The Saturday Quiz

A person of prominence is dead. Immediately, the question raised is “what are you allowed to say about this person?” Specifically, how far are you allowed to go with any “jokes” about them? And what, if any, should the repercusions be if you go too far?No, don’t worry, I haven’t used the week off to rebrand as a right-wing conservative podcaster. I’m not even actually referencing current events. The above is actually the premise of "JKS: a comedy(?)" a new play premiering at the upcoming Melbourne Fringe Festival, written by and starring Tom Ballard.Thanks as always to Cindy MacDonald for writing the questions.I make this podcast on the lands belonging to the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation and pay our respect to their elders past and present, while acknowledging their traditions of sharing knowledge and stories for millennia on this land.Get tickets to Jks: a comedy(?) here:https://www.melbournefringe.com.au/whats-on/events/jks-a-comedy

Seven years ago Neridah Waters created the amateur dance revolution known as Common People Dance Eisteddfod - which is happening this opening weekend of the Brisbane Festival - but how much does she and her partner Lucas Stibbard know about Australia's geography, airport busyness and Ancient Greek architecture?Quite a bit, it turns out.Go see the Common People Dance Eisteddfod:https://www.brisbanefestival.com.au/events/common-people-dance-eisteddfodAnd if you're in Brisbane, see me in The Platypus:https://www.brisbanefestival.com.au/events/the-platypus

Sheridan Harbridge is one of the writers of what, in my opinion, was the best thing I saw on stage last year, the musical My Brilliant Career. Some great news for lovers of Australian musicals is that The Melbourne Theatre Company has recently announced a return season early next yearSheridan is joined on this episode by Steven Kramer who is the writer of another show which is about to stake its claim as the great Australian musical - or at the very least, a musical about a great Australian (or should that be great New Zealander?) Either way, the musical Phar Lap will be having its world premiere at Sydney’s Hayes theatre in October.Get tickets to Phar Lap here:https://hayestheatre.com.au/event/phar-lap-musical/Get tickets to My Brilliant Career here:https://www.mtc.com.au/plays-and-tickets/whats-on/season-2026/my-brilliant-career/See John in The Platypus at the Brisbane Festival:https://www.brisbanefestival.com.au/events/the-platypusSee Sheridan in Amplified at the Brisbane Festival:https://www.brisbanefestival.com.au/events/amplified-the-exquisite-rock-and-rage-of-chrissy-amphlett

I love having Laurence on the show. he's done it a bunch of times before, but never solo. Will he prove that every time before this one he's been the dunce? Or will he somehow jag a whole bunch of questions that sit in his sweet spot? You'll have to listen to find out.

Duncan Fellows is a dear old friend who I have known since we were both teenagers. His effortless charm has endeared him to audiences of tv shows like Deadloch and The Messenger and will no doubt do so again in the soon to be released tv series He Had it Coming and Reckless. He was even married to my partner in the excellent tv series The Letdown.Next week sees the Melbourne International Film Festival screening of a movie he’s in, Zombucha - A hilarious and big-hearted horror comedy about a couple whose hopes of striking it rich in the fermented beverage game, are shattered when their homemade kombucha attains sentience and a thirst for blood.Get tickets to the two MIFF screenings of Zombucha here:https://miff.com.au/program/film/zombucha#top

Lorin Clarke and Andrew Farrell are both the directors of documentaries about iconic Australian voices. One tinged with a kiwi accent, the other still bearing the slight Scottish brogue of his childhood. Lorin's film “But Also John Clarke” is about her father, the much loved satirist John Clarke, and Andrew's is about the Australian singer and icon “Jimmy Barnes: Working Class Man”Find tickets to screenings here:https://miff.com.au/program/film/but-also-john-clarke#tophttps://miff.com.au/program/film/jimmy-barnes-working-class-man#top

I've been bugging Mark to come back and do the quiz for ages. He was the Australian Celebrity Mastermind champion! He is also the presenter of Sold! Who Broke the Australian Dream? which is a documentary about the housing crisis which you can - and should - watch on Binge right after you listen to this episode.

Ash Flanders is an award winning actor and writer currently starring alongside Sigrid Thornton and Yael Stone in Melbourne Theatre Co's production of Mother Play. Written by Pulitzer Prize winning author Paula Vogel, Mother Play tells the intimate story of a mother and her two children over the course of several decades of the late 20th century as they push and pull apart, driven by love and compassion and deep, deep hurt. Get your tickets to Mother Play here:https://www.mtc.com.au/plays-and-tickets/whats-on/season-2025/mother-play/

Bit of a different one - just John talking to himself for a while.