John Safran - Satirist, Documentary maker and author
John has produced some of Australia's most popular and award-winning documentaries, including Race Around the World, John Safran vs. God and John Safran’s Race Relations. John also wrote Murder In Mississippi which won Best Non-Fiction and Best True Crime book in 2013, and 2014 respectively.
John has a new Audible Original Podcast, 'John Safran vs The Occult’.
Verbatim from the transcripts — each quote links to the moment.
“I'd sell out if I thought I'd be any good at it.”
“There's something about my shtick that like viewers just don't buy me being disingenuous, like, like to my, to myself, if you know what I mean.”
“Everyone's kind of interested in peeking behind the curtains of things that are secret, whether it's like, uh, the Freemasons or Hasidic school or a cigarette company or nightclub or something.”
“No, I had it too easy as a kid. I wasn't beaten up enough.”
“People don't People really don't put up with me being moralising a lot, which is kind of annoying.”
“Yeah, I need benevolent dictators.”
“I do procrastinate. I'm both lazy and a workaholic.”
How can you keep reading momentum when working through dense non-fiction or research books?
Read two books at the same time — guilt about neglecting one becomes the motivation to switch back and forth and keep going.
Safran recalls his first cigarette on a Cubs hike, panicking and tapping ash onto his bare leg because he misunderstood how to use an ashtray from films and comics.
Safran's clearest memory of years in Cubs/Scouts/Venturers isn't the outdoor activities but two older kids reciting sped-up Monty Python sketches on hikes, which he later used like a personal Walkman.
At a New Zealand Vape Expo, Safran got jittery from chewing ten nicotine-dosed toothpicks in a row and compared the experience unfavourably to once taking peyote in Arizona for a previous TV project.
Safran recounts a Triple J segment topic about the Cherokee Nation voting to expel Black Americans descended from slaves the tribe once owned, creating an awkward political contradiction between self-determination and anti-racism.
While writing a fictional TV thriller episode, Safran didn't know how to write a car break-in scene, so he posted on Instagram, got a reply within 15 minutes, met two guys on the street an hour later, and treated the whole exchange like documentary research.
Drawn from the episode transcripts.
Tommy was John Safran's personal trainer for several years, starting about seven years before this episode was recorded.
From episode 550→He explains that whenever he tries to be disingenuous or chase trends, audiences can tell he's not being authentic to himself and it simply doesn't work, so he sticks to subjects he's genuinely obsessed with.
From episode 550→It's about the future of smoking — how big tobacco and cigarette companies are moving into vaping and medical marijuana — and it was partly researched at a Vape Expo in New Zealand.
From episode 550→Mentioned on 13 episodes Johnwasn’t on.
Referenced as a past guest (episode 550) and former personal training client of Tommy's, tied to a YouTube comment about the episode.
Josh mentions forwarding Google Alert mixups (about a same-named firefighter) to John Safran.
Referenced as a past guest who discussed a study defining alcoholism by consumption of 3 bottles of wine a night, and who messaged Josh about a trip involving drinking.
Mentioned in passing as the host of a birthday party where an ex-girlfriend of Tommy's lost her phone in a cab.
Tommy recalls Safran doing a blackface segment for Race Relations without major backlash at the time.
Mentioned as someone the hosts bumped into; Josh checks his age on Wikipedia and is surprised how good he looks.
A friend bumped into before recording who Josh took on a tangent about stonemasons, illustrating the 'hyperlink' habit.
Discussed as an Australian documentary filmmaker whom Josh personally trained for a TV special and who posted a satirical New Year's resolution on Instagram.
Tommy mentions personal training John Safran, who told him about filling up and losing passports from extensive travel.
Every episode featuring John Safran on The Daily Talk Show.
