ABC star's son tackles the haters of his very sweary podcast

The Age

4 hours ago

And those haters will be delighted to hear the podcast has changed the young men's lives. They are now making a modest living off monetisation deals with Spotify and YouTube as well as their own individual sponsorships.
Patricians v plebeians
Shakespeare's Coriolanus tells the story of Roman soldier/tyrant Coriolanus, who when spurned by his own electorate marches on Rome seeking vengeance.
The Bell Shakespeare production has come up with a cunning wheeze, dividing the audience up into noble patricians and common plebeians, in keeping with the play's themes of politics and class conflict.
Who'd be attracted to such a play about a supreme egotist? Well, at the Arts Centre Melbourne premiere on Friday, the audience was thick with politicians and lawyers.
Thus, Liberal senator Jane Hume, in Roman republic burgundy, found herself among the plebeians, as did rich lister and University of Melbourne chancellor Jane Hansen, and president of the council of trustees for the National Gallery of Victoria Janet Whiting, who joked that surely some mistake had been made.
After the show, Bell Shakespeare chair Philip Crutchfield, KC, asked how Hume had gone sitting among the common people. She joked she could handle being the People's Princess.
Having come from a federal parliament sitting week, Hume, no doubt having had her fill of sociopaths in warring factions, watched the Roman Republic events unfold with a wry smile and gave it a standing ovation. A case of she knows, she's been there?
Unlimited has its limits
Inching ever closer is the Women Unlimited Leadership Summit, starring Hillary Rodham Clinton, Leigh Sales, 'some of the nation's most senior women in the Australian Public Service' and others 'leading the pursuit of progress'.
Regular readers will recall this is the summit at which former prime minister Julia Gillard will be beamed on stage via hologram. Talk about boldly going where none have gone before for PM27. First her very own stage play – now this.
Certain journalists have been invited to attend the event, held in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra and other capitals over September 30 and October 1. Also going around: speakers including Indigenous leader and advocate Lil Gordon, Director-General of the Australian Signals Directorate Rachel Noble and co-creator of the 'glass cliff' concept, Australian National University professor Michelle Ryan.
We reported earlier that the starting price to attend the two-day summit varies from state to state. Ticket prices in the ACT start from $3199, in NSW $2899, and Victoria and other states $2699 – all plus GST, of course.
Loading
But media access to the star attraction is not proving as unlimited as we hoped. CBD has learnt that the former US secretary of state, US senator (and spouse of former president Bill Clinton) has a contract that stipulates no interviews and no media in her session. Nor, it seems, are any photos or videos allowed. Lock up those smartphones, influencers.
CBD is getting strong vibes of 1956's closed session of the 20th Soviet Congress when communist party first secretary Nikita Khrushchev gave a secret speech denouncing Joseph Stalin.
Or more recently, Liz Hurley 's infamous 2024 Melbourne Cup appearance, where she refused interviews apart from one brief one with rights holder Nine. As one witness reported: 'She literally grimaced in disgust when asked to speak to media on the red carpet.'
Been and gone
After our item last week pointed out that the Greens still had ex-leader Adam Bandt emblazoned on their website months after he lost his seat in the May election, we wondered how long it would take the party to haul the former MP off the site.
The answer: sometime before midday but not before 8am, which was three hours after our column hit the internet. Even in the online age, wheels can sometimes turn slowly.