Australian politics, roasted with receipts.
Shouldn'ta Come is a fast, abrasive Australian politics show with a taste for the stupid detail that reveals the uglier system underneath. It moves from supermarket hype and viral trends to war, surrogacy, colonial violence, and political cowardice without sanding off the disgust.
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Shouldn'ta Come is a rapid, irreverent Australian politics and culture show built around a simple suspicion: the official version is usually hiding something uglier, dumber, or both. The show’s comic engine is the collision between throwaway media nonsense and serious political rot. A supermarket deodorant claim can become an exercise in basic arithmetic and disbelief. A lifestyle trend about Sundays can be treated as evidence that everyone is being sold ordinary life with a foreign accent. But the show does not stay at media mockery. Recent episodes move hard into Ben Roberts Smith, Afghanistan, surrogacy arrangements, child exploitation, colonial violence, Iraq 2003, Howard-era justification, Israeli military service, Bob Katter’s family history, and the Australian habit of laundering cruelty through national myth. The tone is blunt, fast, and allergic to reverence. It reads quotes, images, headlines, biographies, and historical fragments as if they have been dragged into a room for questioning. That gives the show a distinctive rhythm: joke, interruption, disbelief, moral verdict, stranger joke, then a clearer political claim. It can be chaotic. It is also more researched than the looseness first suggests. The recurring pleasure is watching a ridiculous detail become the thread that pulls open a larger argument about class, race, militarism, media, or cowardice. Australian figures such as Anthony Albanese, Howard, Bob Katter, Kyle Sandilands, and Ben Roberts Smith appear less as isolated personalities than as symptoms of broader national habits. Even children’s literature and old public memory become evidence. Shouldn'ta Come is best for listeners who like their politics sharp, conversational, and impatient with polite euphemism. It is not neutral analysis. It is cleaner when described as disgust with receipts.
Made for: For listeners who want Australian political critique with speed, jokes, and a low tolerance for official excuses. Best suited to people comfortable with bleak topics handled through abrasive comedy.
What sets it apart: The show pairs filthy-room energy with enough reading to make the jokes land as argument. It is unusually good at turning a dumb headline, image, or historical aside into a larger indictment of Australian public life.
Hello and welcome to Shouldn'ta Come, a podcast deep diving into Australian politics and social life and why all this nonsense is why a bunch of us shouldn't have come here.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Australian public life becomes more legible through close attention to law, cultural memory, official narratives and their absurd practical consequences.
Shouldn'ta Come turns Australian public life into a fast, argumentative exchange between two hosts who meet grim material with jokes, interruptions and open disbelief.
Deodorant sales math is your warning: even the icebreaker gets cross-examined.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A fast, filthy takedown of power, violence, and the myths built around them.
It starts with a supermarket deodorant stampede, then slides into Ben Roberts-Smith, the people orbiting his court appearances, and the anger the case keeps dragging up. The hosts stay funny without drifting off task.
A foul-mouthed look at surrogacy, citizenship, and the legal mess around parentage.
Shouldn'ta Come turns surrogacy into a bitterly funny fight over bodies, law, and the paperwork that decides who gets to be a parent. It keeps coming back to parentage, citizenship, and birth certificates, including the Australians in Argentina whose situation gets worse after…
A sharp, chaotic jump from breaking news to children's literature that lands as political criticism.
The episode moves from breaking news about Desi Freeman into a reading of Dot and the Kangaroo, and it does not pretend those two things belong in separate boxes.
A sharp, funny look at Clive Palmer, Howard, and how 9/11 hardens political memory.
Shoulda Come opens with a long, goofy run at "26 minutes to save the world," then settles into a pointed conversation about Clive Palmer's return and John Howard being in America during 9/11.
A sharp, funny run through art panic, bird graffiti, and the logic people use to excuse cruelty.
The episode jumps from arts funding collapse to bird graffiti prosecutions, then keeps circling the question of which animals people decide are fair game.
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WSJ reporters unpack the Epstein files, surrogacy industry abuses, and true-crime court battles.
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Sharp political debate with policy detail and real disagreement.
Demetri Kofinas interviews specialists on geopolitics, energy markets, AI, and finance at length.
The hosts kick off by tearing into a news.com.au story about an $18 Gem deodorant that, somehow, is supposedly selling like crazy.
They open with a mock national address and then veer straight into baby talk.
The episode opens on breaking news about Desi Freeman being shot dead.
Two hosts discuss a viral European wellness trend called 'French Sundays,' which involves spending Sundays relaxing with activities like reading, listening to jazz, and making love, as highlighted in a Guardian article.
It opens in joke mode.
Hosts Yanni and Kieran open Shouldn't Come with a quiz on European wellness trends such as Germany's "house burping" (opening windows), the Dutch "Nixen" (doing nothing) and Finland's "Kalsarikani" (drinking in your underpants).
Shouldn't Have Come hosts Kieran and Yanni open with the 28 February US-Israel strikes on Iran, the reported killing of the Ayatollah and the reported deaths of more than 80 children in a school bombing.
The hosts start with a rant about Australia turning into an artless country as creative course enrollments collapse.
This episode discusses a massive fatberg that caused mysterious poo balls to wash up on Sydney beaches due to a water treatment plant failure.
This episode discusses the 20th anniversary of the Cronulla Riots in Australia and critiques a poorly written news article about why young Australians are having less sex, linking it to housing issues.
This episode discusses the Mary River Gariel, an alleged Australian cryptid described as a crocodilian with paddle-like fins, exploring its possible prehistoric origins and eyewitness accounts.
The hosts discuss plans to open a venue called karuna after winning a Webby award, where they'll host a podcast while intoxicated, possibly exploring topics like prohibition in Australia or politicians who might benefit from an acid trip.
The hosts discuss recent mid-air mechanical malfunctions involving Katy Perry and Beyoncé during their tours, while also joking about pop culture references and personal movie-watching promises.