SAMUAL JOHNSON - AUSTRALIAN STORY - ABC

It's in the news today, but it was actually on TV Reload.

The podcast speak.

The line, Hey everyone, welcome back to TV Reload. I want to thank you for clicking and downloading on today's episode featuring actor and activist Samuel Johnson, who will feature in tonight's ABC's Australian Story. I hope many of you tune in at eight pm as his episode screens on Freedoware Television, and if you are catching up with this podcast later in the week by then you will be able to view this episode on iView, the Australian Broadcast

Mind to it. There is this inner.

Superhero ability about this man that most of us could only dream of possessing. But the man behind those achievements is also a man who has weathered more than a few storms. The grief and loss in his life could very easily have destroyed him, and yet he surfaces time and time again to share his story, winning audiences with

We also talk.

About the decision in saying yes to featuring on Australian Story, what he guessed they would ask and if he was scared with some of the topics that he knew they would no doubt require him to share. I hope that you loved this episode and this chat. I feel like it was a privilege and a gift to be able

Connect to that too.

Hello, Hey, here you go.

I'm good mate, How are you good?

Thanks?

You're up early to be talking about Australian story this morning.

Yeah, I've been doing it for a little while now. It's a beautiful morning.

It is absolutely amazing. It's started at that point of Victoria where it's freezing but you're kind of enjoying it.

Yeah. Yeah, Yeah, it's both.

It's a little bit of both.

And I know that you're out in the sort of regional Victoria and you really get the cold.

It bites you there.

Yeah, I'm posting now.

And so so three days a week I get up early and drive through the cold and get introduced to the day and it's pretty unforgiving at nighttime at this time of year.

We're talking about australis story. And I have to ask you straight away, were you scared when you signed up to do this show? Because we know with this show that they're going to ask you robust questions about your life, and that must be a little bit scary in some ways.

I wrecked the alligator a bit. I mean, none of us are immune. You know, I thought suicide might come up. I thought usage might come up. You know, I've done life just like all of us, and you know, it's a mixture of victories and face plants, and I knew they'd go there, but at the same time, I kind of respect them for that, And you know, I think I think life's too short not to go there.

And I've got nothing to hide. It's scars and all.

I mean, the format goes deep, and I guess it works best when the people that sign up to this show allow themselves to be vulnerable. And you know, Sam, when I think about you and I think about your career and what we know of you, I think you are also at your best when you're vulnerable and you share your story.

Yeah, my dad used to say when I was growing up, Like, I don't know whether I'm allowed to say this, but this is what my dad used to say, I don't care if you bullshit me, just don't bullshit yourself. So I was taught from a young age not to lie to myself. So I don't walk around this planet thinking that I'm any better than I am. And you know, I just try not to be.

A tured beggar.

It's what we all try, you know, We're just it's a seesaw, isn't it. You know, it's the angel on one side and it's the devil on the other.

And oh, you've got any more wedding hanging a thing?

I know you that you that I'm not too sure. Sorry about that. I must have I pressed something with my take. Sorry about that.

That's a story of my life, mate. I do that all the time. I'll be on the.

Phone to my mum, and because we talk in such long bursts, we don't realize that in actual fact, we accepted another phone call and are probably telling a stranger from a really personal story. And I think they don't appreciate it. I mean, they probably think this is very strange for a person to be telling them this.

I'm starting to think I might have a cheek line.

It's a good way. It's a good way to put it. Do you know what's funny?

You were talking about your dad and you're talking about that saying that you that he shared with you. I grew up in I grew up in Melbourne, so I often would go to pubs and bars to hang out, as we all did growing up. And I remember meeting your dad with one of your sisters. Now I can't remember which sister Sam it was, but they're playing pool.

Yeah, yeah, And.

I remember having a conversation with him, and he was a very wise person, who's very open a lot of the things that I perceive you to be without really knowing you personally.

I am I'm so stoked to hear that. I'm not very delicate, but he was very graceful. I'm very vulgar and ghost but he was very dignified. I'm very verbose, and you know, I travel at one hundred and ten k's an hour, and he's very quiet and listened. He was very quiet and listened well. And he was admired by everyone, and he was like like everyone used to

He was very generous, I think with his time. You know, someone had even pointed out they said that Samuel Johnson's father over there, and so I was probably a bit bold to go over there and have a game of pool with them because I was such a big fan of yours. It was around the time that Secret Life of Us was huge, so we're talking decades ago.

Was it at DT's Molly Meldrum's.

Pub, Yes, it was.

I guess we shouldn't say this because he lives two houses down to them. People try and find him, but yes, mainly because Molly has that policy where he leaves these front door open, so you don't want to tell people about where Molly lives because you know you can probably wonder inside and have a cup of tea with him at any time of the night.

Yeah.

I mean I've played playpool there on many occasions. I used to go and see Dad there about once a week, and Molly Meldrim helped me get out of a lawsuit where Russell Crowe was suing me, so so yeah, got a rich history with that pub and have had many a good times there.

Have you been back there recently?

About a year and a half ago, I popped him briefly.

I haven't been back there in a long time either.

I think it's the same place, but it's changed ownership.

I mean it still has the Thames that have field. It's a bit of a nostalgia anyway. People like this is not your chance to interview Samuel Johnson's love of pub but it does lead me into the question of talking to you about vices. And you know, yesterday, when I was doing my research to talk to you today, I found something online which said something about are people's vices signs or clues that they are in fact in

I think we've all got vices, and I call it wrestling the alligator. And I think those vices can can bring the worst and the best out of it. I think if they're policed vigilantly, they can have a positive net effect. And I think as vices tend to do, I think if vices.

Take control, then the outcome is not good.

Most people, statistically, when they wrestle the alligator, they win and it's a positive experience. And then there's people that really enjoy their vices and that's where the outcomes aren't so positive. So it's something that I'm very aware of. I keep a usage diary myself. I'm going to an AA meeting next Monday. You know, I'm a posty in a country town, so I don't stay up too late

Do you think that in some ways that Australia has a problem with alcohol.

I think we used to.

I think we used to live in a culture of alcohol, and I think we used to glorify it. Statistically, we're seeing that young people aren't drinking, they're not taking it up. It's not just going down, it's going well down. So we're seeing generationally that we're learning about that and we're changing our system. You know, we know that alcohol increases DV.

It's more and more common to go out.

These days and to be a a drinking establishment and to see people there that are off the booth and they're just having a lemonade.

Good to see the culture changing before my eyes.

I think it's changing, probably because you and I have the same age, you know. That's like even on the shows that we watched, you know, everyone was having drinks, Like even when we watch Secret Life of Us because I rewatched that show all the time because yeah on borderline obsessed, don't hold against it, And even watching that show, the way that we were drinking for that era, you know, it was a big way of socializing.

And a steeped part of our culture, you know, and it's good to be that breaking down now. Part of that is talking about it more and not just seeing it as an essential thing to do to be an Australian, but a thing that has consequences, and we're seeing now people drop off. It's just old dinosaurs and relics like me that are still wrestling with it.

Probably and me. All right, I think I found something in common there. There's a quote in tonight's episode, and this person who joins the show says, I can't imagine love your sister without you and vice versa. Have you had time to really reflect on the achievements of that charity, because when I looked, because of course I know about it and I've donated to it, but I had no idea the numbers that you've been able to raise.

Yeah, I've had time to reflect. We're at the twenty million dollar mark. I've had a lot of time to reflect. I've been crying for about three weeks. It's been one of the most amazing positive experiences in my life. I know it sounds like I looked like a mess, but Gesz, yes, I have had time to reflect on it, and it means an incredible amount to me. But I've got my

It comes from people like you. That's why I'm in service to you.

Forever, and I've had time to reflect on it, and it's been a two way straight reciprocally. I don't believe in altruism. I think it's too simplistic. What I've tapped into and what I've been able to do and what I've been given.

Back is astronomical.

So we might have pulled together twenty million dollars for cancer research, but personally, all of those legends have given me a reason to live, so and that's priceless. So yes, it's donning achievement, but on a personal level, my heart is falling off. Sleep well at night, mate, and that's all one can ever hope for.

I remember once I did a reality show and I came off at and had a really big following for a very short period of time, and I tried to join charities.

I thought, you know what I want to do.

I want to use this platform for something, And I did three charities in a row straight after doing this show, right, and I remember real I realized at that time it's very hard to ask people for money, you know, for a charity. And I don't know what it was about you, but so many people just were able to connect to your story and that story and hand it for money.

It is really hard, challenging to ask for money. I was speaking to carry A big Moore a couple of weeks ago about it, and she too was talking about that exact same thing. I don't like asking people for money. It makes me very uncomfortable. I've had I've had thirteen years to try and get used to it. But I was just chatting with Carrie big More the other week about it. It's incredibly challenging, especially when you're asking people for money after you've already asked them before.

You know. It's the ugly side of what I do. I don't enjoy it, but that is my job.

I'm raising funds for hard science and luckily I'm not raising funds for me.

Yeah, I'm still I think I'll die uncomfortable with it. I don't like it.

It's I don't want to monetize this pain. I don't want to ask people for their heart earned when they've got none, you know. I mean, we call it a cock a living crisis and never but basically everyone's broke.

And you know, I'm still getting around saying, you know, science matters.

You know, so yeah, don't I don't enjoy the money side of things particularly, and that's where I focus on. Actually, I need to just tell the country about precision medicine and cancer as well, and so I see myself not as a fundraiser but as a science communicator.

Yeah, that's a good way to put it. But also people buy you, do you know what I mean? There has to be something in the minutia or something. I don't think that's the right word. But you know, the fact that you're uncomfortable with asking for people for money, I think is a part of the fact that people.

Will give it to you.

Do you know what I mean? It's that that you that you wrestle with that and you understand the importance of it is written on your face, you know what I mean.

So, and we always keep the arc more.

Yeah, well we're not asking for gold, we're asking for any silver coins, you know. Like it's it's just like our twenty million didn't come from the high.

End of town. It came from people like who found a couple of bucks in the last ten you know.

It's look at I look at our quote demographic and we're not rich and so that makes up asking for help even harder because of people with less give more.

That's right. Yeah, And it's a strange.

It's a strange part of it before you go because I've run out of time that you know, my partner would kick me. He would come in and kick me if I didn't ask you anything about my favorite show, which is Secret Life of Us. He'd be like, you're embarrassing. Why didn't you ask him? Is something that he would say.

Next generation something like that. What do you think?

Absolutely not.

I think we get we get amazing kind of offerings lately like Boy Swallows Universe, Oh yeah, which is about young people.

And I found that Really, I think that.

The Secret Life of Us was appropriate for that time. It could be rewritten into a world that belongs to today.

But I mean, I.

Don't know, it's flash in the pan, you know, like I feel like it works, then I'm not sure.

It'd work now.

You know, we're in a different world at different time, with a different perspective. I think even if you made a show these days about young people, that'd be really really different to the secret life of us.

Well, before you go, the last question ask everyone is what is something from behind the scenes? And I usually ask something about something from behind the scenes. Can you explain when was the last time you're in a room with Deborah Melman and Claudia carvn Like, where has that ever happened?

Again?

Yeah?

Absolutely, I've spoken to Dead Mailman a few times on the phone, and I've caught up with Cordial Caravan.

Quite a bit, quite a bit.

She helps out our cancer mob and I saw her about a year and a half ago when visited when I was in Sydney, maybe two years ago.

We had a chat.

About Dancing with the Stars. I told her it was a great thing to do. She did the next season of it, you know, so so yeah, we still catch up. But no, I haven't seen deb since. But I did pass here in the old days because we played spin the bottle.

There you go, there's something that people may not know.

Well, I would say Cloudic Cover's my favorite episode of Australian story so fast, but you might be back tonight beating that when you shop a story tonight. Thank you for being so gracious and talking to me, but thank you for being so open and reflecting on your story and I hope Australian audiences appreciate it as much as I do.

Digits crossed and thank you so much. And I knew that there'd be a fan out there somewhere, a secret life of us, so it was.

It was a pleasure to talk and.

Text for your time.

I were ready for it, you were ready for it, Joey turning to the media, mate and all the very best.

Yeah to you too as well. And you've got the number call me if you need me.