Karl Stefanovic’s team plots UK podcast tour (without telling him)

Karl Stefanovic’s semi-new podcast The Karl Stefanovic Show has been a raging success among Australia’s MAGA diaspora. But all of those YouTube views don’t come without hard work.

A big part of what goes on behind the scenes of a podcast like Karl’s is buttering up big businesses with a view to getting them to tip their advertising dollars into the show, rather than the endless other options available to them. After all, the thing won’t pay for itself.

So we were intrigued to hear that Karl’s publicist, Keshnee Kemp, was rattling the tin trying to secure accommodation partnerships for the show’s mooted trip to London “in late June”.

“The Karl Stefanovic Show is heading to London in late June to film episodes,” Kemp wrote in a callout to advertisers this week. “We’d love to hear from hotel partners interested in accommodation partnerships (which will also be used as a studio for episodes).”

Who has he got lined up, we wondered? Could it be Nigel Farage? Boris Johnson? Liz Truss? We wouldn’t put any of those names past him, given some of the red-pilled guests he’s had on since launch.

But it looks like we got ahead of ourselves. Not only is the trip itself not actually locked in, but Karl knew nothing about it.

“Nothing lined up at all – haven’t confirmed we are even going yet, I was forward planning,” Kemp told CBD in response to questions about the visit. When we asked again, to clarify, whether the trip had been locked in, Kemp had this to say: “Nope, Karl’s not even across it. Just forward planning.”

Naturally suspicious, we then contacted Stefanovic. He said he wasn’t aware of the trip but supports his team’s ambition.

“I wasn’t aware of the trip to London. There’s a bit on. Regardless, I have a young and enthusiastic team at the show with their eyes set on taking the Joe Bogan show global,” Stefanovic told CBD.

“I don’t really share those lofty ambitions but if they want to organise trips overseas to interview right-wingers I’m all for it. I think ambition is invigorating. I won’t pay for accommodation, flights, or give them [travel allowance]. And they won’t be staying with me at the Ritz. Hustle away,” he said, before adding: “And they won’t be allowed in my Toyota Rogue when I get there.”

Mark Latham’s night at the theatre

Who would have thought that Mark Latham had a thespian streak? The one-time federal Labor leader-turned-One Nation meathead was spotted in the second row at David Williamson’s play The Social Ladder at the Ensemble Theatre in Kirribilli on Tuesday night.

Latham sat front and centre in the theatre, in the second row, CBD hears, reading an as-yet unidentified book before the show commenced, seemingly alone, in what one spy described as an act of exhibitionism. But Latham can’t have enjoyed the play that much because we hear he didn’t return after intermission.

The Social Ladder’s script includes some biting lines about the rise of right-wing politics, so we can’t say we’re surprised.

In a January review, Herald critic Joyce Morgan wrote that Williamson uses the show to skewer how Sydney’s wealthy accrue power and cultural cachet through appointments to the boards of arts institutions.

“As the dinner party descends into alcohol-fuelled mayhem, anti-woke Charles clashes with Ben over diversity and unions, with Laura over tax avoidance and with Roger over business dealings. Secrets are disclosed – not least about that wow painting. Bitterness and recriminations ensue,” Morgan writes of the show.

Not good enough for Latham, it seems. We asked Latham what book he was reading and why he didn’t return for the second act, but didn’t hear back.

Save the date for Alan Joyce’s memoir

Alan Joyce, the former Qantas CEO best known for overseeing the illegal sacking of 1800 workers and trying to refuse refunds to scores of customers during the pandemic, finally has a release date for the book nobody asked for.

This week, Joyce’s publisher Hardie Grant confirmed the former Qantas boss’s book will hit shelves on July 28. As things stand, the publisher has no plans for a book tour. But CBD was assured that, should it proceed with a launch event, Joyce will make the trip to show face.

“Alan Joyce is no ordinary businessman – running Australia’s national airline as Qantas CEO – he has been in the spotlight from all sides: media, politicians, unions, and the Australian public,” the publisher said in an announcement that reads like it was AI-generated.

“Despite the turbulence, Alan Joyce’s legacy is formidable: he modernised Qantas, championed diversity in corporate Australia, and led the company through some of the industry’s darkest moments. To his detractors, he was combative and uncompromising. To his supporters, he was the captain who kept Qantas flying. His memoir reveals how Joyce has never shied from controversy, and captures a fearless leader who took on critics and championed equality while steering Qantas through its stormiest skies.”

If nothing else, we look forward to the reaction of his successor Vanessa Hudson, who has already been left to clean up after him once. Now she can look forward to his “honest and forthright” attempt at “setting the record straight”. Here’s to hoping Joyce’s prose is easier to comprehend than that of his publicist.

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