Uncomfortable Conversations with Josh Szeps

Could independent politicians kill off the two-party system and make politics more accountable?

At the last Australian election, a decade of conservative government rule was brought to an end thanks largely to a wave of so-called "teal independents" supported by Simon Holmes à Court’s organisation. 

The son of Australia’s first billionaire and the heir to generations of influential politicians and businessmen, Simon Holmes à Court has become one of the most significant figures in Australian politics. His political revolution has challenged the status quo of the two major political parties and allowed communities to wrestle back power from institutions that don't represent them. This is a fascinating, wide ranging chat with a brilliant mind.

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Australia is in the grip of a national reckoning about male violence against women. Last month, 11 women died at the hands of men, almost half of whom were killed in the Bondi stabbing. Countless news reports describe an epidemic of men killing women. Rallies all over the country emphasise the central message: Men Need To Do Better. But what do the facts say? How can we best fix the problem? And is Josh merely being a defensive, toxic male when he says it’s “not all men”? Josh seeks to bring reason to an emotional conversation.

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A legend of Australian comedy, Meshel Laurie has endured her share of woke social media pile-ons. The top-rating radio host, comedian and TV performer is invariably described as “divisive”. Why? Because she’s a woman? Because she’s uncensored? 

Meshel’s podcasts are Australian True Crime and Can We Be Real. Here, she and Josh reflect on social media, alcohol, drugs, comedy, stardom, Buddhism, the pandemic, and how to discuss male violence without alienating men.

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We opened up the phones to field questions from the listeners for our first-ever live talkback episode. We discussed fascinating news stori s as well as the hard-hitting topics the mainstream media refuses to touch, like why it's okay to eat dog.

Keep an eye out for more live ask-me-anything sessions in the future, and make sure you’re signed up to uncomfortableconversations.substack.com to get involved.

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He’s the man who introduced Joe Rogan to hunting.

Steven Rinella hosts the long-running TV show and podcast MeatEater. He’s an outdoorsman, conservationist, writer and TV star who's written ten books about wildlife, hunting, fishing, and wild game cooking. But best of all, he’s a generous and wise thinker about ecology and animal suffering.

Josh has never shot an animal in his life. Enjoy.

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It's always a treat when Professor Joel Pearson stops by for The Buzz, to blow our minds about our minds.

On this visit, Joel and Josh wrestle with how you experience time. Why does time sometimes seem to move fast, and slow? Are some people naturally better at different times of day? How fooled can you be by tricks of time? Is there a biological timer in your brain? And why does time speed up as you age?

Joel is a professor of cognitive neuroscience who runs the Future Minds Lab at one of Australia's big ivy leagues, UNSW. His latest book is "Intuition: Unlock Your Brain's Potential to Build Real Intuition and Make Better Decisions".

This is a taste of a longer episode for premium subscribers. It includes a couple of visual brain games to test your time perception. They need to be seen to be experienced. If you'd like to hear the whole thing and to see the experiments, pop over to the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe to access to videos of this and all our other premium shows.

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Jimmy Carr’s comedy career has spanned over two decades and seen him sell out arenas all over the world. Jimmy returns to Netflix with his latest stand-up special Jimmy Carr: Natural Born Killer. The show was seen by 1.2 million people in 45 countries and is the first special that Jimmy has directed. Now you get to see it at home.

I sat down with Jimmy during my visit to London to discuss his new special as well as all things comedy, cancel culture, social media, the state of the world and much much more.

Jimmy Carr returns to Netflix with his latest stand-up special Jimmy Carr: Natural Born Killer out now.

Jimmy’s brand-new international tour Jimmy Carr: Laughs Funny is on sale now. For tickets and info visit jimmycarr.com

Website: https://www.jimmycarr.com

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jimmycarr

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jimmycarr

Threads: https://www.threads.net/@jimmycarr

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For the first Uncomfortable Conversations live tour, Douglas Murray joined Josh in conversation on a sold-out five-city tour. This is the audio of the matinee show in Sydney, which was recorded live from the audience while protesters tried to make as much noise as they could outside. So our most sincere apologies for the quality of the audio, however, the YouTube shows were recorded with proper equipment and sound great!

Whether you agree or disagree with him, Douglas is one of the most important public intellectuals today. A journalist and bestselling author, he tackles controversial issues head on like nobody else.

Two of the live shows will be posted on YouTube (you won't hear those here to avoid duplication, so be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel). Enjoy the intellectual rumble.

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Josh wanted to explore the perspective of a Western leftist who's been condemning Israel and who understands the Middle East.

Eiynah is a Pakistani-Canadian podcaster, illustrator and commentator who grew up in Saudi Arabia. Throughout the Gaza conflict, she has been vehement in her opposition to Israel.

Eiynah's podcast is called Polite Conversations and you can follow her @NiceMangos.

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Sydney's #1 talk radio host, the legendary Ben Fordham, joins journalist, podcaster and explosive former ABC provocateur Antoinette Lattouf to debate the big stories of the week. 

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This week, the Federal Court of Australia will hear a case with profound implications for women's rights and trans rights. It involves a women's app whose creator is being sued for discrimination by a trans woman because the app is exclusively for biological females. Here, the defendant shares her story.

Should women be allowed to exclude transgender women from female-only spaces? Or do trans women have a human right to be treated, anywhere and everywhere, as biological females?

Most of the media isn't covering the case, because in polite journalistic circles it's heresy at best, or bigotry at worst, to question whether trans women differ from biological females. Sall Grover is the creator of the app, whose life has been deranged by this litigation.

In this unique one-on-one, ahead of her landmark court appearance this week, Sall and Josh wrestle with profound questions that could redefine womanhood and gender rights in Australia.
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Nobody attended all seven live conversations with Douglas Murray. Nobody will ever hear them all. Except for Josh.

Here, he brings you into the inner circle. What takeaways did Josh get? Was he frustrated by Douglas' blind spots? Has Douglas changed Josh's mind on Gaza, Zionism, trans issues or wokeness?

This is a taste of a longer episode for premium subscribers. If you'd like to hear the whole thing, pop over to the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe

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For the first Uncomfortable Conversations live tour, Douglas Murray joined Josh in conversation on a sold-out five-city tour. This is the audio of the final show, in Melbourne.

Whether you agree or disagree with him, Douglas is one of the most important public intellectuals today. A journalist and bestselling author, he tackles controversial issues head on like nobody else.

Two of the live shows will be posted on YouTube (you won't hear those here to avoid duplication, so be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel). Enjoy the intellectual rumble.

To keep on top of every gem we release, and for ad-free episodes which include Q&A's and other bonus goodies, be sure you're subscribed at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe

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Douglas Murray is one of the foremost conservative thinkers of our time. He's a journalist and author of numerous best-selling books who's appeared on some of the biggest stages around the world. 

Douglas and Josh just completed the first ever Uncomfortable Conversations live tour at sold-out venues in five cities, debating topics as diverse as the conflict in Gaza, cancel culture, gender dysphoria and much more. 

Here's the first taste of the tour: Two audience Q&A segments from the Brisbane and Adelaide shows, where Douglas and Josh attempted to solve the world’s most complicated problems... one audience-submitted question at a time.

This episode is only available in full for premium subscribers. If you're not a paid subscriber, enjoy a short taste -- or, to experience the full multicoloured glory of Uncomfortable Conversations, hit the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe

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Do you ever feel apprehensive about speaking up? Are you ever misunderstood? Do you ever find other people evasive, or abrasive?

The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Charles Duhigg caused a splash 12 years ago with his research into the formation of habits and his book "The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life." Now, he's studied super communicators to discover why you're misunderstood, and what you can do better. His new book is "Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection".

Here, Charles and Josh misunderstand each other... in instructive ways.
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This is a preview of an episode for paid subscribers. 

What should we make of politics in the 2020s? Are we in an ascendant moment for the centre left? The US swung Democratic at the last midterm elections. The Australian conservatives were annihilated at the last poll. The same will happen to the UK Tories later this year.

Peter van Onselen is a professor of politics who has written multiple books about the rise and fall of almost every recent conservative prime minister. He has worked inside parliament house, written political commentary for The Australian newspaper, he was the chief political reporter for Channel Ten, and hosted Australia's nightly TV news panel show, The Project.

Should the Right be conservative, or populist? Should the Left be woke, or working class? Peter and Josh take stock of the political landscape in 2024.

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Peter Garrett is one of the most iconic Australians. As the lead singer of Midnight Oil, he's had countless number one hits all over the world. He entered politics and reached the highest levels of government as a cabinet minister, including spearheading the campaign to ban Japanese whaling worldwide. As an environmentalist and indigenous rights activist, he has seen a half-century of social justice. Josh sits down with an Australian legend to pick his brain about modern culture, the left and the right, China, climate chaos and much more.

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Can a non-white person be racist? Or is racism something only white people do? The beloved captain of Australia's national women's soccer team, Sam Kerr, a woman of colour, was charged by UK police with racial harassment after allegedly calling a white male police officer a "stupid white bastard" in London.

Australia's commentariat has been twisting itself in knots trying to find the correct anti-racist hot take. The official consensus is that people of colour can't be racist, so she did nothing wrong. The other side shrieks that that's hypocrisy, insisting that all race-based insults are equally bad. Josh tries to bring rationality to an irrational debate.

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When Josh left his ABC Radio show in December, keen observers recalled an appearance he'd made on the hugely popular US podcast The Fifth Column some months earlier, which had hinted that all was not well in paradise. For the first time since jumping off from the legacy media train, Josh sits down with the Fifth Colunmistas in New York City for a catch-up... and a review of the spiciest stories in the news.

This is a crossover episode with The Fifth Column podcast. If you've already heard it on their feed, sorry. If you've never heard of them, check them out at https://wethefifth.substack.com.

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Yesterday we released a preview of this paid episode. Due to the reaction to the full episode on the paid feed, we are re-releasing it here for free as a public service.

Amid the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, "anti-Zionism" has become shorthand for "anti-bombing-Palestinians". But what do we mean when we ask if someone opposes Zionism? Does being a “Zionist” mean you support Israel's brutality? Josh is being asked this question more and more. He tries to untangle an answer.

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Do we fetishise indigenous culture? Praising timeless First Nations wisdom makes us feel warm and fuzzy. But what do land acknowledgements, smoking ceremonies and racial sensitivity classes have to do with the oldest continuous civilisation on earth and its future in the modern world?

Tyson Yunkaporta is an Aboriginal scholar at Deakin University in Melbourne. His new book is "Right Story, Wrong Story: Adventures in Indigenous Thinking". He and Josh have it out.

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Well, the knives are out. Later this month, Josh is touring Australia with the outspoken British journalist Douglas Murray. It's the first in a series of live tours that'll bring you the world's most interesting minds from across the entire political and ideological spectrum. You'll hear some of those events on this very pod.

But now, the threat of cancellation looms. Activists are trying to force theatres to cancel the Douglas Murray events. Here, Josh shares his thoughts.

This episode is only available in full for premium subscribers. If you're not a paid subscriber, enjoy a short taste -- or, to experience the full multicoloured glory of Uncomfortable Conversations, hit the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe

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The Worthless Twink is one of the most prominent gays on Instagram. But he's not called that any more. Tim Abbott is reinventing himself as a meme artist. He gets real and raw with Josh about influencers, the gays, and self-obsession.

This episode was recorded before the tragic death of Sydney couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies on Monday the 19th of February.

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Josh is joined by fan favourite Professor Joel Pearson, neuroscientist and psychologist, to discuss the biggest stories in technology... and how they'll affect your life.

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This week, Josh is joined on the panel couch by Courtney Act, one of the world’s most iconic drag queens (or, rather, by her even more captivating alter ago, Shane Jenek) and by the ABC's National Technology Reporter, Ange Lavoipierre.

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Angela is Australia’s most successful adult film actress, and the most award-winning female porn star in history, anywhere. She graduated with First Class Honors and now runs a multi-million-dollar operation as one of the top 0.01% of OnlyFans creators. She and Josh discuss gender, sexual identity, Botox, porn and taboos.

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Anti-Zionist Instagram mums are on the hunt. They plan to expose secret WhatsApp messages where sniveling, bloodthirsty Jews like Josh plot. What’s up with snitching these days? Can we quit it already?

Also, Josh bought a cat and needs your advice.

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Neuralink brain implants. Apple Vision Pro virtual reality. Silicon Valley tech bros who plan to live forever. It’s been a big week in science and technology news, and who better to devour, digest and regurgitate it for you than neuroscientist Joel Pearson and technology journalist Angharad "Rad" Yeo (and their humble interlocuter nerd, Josh)?

Joel’s book is The Intuition Toolkit and you can check out the show’s YouTube page to see our purdy faces.

Let us know what you think of the episode on the Substack page. You can join the community for free, or pay for heaps of awesome bonus content at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe

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How does the moist grey meat between your ears create the kaleidoscope of sensations you experience as your life? How do other animals experience the world? And will A.I. ever feel like something?

Joel Pearson is a psychologist and neuroscientist who runs the Future Minds Lab at the University of New South Wales and is in charge of Innovation & Enterprise in their school of psychology. His new book is "The Intuition Toolkit: The New Science of Knowing What without Knowing Why."

Join Joel as he blows your mind about your mind.

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The doomsayers are out in force, with plenty of gloomy prognostications for 2024. In this solo episode (also available on YouTube if you want to behold Josh’s staggeringly beautiful hair), Josh explains why — on climate, economics and politics — 2024 will be a helluva lot better than you think.

Josh had a tradition on his radio show. Each Friday, he’d banter with two celebrities about the news. Well, behold this first-ever inaugural grand honorary opening maiden extravaganza lollapalooza: The Uncomfortable Conversations Panel.

This week, our guests are the two most interesting people in the world: Sarah Wilson and Jessie Stephens. Sarah’s podcast is Wild, which you should listen to. She’s also a multi-New York Times best-selling author, social philosopher and keynote speaker. Jessie’s podcasts are Mamamia Out Loud and Cancelled, which you should also listen to. She’s also a best-selling author. They’re both rather impressive and you should follow them.

If you’re a paid subscriber and if you’re seeing that this episode is only about 26 minutes long, then something is wrong and you’re on the free feed. The full episode is almost an hour long! Log into Substack to get your own unique premium podcast feed with no ads and longer episodes at https://bit.ly/UC_Primo. Or, if you’re just a free subscriber and you’re happy with that, enjoy the first 25 minutes and we're glad to have you.

In this week’s conversation, a judge strips Elon Musk of his big fat bonus, the government bans vapes, and the UK prime minister practices serrrrrrrious intermittent fasting. Let us know what you think in the Substack comments. Enjoy.

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Should swastikas be banned? Should you be allowed to chant “Palestinians are terrorists”? What about “trans women aren’t women”? Or “Covid was a hoax”?

In an era of misinformation and hate speech, universities, governments and journalists are wrestling with whether to control what gets said. Should there be any limits?

You’ve seen James Kirchick on Bill Maher’s show. He’s a big free-speecher; a writer, columnist, and a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. He and Josh butt heads debating free speech and hate speech in a chaotic world.

To subscribe to Josh’s premium podcast feed. Hit the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe

Today, January 26th, is Australia's national day. It's hugely controversial, being the anniversary of the British Empire's arrival on indigenous land. On the morning of Australia Day, Josh reflects on race relations and the ongoing Australia-Day controversy.

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Elie Honig used to prosecute the mafia in New York City. Now he’s CNN’s senior Legal analyst. As a seasoned prosecutor of organised crime, he helps Josh wrestle through Trump’s legal problems and their likely outcomes. Elie’s new book is “Untouchable: How Powerful People Get Away with It”.

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Meg made an astonishing documentary about Guantanamo terrorists who were released into a de-radicalisation program in Saudi Arabia. Then her film, The UnRedacted (Jihad Rehab), was cancelled… and so was she.

To subscribe to Josh’s premium podcast feed. Hit the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe

*CORRECTION: The UnRedacted (Jihad Rehab) is not yet available to watch at JihadRehab.com but Meg is working on it and it will be ready in the very near future. Follow Meg's my GoFundMe or Facebook page for the film for updates, links below.

FILM FACEBOOK PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/people/The-UnRedacted-Documentary/100086743011195/

FILM GOFUNDME PAGE: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-unredacted-jihad-rehab

When we accuse a country of being a "coloniser", it's meant as a bad thing. But what if colonialism is okay? What if the British Empire was, on balance... good?

That's the position of @NigelBiggar, a Professor Emeritus at Oxford University whose new book, “Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning”, is making heads explode all over Britain. Join Josh as he tries to wrestle with the ethics of the Raj, indigenous rights, racism, and one of the greatest crimes – or greatest virtues? – in political history.

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Are Jews a minority? Do they deserve the same social-justice protections as other identity groups? Or are they white—perhaps even the “whitest” of white privileged elites?

David Baddiel is a comedian and writer. He helped turn comedy into ‘the New Rock’n’Roll’ when he created the hit TV shows ‘The Mary Whitehouse Experience’ and ‘Newman & Baddiel in Pieces’. He’s appeared on the UK’s biggest comedy shows including ‘Little Britain’, ‘Skins’, ‘8 Out of 10 Cats’, and ‘QI’, and he performed to 12,500 people at the Wembley arena in the UK’s first ever stadium comedy show.

Now, he has turned his ferocious intellect to his Jewishness. How does the social-justice Left think about Jews? Where do Jews fit in a ‘woke’ worldview? Baddiel’s brilliant new book and TV documenatry are both called “Jews Don't Count”.

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How long can ham sit on the Christmas table before you shouldn’t eat it? Can fried rice kill you? Can you store butter out of the fridge? Why did Josh start spewing chunks just twenty minutes after eating a chimichanga? Gary Kennedy is a world expert in food safety and the managing director of Correct Food Systems. To help you survive your impending holiday feast (and every Chinese takeaway you’ll ever have), don’t miss this quirky, compelling, uncomfortable Christmas special.

How would your life change if you found out, beyond all doubt, that you're a robot? What if nothing you’ve ever done was your own free choice? What if your brain just tricks you into feeling like you’re choosing things it already planned?

Josh can't believe that. But the Stanford Professor Robert Sapolsky, one of the world’s leading free-will sceptics, does. His latest book is “Determined: A Science of Life without Free Will”.

Prepare to have your mind blown. If you have one.

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Today, over 3,200 of Josh’s arts-industry colleagues are engaging in a Palestinian Day of Action, wearing Palestinian scarves during performances nationwide. Josh, you’ll be shocked to learn, has some thoughts.

In a future of digital spying, inflationary economies, incompetent central banks and petty authoritarians, could Bitcoin be the guarantee of all your other freedoms? Josh was on Peter’s blockbuster podcast, What Bitcoin Did, and now Peter stops by the Uncomfy Convos studio on a recent trip to Sydney. He’s a super smart thinker about the role of the individual, the state… and your wallet.

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There's a LOT going on in the Uncomfy Convo world. You probably have a lot of questions. I'm here to answer them. 

David Pakman is a progressive American political commentator who hosts one of the world’s most popular left-wing talk shows, with over 1.8 million subscribers. Josh picks his brain about the state of the media, of the Left… and of America.

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What's wrong with empathy? Is effective altruism better? How did you develop your sense of right and wrong? Is suffering necessary for pleasure? These are the questions the psychologist Paul Bloom wrestles with. Enjoy the ride.

Yippee-ki-yay, Josh has quit his ABC Radio show to double down on Uncomfortable Conversations. Starting in the new year, you'll get additional free episodes, a YouTube channel, a live tour and more. Before embarking on his adventure, Josh wanted to speak with the most successful person who has recently pulled it off. Bari Weiss was an opinion writer and editor at The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. She walked away to do her own thing at The Free Press.

Now more than ever, we need you to subscribe to Josh’s premium podcast feed. Hit the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe

Brian Dunning is an expert on critical thinking, science and skepticism. His weekly podcast, Skeptoid, debunks conspiracy theories, and his new film is “The UFO Movie THEY Don't Want You to See”. Here, Josh tries to get to the bottom of what’s really going on with UFOs.

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Can you work at a corporation or university and openly contradict elite opinion? Can you freel y suggest that gender is binary, land acknowledgments are silly, that there are biological reasons why more men become CEOs, or that racial diversity quotas are patronising? Not without being punished, according to a tsunami of cases being catalogued by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. Its CEO, Greg Lukianoff, who co-wrote the bestseller “The Coddling of the American Mind” , has a new book, “The Cancelling of the American Mind”, with the Gen-Z journalist Rikki Schlott to explain what’s going on.

What does it take to sustain a career in the performing arts? Julia Zemiro is one of Australia’s most beloved perfomers. An actor, improv comic and TV host, she has hosted the official New Year's Eve telecast from Sydney Harbour, the music quiz show “RocKwiz”, and her own beloved television interview show “Julia Zemiro's Home Delivery”, I sit down with her to muse on what it takes to make it in a tough biz.

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Josh shares fresh thoughts on Gaza, Palestine and Israel in this special bonus episode. To subscribe to the premium podcast feed, hit the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe

Eli Lake is the former senior national security correspondent for The Daily Beast and Newsweek. He’s a contributing editor to Commentary Magazine and the host of the Re-Education Podcast. He was a syndicated columnist for Bloomberg between 2014 and 2022 and a former reporter at the New York Sun, the Daily Beast and the Washington Times. He and Josh debate Israel’s responsibility for the current crisis in Gaza.

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How are you feeling about the war in Ukraine? We may be at a fork in the road and about to blow it. The Wall Street Journal's Marcus Walker recently returned from Ukraine. He shares with you everything from the fascinating little details to the bracing geopolitics.

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I’ve been asked many times about my thoughts on situation in Israel and Gaza…. So here they are.

On October 14th, Australians will vote about whether to recognise the country’s First Peoples in the Constitution by establishing a body called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.

Jack Latimore is a Birpai man and the Indigenous affairs journalist for The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. He joins the show to explain it all.

You can read Jack’s work at the link below.
https://www.theage.com.au/by/jack-latimore-p4ywbz

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Josh is in New York, where he just stopped by the studios of one of America’s greatest podcasts, The Fifth Column, to record this special crossover pod. Find Michael Moynihan, Kmele Foster and Matt Welch at https://wethefifth.com and https://wethefifth.substack.com.

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A long, long time ago, The Gays couldn’t marry. What was it like in that mediaeval nightmare? The world’s most popular sex advice columnist, Dan Savage, joined Josh in New York on the set of his television talk show in 2013. Enjoy this fascinating time portal, unavailable anywhere else on earth, except on the premium podcast feed at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe

Are there biological differences between male and female brains? How much of what you do is dictated by evolution? As a part of our Permission To Think collaboration with the University of Technology Sydney's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, evolutionary psychologist Professor Steve Stewart-Williams describes how you came to be an ape who understands the universe.

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Australians are about to vote on whether to change the constitution to create a special advisory body for Indigenous Australians. Is it an overdue forum for justice? Or a risky, undemocratic game of identity politics? It’s the listener question Josh gets the most. Here, he tries to inject some sanity into an increasingly toxic debate.

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Yascha Mounk is one of the world’s most interesting thinkers about diversity, liberalism and democracy. His new book, The Identity Trap, is an ambitious account of the origins, consequences, and limitations of “wokeness”. How did a relatively marginal set of ideas – postmodernism, postcolonialism, critical race theory – come to rule the world?

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Grab your Exclusive NordVPN Deal by going to nordvpn.com/Conversations to get a Huge Discount off your NordVPN Plan + 4 extra months for free. It’s completely risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee.

Has Louis CK reeeeeeally been “cancelled” if he still has a face? I mean, he wasn’t beheaded, ergo, “cancel culture” doesn’t exist. Amna Khalid is an equal-opportunity defender of free speech—a professor who slams wokesters… at the same time as legally opposing Florida’s war on woke universities. Anna’s blog and podcast, “Banished”, are about the history of censorship. This episode is part of Permission to Think, a collaboration with the University of Technology, Sydney, where Josh is a visiting fellow. A fabulous chat about the fate of education and the limits of free speech.

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Is Zionism a noble goal, or a form of colonial apartheid? Is a two-state solution possible? Desirable? Antony Loewenstein is a fierce critic of Israel and of the whole Zionist project. His new book is The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World. He and Josh debate the rights and wrongs of a Jewish homeland.

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Is Barbie the triumphant feminist critique of modern society it claims to be? The dust has settled on the mega-hit, so Josh finds some time to weigh-in.

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Ed Kavalee is a legend of Aussie radio, and a bloody funny bloke. Josh and Ed sit down to compare the best and worst of Australia vs America. 

It’s being compared to the discovery of fire or of electricity. Either way, artificial intelligence will revolutionise human civilisation. How?

Toby Walsh runs the AI Lab at UNSW and is a world-leading expert in AI. His most recent book is “Machines Behaving Badly: The Morality of AI.” Join him and Josh all the way down the rabbit hole.

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Josh used to drink a lot, and now he doesn't. One of the most frequently asked questions on our Ask Me Anythings, is how and why he quit. It deserves a longer explanation. Here it is. 

“If you’re explaining, you’re losing,” said Ronald Reagan, who never had to explain himself to a baying Twitter mob. Respected journalist David Volodzko, an expert on political extremism, got the newspaper job of his dreams… and lost it all within days. If you’ve ever wondered whether cancel culture exists, don’t miss his stunning tale.

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And you can support David at his Substack page at https://substack.com/@volodzko

Jerry Seinfeld personally chose Mark Normand to be his opening act. He’s a favourite of Joe Rogan and has appeared on CONAN, the Tonight Show & Late Show. Josh caught up with him, live and in-the-flesh, during Mark’s Australian tour.

Mark’s new special Soup To Nutsis available on Netflix now. Check out the trailer HERE. 

Follow Mark on Twitter HERE.

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Are you more forgiving of people you agree with than those you don’t? Have humans evolved to favour our own kind, to avoid ostracism, and to gain social status? Cory Clark is a behavioral scientist who studies tribalism and group identity. Her findings are shocking… but they offer us a path out of this mess.

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In a TV interview that put Josh on the map, Russell Brand shows up at Josh’s New York studio for the wildest ride of Josh’s life. Nipples are tweaked. Laptops are ruined. Wild minds are in flight. It’s one for the history books. Enjoy.

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Destiny, aka The Omni Liberal, aka Steven Bonnell is the debater who most terrifies right-wing trolls on Twitter. He was among the first people in the world to stream video games online full-time and now live-streams political debates in which he crushes his conservative opponents. What makes him tick?

To subscribe to Josh’s premium podcast feed, hit the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe

Josh's husband Sean’s memoir Not Like Other Dadswas released in early June and has been a raging success. For this premium episode, they sit down and talk about the book, his motivations for writing it, and his experience, of their experience, of becoming parents.

Andrew & Gaia Grant study the world’s biggest companies and coach them to be nimbler, more creative, and more diverse. How did we get so uncreative… and what separates the best from the rest?

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Myq is a New York comic who’s been on the Tonight Show, Conan, Letterman, James Corden, Seth Meyers, Comedy Central, Last Comic Standing, and America’s Got Talent. He also introduced Josh to ayahuasca. What happened next?

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Despite his reputation as a defector to neoconservatism, Christopher Hitchens was more faithfully committed to liberal principles than many on the left today: Free expression, internationalism, individual rights and universalism as opposed to identity politics. That’s the argument Matt Johnson makes in his book, How Hitchens Can Save the Left: Rediscovering Fearless Liberalism in an Age of Counter-Enlightenment.

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Josh is a travel hacker and aviation nerd. He's one of those people who knows all the ways to get as many frequent flyer miles as possible, and cash them in for luxury, first-class experiences on the world's best airlines. He sits down with producer Stef to take him through how the whole thing works. 

Megan Phelps-Roper was brought up in one of the most hated sects of American Christianity – the Westborough Baptist Church. Now, she sits down with the woman at the centre of an equally vicious firestorm, J.K. Rowling, in a new podcast from The Free Press. Josh and Megan reflect on the trans wars, religion, and the power of the mob.

Josh answers all your questions about A.I., fitness, Ukraine, gender ideology, and vacationing in Europe in winter.

Presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr blew up the internet when he pushed anti-vaccine claims on Joe Rogan’s show. It’s déjà vu all over again for Josh, who had his own little vax run-in with Rogan last year. Should scientists and medical researchers do a better job of engaging with alternative media? America’s leading skeptic, Michael Shermer, thinks so. He and Josh hash it out. 

On a summer night in Brooklyn in 2015, in the week when Trump descended a staircase to declare his ridiculous stunt candidacy for the Republican nomination, Josh launched his first ever podcast. Jim Norton, Abbi Crutchfield and Kevin Allison lit up a dive bar, guzzling cocktails and bantering about the news. Be transported back to that event.

To get your very own premium version of Josh’s podcast, hit the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/listen

Sarah Haider is a Pakistani-American writer and a ferociously clear-headed thinker about culture, society, identity politics, religion, cancel culture, sex and gender. She’s been featured on the BBC and in The Economist and recognized as a “Freethought Heroine” for her work co-founding a non-profit that assists dissident Muslims. Her podcast, A Special Place In Hell, is co-hosted by the equally curious contrarian feminist Meghan Daum. Here, Sarah and Josh wrestle with the biggest questions of contemporary culture. Enjoy the ride.

To get your very own premium version of Josh’s podcast, hit the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/listen

Permission to Think is a collaboration with the University of Technology, Sydney, where we debate the vigour, rigour and freedom of the academy. Today, the Melbourne University Law Professor Dr Katy Barnett sticks her neck out to argue against activist academics.

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The world’s leading A.I. researchers have released an open letter warning of the “existential threat” the technology poses to human civilisation. Stephen Marche begs to differ. He’ll go down in history as the man who created the world’s first mainstream novel written by A.I. To do so, he spent months interacting with Chat GPT. Join Josh as he and Stephen argue about the fate of artificial intelligence… and of humankind.

Do you know Josh? You may be surprised to hear his surprise when the show’s producer, Stefan Posthuma, turns the tables and puts Josh on the spot with some First Date Questions of his own.

In front of a packed crowd at a sold-out Brisbane City Hall, Josh interviews the world's most influential living biologist, Richard Dawkins.

Michael Shermer is a titan of the rationalist movement. He’s been on Oprah. He’s been on Donahue. He’s argued on TV with Deepak Chopra. He had a column in Scientific American for twenty-odd years. He’s the executive director of The Skeptics Society and the founding publisher of Skeptic magazine. His latest book is Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational.

Susan Sarandon is an Academy Award winning actor, philanthropist and progressive activist. She joined Josh on his old TV show to talk about her rise in Hollywood, gun laws, drug laws and being a “milf”.

Eva is a high-end dominatrix: A sex worker who flies around the world, servicing people’s most carnal desires. What makes them -- and her -- do what they do?1

What are your non-negotiable travel essentials? What catch phrase would you put on a billboard? What are your most left-wing and right-wing views? From deep and insightful to low-brow and fun - the audience asks Josh... anything. 

Shadi Hamid is a Muslim-American writer and professor whose latest book is “The Problem of Democracy”. In his new Substack, Wisdom of Crowds, he makes the case against consensus… and in favour of polarisation. Josh wants to figure out what the hell he means.

As Josh comes to the end of his trip to West Africa. He sits down with his travel companion Dan to share their summary of the adventure.

After a dramatic youth that included a forced marriage to an Al-Qaeda operative, Yasmine became an activist for women’s rights in the Muslim world. Her charity, Free Hearts, Free Minds, helps ex-Muslims escape Muslim theocracies. Ironically, some of her toughest adversaries are western progressives, too timid to criticise Islam.

He’s a one-man wellness, publishing and podcasting empire. Rich Roll started getting fit in middle age and is now a world-renowned vegan ultra-endurance athlete.

Dick Cavett is one of the greatest television talk show hosts of all time. After being a writer on the original NBC Tonight Show (first with Jack Parr, then with Johnny Carson), Cavett got his own show in 1968. It ran for nearly 40 years and cemented him as a titan of American broadcasting, hosting seminal political debates as well as Hollywood’s biggest stars. A few years ago, Cavett appeared on Josh’s TV show. This is the audio of that encounter.

“The Mooch” was a wildly successful investment banker when he joined Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. He became the White House Communications Director in 2017. Anthony tells Josh about his time in the White House, his relationship with Trump, and what kind of a guy he really is. 

Josh is backpacking around West Africa. As you do. What’s it like? He’s here to tell you, recorded live from the road (or the dusty track, as the case may be).

Sign up below on our FREE Substack tier to hear the whole thing. 
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Universities are now dominated by diversity, equity and inclusion mandates, says the philosopher Peter Boghossian… and the result is a stultifying climate of intellectual conformism. In this all-new instalment of Permission to Think, our collaboration with the UTS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Josh and Peter debate how universities, and our culture at large, can reclaim true intellectual freedom.

If you're a greenie, you're supposed to be anti-nuclear. That was true of the former Extinction Rebellion spokesperson Zion Lights... until she became one of Britain's most prominent advocates for nuclear power. But do her claims stand up to Josh's scrutiny?

Josh walked into a bar in Brooklyn and, in front of a packed crowd of drunks, argued about the news with some of the funniest, smartest people in New York. This is that event.

Jamie Kirchick knows everything about the secret, spooky, saucy, seedy side of Washington DC. Hear him hold forth on the secret history of gay spies, trans activists and, of course, the never-not-impending arrest of Donald J Trump.

To hear the full episode for FREE, sign up to the free tier on Josh's Substack at: 
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In this brand new venture, Josh addresses some of life's deepest questions as posed by his friend and work colleague Robbie Armfield. In this first episode, Robbie has anxiety about generating sounds and aromas in the office toilet cubicle. Robbie has questions. Josh has the answers. 

You can find more from Robbie on his podcasts "Welcome to Meet You" and "Robbie's Modern Life".