The Mental Ideas Podcast lifts off TODAY – April 2nd – on RTHK Radio 3! (Sorry about the short notice, but I knew you wouldn’t believe me if I posted this on April 1st.) Tune in LIVE on RTHK Radio 3 @1.30pm or download the podcast on the RTHK and Mental Ideas websites!
HUGE thanks to my mental guests and especially to composer Nick Samuel for creating the mental music, zingers & stingers!
UPCOMING EPISODES:
APRIL 2 – The Depressed Comedian
Depression. It’s no laughing matter. Or is it? Why are so many of our best loved comedians depressed? I trance in and out exploring this tragi-hilarious topic with award-winning cartoonist (creator of the SCMP’s iconic Lily Wong strip and the first cartoonist to have a full-page spread in Time Magazine) depressed humorist (at least he seemed a bit disappointed by the end of the interview) and best-selling author Larry Feign!
APRIL 9 – A Bipolar Love Story
In a Mental Ideas Podcast exclusive, I am rewarded for all my bad work with the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to interview a living legend live on RTHK Radio 3! JACKIE CHAN is on the podcast!!! No, I am not making this up!!!! She works in banking and has bipolar disorder!!!!!! Oh. But she could kick THAT Jackie Chan into 2050!!! (It can’t be any crapper than 2020.)
APRIL 16 – The Agitated Air Stewardess
One type of podcast guest that’s proved easy to secure in the midst of the Covid 19 pandemic is grounded airline cabin crew. Bipolar disorder is a condition that’s traditionally been associated with mad creative geniuses, like Van Gough, Beethoven, Mozart, Theresa May and Carrie Lam. But what if you work as a first class bathroom assistant for a living and don’t have a creative bone in your body? The Agitated Air Stewardess is a harrowing tale of triumph in the face of absurdity. And I know I’m not supposed to have favorites but Florence Wong ROCKS!!!
APRIL 23 – The Psychopathic Actor
Psychopathic actor and entrepreneur Philippe Joly attempts to explain to me why psychopaths make such great CEOs and movie stars. But since I usually meet Philippe at the studio to improvise sketches, the interview quickly deteriorates. He also has the gall to bring up his experiences working with Jackie Chan. No, not the bipolar banker I interviewed in Episode 2. The other one.
APRIL 30 – PUBLIC HOLIDAY – NO SHOW!
MAY 7 – The Criminal Sleepwalker
I’ve got a criminal record as long as your arm, but most of my heinous crimes were committed while I was in Nod. At least that’s what I told the popo.
MAY 14 – Death & The Frozen Tundra
A deadly podcast about Death by Anxious Showman Mat Ricardo is poignantly paired with American actor Dan Davies presenting the weather forecast… in Wisconsin. It may be Spring, but Winter is Coming…
MAY 21 – Virtually Eugenia
Virtual Reality dance-maker Eugenia Kim joins me on the podcast and explains how her bipolar disorder has fuelled her creativity and inspired her latest VR film! It’s called Lithium Hindsight. And yes, it IS better than Avatar.
MAY 28 – The Depressed Banker
She banks. She cares for her Mum. She writes books and takes magical photographs of Hong Kong old shops. She’s in tears twice during the interview and has the most infectious raucous laugh I’ve ever had the pleasure of developing tinnitus from. She’s Christina Yung: the Positive Depressive!
JUNE 4 – Trolls Anonymous
Mat Ricardo reminisces about the time he was starting out as a street performer and a member of the public walked onto his pitch and took a dump. Left to raise the tone (uh-oh) Dan Davies gets trollied in Wisconsin and gives a moving account of his own experiences with internet trolls. Only he has another word for them (and he uses it a lot).
JUNE 11 – The Unwellness Entrepreneur
I coin a new catchphrase from an interview with wellness entrepreneur Ifat Hyndes and test it out on a taxi driver. Mat Ricardo talks about the power of acceptance. Frankly, it’s unacceptable.
JUNE 18 – Money
I talk dirty. Great big wads of dirty money. You can’t use banknotes anywhere in Hong Kong since the first wave peaked. Too dirty. Toilet paper is our only currency now.
JUNE 25 – PUBLIC HOLIDAY – NO SHOW!
JULY 2 – Crazy
I’ll leave this one to your imagination…
