Our stick man

Starting tonight, Speakola favourite Rob Carlton is doing a Storytelling show in Melbourne and then on to Sydney. He's brilliant.

If you love The Moth or Story Club, there’s no better exponent than Australian actor, MC, and Silver Logie winner Rob Carlton (he played Kerry Packer in ‘Paper Giants’), who was my guest on episode 17 of the podcast.

This is an incredible piece of writing and delivery, and was part of a storytelling night I was trying to get up off the ground through the Wheeler Centre, called ‘Show and Tell for Grown Ups’.

Rob’s show and tell was a smooth, white stick that his mother picked up from a beach in New Zealand. It’s funny in parts, and so heartbreaking that it’s truly unforgettable. (from 35:05). There’s a transcript on the Speakola website.

His ‘Willing Participant’ show is on at Comedy Republic in Melbourne from 8-17 August and at Factory Theatre Sydney from 21-31 August. I’ll be going, and Rob has told me there are some good stories for binding families. Book here.

It’s a 1-hour show and Rob tells four true stories: sexual taboos, big lies, deep heartaches, and blind hope.

“Storytelling at it's most delightfulness told by a consumate performer” ★★★★★ Glam Adelaide  

“Each story was pure joy... magnetic in his delivery” ★★★★★ Stage Whispers  

“I’ve never seen anything like it, this thing of simple storytelling beauty and humour nudging so regularly on the profound.” Trent Dalton - Boy Swallows Universe  

“Just superb” Michala Banas  

“Completely riveting!” Samuel Johnson  

“His stories shoot you through an emotional pinball machine” Josh Lawson  

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Podcast ponderings

I’ve been a little slow on getting episodes out in this middle part of the year. It’s been a combination of attempting to finish a film (I’ve made a feature documentary about Hungarian football giant Ferenc Puskas and his time coaching in Australia called ‘Ange & The Boss - Puskas in Australia’) and a sense that it’s become harder to convince guests to come on the show.

Mind you, in the great spammy corridor that is the Speakola inbox, I do still get people offering to guest. This one came from Catalina:

I’ve emailed her back to see if she’s given any significant speeches about car seat covers. I’ll keep you posted.

Best wishes

Tony Wilson

Recent posts on my personal writing newsletter Good one, Wilson have been about my trip to Japan with 14 year old son, Harry.