Loose Units: The Podcast

This week, Loose Units, Castaway Studios and Tegan Higginbotham proudly present Red Hot Australian Christmas, a hilarious and touching 45-minute Christmas audio play based in Gippsland, Victoria. It’s Christmas in Australia, and Victoria is in the grip of an unprecedented heatwave.   As the mercury rises across the state, the threat of fire plays heavily on the minds of many. But for a stubborn few, Christmas is – first and foremost – a time for family, feasting, and forced frivolity. And as far as they’re concerned, the fires can go and get f**ked.  One such believer is grizzled country Grandmother Heather Kelly, who has finally managed to get her entire family under one roof in Maffra, Gippsland. But before Heather even has time to interrogate her children about their failing love lives, the family receive a fire evacuation order. Code Red – they have to leave.  With danger pressing in on them, the Kelly family pack Christmas into the back of a caravan and flee f

Paul and John discuss how to dissolve a body in lye, whether social workers can become cops, AND they reveal the single biggest thing to happen on this podcast EVER. Next Tuesday is going to be EPIC!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

21 year old John, green as hell, steps out of his first car chase and is confronted with a terrible choice. Shots are fired, suspects are fleeing, and before long, John undertakes his very first high-pressure arrest.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

After a series of rapid fire questions from listeners, the boys field a somewhat epic and troubling tale from a UK listener involving a stalker.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

John and Paul contend with John's first - and worst - mentor on the force: Len Beater. This week on Loose Units, the boys look at working the Sylvester Switch, pining after unrequited love, and being buddied-up with a maniac-in-the-making.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Paul and John discuss the corrections officers, and the inherent squiggliness of prison as a concept. They also dive into John's weird, potentially stupid way of keeping track of things.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on Loose Units: Origins, find out what it was like for 20 year old John Verhoeven to enter a room full of dead bodies on slabs. Paul and John delve into the imapct of seeing dead bodies, talk about how brains are removed from skulls, and John mocks the very idea of bringing lunchboxes to work.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A listener sends in a question about ADHD and autism, and suddenly, Paul and John have a talk decades in the making. This episode of Loose Units delves into father and son issues, depression, anxiety, guilt, ADHD and medication. It's also the first time Paul and John have ever aired these issues face-to-face.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A young John gets smashed in the face during training for flipping a fellow cadet! A very angry man threatens to cave his skull in if he doesn't shoot straight! This week on Loose Units: Origins, the boys take a look at John's search for a mentor whilst learning to become a police officer.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What begins as an exploration into touch-typing mishaps soon devolves into DRUGS. More specifically, a listener tells a harrowing story of a near-miss when a cop enters their grow-house, and John gets invited into a very well-lit, very green  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

John is 21, and two police arrive at his door... but there's weed growing in the bathroom. Is John's police career about to disappear in a puff of smoke? Also: did you know that John almost ended up investing in a drug ring? Neither did Paul! It's a jam-packed and super stressful episode of Loose Units: Origins, and this week, we're looking at Chapter 2.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Is it safe to eat - or snort - the ashes of a cremated loved one? Are John's antiques stories as thrilling as he suspects? AND ARE THOSE SIRENS OUTSIDE?  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We're going right back to the eighties. In the book Loose Units, Paul told fanciful, fantastical versions of John's adventures as a cop in North Sydney in the early 1980s. Now, he and John go chapter-by-chapter and break down the stories behind the stories. This week, why did John actually join the police force? Why didn't his family want him to enrol? And how the hell did he pass the entrance exam anyway?  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A listener sends in a truly incredible story which floors John and Paul. They also discuss whether creamtoriums have chimneys, if bodies get burnt with their clothes in, and what happens when you burn weed and are standing down-wind.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This is it. The end of Loose Units: Dead Serious. What pushed John to leave the funeral industry? What was the straw that finally broke the camel’s back?  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Paul and John take a look at the new Netflix true crime feature, American Murder: The Family Next Door. Warning: this episode contains SPOILERS. Also, it was recorded while Paul was moving house, so apologies for the audio quality!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A body, wrapped in plastic. An unjust set of laws. And trapped in the middle, an ex-cop and ex-firefighter struggling with a terrible decision.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

John forgets that Paul almost drowned, the boys discover that Australian forensics experts are the reason the heist from National Treasure even exists, and a trapped demon escapes it's salty prison.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A mysterious box full of human remains. A grieving mother. A strange request... and a terrible moment for John, who realises he's going to have to do something truly questionable to salvage this situation. Find out the story behind one of the most tragic chapters from Electric Blue in this harrowing and honest episode of Loose Units.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

John attends a seance, a folk band gets waterlogged at a funeral, and Paul tells John all about the legendary Inuit Sh*t Knife.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.