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A Circuitous Journey Through Media Via Broadcasting, Podcasting, Writing, TV & The Future

Uncomfortable Conversations Podcast

Uncomfortable Conversations Substack

Josh Szeps On Curious Worldview Youtube

Josh Szeps On Curious Worldview Spotify

Josh Szeps On Curious Worldview Apple

Josh Szeps is a broadcaster, political commentator, and in my opinion, Australia's best interviewer. 

What makes him the best interviewer? Charm, wit, research, but also experience… he has, after all, conducted thousands of them, and from many pulpits. Whether it’s podcasting, HuffPost live, radio, or one of the many other platforms Josh has hosted, he has interviewed everyone from the biggest celebrities in the world, to academics, to geopolitics, to culture wars, comedy, economics and all the rest in between - it’s incredible how flexible Josh is and how well he can extemporaneously talk about or ask the right questions of, seemingly any topic. 

He’s also someone who has been doing this for decades, and seen from the front row the two most significant disruptions to media over that time. I wanted to get something evergreen on Josh’s worldview and evolving timeline of a career…

Josh Szeps is the creator and host of one of my favourite podcasts, ‘Uncomfortable conversations’, and author of a substack by the same name. 

Navigate to the interview here, via the timestamps…

00:00 - Who Is Josh Szeps
05:16 - Navigating Career Paths: Serendipity and Ambition
18:08 - Finding Aliveness: Reflections on Career and Life
22:34 - The Journey to New York: Opportunities and Challenges
33:19 - The Journey to HuffPost Live
37:39 - Memorable Interviews and Guests
39:20 - Preparation for Interviews
42:21 - The Importance of Collaboration
49:12 - Norm MacDonald & Joe Rogan 
58:41 - The Joy of Media Engagement
01:00:02 - Navigating Life Changes and Career Transitions
01:10:50 - Alan Jones
01:11:52 - The Influence of Podcasting
01:12:35 - Living in Australia vs. the US
01:15:09 - The Future of Independent Media
01:21:40 - Innovating in Media Formats

Uncomfortable Conversations Podcast

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Here is a transcript of the opening exchange from the conversation…

Josh
_{What if every single sip is like this?}

_{Ryan
auditory pleasure for the audience?}

_{Josh
Yeah, there are probably people who get up there someone someone is furiously masturbating right now}

_{Ryan
So you wanted that for a cold opening.}

_{Josh
Exactly, I know what I'm doing.}

_{Ryan
All right, Josh. So what I would just want to know is how a fellow from Australia made a big in New York and now pretty much lives on his own terms, writing, producing really whatever you want. Polish father Holocaust survivor, Australian mother. You studied media and law at university. foreshadowing by winning the best debater at UTS.}

_{And then this is sort of where the timeline starts now in 2000 you're 23 years old and you're the voice of oliver kookaburra at 2000 Olympics}

_{Josh
I was a voiceover actor, voice artist in my teens. When I was in my early teens, my dad, was a successful actor in Australia, got a call from his voiceover agent. They said, you know, do you know any young voices? And he asked if we, if my brother and I would be interested in doing voices. And so throughout my teens, back in the Halcyon days when before, but you could just hop online and get a random person in a random country to do a voiceover for you for 50 bucks. When it was unionized, you'd get 350 bucks or something, which in today's money is probably $800. Right. And, you know, yeah, for a kid, I mean, it felt like it was a million dollars a week every time I would do that. And I became one of the most, yeah, one of the most heard voices. partly as a result, and partly because I was a precocious show off, I got good at doing character voices as well. And so I didn't just do the...}

_{Ryan 
Yeah, and thousands of dollars for a kid.}

_{Josh
get us this magazine or something like that. It would also be funny, silly voices. And yeah, one of those it was actually it's actually an instructive anecdote how I got the Olympic the voice of the Olympic mascot. I should say I was never in a suit. Like I wasn't that person. They had the voices. They put dancers in the suits and they put voice people in the booth.}

_{I was the only voice of this character who there was Sid, Millie and Ollie and Ollie was the kookaburra and it was pretty late at night by this stage I still lived with my parents I was yeah 20 maybe 20 when they were casting this I think no I must have turned 23 at the end of the year 2000 so they would have been casting this in the}

_{Ryan
to what you're 23 in year 2000.}

_{Josh
mid 90s. So I would have been in my mid teens. So I would have been maybe 15 or something 16 and It was late at night and I was doing either university work or high school work and I was exhausted and I remember it was very hot in the attic and I was just recording a demo for what I thought that the kookaburra mascot of the Sydney Olympic Games should sound like. And he was inventing this kind of like laugh where he would always be like, it's amazing, you know, that kind of thing. And, and I just thought this is exhausting. I want to go to bed. I'm over it. And I texted my agent and said, this}

……. continue the conversation with the podcast here.