Episodes
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Comedy writer Declan Fay is Tony's Speakola guest. Declan was the co-writer of Ronny Chieng International Student and the hilarious Crossbread podcast, about a Christian rap duo who hit the big time, but don't happen to be Christians (stars Megan Washington and Chris Ryan). Declan was head writer for this year's AACTA Awards, and has been part of writers' rooms for Rove, Dirty Laundry Live, Problems and You're Skitting Me. His The Sweetest Plum podcast with Chris Kennett was one of Australia's pioneering comedy podcasts, and ran for many years.
He also speaks regularly in schools via Booked Out Speakers Agency, who also represent Tony for school visits.
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The cohost of ABC breakfast radio in Adelaide, Jules Schiller delivered a beautiful best man speech for his old comedy partner Tony Moclair when he married Kate in 2003. It's a Speakola favourite, and in this episode, Jules comes on in the aftermatch of a Married at First Sight best man speech abomination to talk about what makes a great best man speech, or wedding speech generally.
Opening audio is from Tony Moclair afternoons on 3AW.
I wrote a piece about best man speeches recently for the Speakola podcast.
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Missing episodes?
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For the sixth year running, Tony awards his speeches of the year on Triple R's 'The Grapevine' with Dylan Bird. This year, no Kulya who has moved on from the show after 13 years. Congrats Kulya. Thank you to Triple R for the audio. Dylan will be back in 2024 with a new show called Future Perfect.
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Merry Xmas, Happy holiday, have a great New Year
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For 15 seasons and 181 episodes, Julia Zemiro and Brian Nankervis have been the dual hosts of 'Rockwiz', bringing their wit, charm and performance energy to Australia's legendary music quiz show. In this episode Tony chats to them about what makes a good MC, and they share tips and yarns from several decades of hosting big events.
In the second half, Tony's 12 year old son Jack joins the conversation. He's a big fan of Julia and Brian (and Rockwiz), and fancies himself as a bit of an MC himself. He prepared some questions for his heroes, and it's a lovely and funny end to the episode.
There's some extra Jack questions that will be in the bonus Patreon feed, and on the Speakola newsletter.
To read about Jack's visit to the Rockwiz Good Friday Show.
To read and see video of Jack going to the Bruce Springsteen show at AAMI Park.
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Lahra Carey's husband Ben Cowen died in paragliding accident on 8th of January 2017. A few days later, Lahra spoke at her husband's graveside, paying tribute to 'the Ben effect' and summoning friends and mourners to 'Ben's Army'. The speech is recreated for the episode, and Lahra talks to Tony about love and loss, and the challenge of giving a eulogy in the toughest moments.
Lahra Carey's eulogy for Ben Cowen is one of the most popular speeches on Speakola.
Lahra Carey's speech at time of one year anniversary is also amazing.
Lahra works at Narrative Comms in crisis management
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Donate to the Cowen kids Parachute organisation, to help children who are dealing with death, illness or divorce of a parent, and are under financial hardship.
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Dr Brendan Nelson was Liberal Party leader and Leader of the Opposition in Australia in 2007-08. After he retired from politics, he became Director of the Australian War Memorial, and has a masterly knack of sharing the stories of this country's military heroes. The feature speech here was delivered in 2014 at a Soldier On charity fundraiser. Tony's cohost for this episode, comedian and Utopia star Anthony 'Lehmo' Lehmann was MC that night, and watched in awe as Dr Nelson explained the significance of a George Lambert print and its special frame, and watched bidding rocket from $1000 to $40,000 immediately. Lehmo says it is the greatest speech he ever saw live. The original audio is not available but Dr Nelson told the story as part of his 'five most significant artifacts at the Australian War Memorial' section of his Howard Oration in 2021, and that audio is included.
There is also some beautiful singing at the end of this 50th episode of the podcast, by Private Ken Gant who was killed at the Battle of Long Tan, and recorded a song for his mother the day before he was deployed.
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Brendan Nelson's autobiography 'Of Life and Leadership' is available here. All proceeds to Legacy and Lifeline.
You can book Lehmo for comedy and more, here.
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Clare Wright is an award winning author and documentary maker and a previous guest on this podcast (Ep 46). This very personal speech about depression was delivered at a The Wheeler Centre event called 'Epic Fail' featuring well known authors and artists sharing their stories of failure.
Clare's description of a state of depression is so evocative that Melbourne musician Suzannah Espie wrote a song using the words of the speech as lyrics, 'I'm sorry, I failed'. The episode concludes with that song.
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This episode is sponsored by DocPlay. Sign up here for 45 days free on the world's best documentary streaming site, then if you choose to continue, $7.99/m. Clare's narrates the film, Utopia Girls , which you can stream at Docplay.
Tony's personal writing blog is Good one, Wilson!
The number for Lifeline Australia is 13 11 14.
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Brendan Gale became CEO of Richmond in late 2009, and delivered this speech to the whole of the football club in the rooms in the old Punt Road grandstand in early 2010. it was a vision for the future, and it was mocked in the press at the time. Richmond had not won a final for 30 years and had competed in finals twice in the previous fifteen. Gale outlined a plan to win three premierships in ten years. It's an articulate corporate speech in a sporting environment with brave goal setting. I spoke to Brendan Gale as part of interview process for my Allan Jeans biography (Yabby, Hardie Grant, 2024)
The transcript and audio reenactment of Gale's speech is on Speakola.
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This episode is sponsored by DocPlay. Sign up here for 45 days free on the world's best documentary streaming site, then if you choose to continue, $7.99/m.
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Tomorrow is ANZAC Day in Australia, our most important day for commemorating and recognising the sacrifice of armed servicemen and women. To coincide, here is a re-release of speechwriter Don Watson's interview about the Paul Keating's 'Eulogy to the Unknown Soldier' delivered at the Canberra War Memorial on Remembrance Day 1993.
The occasion was the interment of the remains of one Australian solider, dug up from a battlefield on the Western Front.
It is a revered speech in this country, the words are now chiselled into the Australian War Memorial itself and the phrase 'He is all of them, and he is one of us'; was even at the centre of a political stoush in 2013 over whether it should replace Kipling's 'Known Unto God' on the graves of Unknown Soldiers. (Kipling won the day).
This is a shorter episode than the usual Speakola length. If you are interested in Don Watson and his speechwriitng career, the previous episode is much more detailed, and discusses Watson's somewhat broken relationship with the former Prime Minister.
Watson's most recent books are 'There it is Again' (Collected Writings) and The Bush.
The speech is now up on Speakola for the first time with vision thanks to Rhett Bartlett and Rhettrospective.
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Read analysis of this speech in newsletter
Read the Barry Humphries speech mentioned in the introduction, 'Through the Thin End of an Asparagus Roll', National Press Club, 1978
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Please subscribe to the podcast, visit Speakola, and share any great speeches that are special to you, famous or otherwise. I just need transcript & photo /video embed. Speakola also has Twitter and Facebook feeds.
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A bonus episode with Walkley winning journalist Andrew Rule recorded when we chatted about his eulogy for his father (episode 44)
This episode is about Andrew's eulogy for Les Carlyon, a fellow legend of Australian journalism and writing. The speech was delivered on March 12th 2019 at Flemington racecourse, the home of Australian racing and the location for some of Carlyon's most beautiful writing. As Andrew says in the speech, he was the poet laureate of the turf.
Andrew Rule has a 'Life and Crimes' podcast and I was a guest talking footy rogues, 'Black sheep in footy boots'.
I read out a list of thank yous in this episode to people who have been 'super subscribers',(Beyond the $5 per month) either as 'founding members' at the newsletter or 'Standing Ovation' donors on Patreon
I'm also very grateful to every person who has helped me over these last two years to provide an income stream for this project.
Thanks also to those who are donors just through Paypal
This episode is sponsored by DocPlay. Sign up here for 45 days free on the world's best documentary streaming site, then if you choose to continue, $7.99/m.
Tony's personal writing blog is Good one, Wilson!
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We've just had the terrible news that Ron Joseph, Speakola's guest for E36 of this podcast, died this week aged 77. He was so accommodating with this interview, and we chatted for nearly two hours about his incredible life in footy administration and in particular the North Melbourne footy club. I'll put up some of the general (non speechy audio) from that day on the Good one, Wilson podcast, which is at my personal newsletter page.
This is a republish of that episode from last year, which featured Ron Joseph's eulogy to Lou Richards, which is one of the great AFL speeches.
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RIP Ron Joseph
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Vida Goldstein was the first woman to campaign for elected office for a national parliament in the English speaking world. It was the election of 1903, Ms Goldstein ran for the Senate in the Australian parliament, and she lost! Her launch speech was at Portland in Victoria and podcast guest Prof Clare Wright read it aloud for the Sydney Writers Festival's 'Friends, Romans, Countrymen' event in 2022.
In this episode, Clare talks about Vida Goldstein's speech, but also her place in the women's suffrage struggle of the 1880s and 90s. She explains quite brilliantly how that period of women's history unfolded, and how Australian women became leaders on the world stage helping other white women win their struggles in the UK and the USA. Vida was an invitee to the Roosevelt White House, and helped and inspired Emmeline Pankhurst. Clare also explains that the early suffragists did not help indigenous women win or in the case of South Australia, retain the vote. They were products of the White Australia' era they inhabited.
The audio of the speech as read by Clare Wright is courtesy of the Sydney Writers Festival. You can purchase tickets to the 2023 festival here.
Clare's books include the Stella Award winning The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka and You Daughters of Freedom.
Join Speakola newsletter here. For IWD, I released Part 1 and Part 2, Great speeches by women, decade by decade, 1910-2023.
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Thanks also to those who are donors or Patreons.
This episode is sponsored by DocPlay. Sign up here for 45 days free on the world's best documentary streaming site, then if you choose to continue, $7.99/m. Clare's narrates the film, Utopia Girls , which you can stream at Docplay.
Tony's personal writing blog is Good one, Wilson!
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Between 2010 and 2013, Michael Cooney was speechwriter for Australia's 27th Prime Minister, Julia Gillard who was also its first female Prime Minister. Michael has written an excellent book about this experience, called 'The Gillard Project: My Thousand Days of Despair and Hope'. In this episode he talks about what a Prime Ministerial speech writer does, and shares interesting and funny yarns from the coalface of political power, including his trip to Washington for the Prime Minister's meeting with President Obama.
Episode contains clips from Prime Minister Gillard's address to Congress, her speech at the Gallipoli Dawn Service 2011, The Misogyny Speech, and her remarks on losing the leadership ballot to Kevin Rudd in 2013.
Michael now works at Maurice Blackburn Lawyers as the General Manager of Public Affairs.
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Thanks also to those who are donors or Patreons.
This episode is sponsored by DocPlay. Sign up here for 45 days free on the world's best documentary streaming site, then if you choose to continue, $7.99/m.
Tony's personal writing blog is Good one, Wilson!
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Andrew Rule is a Gold Walkley winning journalist and author (Underbelly) who grew up on a farm in Gippsland and made his way from The Maffra Spectator to the pinnacles of Australian investigative reporting. His father, Keith, spent his life felling and fashioning timber, and this eulogy is a beautiful ode to a man and his axe. It was written as a feature for The Age in 1998, written as Keith Rule lay in the next room dying, and then adapted slightly to be read at the funeral in Lake Tyers on 27th June 1998. There is no audio of the original speech, so Andrew Rule has re-recorded the speech for this podcast.
Andrew Rule mentions his colleague Les Carlyon in this chat, and Andrew's eulogy for Les Carlyon is also on Speakola.
Andrew Rule has a 'Life and Crimes' podcast and I'm the current guest talking footy rogues, 'Black sheep in footy boots'.
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Thanks also to those who are donors or Patreons.
This episode is sponsored by DocPlay. Sign up here for 45 days free on the world's best documentary streaming site, then if you choose to continue, $7.99/m.
Tony's personal writing blog is Good one, Wilson!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Ruth Clare is an Australian author who wrote the award winning memoir 'Enemy — A Daughter's story of how her father brought the Vietnam War home'. She suffered the trauma of domestic violence as a child, and has been talking about trauma for a living since she became a parent herself. She has delivered three TEDx talks:
If you don't own your stories they'll own you, TEDxYouth@LGS
The pain hiding your true self, TEDxYouth@LGS
The power of Plan B Thinking, TEDxUniMelb (online event)
Ruth talks to Tony about her traumatic childhood, her healing through therapy, the story of her most successful TEDx talk which has had over 100,000 views, and some tips on writing TED talks. She's brilliant!
Ruth Clare's website.
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Thanks also to those who are donors or Patreons.
This episode is sponsored by DocPlay. Sign up here for 45 days free on the world's best documentary streaming site, then if you choose to continue, $7.99/m.
Tony's personal writing blog is Good one, Wilson!
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For the fifth year running, Tony awards his speeches of the year on Triple R's 'The Grapevine' with Kulya Coulston and Dylan Bird. Thank you to Triple R for the audio.
Listen to The Grapevine on Triple R Mondays 9-12am. They are on break now until 2023.
This is the new hub/community base for Speakola with over 5300 subscribers, and a few of those are paying subscribers. Thanks so much! Signing up here either for free or paid is the best way to help me out. Speakola also has a Patreon page which you can join If you want to offer regular support for as little as $3/mth. We also welcome donations in any format and any size, recurring or one off.
This is my website for books I've written. There's a 20% discount for paid subscribers at the newsletter.
Episode sponsored by Docplay, the best streaming service in the world for documentaries. Get a 45 day free trial.
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Laura Lexx is an acclaimed British comedian who has appeared on many television shows ('Roast Battle', 'Mock the Week') and has written a novel 'Pivot' and a bestselling humour book 'Klopp Actually'. Her tweets imagining a steamy yet sensible love affair with Jurgen Klopp lit up Twitter for a weekend in 2020, and scored her a book deal! But this episode is about her real life wedding in 2015 to fellow comedian Tom Livingstone (The Noise next Door) and the excellent bride speech she gave thanking him and her sister. It's a hit on YouTube and Laura is great on the whole question of how to do a bride or groom speech.
Laura website
Includes audio from this YouTube of Lin Manuel Miranda serenading bride Vanessa with help of friends and family at their wedding.
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This is Tony's wedding speech to wife Tamsin. '10 Things I Love About You'.
This episode is sponsored by DocPlay. Sign up here for 45 days free on the world's best documentary streaming site, then if you choose to continue, $7.99/m.
Tony's personal writing blog is Good one, Wilson!
His books are for sale here
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'Give me your children' is one of the most harrowing and disturbing speeches in history, It was delivered by Chief Elder and Nazi appointed representative of the Jews in the Lodź ghetto, Chaim Rumkowski. In the speech, Rumkowski announces that children under ten, the elderly, and the sick and infirm will be handed over to the Nazis to fulfill deportation demands, in order to save the rest of the ghetto. Holocaust survivor Abram Goldberg was in the ghetto's main square on that terrible day, and heard the speech and the screams of the crowd. In this episode he talks about Rumkowski, the leader's controversial and tarnished reputation, as well as Abram's own incredible story of survival, including a heart breaking promise to his mother at the train station at Auschwitz.
Assisting 97 year old Abram in our interview is Fiona Harris, the co-author of his recent memoir, 'The Strength of Hope' (Affirm Press, 2022). Fiona has written children's books and co-produced and starred in the hit series, 'The Drop Off'.
The reenactment of Rumkowski's speech is voiced by Tobias Menzies (The Crown, Outlander, Game of Thrones for Almeida Theatre's 'Figure of Speech' series. It is on YouTube
Speakola is made entirely by Tony and supported by listeners. There is a Patreon page which you can join If you want to offer Tony regular support. Also welcome credit card donations, which can be monthly or one off.
Subscribe to our newsletter if you want a fortnightly email setting out great speeches by theme.
Speakola is sponsored by DocPlay. Sign up here for 45 days free on the world's best documentary streaming site, then if you choose to continue, $7.99/m. The documentary 'A Film Unfinished' about a Nazi propaganda film in the Warsaw ghetto is excellent.
Tony will share photos and write about his day with Abram and Fiona for his writer blog, Good one, Wilson.
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The great actor and activist Uncle Jack Charles died in Melbourne on the 13th of September 2022 of a stroke. Five weeks earlier, Speakola's Tony Wilson recorded a chat with him during filming of their AFL Finals promo. Tony had written the words. Jack delivered the voice. During Jack's break, Tony chatted to him about life and career highlights. It was just recorded on a phone, so doesn't have the usual Speakola sound quality. it's a beautiful chat though, typically feisty and irreverent from Uncle Jack. Tony wrote it up for his column /newsletter Good one, Wilson, so it is up there too, with transcript.
There is also a column about Tony writing what he calls his 'Nike poetry'.
Uncle Jack talks about touring with Archie Roach on the Enter the Bloodstream tour and singing Archie's 'We Won't Cry'. That song finishes the episode, recorded at TEDx Sydney, 2017.
Jack Charles was a proud and eloquent Bunurong and Wiradjeri man. RIP.
Speakola is made entirely by Tony and supported by listeners. There is a Patreon page which you can join If you want to offer Tony regular support. Also welcome credit card donations, which can be monthly or one off.
Subscribe to our newsletter if you want a fortnightly email setting out great speeches by theme.
Speakola is sponsored by DocPlay. Sign up here for 45 days free on the world's best documentary streaming site, then if you choose to continue, $7.99/m. The documentary 'Bastardy' about Jack Charles is on the platform.
Email comments or ideas to [email protected]
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Ted Baillieu was the 46th Premier of Victoria, elected in November 2010. In this episode he talks about this speech he delivered as Leader of the Liberal Party Opposition in February 2009 at a Day of Mourning ceremony for the Black Saturday bushfire victims at Rod Laver Arena.
Mr Baillieu is an excellent speechwriter and orator, and he shares tips and anecdotes gleaned across a long illustrious career in public life.
Subscribe to Tony Wilson's 'Good one, Wilson' substack, to receive a weekly taste of his writing. An email a week, like this one about 'Nike poetry'
Speakola is made entirely by Tony and supported by listeners. There is a Patreon page which you can join If you want to offer Tony regular support. Also welcome credit card donations, which can be monthly or one off.
Subscribe to our newsletter if you want a fortnightly email setting out great speeches by theme.
Speakola is sponsored by DocPlay. Sign up here for 45 days free on the world's best documentary streaming site, then if you choose to continue, $7.99/m.
Email comments or ideas to [email protected]
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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