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...
Sep 12, 2023•46 min•Ep 171•Transcript available on Metacast 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. To subscribe to Josh’s premium podcast feed, hit the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe...
Sep 05, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Ep 171•Transcript available on Metacast 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. To subscribe to Josh’s premium podcast feed, hit the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe
Aug 30, 2023•30 min•Ep 170•Transcript available on Metacast 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.
Aug 27, 2023•23 min•Ep 168•Transcript available on Metacast 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. To subscribe to Josh’s premium podcast feed, hit the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe...
Aug 22, 2023•1 hr 18 min•Ep 167•Transcript available on Metacast 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.
Aug 17, 2023•23 min•Ep 166•Transcript available on Metacast “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. To subscribe to Josh’s premium podcast feed, hit the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe And you can support David at his ...
Aug 15, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep 165•Transcript available on Metacast 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 Nuts is available on Netflix now. Check out the trailer HERE . Follow Mark on Twitter HERE . To subscribe to Josh’s premium podcast feed, hit the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe...
Aug 08, 2023•1 hr 19 min•Ep 164•Transcript available on Metacast 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. To subscribe to Josh’s premium podcast feed, hit the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe...
Aug 01, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Ep 163•Transcript available on Metacast 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. To subscribe to Josh’s premium podcast feed, hit the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe
Jul 30, 2023•14 min•Ep 162•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Jul 25, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep 161•Transcript available on Metacast Josh's husband Sean’s memoir Not Like Other Dads was 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.
Jul 21, 2023•13 min•Ep 160•Transcript available on Metacast 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? To subscribe to Josh’s premium podcast feed, hit the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe
Jul 18, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep 159•Transcript available on Metacast 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? To subscribe to Josh’s premium podcast feed, hit the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe
Jul 11, 2023•1 hr•Ep 158•Transcript available on Metacast 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. To subscribe to Josh’s premium podcast feed hit the Substack page at https://uncomfo...
Jul 04, 2023•55 min•Ep 157•Transcript available on Metacast 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.
Jul 01, 2023•21 min•Ep 156•Transcript available on Metacast 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.
Jun 27, 2023•1 hr 20 min•Ep 155•Transcript available on Metacast Josh answers all your questions about A.I., fitness, Ukraine, gender ideology, and vacationing in Europe in winter.
Jun 26, 2023•15 min•Ep 154•Transcript available on Metacast 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.
Jun 21, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep 153•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Jun 16, 2023•17 min•Ep 152•Transcript available on Metacast 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 c...
Jun 13, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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. To subscribe to Josh’s premium podcast feed. Hit the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe
Jun 06, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep 150•Transcript available on Metacast 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.
May 31, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Ep 149•Transcript available on Metacast 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.
May 26, 2023•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast In front of a packed crowd at a sold-out Brisbane City Hall, Josh interviews the world's most influential living biologist, Richard Dawkins.
May 23, 2023•2 hr 39 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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.
May 16, 2023•1 hr 17 min•Ep 146•Transcript available on Metacast 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”.
May 12, 2023•21 min•Ep 145•Transcript available on Metacast 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
May 09, 2023•57 min•Ep 144•Transcript available on Metacast 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.
May 05, 2023•21 min•Ep 143•Transcript available on Metacast 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.
May 02, 2023•1 hr 16 min•Ep 142•Transcript available on Metacast 
