In this episode the part of Em Rusciano will be played by a hollow shell of a woman on the verge of collapse, mmmkay? Once we’ve acknowledged that and the end of Em’s Outgrown tour, we need to move on to the disturbing reaction to the murder of Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. His alleged killer, Luigi Mangione is being lusted over & celebrated with glowing comments & deep dives into his thirst trap pics, especially in the gay community. This all sits uneasily in Em’s ethics place so we’ll discuss the reaction and what it all means. After that it’s onto the Golden Globe noms, ‘The Bear’ is once again nominated for best comedy, Jon M Chu didn’t get a nomination as best director for ‘Wicked’ and there’s a bunch of other weird stuff to discuss too. Then after a quick visit to Beyonce’s mum Tina Knowles saying she was hacked after double tapping posts about those Jay-Z allegations, we need to step through Michael’s choice of the Top Ten Diva Moments of 2024. Well, we do number 10 in this episode, but if you wanna hear who made it in at number 9, all the way through to the ultimate Number 1, you’ll need to be a member of our premium service, Emsolation Extra. You can sign up to our 7-day FREE trial and listen for $1.73 a week, or watch it for $2.30 a week at emsolation.supercast.com and don’t forget you can watch this episode in full maximalist colour on our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@emsolationpodcast

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Em and Michael have a special guest on the pod this week, Em’s youngest Elio is making an appearance to give us his review of Moana 2 and also to give his Mum the right to swear as much as she likes. Then we get an update on Michael’s whirlwind visit to New York for his International Emmy nomination, followed by Em and Michael’s night out together once he returned at Rob Mills Jon Bon Jovi (don’t call it a tribute show) concert.Then we need to deal with the hellscape that is going on inside Em’s mouth and the total lack of interest her dental surgery has for her infected wisdom teeth and unfinished root canal. Fold that into the fact that Em is also counting down the final days till her final Outgrown arena spectacular, you’ll understand why Em is focussing on everyone that’s coming and not sweating the bajillion small things going on behind the scenes. Then in our Sealed Section, on our premium service Emsolation Extra, Em and Michael answer your Ask Me Anything questions, including casting queer roles with queer actors, memory wipes to revisit their fave movies, and much needed advice on hooking up with the former high school crush who’s now an award winning adult movie star. Sign up to our 7-day FREE trial and listen for $1.73 a week, or watch it for $2.30 a week at emsolation.supercast.com and don’t forget you can watch highlights from this episode in full maximalist colour on our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@emsolationpodcast

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This week Em and Michael are sitting down with one of Em’s besties, Zambian-born Australian journalist, historian, author and filmmaker Santilla Chingaipe, for an eye opening chat about her new book that is rewriting the history of this country. Recognised by the United Nations in 2019 as one of the most influential people of African descent in the world, Santilla has spent the last 7 years researching and writing her debut non fiction book ‘Black Convicts’ which is in stores now. ‘Black Convicts’ builds on the research Santilla did for her critically acclaimed and award-winning documentary ‘Our African Roots’which is still streaming on SBS On Demand. It is fascinating to hear how colonial record keepers white washed parts of our history, silencing the lives of people like David Stuurman, a revered South African chief transported for anti-colonial insurrection; John Caesar, who became Australia’s first bushranger; Billy Blue, the stylishly dressed ferryman who gave his name to Sydney’s Blues Point; and William Cuffay, a prominent London Chartist who led the development of Australia’s labour movement. ‘Black Convicts’ is bound to change the way we think about who we are, buy your copy here https://shorturl.at/Jjk2V. Then in our Sealed Section, on our premium service Emsolation Extra, Em and her eldest Marchella review the new Netflix Christmas offering ‘Hot Frosty’ and answer your AMA questions. Sign up to listen for $1.73 a week, or watch it for under $3 a week at emsolation.supercast.com and don’t forget you can watch highlights from this episode in full maximalist colour on our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@emsolationpodcast

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Hannah Diviney is a writer, disability advocate, actress, screenwriter, author and media personality. Her disability advocacy has garnered global attention thanks to both a viral petition encouraging Disney to create a disabled Disney Princess and a successful campaign encouraging both Lizzo and Beyonce to change ableist lyrics. As if that wasn't enough, she also made television history as the first disabled person in Australia to do a sex scene on television in the SBS series, ‘Latecomers’ and she’s joining Em to talk about some of those things plus her feature film debut in the new dark comedy ‘Audrey’. Together they’ll discuss what it was like to see Marissa Bode as the first disabled actor to play the role of Nessarose in ‘Wicked’ and then interview her afterwards as well. We’ll also talk about what it's like to be in her first feature film, how she secured the role and even how the script was changed to reflect her abilities as well. Hannah is utterly hilarious as well and they both connect over their shared love of awkward conversations and Em’s belief that Hannah needs to get her sit down comedy career underway as well. Then in our Sealed Section, on our premium service Emsolation Extra, Em and Michael review their Glicked weekend seeing Gladiator 2 and Wicked and give their final reviews. Sign up to listen for $1.73 a week, or watch it for under $3 a week at emsolation.supercast.com and don’t forget you can watch highlights from this episode in full maximalist colour on our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@emsolationpodcast

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Today we’re giving you part two of a very special audio only episode taking you behind the scenes of Em’s ground breaking Outgrown Tour, as producer Ben talks to some of the creatives who helped Em bring her show to life. In episode two you’ll meet the show's set designer, Kitiya Palaskas and hear everything from how Em first approached her about doing the set for the tour, to what it was like to have to wait until her Palais show to actually see all her flower work on stage and experience the full show, plus we get her side of the story of getting that call from Lucy saying they needed a new set when everything went missing. We also chat to costume designer Tamara Keane about Em’s brief and the making of all the incredible outfits Em wears on stage. Then finally we talk to production manager and musical director Ezekiel Fenn about creating the beautiful theme music for Outgrown with Em, what happened when the set went missing before the Ballarat show and so much more. Em’s final performance of her Outgrown Tour is the Arena Spectacular at Margaret Court Arena, Saturday December 7, get tickets from just $50 here https://www.frontiertouring.com/emrusciano

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Today we’re giving you a very special audio only episode from inside our premium service Emsolation Extra. Taking you behind the scenes of Em’s ground breaking Outgrown Tour, as producer Ben talks to some of the creatives who helped Em bring her show to life. In episode one you’ll meet the show's director, Anna Piper Scott and hear everything from how she first met Em, when Em first approached her to help direct the show, to what role a director plays, what it was like to have to wait until her Palais show to actually see the full show and even the one thing that Anna appreciates about Em, that most people wouldn’t even know about. Then we’ll chat with tour manager Lucy Gransbury about how she first met Em, when she joined the Outgrown tour, what happened when the set went missing before the Ballarat show, plus what it’s like to appear on stage as Menopausia and so much more. In part two, dropping next week, we’ll chat to production manager and musical director Ezekiel Fenn, costume designer Tamara Keane and set designer Kitiya Palaskas. Em’s final performance of her Outgrown Tour is the Arena Spectacular at Margaret Court Arena, Saturday December 7, get tickets from just $50 here https://www.frontiertouring.com/emrusciano

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It’s the moment SOME of us thought would never happen, and that some of us is Em, because AS IF this would ever happen! How could it be possible that Em would get to sit across from Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, two sing-gers, and the leads of the new movie version of her all time favourite musical Wicked? Somehow, Em not only got to do chats with Cynthia and Ariana, who play Elphaba & Glinda in the movie, but also Marissa Bode who plays Elphaba’s sister Nessarose, and Ethan Slater, who’s Ariana Grande’s boyfriend and also appears in the film as the lovable munchkin Boq. Watch or listen as Em keeps Cynthia and Ariana entertained throughout their chat, from informing them of the neurodivergent love of the musical, to giving them props for the final result and so much more. Then there’s Em’s chat with Marissa and Ethan, where they reveal how they found out they were cast in the Wicked movie and a heap of other stuff too. It is the ultimate must watch before the movie drops November 21. Then in our Sealed Section, on our premium service, Emsolation ExtraThen in our Sealed Section, on our premium service Emsolation Extra, Em drops all the behind the scenes happenings as Michael peppers her with questions from her weekend at the Wicked movie premiere in Sydney. There's also some US Election chat and a review of Titanique The Musical which Em and Chella also saw while in Sydney. Sign up to listen, or watch it for under $3 a week at emsolation.supercast.com and don’t forget you can watch this episode in full maximalist colour on our YouTube channel athttps://www.youtube.com/@emsolationpodcast

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It’s an Emsolation first, Em’s long term friend and fellow comedian, Joel Creasey, has finally been invited on the pod. The occasion? The upcoming Wicked movie premiere in Sydney, where they’ll both be seeing the film AND interviewing the stars as part of the Australian press tour. If you’re a regular of the pod, you’ll already know of Em’s deep love for the Wicked musical, Joel shares that love, in fact, he’s pretty sure he’s seen the musical around 300 times. Together we’ll get an update on Joel’s recent proposal from his partner Jack, then it’s on to the business of all things Wicked. Prepare yourself for a deep dive into everything they’ve hyper focussed over, from when Joel first saw Wicked and the impact it had on him, to the behind the scenes goss from the cast and crew. Joel even tries to prove his love of Elphaba in a game with Em trying to name all the peeps that have played the role on Broadway. It’s the perfect taster in the lead up to the release of the movie, so settle in for all things Elphaba and Glinda and Wicked inside your ears. Then in our Sealed Section, on our premium service Emsolation Extra, Em & Michael offer up final thoughts & make their predictions for the US election, plus we chat new Lady Gaga music & the upcoming ‘Wicked’ movie premiere & press junket. Sign up to listen, or watch it for under $3 a week at emsolation.supercast.com and don’t forget you can watch this episode in full maximalist colour on our YouTube channel athttps://www.youtube.com/@emsolationpodcast

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It’s role reversal time as Em steps into the ep fresh from chairing a staff meeting, while Michael turns up unhinged, unslept and agitated, huzzah! We find out why Michael is feeling such to begin. Then it's on to Lidia Thorpe’s confrontation with King Charles and why we think it was an inspiring and refreshing thing to witness. We follow that with more US politics chat, from Trump dancing at a Town hall for 35 minutes, to Elon Musk giving away a million dollars to right wing registered voters in US swing states, there’s a lot of horrifying updates to cover. Finally, Em is officially adopting ‘Agatha All Along’ as her personality and she’s mad keen to convince Michael to get over his Marvel aversion, and dive right in. We also get some astrology, manifestation and curse chat, plus the lowdown on Elio’s demands for Chellas upcoming birthday party, and Em’s MRI is approaching, so the hair extensions are about to be removed. . Then in our Sealed Section, on our premium service Emsolation Extra, Em’s convinced that Hollywood actor and all round nice guy, Andrew Garfield is secretly a f-boy and she’s got all the evidence to prove it. Sign up to listen, or watch it for under $3 a week at emsolation.supercast.com and don’t forget you can watch this episode in full maximalist colour on our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@emsolationpodcast

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The invite to end all invites has landed in Em’s inbox and it is confirmed, Em is off to the Australian premiere of the new ‘Wicked’ movie in Sydney. She’s also hitting up the press junket and hoping she gets to chat with her actual hero Cynthia Erivo, as well as Ariana Grande and Jeff Goldblum. Inside you’ll get to hear Em’s plan of attack, plus outfit explains for both her interview and red carpet appearance and so much more. Then, as society slowly comes around to the idea that middle age women are an untapped resource worth catering to, we’ve found two new things targeted at women over 40 worthy of your attention. The first is a full review of the new Netflix movie ‘Lonely Planet’ where Laura Dern and Liam Hemsworth have a passionate affair whilst on a writer's retreat. Then it’s onto the new book ‘All Fours’ from Miranda July, which is part absurd entertainment, part tender reinvention of the sexual, romantic and domestic life of a 45-year-old female artist. I mean, what could there possibly be in this book that Em might connect with? Everyone who’s anyone has recommended ‘All Fours' to Em, and having finally read it she’s now recommending it to everyone too, from perimenopausal peeps to your partner, this book is worth your time. Then in our Sealed Section, on our premium service Emsolation Extra, Em and Michael ‘Okay, Stop’ the trailer for Nicole Kidman’s upcoming movie ‘Babygirl’, and the upcoming Martha Stewart doco ‘Martha’. Sign up to listen or watch it for under $3 a week at emsolation.supercast.com and don’t forget you can watch this episode in full maximalist colour on our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@emsolationpodcast

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CW // discussion of stroke symptoms

Em has never been afraid to roll around in the dark stuff of life, today we are coming in dry, so grab your ankles Australia, because this story isn’t anything you could anticipate and there’s a lot to process. Em is joining us this week with an update from an incident that happened to her over the weekend which culminated in Em making frantic calls from the side of the road and her husband Scott calling an ambulance to come and help her. Having typed out over 1000 words at 1am last night so she could unpack the incident, Em will read it all out as is, so we get her full train of thought and feels on the moment as she relives it. We follow that up by chatting to our special guest, Sydney based actor, writer, producer and director Xavier Coy, who worked with Michael as a writer on ‘5 Bedrooms’. Xavier has just finished writing his new book which is a deeply personal and insightful look into the complexities of living with bipolar disorder called ‘Living With Bipolar’. It’s a beautifully illustrated book designed to challenge stereotypes around bipolar disorder and provide a clearer understanding of this widely misunderstood mental health condition. Together Em and Michael will chat with Xavier about how the book came about, what has happened for him since his diagnosis and so much more.

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