Suggestible - Poker Face & Nightbitch

Episode Date: March 9, 2023

Suggestible things to watch, read and listen to. Hosted by James Clement @mrsundaymovies and Claire Tonti @clairetonti.New music, merch, live show info and much more available at https://www.clairetonti.com/This week’s Suggestibles:05:22 Poker Face11:06 Wheeler Centre18:37 The Outfit29:45 Nightbitch by Rachel Yoda38:36 Jon BellionCOPE: Centre of Perinatal Excellence - https://www.cope.org.au/PANDA: Perinatal Anxiety & Depression Australia - https://panda.org.au/Gidget Foundation - https://gidgetfoundation.org.au/Send your recommendations to [e-mail], we’d love to hear them.You can also follow the show on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook @suggestiblepod and join our ‘Planet Broadcasting Great Mates OFFICIAL’ Facebook Group. So many things. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You can get anything you need with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get snowballs on Uber Eats, but meatballs and mozzarella balls. Yes, we can deliver that. Uber Eats. Get almost, almost anything. Order now. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. Bing bong, bing bong, bong bong, bing bong, bing bong, bong bong, bong bong, bong, bong, bong, bong. You know what happened to me, Claire, today? What happened to you? It's just for, by the way, the podcast where we recommend you things

to watch, read, and listen to. My name is Claire Tonti. James Clement is here also. He's about to go on a rant. We're married and we recommend you things to watch, read, and listen to. It's just a thing that happened to me. Here he goes. Very Australian.

So I took our daughter to the supermarket this morning because I got some stuff for dinner. Make pita bread pizzas one of the nights a week. Yes. It's a wonderful tradition where we eat pita bread covered in tomato sauce and cheese. It's pretty good. With green capsicum and ham.

I certainly have my own flourishes. An egg. An egg. Side note. And mushroom. Oh, it's a bit delicious. And I like chili. Everybody's different.

Anyway, I don't know if you noticed but the pram had some spider webs in it recently. I don't know if you saw. Mm-hmm. had some spider webs in it recently, if you saw. Anyway, I was pushing the pram in the frozen aisle and I felt something run across my hand. And I looked down and there was a huntsman about yay big. Stop it. On my hand.

And I didn't panic. I was cool. And I went, ah! And I brushed it off and stomped on it. And, like, one of the employees saw me because I was just like, it was like stomping this spider. But I didn't really look at it. I just like quickly killed it.

God, it was in the pram. Yeah. We need to stop leaving it outside. And I was like, it was a spider. And he was just like, okay. But it was. It was a spider. It was like a one-legged dance in the supermarket.

And I don't normally kill it, but it was just like such a – it happened so quickly that I just went – there was a shuffle. There was a scuffle. A shuffle and a scuffle. And I killed it, yeah. I love that. I don't love that for you.

But also, would huntsmen bite you? They're more like they look scary. No, it wouldn't. I shouldn't have killed it. No. But I panicked. Do you know, I actually, I had a terrifying encounter with a huntsman recently where my friend had her,

like a spider web on her car wing mirror and she picked me up to go to an event. They all live there. Both of our cars have like spiders in them. Yeah, they do in there. They love that little spot. And all of a sudden this spider just like crawls out of the wing mirror and it's huge.

Like I'm talking like the width of like a tennis ball yeah and it kind of splays onto the window and then i panic and as we're driving along my friend's like oh well just just you're right keep the window up but i thought she said put the window down and in my panic i just pressed why would you do that i don't know i was panicking and so then it starts to climb over the thing and I was like, oh, my God. And so awful. Did you close it on it? Yeah, I did. I felt so awful.

And it scurried away and then it held onto the wing mirror, like squished its legs in and kind of popped its head out one side, kind of looking like it was like holding on for dear life. Anyway, we pulled up to this party and then I was too terrified to get out of that driver's side door. But my friend had this giant sort of bump thing in between the passenger door and her driver's seat. Yeah.

And I didn't realise this but I decided to climb out the other driver's side door. But obviously when you open the car door, the lights go on. It was dark. Everyone else is sitting around a fire and could see directly into the cabin while I proceed in a skirt to climb with like clamber over in this like really awkward way with my legs in the air and everything over this like big section in between the two things to get out of the other side door

and then like proceed to like sleep out in this like terrified way. And I thought no one's seen that and then I just look up and all of a sudden there's just people applauding me. I was so embarrassed. You know that when you open the door, you're still between the door and the spider. I know. Because the spider doesn't get into the car. It just landed on you.

I think I've been scarred by huntsmen from when I was a kid and I was asleep and one landed on my face. Is that true? It is true. It dropped from the ceiling and like ran down my face. No, it didn't. Did you find it afterwards? No. It was in? They drop. It is true. It dropped from the ceiling and like ran down my face. No, it didn't. Did you find it afterwards? No.

It was in the room somewhere. It definitely happened. Why do you not believe me? Because they just don't. Yes, they do. They absolutely do. They drop. They do drop.

This one dropped. It didn't. It dropped. It didn't happen. You had a dream. You had a bad dream. All right. Anyway, let's get on with what this show is actually about.

Yeah. Not swapping Huntsman stories. I still feel like yours is more terrifying. Look, it was in the moment that was a bit spooky, but I was okay because I smashed it to death, which I feel bad about. I feel bad too because I actually think spiders are pretty amazing. What's that, a bit bigger than a 50-cent piece? Yeah, it's like a golf ball.

Golf ball, yeah. About the diameter of a golf ball. Maybe a bit bigger. That's big. And they're sort of a bit juicy. Maybe a bit bigger, yeah. That's big. And they're sort of a bit juicy, Huntsman, as well. And the legs, I mean, I think they're amazing, but also they're terrifying. What are they doing, these spiders, coexisting?

If they looked nicer, they wouldn't be, I'd imagine, killed as much. No, because actually, how often do you actually get bitten by a spider? Never, literally never. Exactly. And they're amazing. Have you ever watched a spider weave a web? No, I choose not to. I'm not interested in their performance art.

They are utterly incredible. Remember we went to the Botanical Gardens and did that forest therapy and everywhere the orb spiders are amazing and they curled in the center of their spider webs like a leaf into a little home. And you could just see the little heads sticking out. They were in their little leaf home. Amazing. Worst hiding spot.

No one will find me here. It's like a kid lying under a blanket in the middle of a floor. No one can see me. I'm invisible. Or when they just cover their face and they're like, you can't see me anymore because they haven't figured out that just because they can't see doesn't mean the other people can't see them. Anyway, what have you got to recommend, James?

Do you want to go first? Well, you've watched the first episode of this, but I've watched a few more. It's the series Poker Face. Oh, yes, yes, yes. Poker Face? I don't even know her. It's created and, I don't know, poke her face.

I don't even know her face. Is that slightly, like what are you poking her face with? It's a great question. Just a finger, I'm hoping. Yeah, just a finger. Just a finger. A poker? A hoss poker.

A hoss poker. Oh, no. Terrible. So this was created and written and sometimes directed by Rian Johnson, who you might know as the director of The Last Jedi, the last good Star Wars movie. Is that true? Yeah, probably.

I like it. A lot of people don't. But he, of course, also worked on the Knives Out series. Yes. He wrote and directed both of those. You haven't seen the second one of those yet, have you? No, I haven't. You should.

It's good. Okay. It's also got the co-show runners Nora Zuckerman and Leela Zuckerman and it stars Natasha Lyonne and a revolving cast of characters, depending on the episodes. There might be an Adrian Brody, a Lil' Ralph Howery, John Ratzenberg from Cheers. He's also the pig in Toy Story.

He's like, hey, I'm a Picasso or whatever. No, other way. You know what I'm talking about. I do know. Jamila Jamil, Nick Nolte, Joseph Gordon-Levitt. And the story, here's the synopsis. It centers around Charlie Cale, a casino worker with an innate ability to detect lies, traveling across the United States

on the run from the casino boss following a suspicious death. And along the way, she encounters colorful characters and solves homicides in a variety of settings. So what this is, this is like a murder of the week story. Like there is an overarching tale. Basically, there's the setup episode and then it's like a road trip across America. And this character comes across weird and wacky murder scenarios. And what's interesting about these murder scenarios, and I guess this can also be said for Knives Out, the murder is not always.

I don't think it's in the first one. Maybe it is. One of them is. Anyway, the murder is normally at the start of the episode. And then from there there you work backwards. So it's not so much whodunit. It's more like a how and a why and how this person maybe will get away with it or become undone and their reasoning behind it.

And Natasha Lyonne is great. She was recently in, I haven't watched the second season yet. It's on Netflix. What is it called? It's really good. It's about, like, time travel and stuff. Hang on, Clem. He's frantically typing into a computer.

Netflix. She was also in the American Pie movie. Russian Doll. Oh, yeah. She's so great, isn't she? Which is a show that was very popular initially, then disappeared, then they had a second series, which apparently very good, and then also disappears

because Netflix don't know how to market anything. But she's great. And what's interesting about the character is she doesn't even, like, consider herself particularly intelligent, which isn't true. Yeah. But because if someone is, you saw this, but if someone is talking to her and lies, she can tell whether it's a lie or not.

So you've got to kind of get past that initial kind of, like, how would somebody actually do this, obviously, or whatever. It's fine. It doesn't matter at all. I think it's a great show and that part of it is kind of, it's just a fun little wrinkle in it. So with their ability to know the truth, that's not always helpful because it might not be clear why someone is lying or what specifically they are lying about. So if someone tells her a lie, she knows that they're lying, but she doesn't know any of the other information about that. So you have to unravel why a person would say or act a particular way. And also how do you prove that somebody did something

when you're the only one who knows that they're lying? How do you prove that somebody is lying? You need to have evidence obviously for that. She's also not a cop. She's literally just travelling the country doing like odd jobs and then finding herself tangled up in murder plots. It's ten episodes. I think they're all out by now.

It's on Peacock in the US. It's on Stan in Australia. It's wonderful. It's really great. I know you've watched the first one. I loved it. The first episode was excellent. I mean she's also just so funny and dry and kind of like deadpan in a way

in her comedy and the timing of her, yeah, her role is so great. I just, also her hair. Yeah. I mean not that's important but it's really great. Yeah. She's just super funny. Was she in that movie, the TV show and it's Women in Jail? Was she in that one?

Orange is the New Black. Yeah, was she in Orange is the New Black? I don't know, maybe. I'm feeling like she was but maybe that's not accurate. You might just be thinking, oh, maybe she is. I think she was. Yeah, I was going to say maybe you're thinking because she has orange hair. Maybe.

It is plain orange hair. I really want to watch more of that show because it was really great. I usually hate things set inside casinos. I don't know why. Well, only the first one is set inside a casino. Oh, okay. So you don't need to – yeah, she is in Torrington. Yeah, she's great in it.

That's right. I did remember that correctly. You never remember anything. That's amazing. I know. It's astounding and especially this week. I've had so many events on. I'm real – anyone's following me on Instagram.

Oh, my God. It's been a lot this week and also a lot for many events on. I'm real. Anyone's following me on Instagram. Oh, my God. It's been a lot this week and also a lot for you because you've been doing all of the so much of the child looking after. It's kind of insane. Some people would say I'm a hero. Some people would say that I'm not like a regular parent. I go above and beyond. And I completely agree with that, actually.

Anyway, you were saying? If I was a bloke traveling for work, women would have been doing that a lot. However, either way, bloke, woman, whoever you are looking after kids by yourself, it's a lot. I actually deserve more kudos because I'm a guy doing it. And to be fair, I've been having so much fun and met so many incredible people. I'm just feeling so lucky at the moment to be doing the things I'm doing. It's really, really cool.

And on that, is it my turn? I believe it is your turn. Great. So over the weekend, I went to the Mother Festival that was run by the Wheeler Centre. It was a weekend of fearless conversations about motherhood. And I was utterly blown away by every panel. They're actually all available except for the gala, I think. They're all available on YouTube at the Wheeler Centre, which is, if you're not from Melbourne,

it's in the centre of the city. It's right near the State Library. And it's a centre that primarily celebrates writers and thinkers. And they just do amazing events with really interesting conversations all the time. And so if you can ever get in there, they're just, all your favourite authors will be there at some point. It's run by the most incredible team of people. Yeah. So, Bette Kavanagh and Jamila Khoja ran the weekend and curated it and I was so lucky. I don't know if I mentioned on the show that I just sent my soundtrack to them when the festival came out because it was so much

about what Matrescence is about. And initially they said, thank you, we're so aware of lots of cool women, thanks for everything, and then they listened to the album and, you know, made the soundtrack. Yeah, they said, thank you. We're so aware of lots of cool women. Thanks, my thanks. And then they listened to the album and, you know, made the soundtrack. They were like, blah, blah, whatever. No, they weren't. She was so lovely.

No, no. It was more just that I'm sure they get so many women reaching out to them with things. So I was utterly floored and I felt so privileged. They made my music the soundtrack. And when I walked into the Wheeler Centre on Friday, it was just playing everywhere. They had my t-shirts and records for sale. And I can't even explain the feeling of that, of just being in these incredibly iconic, beautiful spaces, including at the gala, the edge

at Fed Square in the theatre there and hearing my music was just overwhelming. Oh, I'm going to cry again. And also the other piece of it was that the music is so soothing. I hadn't realized that when we made it. Part of it is there's ambient sound in the background, but I think it's also, yeah, the approach that we took maybe because it was music I wanted to hear too. Someone messaged me today and said it's like chicken soup for the soul or something. Chicken soup? Yeah. A scorching hot chicken soup poured all over your soul. Correct. Anyway, if you are interested at all in particularly the perinatal

mental health space, which I'm really passionate about, working with women and people who give birth who are struggling with their mental health in all different forms, whether that's just because of what we've been through, whether it's overcoming birth trauma, whether it is to do with postnatal depression or postnatal psychosis or any or all of the things in between. There's a wonderful panel on there called Baby Blues and three organizations spoke. So there was COPE, which is the Perinatal Mental Health Center for Excellence. Anyway, they are such a go-to for

women if you're in this space and struggling. There's also Panda as well, who are amazing, who have support lines for women going through this kind of time in their life and also the Gidget Foundation. So three different organisations that if this is something that you're experiencing and you're in Australia, and even if you're not, the resources on there are still utterly incredible. And the sharing of information, I the resources on there are still utterly incredible. And the sharing of information, I think, is part of it too, and trying to understand more about what's happening for you or your partner. So I would totally recommend going to those three organizations. And that panel particularly was really interesting. So I would go online and

watch that, especially if you have someone in your life that you think needs help, or if you yourself need help, really do reach out. Panda in particular, you can ring their hotline at any time and speak to someone who can really listen to where you are at. Also, some other information I think is useful. COPE have surveys that you can do online. They're like screening tests and there's an app as well you can download. And rather than having to sit with a midwife, which is what happened to me, or a maternal health nurse who will give you a checklist or a questionnaire and tick all the boxes as to whether or not you're struggling. And that's quite confronting. And often women don't disclose how they're really feeling because you feel like you're

on show. Whereas COPE have this app where you can do it privately at home, wherever you can in that kind of sleep deprivation bubble that you're in. And then it will give you a report based on your answers and it's all private. And I think that is also really helpful too for women because A, you don't have to leave your home and B, then you can kind of get some help from there. They can then direct you to the right kind of places that will give you some support. So those three organizations, but there were so many other incredible speakers. And I was just utterly floored by the level of skill and artistry and listening to authors speak. There were mothers who were disability advocates who were talking about what it was like to experience birth trauma with a disability and how you were treated in the system.

There were women and people of color speaking about their experience of being in the system and motherhood there. There was discussion of the lack of community and support that is really desperately needed at the moment and how, for instance, in our local community, I popped into our local bookstore and the owner of the bookshop is so gorgeous. And she burst into tears with me during at the bookshop because she had Indian heritage and in her home country, in her community, when you are a mother, a newborn mother, you're seen almost like a child again, as well as your baby.

And so your mother or mother-in-law moves in with you and cares for you. You rest. They do everything else, cooking, cleaning, all of those things. And the baby is nurtured and you are also nurtured as precious and educated. And I think that that is so important and such an interesting piece because she said during COVID she tried to do that for her daughter but wasn't allowed to. Yeah. There was grief there.

But also it just highlights in this kind of Western individualist, capitalist, consumerist culture we're living in, we're scared of letting people in or people don't actually have the context or the people around them to create that village. And so women are often left not even injured through the birthing process in the system that it has a lack of care for the physical, emotional, spiritual needs of women. But then once they leave the hospital setting and they're at home alone, often their partner goes back to work. And particularly during COVID, we're seeing this even more so. Because there is in that village context of lots of aunties and uncles and cousins

and grandmothers and, you know, everyone kind of around you all of the time, then you get this sense of isolation, identity loss, loneliness. And not to mention a lot of women are also experiencing physical difficulties with birth recovery because they're getting up too quickly and doing things too quickly out of necessity often or a belief that they need to. And also because of COVID, there's been a lack of caring for women during that process, a lack of assessment,

a lack of follow-up medical appointments that has meant women are left with some really difficult circumstances. Anyway, I know that's quite heavy. They're also quite funny, a lot of the panels as well, I will say. And my next recommendation, so I'll do that next. Come back to that? Yeah, I'll come back to that because that's one of the authors I miss. I'll do a recommendation then. Okay, off you go.

I recommend Killing a Spider in a Supermarket. Oh, I should also say Collings. I'll get him to put links to Cope, Panda, and the Gidget Foundation in the show notes if anyone needs those resources. Love it. Hi, I'm Jessie Cruikshank from the number one comedy podcast, Phone a Friend, which I strongly advise you listen to. You know what else I suggest you look into? Becoming a host on Airbnb. Did you like that segue? Thank you. I recently started putting my guest house on Airbnb when I'm out of town, and I didn't realize how easy it would be until I did it. If you have a spare room, you could Airbnb it, or your whole place could be an Airbnb. It's a great way to make a little extra money by doing not a lot, which frankly is my mantra in 2024. To learn more, go to airbnb.ca slash host.

Claire, I watched a movie. You did? Excellent. Do you want any more information? I certainly do. Here it is. It's called The Outfit. It's directed by Graham Moore,

who also wrote the movie along with Jonathan McClain. Right. It stars Mike Rylance, Mark Rylance, who you might know as the BFG, the new BFG. Yes, yes. He's like, oh, hello, I'm a British old geezer. He's that guy.

I love that. Zoe Duchesne. I love her. I'm surprised on you. She has one of my sort of energies, I feel. You know who she is? Yes. Zoe Duchesne.

Yes, I know who she is. The new girl. Yes. Well, no. No? Zoe Duchesne. What? Isn't that. Well, no. No? Zoe Dush Desch. What? Desch.

Isn't that Zoe Dush? No, this one. Oh, who am I thinking of? You're thinking of the one who looks like Katy Perry, but she's not Katy Perry. No, you're thinking of a different person. But isn't she Zoe? No. Yeah, she's Zoe Dush Deschanel.

What? They're different people. That is so confusing. Hang on. I'm going to look up her name. It's Zoe Deschanel. There's nothing but preference. Zoe Deschanel is her name.

All right. But this person is also Zoe, right? Yes. Yes. So have they both got the same name? No, they don't. One Zoe Deschanel. This one.

Oh, okay. I think her name is more like Deutsch. Deutsch. Deutsch. Wouldn't it be? Deutsch coin. And Zooey Deschanel is this person from New Girl who I love. Yeah, I know who she is.

Johnny Flynn, Dylan O'Brien, among others. And here's the synopsis. Here he goes. Upon getting entangled in the aftermath of a gang war, an English cutter, played by Mark Rylance, decides to take matters into his own hand and pave the way to his freedom from the restraints of a mobster family. So he's a cutter.

He owns a store. A cutter is like a tailor but better. He explains it in the movie. He's like a tailor just measures whatever. Cutter, I've got these special scissors that I use and I do cutting and I make very particular suits and I have a very particular set of suit-making skills, right? And he, as a result of having this business and some local gangsters

being in the area, they get tied up and he becomes like the delivery point for these gangsters to pass on messages, right? And that's not something that he's on board with. He's like, I don't want to be involved in gangsters. I just want to be a cutter and make good custom British suits in the US of A because it's said in the US because he's moved over. So he's drawn in between as a result of these people on his premises, there's rival gangs in the city and he's brought right among it, right?

Yeah. And so as a result, one night a gangster, two gangsters come in, one of them has been shot in a gang war and then from there it kind of escalates and he is kind of have to do, like think on his feet to stay alive when basically in the city all hell is kind of breaking loose between these rival gangs and they're killing each other, right? Does that make sense?

It did make sense. But there's also there's like inter-rivalry in the gangs themselves or whatever and he's like lying to this person but this person doesn't know so he has to pretend or whatever and he's like lying to this person but this person doesn't know so he has to pretend or whatever. And all this is also to stop him from being shot or like him killing him. But he's just like, I just want to be a regular Taylor. I don't want to know. He's not a Taylor, he's a cutter as he specifies.

So it's one location really. It's pretty much set just within this guy's store, like the front room and like the storeroom out the back where like most of the situation takes place. So it's kind of like a stage play and maybe it was a stage play at one point. I am going to look that up. So it's really compelling though. Like it's written in such a way that it's really cleverly paced.

So you don't feel like the confines of it. You don't feel like it drags. Every scene and every kind of piece of dialogue moves the story forward where either you're moving on to like a different kind of situation or it's evolving or you find out about somebody's past which adds another layer to everything. And it's really good at kind of stacking things on top of each other, like drip feeding you bits of information where you're never like,

this is frustrating because I don't know what's going on. You have a sense of what's going on but then you find out something else and you're like, oh, there's an additional thing going on on top of that and so on and so forth. Yeah. It's a little violent, but it's not like, it's more just like, oh, I've been shot and there's blood everywhere. It's more like that than just like, you know, someone like gets their head torn off and their spinal column comes out.

Oh, God. This is very brutal. That does happen. Oh, no, I can't watch this. No, it doesn't happen. You could watch this. You could definitely watch this. Okay.

But it does have like a series of satisfying twists and turns, which I thoroughly recommend it. I love Netflix. You know that. Yes, I know you do. You love Netflix. Is the outfit a stage play? It's not based on a stage play.

There you go. But it definitely could be. But it's great. It's on Netflix. Mark Rylance. He was also in another thing, wasn't he? He's one of Steven Spielberg's great. It's on Netflix. Mark Rylance. He was also in another thing, wasn't he? He's one of Steven Spielberg's dudes. Yeah, he was with Zooey Deutsch slash Duchanel.

Yeah. Duchanel, who's a different person. Do you know also Zooey Duchanel has an amazing singing voice and her music, I think it's She and Him might be the band. Okay. Love it. So good. I based some, okay, I know I talk about music a lot, guys.

I'm sorry. Anyway, I based some of the songs on her aesthetic a little. Cool. This is Mark Rylance. He's in also Ready Player One. Ah, yes, yes, yes. Which is your favourite movie, you told me. Is that right?

Yeah, it is. You're right. You know me well. Did you like the bit where King Kong chased the Back to the Future car? Yeah, that's my favourite bit. I love a giant gorilla. Do you? Yeah.

Name two. King Kong. Go on. Come on, there's one right there. I can think of two already. And there's one in Tarzan. No, that's a regular-sized gorilla. Another giant gorilla.

You could either go son of King Kong or you could go Mighty Joe Young. Or I could go James Clement. What? Actually, no. Very inaccurate. I'm regular height. No one. I don't think you'd be called many names, but giant gorilla is not one. I would go James Clement. What? Actually, no. Very inaccurate. I'm regular height. No one. I don't think you'd be called many names, but giant gorilla is not one.

I was explaining to my son the other day. I mean, hairy, but small. I was explaining to our son the other day. I was like, I'm not like huge for an adult. And he's like, yes, you are. And I'm like, no, I'm big to you. But like to an adult, I'm like normal. I'm not like in a normal.

He's like, ah, I don't know. And I'm like, you're just small. You don't know. You'll see. But I love that. Remember when you see your parents as like the center of the universe and big, like old and big and tall. He might actually be taller than you, to be honest.

But not that it matters. No, but he might be. He's probably definitely going to be taller than me. That is wild. I'd be so interested in people who have teenage kids when their kids like grow bigger than them. Yeah. It's an interesting thing to think about as a mum actually

that you have this tiny baby who one day will be a lot stronger and bigger than you. It's true. It's interesting. It's interesting also. Here's something interesting. We're not from – we don't have like a particular tall or short genes in our family.

No, it's a real Russian roulette. On both sides, there's just wild fluctuations in height. Yeah, both women and men actually. Like I'm the shortest out of my brothers. Yeah. But you're. I'm sort of average. You're sort of average.

My sister's a bit taller. Your brother is. Justin is a giant. My other brother. Your younger brother's shorter than you. Yeah. Yeah. Or he's about the same equivalent height.

Like he's shorter than you definitely. Yeah, but my mum's quite, or he's quite little and then my same equivalent height. Yeah. He's shorter than you definitely. Yeah, but my mum was quite or is quite little and then my dad was taller. Yeah. But then your grandpa was like a giant man. A little tall, yeah. And then your grandma was like little. So, yeah. Who knows?

Who knows? Jinx. All right, my turn again. What? Jinx me. Oh. James. I'm so tired.

I just sat inside and stared at you and you were like, what happened? But your brain is short-circuited. Or I thought my brain is short-circuited and I'm so tired that something weird happened. Anyway, I cannot wait to talk about this book. Great. Shouldn't you promote your show that you're doing tonight? Oh, yeah.

No, yes, I am doing it tonight. So I'm just doing a really fun gig. I've decided in Melbourne anyway at the moment, and I'm going to go around the country. I think I'm currently having lots of exciting conversations about how to get my show to different places, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, hopefully Tassie. And I'd love to go further up north as well to Darwin and things. So that's sort of a pipeline at the moment and I'm also doing some regional shows which I'll announce later. But throughout the year I'm going to be doing some cute little fun pub gigs where I'll sing through the album but maybe also do some covers

in a more relaxed setting. So I won't be doing a lot of the storytelling that I would be doing in the main show. Sure, yes. And then I'm going to be doing some bigger shows for Thursday's show, which is tonight. Show me how big it is. It's very big.

I'm raising my hand up. You tell me when to stop. All right, about there. I'm playing at Lily Tavern in Abbotsford. It's actually free entry for this one. I'm on at 8 o'clock. I'll just be on for 45 minutes and then they'll have a DJ set afterwards if you want to stick around.

It's right near Victoria Park Station. It's a cool vibe in there. Lots of like cooler youths being cool. I'm really excited. Zeke will be playing with me and we're, yeah, just going to play through the album and do some covers and it'll be a much more relaxed version of the show, but it won't be. If you're after, which is what I did at my live show, sort of all the storytelling and more advocacy, then I would suggest it would be better to hold off and come or come to this one tonight, but also come to one that's in a more kind of similar to what my live show was, the album launch, because you'll get a more like a deeper understanding of the songs. And also this is a pub vibe. So people chatting and playing pool and things as well.

So in May, so May 7th, which is the weekend of Mother's Day, I am going to be doing a show at 3 o'clock at the Wesleyan. Tickets aren't on sale yet for that one, but I'd really encourage people to bring their mums if they like, bring their partners, bring their families. You can bring your kids or babies if you would like to to that show. There will be seats available and there's also disability access for that. And tickets are going to go on sale soon at $25. So that's on the 7th of May. And then later in the year, in July,

I am doing a show at Bird's Basement, which is an incredible underground jazz club in the CBD in Melbourne. Yeah, tickets will go on sale for that soon too. And they've got an amazing grand piano. Katie Noonan's played there. Kate Sobrano's played there. It's a really iconic venue and it's an evening show. So that's not for kids. That's if you would like to have a glass of wine, a meal.

We'll actually be doing two sets for that one. So I'll be doing my album and also some more original songs and maybe even some more kind of interesting covers. And there won't be any support so it'll just be sort of a session there. So that'll be an evening show that's on the 1st of July and I'll link all of the information soon for those shows. The tickets haven't gone on sale yet. But I thought I'd let you know if you would like to, you can book a table and bring your friends.

Put it in your diary. Put it in your diary. So that's the 7th of May for the Mother's Day show and the 1st of July for the evening show in a really amazing jazz club in the city. Wow, Glegg. It must be so cool to have so many exciting events. It's very cool.

But, yeah, I'd love to see your face at Lily Tavern. I'll be bringing along some merch and some records and a few bits and bobs. So I'd love to see you there if you're around. Pop on in and say hello. And yeah, should I talk about this book? Now let's do book. All right, excellent. So I met this author called Rachel Yoda.

This book has exploded. Can you pass it to me so I can see? No, because I'm using it. I called Rachel Yoda. This book has exploded. Can you pass it to me so I can see? No, because I'm using it. I'll show it to you in a minute. The title is called Night Bitch and I just love that. Myself and the audience want to hold the book. No, I'm using it as part of my description. Anyway, so I'm going to read the blurb for you

and then I'll go into more elaborate detail later. Is this like more of a synopsis? One day the mother was a mother, but then one night she was suddenly quite something else. At home full time with her two-year-old son, an artist finds she is struggling. She's lonely and exhausted. Her husband, always traveling for work, calls her from far away hotel rooms. One more toddler bedtime and she fears she might lose her mind.

Instead, she starts gaining things, surprising things that happen one night when her child will not sleep, new appetites, new instincts, and from deep within herself, a new voice. So it is funny and unnerving, cool and terrifically alive. It's so original. It basically is about a woman. Let me see that. Because of her sleeplessness.

Let me have a look. Has to, during nighttime, she starts turning into a dog. So she starts growing hair on the back of her neck. The voice in it is visceral and funny and witty and unhinged. And it's just a woman on the edge, really. A woman on the edge. Yeah. You know, like coping with all the things that mothers cope with and kind of having lost herself and lost who she is. It's fascinating. I raced through it. You will too. It's going to become a movie soon.

Oh, is it? It's just like a smash hit. Yeah. Rachel Yoda herself is fascinating. She wrote it in like a couple of hour windows while she was really living it, I guess, this life. And what's interesting about it too, I think, is she's not the main character. It's not autobiographical.

However, it's really based firmly in her own feelings. She said she used this voice because she'd lost her ability to write after she became a mother and writing was the thing that kept her sane and was her identity. She grew up, I'm fairly certain, as a Mormon, which was also really fascinating. So this book is really raw and original. Friends of mine who particularly have younger kids than mine even who are still like trudging through that sleeplessness entirely

relate to this book. Just every woman I spoke to was like, yes, I'm a night bitch too. And I think part of the joke is her husband, because Rachel was saying she doesn't cope well without sleep, and her husband around the breakfast table was like, oh, if it isn't the night bitch. Because at night time she just basically becomes this, she said herself, a horrible, intense, mean person.

But sleeplessness is so hard. And what you're dealing with, and I think particularly as a writer and an artist not being able to do your craft, you really do lose that sense of identity and so she said this voice, the voice of the book kind of rose up inside of her. Like she wrote in this like really fervent kind of way and you could hear that in the style.

Is she a dog or like a werewolf? A dog. Like a literal dog. Yeah. What kind of dog? Black dog. And what's interesting too is she there's like she writes about being a dog in this really highly sensory, bones-cracking,

bloodthirsty, scent kind of earthy way. And I watched her on the panel say that one of the reasons she could do that is I think because she grew up in, you know, on the land really, in the Mormon community and there were always like deer hung up on the walls and like bloody meat hanging everywhere and dogs just chewing on the leg of a deer like in their, you know, front room. And so she was kind of surrounded by death and blood and that kind meat hanging everywhere and dogs just chewing on the leg of a deer like in their front room. And so she was kind of surrounded by death and blood and that kind of animal instinct,

even though she was in a very conservative environment. So I just find all of that incredibly fascinating. She's an incredibly beautiful writer, but this book is so original and I think would make such a great gift for anyone in your life. Yeah, it's not for everyone actually, I will say. But if you've got someone in your life who's had a baby, maybe not in the really early newborn stage, it might be too much, but like in those kind of middle toddler years where there's the sleeplessness, there's the unrelentingness of it all

and they're up for some comedy. Amy Adams is starring in this movie. Yeah, it's giant. It's going sleeplessness. There's the unrelentingness of it all. And they're up for some comedy. Amy Adams is starring in this movie. Yeah, it's giant. It's going to be giant. And she also did a piece at the gala where I sang, oh, my God, that was terrifying. I got to sing They Asked Me on a Friday night. And so Rachel Yoder read this incredibly beautiful piece about her memories

of her mother, which was stunning prose and completely in a totally different tone. It was beautiful and lyrical and, yeah, moving and completely different to this book which is like, yeah, rude, raw, gritty, funny, unhinged, saying all the things, you know, that women aren't quite allowed to say. And there's a choice at the end of the book. I won't spoil it but it's really interesting to kind of wrap your head around.

I think the through line of the book is actually about desire. Right, okay. And what women and mothers are allowed to desire or not desire. And that's really interesting too as commentary. So, yeah. I like the director of this as well, Marielle Heller as well. She's done a lot of cool stuff. Can You Ever Forgive Me?

That's so. Yeah. I will say, so this is a really great way of describing it, Feral, Unholy, Incredible by Carmen Maria Mercado. So it's. Oh, Melissa McCarthy, sorry. Yeah. Yeah, I reckon, I'm hoping, you know, you never know with films.

I have a sneaky suspicion it's going to be amazing. Pretty Big and Good? Pretty Big and Good. That's really cool. And also it doesn't look great cover. Yes. It's so good, right? It doesn't look like it's too intimidating to read.

No, it's quite a short book really. I mean even like the opening line, let me just read you just like a tiny fragment of it. And then I'll read you a tiny fragment of it. Okay. When she had referred to herself as a night bitch, she meant it as a good natured, self-deprecating joke, because that's the sort of lady she was, a good sport, able to poke fun at herself, definitely not uptight, not wound really tight, not so freakishly tight that she couldn't see the humor in a lighthearted, not mentions an insult situation. But in the days following this new naming, she found the patch

of coarse black hair sprouting from the base of her neck and was like, what the fuck? I think I'm turning into a dog, she said to her husband when he arrived home after a week away for work. He laughed and she didn't. She had hoped he wouldn't laugh. She had hoped that week as she lay in bed, wondering if she was turning into a dog, that when she said those words to her husband, he would tip his head to one side and ask for clarification. She had hoped he would take her concerns seriously, but as soon as she said the words, she saw this was impossible. Seriously, she insisted. I have this weird hair on my neck. She lifted her normal hair to show him the black patch. He rubbed it with his fingers and said, yeah, you're definitely a dog. To her

credit, she did appear more hirsute than usual. Her unruly hair moved about her head and shoulders like a cloud of wasps. Her brows caterpillared across her forehead with unplugged gross. She'd even witnessed two black hairs curling from her chin and in the right light, in any light at all, to be honest. You could see the five o'clock shadow of her moustache as it grew back in after her laser treatments. Had she always had so much hair on her arms? Descending the edge of her jaw from her hairline? Are you just going to read the book?

I'm finishing it now. And was it normal to have patches of hair on the tops of your feet? Anyway, that's it. I just, I know I could have just kept reading. It's just so juicy and funny and great. Just leaps out at you. That's cool. Yeah. All right. Is that the show? That's great. I just, I know I could have just kept reading. It's just so juicy and funny and great. Just leaps out at you. That's cool. Yeah.

All right. Is that the show? That's great. Thank you. Yeah. I wish it was the show. I wish. Just like I wish people would leave a review for the show,

which people have been doing, which I really appreciate it. Just like JD Lopez 02. And this person just did it in app. Just went, I'll open the app that I'm using and this is it. Amazing. It says great pod, five stars. My favorite thing about this podcast is the amount of times one of the hosts claire asked the editor of the podcast collings to edit out something she just said and he just doesn't always amusing and i'm a big fan of the other host mr sunday content and the

occasional bonus host minigun connoisseur may may so as well keep up the great work we should get may someone may someone Yeah, we should. That was really fun. I think he was just here though. I don't think it was. Yeah, it was just like an accident. But yeah, we should totally get him back on. All right.

If you would like to review, not review, recommend something to us or just tell us that we're great or have any kind of commentary at all, we would love to hear from you. We have the best listeners in the world. Suggestivepod at gmail.com. You can do this just like Peyton Jones Herbert has. Hello, James and Claire. I'm Peyton from San Antonio, Texas.

Hello, Peyton. I'm James. I've been listening to the pod since day one after James announced it on his semi-successful podcast, The Weekly Planet. I've been wanting to send this recommendation for a while and haven't got around to it until now. I'm recommending the artist John Bellion. He's an incredibly talented singer, songwriter, and producer who has written

and produced for artists like Justin Bieber, Halsey, Jason Derulo, Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus, all the people, and the Jonas Brothers album and many, many more. But John Bellion also makes solo music and usually that music is more experimental. I'm specifically recommending his album, The Human Condition. It highlights his expertise as a writer, producer and vocalist. No two songs sound the same and it is one of the best outros I've ever heard on an album. Love the pod, Peyton.

P.S. If you're ever feeling creatively bankrupt, check out John Bellion's Making of Videos on YouTube. They're incredibly inspiring. Thank you so much, Peyton. That is so up my alley. I love that recommendation. I really appreciate you.

Thank you so much. I agree. All right. Thank you to Collings as always for editing or not editing this week's episode. Classic Collings. Classic. Thank you to Maisie for running our social media. We've been to Desperate Podcast.

I'm Claire Tondi. James Clement is here also. Go follow me on Instagram if you haven't. Follow my adventures with all the music and singing things and life. Happy International Women's Day for yesterday. Absolutely. For all the women in our lives, you're bloody awesome. You're doing a great job.

I just want to say. Thank you for everything. Not all women are awesome. I'm just going to put it out there. Okay. Well, I would say more women are awesome than not. Yeah, I'd agree with that. But I'm just saying not everyone. All right. Settle out there. Okay. Well, I would say more women are awesome than not. Yeah. I'm not saying, yeah, I'd agree with that, but I'm just saying not everyone. All right.

I just don't think we should blanket statement say all women are great in case one of them turns out not to be. I just want to get ahead of that. I don't know. I haven't found one yet. Maybe one day. Who knows? Maybe it's me.

I'm turning into a night bitch. I just didn't love saying night bitch. It's such a great title. Apparently Rachel was saying it was really hard to get that across the, like a lot of publishers didn't want to touch it. No, that's the best title. Yeah. It's the best title by far, but there was a couple that were like,

no, we absolutely can't use that title. And she was like, well, I'm going to another publisher. That's unreal. Good on her. Yeah, exactly. Love it. Okay. Okay.

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