Show Notes
The tradie behind Thunder From Down Under, Vegas' longest-running male revue, on Western Sydney, the Gold Coast and going all in with it all off. Billy Cross grew up in housing commission in Sydney's west and left home at 16 on his L's. He did a bricklaying apprenticeship, got the ticket and never laid a brick. Then a Gold Coast nightclub asked him to take his shirt off. He couldn't dance. He learned. That show became Manpower Australia, then Australia's Thunder From Down Under. It's been stripping in Las Vegas since 1993, and working the Strip full-time since 2001. But first, he lost his shirt in London's West End. Well, most of his Australian tour money, he says. Karl and Billy get into: Leaving Liverpool at 16, and the bricklaying ticket he never used Hens, mums and grandmas: the Gold Coast Monday nights that started it all 1,500 seats in London, and 16 turned up, he says The VHS tape that got him a full hour on Phil Donahue All in or go broke: the first male revue with a permanent home on the Las Vegas Strip This episode is brought to you by Tanda. Rostering, payroll and HR for Aussie businesses: tanda.com.au Watch and listen on YouTube and all podcast apps. #thunderfromdownunder #lasvegas #goldcoast
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Neville and Gladys retired to cattle country near Jandowae, Queensland, for peace, cattle and a view of the Bunya Mountains. Then some of the tallest wind turbines in Australia went up next door. “I’m not against wind farms,” Neville says. “But you don’t want to be looking at them all the time.” Karl heads out west to the Wambo Wind Farm to ask who decides where turbines go, and who lives with the decision. For the farmers hosting them, turbines are good money. The town gets a community fund. But for the neighbours who turned down the offer to host, it’s the noise, the shadow flicker, property values, and a community that’s been split. Karl also hears from neighbour Fiona Duff, and from local member David Littleproud on setbacks, noise limits and who pays to pull them down in 30 years. Wambo was approved in 2020, before Queensland tightened its wind farm rules in 2025.
He was a Brisbane mechanic who mortgaged the house for a race car he built in his garage, then crashed it on live TV. Australia loved him so much it paid for him to go again. Dick Johnson is a dying breed. A bloke who fixed his own car, paid his own way, and became one of the most loved sporting figures this country has produced. At 81, he’s still at it. His team won Bathurst this month. In 1980, Dick mortgaged the family home to chase the biggest race in the country. He was leading when a rock rolled onto the track and ended it all on live TV. Then the phones lit up. Families and kids sent in their hard-earned cash and pocket money, Ford matched every dollar, and twelve months later Dick won the whole thing in a car the public paid for. He still has every letter. Karl sits down with an Australian icon. Driving the family Holden to swim training at eight. National Service a few huts from Peter Brock. His first race in an $80 ex-taxi. Getting pulled over at 134km/h by a cop who’d chipped in for his comeback. The truth about who really put that rock on the track. And 56 years with Jill, because “if something was broke, we didn’t throw it out. We used to fix it.” Plus his mum’s best advice: “Tell the truth always, you won’t have to remember a thing.” 00:00 Cold open 00:00 Bathurst 2026 and the fuel drama 05:02 “Before I fall off my perch” 06:43 Microwave pasta after winning Bathurst 09:46 Driving the family car at eight 13:39 National Service with Peter Brock 14:52 First race in an $80 ex-taxi 20:15 His first Bathurst 25:59 Mortgaging the house 28:14 The rock 33:17 Australia crowdfunds a comeback 40:02 Pulled over at 134km/h 44:06 Dick on Peter Brock 48:28 The Sierra years 53:38 Beating the factory teams at Silverstone 56:35 Roger Penske’s lifeline 58:56 A letter from Edsel Ford 61:24 56 years with Jill 62:20 Quickfire questions This episode is brought to you by Tanda. Tanda makes it easier to be an employer. Check them out at tanda.com.au. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and all podcast apps. #DickJohnson #Bathurst #KarlStefanovic
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They lived at home until they got married. Before 40, they’d built more than $1 billion in assets. Karl Stefanovic sits down with self-made Sydney property developers Charbel Hazzouri and Anthony El-Hazouri, second-generation Australians whose fathers arrived from Lebanon with nothing. Karl visits the cousins at the new harbourside headquarters of Revelop, the property group they started in 2008 while still at uni. Charbel’s dad arrived at 18, rented a room from a woman with 30 cats and worked nights in a factory. Anthony’s dad sorted mail at Australia Post before finishing a PhD.From selling shower screens in the Trading Post and washing cars for $7 at nine years old, to marking out their first slab in Bronte (badly), the cousins explain how they built a property business from nothing: options, cash flow, doing more for free than for money, representing themselves in the Land and Environment Court, and buying shopping centres on gut feel, including a Big W they kept open with Liquorland vouchers.They finish on why they don’t think they’ve made it yet, what success looks like now, and their advice for a generation who have it even tougher.