The Battler

Battlers, we have a question for you…Shag - Date - Marry: Pat - Tim - Drew. This week, The Battler Lads discuss The Beijing of the North (Brisbane), Pat’s (receding) hairbrained scheme to sell OzLit to the Chinese market, contemporary Chinese cinema, the mercurial definition of ‘The Battler’ in 2026, and, as usual, the state and fate of the current Australian left. + the Prime Minister said he’d k...

With Tim up in the great Pearl River City of Brisbane, this week the Battler brings you a conversation between friends of the pod Michael Winkler and Giacomo Bianchino. They launched the book Griefdogg together at Better Read than Dead, in Sydney, back on the 15th of June. They chat about metaphor, the resistance of landscape to art, grief and the sentence. There are also some great questions from...

This week, the extended M*rlborough-Sh*a-C*llectual clan chat for ages with James.haha.nice : the “alternative comedian from Melbourne” responsible for the Harold Holt Swim Centre series on Instagram Tiktok. They talk about “Puss” Holt, the general mean-ness of the Australian political class; the misogyny at the heart of conspiracy theories; The Butter Wars and international trade policy; modern d...

This week, the gr*nks are talking to Shane Jesse Christmass, author of Xerox Over Manhattan; Latex, Texas; Meth DTF and a bunch of other indie gems. They talk prose style, the global indie publishing orbit, Amerikkka as theory and practice; collaboration across continents and defining Ozlit. It’s a ripping chat, particularly for fans of the truncated sentence (I know there are a few of youse getti...

This week, the Wh*te D*gs are chatting ABC stores and the blackface era of the 2000s; the Bellingen writers’ festival and Lesbian scene; nearly coming to blows over Wes Anderson; method acting; Charlie Pickering: Zionist BB King; Sooshi Mango; Betootafication; the Parkinson era; TISM wars; AUKUS inquiries; Pauline “Little Chiko” Hanson at the Ballroom. Note: Tim calls Pi O a Comedian. Thanks as al...

This week the str*nzi are off-leash and rolling in any shit they can stick their noses into. They talk the rise of the PHONies and the inadequacy of certain Left responses; the BRS/Hastie beef; the trenchant bastardy of cops; the cruelty of Australia and cultural Howardism; the Teal Panel Party; the language of parliament; the nonce media and their love of babykillers; Alan Jones biopics; Abbott 2...

This week, the c*bbers talk to Will Cox, critic and author of Hyacinth, a gothic retelling of various episodes of Keeping Up Appearances. They chat about the nature of old media and nostalgia, serialisation, experimentation in modern fiction, translation and appropriation, formal fragmentation and other absolutely renegade stuff. Before that, the boys talk online anti-reading trends, more circumci...

On this very special late night/laggy recording of The Battler, Pat talks about the splendour and the beauty of living in the ADHD capital of Australia, while Tim discusses his first time with Ridley Scott’s criminally underseen ‘Alien.’ We also get into The Federal Budget, Dave Hughes’ descent into cookerdom, the limits of Australian literary criticism, and Joe Biden’s life as a Mudoken saviour +...

Battlers! Tim is sick with Hentai Virus and Pat has been busy animating Hentai! So we’ve had to take the week off—Latham forgive us! But on Tuesday, May 12, Pat had the honour of sitting down with renowned OzLit scholar/academic/critic Emmett Stinson to talk all things NOCK LOOSE at Lawson Flats in Perth. Regular scheduling returns next week. Enjoy! This is a public episode. If you would like to d...

This week the wh*te d*gs don’t have much to talk about in the news, so they talk about the Fremantle Dockers bris-based goal celebrations, Sopranos dolewave, Paul Kelly’s italian heritage erasure, Sergeant Johnson’s Purple Heart award, slurs for white people, The Safran Defence, KRudd’s Eunuch aesthetics, Martin Sharp and the ghost train fire, the Mining Boom as foundation of auspol, the Ocker Gum...

This week, Pat is in Melbourne to open the new High Street Maccas. Timbo is at Tigertown activating the Tinny Dome. They chat Apple stores and the disappearance of dudes with Stretcher earrings; Cheers lore and the differential status of bar flies in Amerikkka and Australia; IDF Hentai boobytraps; ANZAC raves and ANZAC hecklers and the Bed and Rest Sanctuary wellness centre. They also talk about t...

This week the g**ners chat with poet and flaneuse Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle, about the release of her two new-old books, Autobiography of a Marguerite and Leaves Fall Off to Create Drama. They talk about the legacy of L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry; the changes in verse in the last couple of decades; Autofiction and fragmentary writing; cracking open old works and the vicissitudes of life on the scene. Bef...

This week the f*dayeen are (finally) flying solo again, like a drone over the red sea; collecting expensive missiles from the haters as they go. They chat Clavicular getting Minutemogged; One Nation’s predator problem and the MILLENNIAL WOMEN supporting them!!!!; Angus Trumpchrist; the papal/presidential 1v1; the motives for Israel’s crimes. They also chat about the “Lowering of the sights”: the r...

This week, the adl*ys chat with Michael Winkler, author of 2021’s Grimmish and the recently-published Griefdogg . Between Pat’s heavy breathing and voluminous outpourings of admiration, they chat about the stakes of aussie lit, the nature of literary style, the lack of it in much of our local literature, and the terror of criticism in a small country. Before that, the lads talk about their good fr...

This week the fr*telli speak to Steve Toltz , whose new novel, A Rising of the Lights is out next week from Penguin. He tells them about his theories of comedy, influences from across history, and his resistance to blame the publishing industry for the inveterate dullness of so much of Ozlit. You can catch Steve reading from the novel in Sydney and Melbourne in the coming months, and at various Wr...

This week the fr*telli talk about the strike wave lapping the shores of the island continent, from teachers to uni staff to ABC employees. They also talk about the SA election and Iran, and get caught in a spiral complaining yet again about the state of literature. They take particular umbrage with a particular Melbournian outlet and some of its particular critics. Thanks as always to “dictator” D...

This week the Battlers talk to Amy Remeikis about her new book: Where It all Went Wrong: the Case Against John Howard . Amy, a real battler, cuts sick on the legacy of The Rat, from privatisation to political culture to the destruction of the parliamentary liberal party. Next Wednesday (25th) is the second instalment of At Large, at Sean and Dolly’s at 7:30 pm, with Shaun Prescott, Lexi Freiman, J...

This week the fellxs talk the ozymandian collapse of Kyle and Jackie O, David Littleproud and Pornhub. They also chat (a lot) about adult content, the changing face of misogyny and the state of play in the war on Iran. True to form, they call the rise of Matt Canavan-San before it happened. Next “At Large” event in Sydney is on the 25th of March at Sean and Dolly’s, 730pm. Thanks as always to “Dic...

The Battler is officially the last great broadcast duo still recording in Australia. This week, the fellangists talk about the liberation of Iran from several hundreds of its citizens; Operation Epic Fury; the strangely uneventful feeling of descending into WW3; Drew Pavlou Shen Yun false flags; Cruising ; Tim’s experiences on the nudist beaches of Coffs Harbour; Gay Cronulla; Holly Valance Nazi a...

This week, the l*ds talk about the stupid, dumb and idiotic reporting on the CFMEU by king rat Nick McKenzie and Geoffrey “Wages Are a Gift” Watson. They also talk about Sega World Green Bans; the Eternal Howard and his enduring influence, the cultural hooliganism of older Australians, disagree about Patrick “Name and Nature” White, and why you should join the Socialists :) If you’re interested in...

This week, the fellangists are talking about the rise to the Shadow Khanate of Genghis Taylor and the encirclement of Sultana Sussan Ley after her abandonment by the various slimy Viziers of her erstwhile cabinet. In other Turkish news, Drew Pavlou was “Drewported” from Amerikkka for the simple sin of threatening Billie Eilish with being briefly in his presence. They also talk about the importance...

This week the fell*s talk about the violent Pali Rally that put police officers in an impossible situation, and the heroic efforts of the cops to restore order. They talk about the poise and gallantry of Isaac Herzog, President of the Jews, as he fronts his people. They also talk about the impressive intellectual facility of our ruling class, the KISSocracy; Starmer’s upstanding group of friends a...

This week the fell*s are joined by writer, actor, housepainter but in no ways comedian Yaraman “Yazzy” Thorne. They chat about what the hell happened to the ABC; the great icons of comic broadcast; Paul Fenech’s Indigenous heritage; and the conservative meltdown over Always Was Tonight. Beforehand, the l*ds talk about surviving another Epstein dump; the One Nation grift; Coalition 66.0 and the tur...

This week, Pat and Tim talk about the disgusting act of violence attempted by a nazi fuckstick on invasion day in Perth. In more responsible moments, they also talk about Hamas crocodiles, autistic magneto. the long tail of the Howardocene. indigenous culture and snowflake conservatives; and the political talent Nullarbor. Thanks as always to producer “Dictator” Dan Dare for his tireless efforts a...

This week, the B*ttlers talk about the shiny new hate speech laws, which were minted the day after we recorded. We talk about how the coalition have managed to turn victory into a colossal autocucking, which has properly materialised in the days since Monday. We also remind you of the importance of looking at C(ordite) P(ublishing) on your computer, and discuss the “dissolution” of the dirty-diape...