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. To get more content like...

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. To get more content like this and to join in the fun of the Uncomfy Convos multiverse,...

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. To get more content like this and to join in the fun of the Uncomfy Convos multiverse, hit the...

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...

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...

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...

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. To get more content like this, hit the Substack page at...

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.  To get more content like this and to join in the fun of the Uncomfy Convos multiverse, hit the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe http://youtube.com/@JoshSzeps_ http://twitter.com/joshzepps http://instagram.com/joshszeps/ tiktok.com/@uncomfyconversations Follow...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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. To get more...

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. 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...

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. To get more content like...

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...

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. To get more content like this and to join in the fun of the Uncomfy Convos multiverse, hit the Substack page at...

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. To get more content like this and to join in the fun of the Uncomfy Convos multiverse, hit the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe http://youtube.com/@JoshSzeps_ http://twitter.com/joshzepps http://instagram.com/joshszeps/ tiktok.com/@uncomfyconversations

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. To subscribe to Josh’s premium podcast feed, hit the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe http://youtube.com/@JoshSzeps_ http://twitter.com/joshzepps http://instagram.com/joshszeps/ tiktok.com/@uncomfyconversations