Enough Rope with Andrew Denton

Welcome to a very special programme; ENOUGH ROPE.

He goes by many names, 'Mr MacPhisto', 'The Fly', 'The Mirror Ball Man'.

Maggie Tabberer has been many things - a model said to be too beautiful for the catwalk - and I associate with that. ... For two decades Colin Lane and Frank Woodley have been working each other up one side of a frenzy and down the other in one of Australia's most successful comedy marriages. ... Show and Tell: Clement Deng

On a summer's day in July last year the world stopped turning for Louise Yaxley and Alexis Rhodes. ... They tell us the music industry is at death's door, that the CD is a thing of the past. ...

Brenda Blethyn, convinced she'd be laughed out of town if she followed her dreams, remained a secretary for 10 years before plucking up the courage to enrol in acting school. ... Some people know Professor Ian Frazer as a party animal, others as a mad keen skier and occasional impersonator of Gene Simmons from KISS. ...

John Anderson is the former deputy leader of this nation, acknowledged by all sides of politics as a man of integrity. ... Diane Cilento's tumultuous life has ricocheted from Mooloolaba to Mecca via London, New York and Port Douglas. ... Show and Tell: Michael Blucher

Michael Leunig is a man whose life has been filled with ducks, teapots and oddly curly people. ... Pink has rebelled against stereotypes with a song and a clip that's raised Botox eyebrows around the world. ... Show and Tell: Tana Macqueen

Every day, Paul Featherstone wakes up knowing that his job could take him into someone else's nightmare. ... We were frightened of him after 'The Boys', we laughed at him in 'Gettin' Square', we admired the cut of his jib in 'Lord of the Rings' and we just wanted to be him in 'Seachange'. ... Lee Stringer describes himself as a 'voyager' in life in much the same way as Tiger Woods might call himself 'a bit of a golfer'. ...

Flower child, pop idol, single mother, diva, gay icon, comeback queen - Marcia Hines has been all of these things. ... DBC Pierre is the living embodiment of the phrase, 'Truth is stranger than fiction'. ...

If whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger, Tony Purkiss is Superman. ... In 2003, in the middle of the invasion of Iraq, an enraged British journalist stormed up to a US marine colonel and abused him and, by association, the entire US army for standing by while the "finest museum in the world" was being looted. ... Show and Tell: Phil Rooke The art of teeth playing.

Chris Isaak is a walking, talking, singing contradiction. ... Most of us have lives that can be neatly divided into phases - childhood, marriage, parenthood, old age. ... Show and Tell: Kendall Verryt A back-up of bilious Bin Tang in Bali and the amazing life of grandfather, Roy Smith.

Welcome to an episode of ENOUGH ROPE 'By Request'.

There's a theory that people become actors so they can pretend to be people more interesting than they are. ... Ciaron O'Reilly is a devout Brisbane-born Christian pacifist. ...

Troy Cassar-Daley is Australia's undisputed King of country music. ... "Full credit to the opposition", "We're just taking it one game at a time", "The game is the winner" - three cliches you're unlikely ever to hear from Stuart MacGill. ... Show and Tell: Doug and Louise Broad Watch what happens when lightning strikes...

One minute you're an ordinary bloke bashing out songs in the lounge room with a few of your mates... Every day Australians of all kinds sit down beside them and confess their sins and secrets.

At great cost to his deteriorating health, Bernie Banton has been the face of the James Hardie compensation case. ... Nobody talks about the plumber's plumber, you never hear about the undertaker's undertaker - but there is such a thing as the actor's actor. ... "There is nothing more dangerous than an idea whose time has come," so the saying goes. ...

Charisma, it's what separates the merely talented performer from the unforgettable. ... The Middle East is, tonight, at the brink of all out war with no end in sight to the blood-letting in Israel and Lebanon. ... Aside from being devilishly handsome, Ben Elton is one of the world's great talkers, in fact there's a good chance I mightn't get a word in past, "Welcome to the show". ...

Despite having no training as a scientist, Dr Jane Goodall's work amongst the chimpanzees of Africa actually changed the way we view ourselves as human beings. ... Donny Osmond is one of the most extraordinary showbiz stories of them all. ... Show and Tell: Ruth Wilson World record balloon attempt to raise funds for Beyond Blue.

Welcome to a special episode of ENOUGH ROPE.

John Butler started out with no plan beyond the life of busking. ... John Hewson wore many nicknames when he ran for Prime Minister back in 1993, most of them coined by his rival, Paul Keating. ...

After the outbreak of the 'War on Terror' in 2001, enemy combatants captured in Afghanistan by American forces were sent to Guantanamo Bay. ... Judith Lucy is a complete failure, such a failure in fact that her latest show is called 'I Failed'. ... Show and Tell: Natalie Verdon Coffin design.

You know Mike Willesee well, or you think you do. ... Show and Tell: Lynda Busuttil Baby in the loo.

Over a career stretching back more than 40 years, Lily Tomlin has established herself as one of the legends of American comedy. ... Few of us could truly imagine what it's like to be without a limb, to go through life minus something everyone else has taken for granted. ...

Today is a peculiar day, where things have spun out of control. ... Don Chipp was 81 when he died and had run a very full race.

In his recent book 'Collapse', the author Jared Diamond asked the question: "Why do societies destroy the environment around them when they know their actions will ultimately destroy them too?

"Celebrity is a currency and I want to spend mine well" - the words are Bono's, but they could just have easily have come from Jamie Oliver.

Raelene Boyle was an athlete of rare ability and beauty. ... The late Hunter S Thompson once said, "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro". ... Show and Tell: Bryan Seymour Life after dad.

Ian Chappell has no lack of courage as Australian cricket captain. ... Here's a fact: One in four relationships in Australia will be scarred by domestic violence. ... Show and Tell: Denise Cusack and Paula Chisholm

Joanne Lees knows what it feels like to wake up from a nightmare and find herself still in

Matt Lucas and David Walliams are without doubt the most successful and famous English comedy duo of this century.

Billy Crystal has stepped up to the Oscars microphone more times than anyone of his generation. ... Twelve years ago Alison was raped, mutilated and left for dead in the dirt outside her hometown, an attack so savage it became notorious in her native South Africa. ...

The crusty traditionalists complain when public libraries started offering more than books, magazines, CDs, videos - all these new-fangled computer thingies. ... Les Carlyon is one of the most respected journalists and finest writers this country has produced. ... Lindy Chamberlain, Gough Whitlam, Ita Buttrose, Alan Jones - these famous Australians along with many others, share one man in common. ...

At the start of this year we spoke to U2 frontman, Bono, about his band, his life and his mission to create a fairer world.

When French novelist Emile Zola said "I am here to live out loud", he could have been talking about Robert Hughes.