Why John Safran is comfortable in the uncomfortable
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
A listener production. Hey, it's Sasha Barbagat. Welcome to The Weekend Briefing, where we chat with the humans behind the headlines. For the last 30 years, John Safran has been poking the bear.
Most Australians would know little of the Ku Klux Klan, so what happens if you were brought up Jewish but you don't do anything Jewish anymore? Because, like, that's where I'm at. We receive a curse. Seven times greater. Seven times greater. Come out of him in the name of Jesus. All right. OK.
Get the f*** out of my building now.
What makes John Safran comfortable in uncomfortable situations?
Whether it be fronting up to the Ku Klux Klan's headquarters asking to join – he's Jewish, in case you didn't know – getting exercised by fundamentalist Christians or running naked through the streets of Jerusalem, he is no stranger to awkwardness, being uncomfortable or staring danger right in the face, even if he put himself there willingly. He's always been obsessed with the taboo, religion, cultural identity, cults, weirdos and outsiders. Now he's got a new show out that's diving into free speech and what is offensive and who gets to decide that.
How did John Safran get involved with the Ku Klux Klan?
John has got the gift of the gab and we cover a lot in our chat. Yes, including his one week squat at Kanye West's abandoned mansion. After my chat with John, we get into the weekend list with Helen Smith recommending everything to watch, see, do, eat and listen to. But first, here it is, my chat with John Safran. I hope you enjoy. John Safran, welcome to The Weekend Briefing. Before we hit record, I was actually bringing up an Instagram post I made in 2017, in May actually, and it was a picture. You're probably not going to be able to see it, but it's actually a picture of you and I. Oh, okay. And I captioned it, Congratulations, John Safran. You've taken my grab a celeb in the hallway and forced them to take a photo with you, virginity.
I still have not grabbed a celebrity in the hallway and asked them to take a photo with me.
I think to tell them celebrity is doing a lot of heavy lifting there. But, you know, I'll take it.
Well, to me, look, to me you were, my parents watched almost all of your documentaries as I was growing up and so I just grew up with you as, you know, a person who was of importance in Australia. So I did take you as a celebrity. So I, for one, am very excited for this chat. Thank you so much for joining me today.
No, no, no, thank you.
And look, you have said and done so much in your 30-year career. I really struggled to actually come up with a first question for you. So maybe for people who aren't as familiar with your work and what you have done, I'm curious to know how you would describe your place in the Australian cultural zeitgeist. We know celebrity is not one of those words you'd use.
I guess I'm a storyteller and if that sounds a bit on the nose, it's only because at the moment I'm doing the reboot of Race Around the World and I'm the judge, the weekly judge, so I have to like watch these films and I'm trying to figure out how, you know, like that's got a lot of promise but if they're only da-da-da-da-da and you start thinking about your own work. And yeah, I think I'm a sideways storyteller. When the opportunity arises, I use the genre of the opportunity. So for instance, before I was on Race Around the World, which is a a documentary show where that was the first time I was on air, dear listener and viewer, where ABC was looking for eight young people who'd never been in the media before.
This was in like 1997. And they wanted to send them around the world separately and they'd all on their own and they'd all have to film a little documentary three-minute, four-minute documentary and send it back every 10 days and then judges back in the studio would give judging and stuff. There was a bit of that reality show aspect. But before that, I had never thought about... doing documentary filmmaking, like to the extent of like, oh, I'm sure I'd seen documentaries, like I'm sure my parents had taken me and I'd seen a couple, a handful or whatever. And then when I was dropped there, dropped down, I just come out in my head and I was going, okay, I'm going to tell these little stories and, yeah,
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:02–0:32
2
What makes John Safran comfortable in uncomfortable situations?
0:32–1:03
3
How did John Safran get involved with the Ku Klux Klan?
1:03–4:53
4
What does John Safran think about free speech in 2026?
4:53–5:32
5
What was it like squatting in Kanye West's abandoned mansion?
5:32–5:53
6
How does John Safran view censorship in the internet age?
5:53–8:45
7
What are some of John Safran's most provocative projects?
8:45–12:26
8
How does John Safran balance personal storytelling with broader themes?
12:26–40:57
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from The Briefing
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