All Episodes

'Singing for me is sweet relief': Meg Washington's TEDx speech about stuttering — Sydney, 2014

Steve Kilbey: 'We've been kicked off the best record companies in Australia!' — The Church's ARIA Hall of Fame induction, 7 November 2010, Sydney

Dana Rubin: 'Throughout history, women have been changing the world with their voices', curator and author of Speaking While Female

'The bells of St Stephen's, tolling for Mum' — eulogy for Margaret Wilson by Tony Wilson, Melbourne, 2025

'Bob, you're dead. Do you want a state funeral?' — John Safran's eulogy for Father Bob Maguire, May 2023, Melbourne, Australia

'Elon Musk will become the self appointed CEO of Mars' — Sammy J in Melbourne International Comedy Festival Great Debate, 2018

The Speakola podcast returns & Tony's film hits cinemas (March 13-17th)

'The greatest man I ever knew' — Andrew Moran's eulogy for father Lawrence Moran, Melbourne 2023

Year 9s can smell fear — Declan Fay's tips and stories about speaking in schools, Eltham High Valedictory, 2023

'Laughter is the closest distance' — Jules Schiller's tips for the Best Man speech, Tony and Kate's wedding, 2003

Best Speeches of 2023 — Tony presents 'The Speakolies' with Dylan Bird on The Grapevine, 3RRR

The art of the MC — Julia Zemiro and Brian Nankervis talk about hosting and MCing

My husband had a magical cape — Lahra Carey's eulogy for husband Ben Cowen, Springvale Cemetery, Melbourne, 2017

'Men, you have ten minutes to live' — Dr Brendan Nelson's speech at a Soldier On charity gala, Canberra 2014 (witnessed by cohost Lehmo)

The year my brain broke — Clare Wright's 'Epic Fail' speech at The Wheeler Centre, Melbourne, 2014

We have been a collective failure — Brendan Gale's CEO address to players and officials, Richmond Football Club, March 2010

ARCHIVE: He is one of us ─ Don Watson on Prime Minister Paul Keating’s Eulogy to the Unknown Soldier, Remembrance Day, 1993

'Won't keep you, Les' — Andrew Rule's eulogy for Les Carlyon, Flemington, Melbourne, 2019

ARCHIVE: 'Lou was bigger than a legend' — Ron Joseph's eulogy for Lou Richards, RIP Ron Joseph

You daughters of freedom — Prof. Clare Wright on Vida Goldstein's campaign launch speech as first English speaking woman to stand for national office, Portland, 1903

No, Tony, I did not write the Misogyny Speech! — Speechwriter Michael Cooney on working for Prime Minister Julia Gillard, 2010-13

Solomon in a singlet — Andrew Rule's eulogy for father Keith Rule, Lake Tyers, 1998

How to do a TED talk (or three) — Ruth Clare's 'The pain of hiding your true self', TEDx Melbourne, 2019

Best speeches of 2022 - Tony presents 'The Speakolies' on Triple R's The Grapevine

You're more of a mattress — Laura Lexx on her bride speech, Somerset, 2015

Give me your children! — Holocaust survivor Abram Goldberg as eyewitness to Chaim Rumkowski's speech to Jews in Lodź ghetto, Lodź, Poland, 1942 (with memoirist Fiona Harris)

The bald legend and the feral legend — A last interview with Uncle Jack Charles, Palais Theatre, Melbourne, September 2022

We could quell these fires with tears — Ted Baillieu's speech for Black Saturday National Day of Mourning, Melbourne, February 2009

He bought the heady outside world into our house —James Button's eulogy for his father John Button, State Memorial Service, Melbourne, April 2008

We get one shot to recover from a global pandemic — Premier Peter Malinauskas's election night speech, Adelaide, 19th March 2022

Lou is bigger than a legend — Ron Joseph's eulogy for Lou Richards, St Paul's Cathedral Melbourne, May 2017

A rat race is for rats! — Kenny MacAskill MP on Jimmy Reid's Inaugural Address as Rector of Glasgow University, 1972

ARCHIVE: Gabriel Sterling's speech on steps of Georgia Legislature, 'Somebody is going to get killed', December 2020

Masters of our fate — Richard Cohen on Sir Winston Churchill's rhetoric & address to joint sitting US Congress, December 1941

Queen of the verbal stilletto - Wendy Harmer and the art of the comedy debate, World Series Debating, Canberra 1993

I know, Mum! —Rana Hussein's 'Stranger than Fiction' story, 'Two Firsts', Comedy Republic, 2021

Speakola Reads #2— Tony Wilson's tribute to Shane Warne, published in 'Australia: A Cricket Country'

It's not regular — Jahmal Cole's speech at MLK Jr Day Interfaith Breakfast, Chicago, 2018

Shock, awe and disbelief — John Doyle's Andrew Olle Media Lecture, Sydney 2005

Best speeches of 2021 - Tony presents 'The Speakolies' on Triple R's The Grapevine

Speakola Reads #1 — Martin Flanagan's story of his journey into the Tarkine wilderness, Tasmania

Strangely, I wasn't nervous —Adam Elliot's Academy Awards acceptance speech for 'Harvie Krumpet', Los Angeles, 2004

My name is Isra Mohammed — Isra Mohammed's speech to Kenton School on Islamophobia post Paris attacks, Newcastle, UK, 2015

Unsmoke the world — John Safran on Phillip Morris' CEO's speech about a world without combustible cigarettes, 2021

Thinking about you, Ron Barassi — Martin Flanagan's monologue for the Melbourne Demons, SEN radio, 2018

"Dad's gone, Dad's gone!" — Julian Leeser MP on his maiden speech, RUOK Day and his father's suicide, Canberra, 2016

What a life — Emily Rowe's eulogy for husband Matthew Carney, North Sydney, 2011

Someone is going to get killed —Gabriel Sterling's post election press conference calling out threats of violence, Georgia State Legislature, December 2020

To crush the spirit and body of youth — Stephen Mills on Bob Hawke's Tienanmen Square commemoration speech, 1989

Is it to be back to the kitchen? —Lenore Coltheart on Australian feminist Jessie Street's broadcast of 1944

We will continue to fight — Andrea (pseudonym) on Kyaw Moe Tun's speech against Myanmar coup at the United Nations, 2021

Tim Cahill has done it again! — Simon Hill on the art and craft of sports commentary

From Bevan to Bournemouth ─ Neil Kinnock on a life in Labour and the art of political speechmaking

That's my stick ─ Rob Carlton's Show & Tell, The art of salon storytellling, The Wheeler Center, 2016

I Have a Dream ─ Clayborne Carson on Martin Luther King's speech at the March on Washington, 1963

That girl was on a rocket ship to the moon ─ Nelly Thomas' eulogy for Stella Young, Melbourne Town Hall, 2014

My best man and my best friend ─ Tony Wilson's eulogy for Chris Daffey, 2014

Ask not what your country ─ Fredrik Logevall on President John F Kennedy's Inaugural Address, 1961

He is one of us - Don Watson on Paul Keating's Eulogy to the Unknown soldier, Remembrance Day, 1993

A Failure to Imagine ─ Don Watson on Paul Keating's Redfern Speech, December 1992

The Unmasked Protestor ─ Brian Leung's speech at storming of Legislative Council, Hong Kong, July 2019

Do it, dare it, courage ─ Anna Quindlen's Commencement Speech at Washington University, 2017

The Australian Dream ─ Stan Grant's speech on racism at Ethics Centre IQ2 Debate, 2015

The Art of Living a Life ─ Andrew Denton's eulogy to John Clarke, Melbourne Town Hall, 2017

Here I Am ─ Tania Major's speech to Prime Minister John Howard, Cape York 2003

Humans Doing ─ Kate Mulvany's Curtin University Commencement 2017

A Penetrating Voice ─ Five speeches of Gandhi with Ramachandra Guha

An Immeasurable Gift ─ Margaret Edson's Smith College Commencement 2008

Pay the Price ─ Allan Jeans and the 1989 Grand Final

The Laughter and the Tears ─ Damian Callinan on delivering eulogies