Hi there.

G'day, Pat.

Now, there's an extraordinary show that's touring and I saw it before about five and a bit years ago and I've seen it again.

It's called The Gospel According to Paul.

My understanding is you've actually interviewed Jonathan Diggins.

I did.

I would argue his favourite topic is Paul Keating.

Right, okay.

Hi there.

G'day, Pat.

Now, there's an extraordinary show that's touring and I saw it before about five and a bit years ago.

And I've seen it again.

It's called The Gospel According to Paul.

My understanding is you've actually interviewed Jonathan Diggins.

I would argue his favourite topic is Paul Keating.

Right, okay.

Okay.

So imagine this.

You're locked up, no place to go, and you are in jail with ocean all around you.

I mean, think Alcatraz rather than Alcotraz.

And yet a horrible infection is spreading and inmates are dying.

But at least there's moonshine on the menu.

So even though the, well, they called affectionately the screws, not so affectionately, even though the screws tell you that liquor is not allowed.

right? That's good, yeah.

... high security.

Exa- exactly.

So I was inside, and I was the first bloke to be allowed inside as a journo and to take photographs.

So we...

That made...

There was a Sunday paper at the time, and that made, uh, the Sunday paper as well.

And so it was kind of surreal because I, I spoke to inmates and I also spoke to those in...

Okay

Wow.

And as we see in...

this play, the excitement at the prospect of a machine interacting in a meaningful way with a human was palpable.

And this guy, the professor, Weissenbaum, masterfully played, incredibly well played by Dan Spielman, carried the childhood trauma of fleeing Nazi Germany after what he'd witnessed in his home in Germany.

And then he went to the United States.

And he was pushed to undertake therapy in the United States at MIT by an empathetic secretary called Becky.

And Becky is played here really delightfully by Manali Datta.

know,

money,

just a few hundred bucks here and there if the Acme product doesn't work for you.

But when Wiley Coyote appears in this Blake's conference room.

Don't ruin it for us.

Yeah, no, I'm not going to ruin it for you.

The stakes are suddenly ratcheted up.

The stakes are much higher.

I think it was Thelma and Louise?

Coyote Knuckle is doing really good business, I'm told.

Not at all surprising, because you remember that the roadrunner constantly outpacing, outsmarting Wiley Coyote.

Now, for those people who don't know how to spell Wiley Coyote, it's W-I-L-E, then the capital E with a full stop, and then Coyote.

If you are going to ever express it in a written form, that's how you do it.

So, okay, memorable part of our childhood, and Remember the only sound that the Roadrunner made was beep, beep, wasn't it? It was.

Beep, beep, beep, beep.

Exactly.

I think it was Thelma and Louise?

Is that the big one? No,

no, no.

That appears midway through, perhaps, yeah, something of that nature.

But when it comes to vocalisation, there's a lady that I just, like, I bowed down to her, not literally, but jazz flowers, metaphorically.

She is such dynamite.

The voice is amazing.

She's the lady of the lake.

I reckon it may

Australia Overnight, it's not this radio show, but it's okay.

It's all right.

It'll do.

And, of course, it's coming back.

It is too.

Having said that, this show, Monty Python Spamalot, I've got to say it's lovingly ripped off from the motion picture Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

I just thought it was five-star gold.

Is that the big one? No,

And is that what this show represents or demonstrates? Yes.

It basically takes a family caught in the Sri Lankan Civil War.

And for those people who don't know, 1983 to 2009, I mean, look at that.

Look at the timeframe, 26 years.

And it's the sharp focus on this one family in this incendiary play, The Jungle and the Sea.

And it's a really moving follow-up, as you can imagine, to another highly acclaimed production called Counting and Cracking, which I saw at the Union Theatre at the University of Melbourne in June 2024.

And that went down extremely well.

Now,

Is that what this show represents or demonstrates?

It basically takes a family caught in the Sri Lankan Civil War.

And for those people who don't know it, 1983 to 2009.

I mean, look at that.

Look at the timeframe, 26 years.

And it's the sharp focus on this one family in this incendiary play, The Jungle and the Sea.

And it's a really moving follow-up, as you can imagine.

Now,

and a

lot of TV programs.

Just whenever I see her, I think, wow, you know, what a great Australian actor she is.

So, Pam, she's got aspirations and she had aspirations when she was the same age as her daughter.

Her daughter is called Rae, played by Sherry Lee Watson, and the daughter is 17.

Now, this is what happened to Pam.

That was the year she gave birth to Rae.

Man.

she has

too.

A lot of TV programs.

Just whenever I see her, I think, wow, what a great Australian actor she is.

So, Pam.

She's got aspirations and she had aspirations when she was the same age as her daughter.

Her daughter is called Ray, played by Sherry Lee Watson.

Gap.

Right.

But to wide applause on opening night, the real Katie, who'd flown over from the United States.

Is that right? He appeared on stage at the curtain call.

Oh, very cool.

Alongside the two playing Neil Diamond.

It was so cool.

It really was outstanding.

Wow.

Mm.

He's already married to Jay Posner, played by Alana Tranter, with a baby on board.

He desperately needed a break, and that's when a meeting with a legendary American record producer called Ellie Greenwich, played by Hannah Fredrickson, changed his fate.

So while Diamond started writing hits for other big name artists, it took Ellie to recognize that with this unique voice of his, he should become a singer-songwriter.

Although he was continually plagued by negative thoughts, and boy, was he, she got him to play a live gig, and that was something in and of itself at a famous small venue called The Bitter End, and that was also where he met and fell in love with a woman who'd become his second wife, Marcia Murphy.

Ashley Rubinar plays Marcia.

She encouraged him to step out from behind the dark clouds that enveloped him.

Ah.

This is just an idea.

Exactly.

For my beloved bonnets.

There you go.

And then one of the highlights, literally feeling like I was in the back of a Harley, right? And cruising near town.

And again, feeling it.

right feeling that experience so great stuff a lot to take in sort of an inspiring sensory experience highly recommend it's all their visuals the spectacle the sound the feel and then it was up the fast lift to the 88th floor and the melbourne sky deck now that's an observation deck 285 meters off the ground so it's the highest in the southern hemisphere wow So breathtaking 360-degree views of Melbourne, and you get that, of course, through sort of UV-protected, laminated, thick, full-glass windows, so floor-to-ceiling, right? Even a small outdoor section protected by a black-chain linking-type fence where you're exposed to the elements.

Yeah, I get there and I think, oh, right down the bottom, what's for dessert? Yeah, okay.

This is just an idea.

Exactly.

For my beloved bonnets.

There you go.

And then one of the highlights, literally feeling like I was in the back of a Harley, right? And cruising near town.

And again, feeling it.

right feeling that experience so great stuff a lot to take in sort of an inspiring sensory experience highly recommend it's all there the visuals the spectacle the sound the feel and then it was up the fast lift to the 88th floor and the melbourne sky deck now that's an observation deck 285 meters off the ground so it's the highest in the southern hemisphere wow So breathtaking 360-degree views of Melbourne, and you get that, of course, through sort of UV-protected, laminated, thick, full-glass windows, so floor-to-ceiling, right? Even a small outdoor section protected by a blockchain linking-type fence where you're exposed to the elements.

Yeah, I get there and I think, oh, right down the bottom, what's for dessert? Yeah, okay.

This is just an idea.

Exactly.

For my beloved bombers.

There you go.

And then one of the highlights, literally feeling like I was in the back of a Harley, right? And cruising near town.

And again, feeling it.

right feeling that experience so great stuff a lot to take in sort of an inspiring sensory experience highly recommend it's all there the visuals the spectacle the sound the feel and then it was up the fast lift to the 88th floor and the melbourne sky deck now that's an observation deck 285 meters off the ground so it's the highest in the southern hemisphere wow So breathtaking 360 degree views of Melbourne.

Yeah, I get there and I think, oh, right down the bottom, what's for dessert? Yeah, okay.

Yeah,

anyway.

Okay.

Don't you think that in life everybody wants somebody to sweep them off their feet? That's right.

I'm not saying – and the important thing here is there remains the independence.

I mean, you know, we're talking about an era where equality is – Absolutely what people are gunning for, and that's exactly as it should be.

And it doesn't mean you can't be independent within a relationship.

there.

Yeah,

anyway.

Okay.

Don't you think that in life everybody wants somebody to sweep them off their feet? That's right.

I'm not saying – and the important thing here is there remains the independence.

I mean, you know, we're talking about an era where equality is – Absolutely what people are gunning for and that's exactly as it should be.

And it doesn't mean you can't be independent within a relationship.

there.

it.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, Joe, Lauren and Simone, they're besties and they've been best friends since, well, forever.

So Joe is played by Michaela Bannis, Lauren by Christy Whelan-Brown and Simone by Madeline Sammy.

So these days, though, they don't see much of each other because, well, I suppose you can say that life has gotten in the way because it's all well and good if you're best friends at school but then, you know, you get on with things and you might have children and, you know, things happen.

In fact, they haven't been together for five years.

And with a week's notice, Jo invites them to join her at this upmarket retreat, which is called Royal You.

but it's a bit