Join national treasure Shaun Micallef as he takes the stage to delve into this bitingly funny Victorian Gothic tale for the modern age. With Jacinta Parsons. 

Originally presented on Tuesday 31 March 2026 by The Wheeler Centre in partnership with Melbourne International Comedy Festival. 

Move over, Dracula, and take a number, Nosferatu: there’s a new vampire in town, and after several thousand years he’s realised that the trouble with immortality is that eventually … it sucks.

To soothe his sickened soul, the Comte De’Ath embarks on a grand holiday. From psychoanalysis in Vienna to blood transfusions in London, the Comte learns that a change of scenery can do wonders for the eternally living. Along the way, he meets the Queen, helps win the Second Matabele War, nudges Henry Ford towards the American Dream and even manages to fall in love. But with his own funeral scheduled at Carfax Abbey, the real question looms: can he become mortal again in time to attend it?

The official bookseller was the Sun Bookshop.

Featured music is ‘Traveling again’ by Sarah, the Illstrumentalist.

Join national treasure Shaun Micallef as he takes the stage to delve into this bitingly funny Victorian Gothic tale for the modern age. With Jacinta Parsons. Originally presented on Tuesday 31 March 2026 by The Wheeler Centre in partnership with Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Move over, Dracula, and take a number, Nosferatu: there&rsquo;s a new vampire in town, and after several thousand years he&rsquo;s realised that the trouble with immortality is that eventually &hellip; it sucks. To soothe his sickened soul, the Comte De&rsquo;Ath embarks on a grand holiday. From psychoanalysis in Vienna to blood transfusions in London, the Comte learns that a change of scenery can do wonders for the eternally living. Along the way, he meets the Queen, helps win the Second Matabele War, nudges Henry Ford towards the American Dream and even manages to fall in love. But with his own funeral scheduled at Carfax Abbey, the real question looms: can he become mortal again in time to attend it?
The official bookseller was the Sun Bookshop.
Featured music is &lsquo;Traveling again&rsquo; by Sarah, the Illstrumentalist.

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Shaun Micallef: De'Ath Takes a Holiday

A host of Melbourne International Comedy Festival comics gather to explore how comedy survives, thrives and occasionally lands a punch on authoritarianism. 

The powerful often say they have a sense of humour. This turns out to be true – provided the joke is about someone else.

From public denunciations to legal action and intimidation, comedians across the world are increasingly required to work within narrowing spaces, where the right punchline at the expense of the wrong politician carries the risk of personal and professional consequences. When laughter is policed this closely, what does it reveal about the strength – and fragility – of power?

Join host Tom Ballard alongside leading comic voices Bahaa Dabbagh, Leon Filewood and Sam Jay for a timely conversation on the role and power of comedy in an age of rising authoritarianism. 

This event was recorded on Saturday 28 March 2026 at The Wheeler Centre.

It was presented in partnership with Melbourne International Comedy Festival 

Featured music is ‘Golden Hour’ by Sarah, the Illstrumentalist.

Content warning: This episode contains strong course language.

A host of Melbourne International Comedy Festival comics gather to explore how comedy survives, thrives and occasionally lands a punch on authoritarianism.&nbsp;
The powerful often say they have a sense of humour. This turns out to be true &ndash; provided the joke is about someone else.
From public denunciations to legal action and intimidation, comedians across the world are increasingly required to work within narrowing spaces, where the right punchline at the expense of the wrong politician carries the risk of personal and professional consequences. When laughter is policed this closely, what does it reveal about the strength &ndash; and fragility &ndash; of power?
Join host Tom Ballard alongside leading comic voices Bahaa Dabbagh, Leon Filewood and Sam Jay for a timely conversation on the role and power of comedy in an age of rising authoritarianism.&nbsp;
This event was recorded on Saturday 28 March 2026 at The Wheeler Centre.
It was presented in partnership with Melbourne International Comedy Festival&nbsp;
Featured music is &lsquo;Golden Hour&rsquo; by Sarah, the Illstrumentalist.
Content warning: This episode contains strong course language.

Who's Afraid of a Joke?

Literary icon Nell Zink joins host Jaclyn Crupi to discuss her seventh much acclaimed novel, Sister Europe. 

In this dazzling satire of modern life, an eclectic cast of characters gathers at a tedious literary award ceremony in Berlin. Over the course of the evening, their assumptions, foibles and irrepressible humanity are slowly brought to light.

A Guggenheim Fellowship recipient and the celebrated author of Avalon, Doxology and Nicotine, among others, Nell Zink is widely hailed as a singular voice in literary fiction. In a Melbourne first, she takes the stage at The Wheeler Centre to discuss her sharp and tightly wrought new novel, Sister Europe, and its animating themes: loneliness and the possibility of transcending it, the tension between old and new worldviews and the challenge of defining one’s identity in an increasingly complex world.

This event was recorded on Tuesday 3rd March 2026 at The Wheeler Centre.

The official bookseller was Hill of Content Bookshop.

Featured music is Lucy’s Trail (Don’t Give Up) by Sarah, the Illstrumentalist.

Literary icon Nell Zink joins host Jaclyn Crupi to discuss her seventh much acclaimed novel, Sister Europe.&nbsp; In this dazzling satire of modern life, an eclectic cast of characters gathers at a tedious literary award ceremony in Berlin. Over the course of the evening, their assumptions, foibles and irrepressible humanity are slowly brought to light. A Guggenheim Fellowship recipient and the celebrated author of Avalon, Doxology and Nicotine, among others, Nell Zink is widely hailed as a singular voice in literary fiction. In a Melbourne first, she takes the stage at The Wheeler Centre to discuss her sharp and tightly wrought new novel, Sister Europe, and its animating themes: loneliness and the possibility of transcending it, the tension between old and new worldviews and the challenge of defining one&rsquo;s identity in an increasingly complex world. This event was recorded on Tuesday 3rd March 2026 at The Wheeler Centre. The official bookseller was Hill of Content Bookshop. Featured music is Lucy&rsquo;s Trail (Don&rsquo;t Give Up) by Sarah, the Illstrumentalist.

Nell Zink: Sister Europe

Longlisted for the 2025 Women’s Prize for Fiction, Laila Lalami’s The Dream Hotel is a chilling dissection of surveillance culture, technological overreach and the quiet, everyday ways people become complicit in their own monitoring. 

Set in a near-future America shaped by predictive surveillance, Lalami tells the story of a woman swept into a surreal dystopia where dreams are weaponised by the state. Accused of a crime she hasn’t committed – yet – and detained indefinitely in a retention centre in the Californian desert, she must navigate a world in which corporations trade in the contents of our subconscious and algorithms claim the authority to determine guilt, innocence and destiny. 

Lalami joins host Sonia Nair to explore the seductive pull of technology, the commodification of the private self and the unnervingly plausible future where a single line of code could seal a person’s fate. 

This event was recorded on Wednesday March 4th 2026 at The Wheeler Centre.

The official bookseller was The Chestnut Tree Bookshop.

Featured music is ‘Different Days’ by Chill Cole.

Longlisted for the 2025 Women&rsquo;s Prize for Fiction, Laila Lalami&rsquo;s The Dream Hotel is a chilling dissection of surveillance culture, technological overreach and the quiet, everyday ways people become complicit in their own monitoring. Set in a near-future America shaped by predictive surveillance, Lalami tells the story of a woman swept into a surreal dystopia where dreams are weaponised by the state. Accused of a crime she hasn&rsquo;t committed &ndash; yet &ndash; and detained indefinitely in a retention centre in the Californian desert, she must navigate a world in which corporations trade in the contents of our subconscious and algorithms claim the authority to determine guilt, innocence and destiny. Lalami joins host Sonia Nair to explore the seductive pull of technology, the commodification of the private self and the unnervingly plausible future where a single line of code could seal a person&rsquo;s fate.&nbsp; This event was recorded on Wednesday March 4th 2026 at The Wheeler Centre. The official bookseller was The Chestnut Tree Bookshop. Featured music is &lsquo;Different Days&rsquo; by Chill Cole.

Shaun Micallef: De'Ath Takes a Holiday

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