the gatekeepers to presidents and prime ministers. The triage nurses for national crises. The confidantes who remind a lead
"End Animal Cruelty. Don't Go Vegan" with Aidan Alexander
If you're ethically conflicted about industrial animal farming, this episode is a shot of hope. Shaming people into going vegan doesn't work. What does?
Aidan Alexander is the co-founder of a non-profit that distributes money to a basket of effective charities creating cruelty-free options for millions of farmed animals each year. If you care about whether pigs and hens endure agonising lives s
"The Psychology of World War III" with Dr Nicholas Wright
Bluffing, double-crossing, predicting, testing your enemy. The mind games of international relations are wildly complex. And at the end of the day, the outcome of the next major conflict will be decided not by military questions but by psychological ones.
Why did France lose to the Nazis, despite having more tanks, troops, and guns? How did Ukraine stand firm against Russia? Why was Winston Chu
Josh vs The News: Bezos' Trump Bribe, Banning Refugees, & is Hegseth a War Criminal?
Josh takes a look at the week’s news, and tries to make sense of it. A
"The Secret Economic History of the World" with Pulitzer finalist Sven Beckert
Is faith in our economic system cracking up?
From Mayor Mamdani's win to Elon's trillion-dollar payday, from Instagram infuluencers embracing communism to Bernie and AOC, from Trump's tariffs to Chinese communism. Critiques abound of the neoliberal order that has dominated the past half century.
But those assumptions - not just about policies, like free trade and low taxes, but about the very
Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Refugees, Fossil Fuels & the fate of Western Civilisation
Tony Abbott was the 28th Prime Minister of Australia. Here, he visits Josh for an Uncomfortable Conversation about his government’s policy of “turning back” asylum-seeker boats; about climate change (as PM, he abolished Australia’s short-lived tax on carbon); and about his view of the historical treatment of First Nations Australians.
Josh and Tony wrestle with the challenges facing the U.K. an
"Obama, Trump & the Great American Contradiction" with Pulitzer-Prize-winner Paul Starr
The difference between America's last two consequential presidents (sorry, Joe) couldn't be starker. How did the same country - sometimes even the same voters - endorse an urbane, professorial, hopey-changey Black man and a foul-mouthed, regressive clown? Is there some deep American contradiction that explains them both?
That's the claim of Paul Starr, a Pulitzer-winner who co-founded the iconic
"The Case for American Power" with Shadi Hamid
The left has become increasingly uncomfortable about arguing for the moral superiority of the United States, let alone for the exercise of American dominance around the world. But is the American Empire something which even left-wingers should, in fact, fight for? Shadi Hamid is a columnist at The Washington Post who opposed the Iraq War and supported Bernie Sanders. An Arab-Muslim American, he li
“Have We Got Morality Backwards? The Case Against Utilitarianism” with Bo Winegard
What does it mean to do the right thing, and how do we know when we’re doing wrong? Is it ever okay to lie? To exact vengeance? To eat meat? To abort a foetus? To pamper your kids when that money could save a poor child's life overseas? All of our most uncomfortable conversations stem, at their heart, from a conflict about what we ought to do. And the basis of our modern morality, in s
“The New Race to the Moon: China, MAGA, SpaceX & Mars” with Jeffrey Kluger
President Trump has nominated a billionaire to be the new head of NASA as the United States gears up for its most ambitious mission in decades: a return to the Moon. This time, the adversary to beat isn’t the Soviets, but China. And the players at the heart of the new space race are no longer just nation-states but private companies. Who are these visionaries, planning galactic domination? W
JUST JOSH: Dissecting Tucker Carlson
American conservatives are in a tizzy of in-fighting after one of their leading voices, Tucker Carlson, hosted a genial chat with a Holocaust-denying, Hitler-admiring, 27-year-old white-nationalist influencer, Nick Fuentes. Should your local upstanding conservative disavow King Tuck? Or is Tucker's aww-shucks, just-askin'-questions schtick too valuable to the foot soldiers of the New Right?To help
LIVE PANEL: "Who Really Influences Our Politicians?" with Senators Bridget McKenzie & David Pocock, and MP's Allegra Spender & Helen Haines
What happens when you put politicians in a room and ask them to talk honestly about who really influences their decisions? This bonus episode is a live recording from a one-of-a-kind gala in Canberra dreamed up by social-media firebrand (and friend of the show) Punters Politics. Instead of corporations buying access to ministers, everyday Australians bought the tables, and the proceeds went toward
“Being a Satirist in Censorious Times” with cartoonist Jason Chatfield
Zohran Mamdani has just been elected mayor of New York, parachuting onto a political terrain more polarised and energised than it's been since the 1960s. How do you maintain an independent satirical voice in such vitriolic times? Joining Josh from NYC on a Substack Livestream the day after the mayoral election is Jason Chatfield, one of the world’s most successful cartoonists. Jason was impl
“The Climate Change Solution So Crazy it Just Might Work” with Quico Toro
The conversation around climate change is so predictable. It's either depressing doom, science denialism, or ambitious summits that don't achieve much. Can't anyone think outside the box? Quico Toro does. He's the Director of Climate Repair at the Anthropocene Institute, a former journalist who's written for the New York Times, Washington Post and The Atlantic, and a Venezuelan-born thinker shaped
"Public Shaming" with Clare Stephens
Pile-ons, performative outrage, apology rituals, and public humiliation have become a blood sport over the past decade. What happened? Was it a moral panic? A byproduct of new communications technologies? Or a storm in a teacup - a well-intentioned overreach, exaggerated by anti-woke right-wingers? Clare Stephens is a feminist journalist who has spent years at the coalface of cancel culture. She s
"Trans Rights, Women's Rights, Gay Rights, Oh My!” with Professor Robert Wintemute
What happens when the fight for women's equality collides with transgender rights? Is the anti-trans nastiness of the Elon MAGA-verse now winning? Or is it mere chaff in a new legal regime that privileges gender identity over feminism and gay rights? Where are we, exactly, in the gender wars? The question of who counts as a woman, once banal, is now a cultural lightning rod, shaping debates over p
"Mindfulness, Science, Buddhism & Bullsh*t"? with Mo Edjlali
You know you should meditate. But you don't have the time. Or you're no good at it. So you occasionally subscribe to a meditation app, you listen to podcast episodes about mindfulness, you nod along sagely about the importance of living in the Now, and you get back to your busy life. It doesn't stick. That's been Josh's story for decades. So when he heard that the founder of one of the world's lea
“What’s Comedy For, Anymore?” with Wil Anderson
The Saudi stand-up controversy, the Jimmy Kimmel brouhaha, the clickification of live shows into viral video clips, the clash of podcasters like Marc Maron vs Joe Rogan over Trumpism... What is comedy for in this algorithmic era of culture wars? Wil Anderson is perhaps Australia's most successful stand-up comic. As well as his countless sold-out live shows, he hosts Gruen, a weekly panel show that
“Charlie Kirk’s Secret Plan to Take Over America” with Dr Matthew Boedy
What if the fight for America’s soul wasn’t just political, but theological? A powerful movement inside Christian America believes it is on a divine mission to rescue the nation’s institutions; from education and media to business and government. Their chief cheerleader was Charlie Kirk, whose organisation, Turning Point USA, is now better positioned to reshape American life than
"There IS no Housing Crisis, Akshually ☝️" with economist Cameron Murray
Insane house prices are destroying the middle-class dream of home ownership. Or... are they? Is there actually a housing crisis? Or are most people, in fact, comfortably paying historically-unremarkable mortgage repayments for a desirable product? Economist Cameron Murray argues for this unpopular (you might even say “uncomfortable”) heterodox view. While many of his peers, like our re
