★★★★★ 0/5

The Late Session with Waleed Aly

SBS's newest chat show offers food for thought. A tapesty of ideas woven across a dinner table, with host Waleed Aly and celebrity guests.

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The art of conversation is slowly making a comeback to television.

We may have lost Talking Heads on ABC1, but Tony Martin arrived with his A Quiet Word with… series.

Now SBS brings a range of ideas and individuals to the table, literally, via The Late Session with Waleed Aly.

Aly is best known to TV audiences for his appearances in Salaam Cafe, Q & A, The 7PM Project, The Drum and ABC News Breakfast. A lawyer, academic and musician, Aly has also been a radio broadcaster -giving him pretty good credentials to serve as host for this concept of television dinner parties.

Guests for the first episode are actor Jack Thompson, playwright David Williamson, singer/ songwriter Dan Kelly, writer and teen-lit activist Randa Abdel-Fattah and investigative journalist Kate McClymont. The topic for the hour is: Storytelling.

Despite their vocational differences, there are shared experiences on how stories are created and executed, whether on stage, in song, performance or literature.

McClymont tells an interesting tale from her early university days when she enterprisingly manned a “busking booth,” in King’s Cross that offered “Questions answered 40c, Arguments 50c and Verbal Abuse $1.” Dan Kelly talks about writing a song on Bindi Irwin, including a Disclaimer middle-8. Williamson says three of his friends were convinced he wrote them into Don’s Party. And Jack Thompson says he is most successful when an audience doesn’t see him, but the characters he brings to life.

Such is the tapestry of the conversation that is woven across this hour, designed for a thinking audience.

The intimate discussion takes place at a contemporary dining setting inside a TV studio. Discreetly-placed cameras capture the reactions and talking heads from behind masked positions, without invading the mood.

Thankfully we aren’t subjected to a three course dinner, with gorging celebrities and noisy imbibing. Instead there are a few nibbles served halfway through the hour. Just enough to add to the atmosphere without detracting from the main course.

Aly is an amiable host, putting his disparate guests at ease and asking considered questions. His interest in the mind of a great storyteller elicits answers that engage each of his guests, because everyone has a different approach to Story. Aly’s multicultural background also ensures the discussion embraces a diverse range of questions, answers and characters: Muslim teenager, a Sydney crim, a fantasy eco terrorist and laconic Aussie larrikin.

A poem from Thompson and a song from Kelly break up the discussion whilst adding to the topic.

This is an effortless, intellectual exchange of ideas that will be well-suited to late night television. It’s also a simple but inspired idea. You will surely feel a lot more worldly for having imbibed.

Food for thought.

The Late Session with Waleed Aly airs 10pm Tuesdays on SBS ONE.

NB: David Knox has previously been a radio guest of Waleed Aly.

19 Responses

  1. I so love this show.
    Look forward to it every week!
    I’ve looked for a facebook page to ‘like’ but can’t find one.
    I loved tonight’s episode.
    Exceptional viewing always!!!! 🙂

  3. Pretty boring if you ask me. I have never understood what is so “deep” about this guy; he just says things with a little better English Grammar than most but that is about it. There is no depth!

  4. I enjoy the programme. Aly is very knowledgeable and good at drawing out discussion. His decision to sing that particular Pink Floyd song at the end of the 11 Jan discussion was puzzling and a bit disconcerting. Would be interested to know what it was meant to signify

  6. Concept is good but so far both shows have proved boring – certainly not stimulating as per the promos I am not impressed with Waleed Ally in this role. He is not trained as a facilitator / moderator of a group discussion( which is what this is) and this shows. I became frustrated with him interupting others who are in mid sentence. Also can he be instructed not to continually stroke his beard – this is v ery offputting.

    I agree with Mikey that Ally is ove-rrated

    All in all I will not be spending time watching further episodes.

  7. Just saw it tonight, the topic was, I would guess, happiness. The show was interesting, but not interesting in the way I would imagine the producers wanted it to be(or maybe they did).

    It was an hour of superficial chit chat, everyone was putting on an act, being careful not to tread on the toes of others. I like how Clare Bowditch was exploring her weight issues with the 2 other female guests, then at one point her and the nervous english guy (labels himself as a seeker) come close to confronting the beliefs and values of the refrigerator sales tycoon (who seems a bit too defensive about his decisions in life) but nope, they steer it away from that, wouldn’t want unhappy dinner guests.
    I read the description that this was supposed to be insightful and intellectual, but it at best skims the surface of those two adjectives. There wasn’t any in depth discussion, or really an substance on the topic that hasn’t been repeated a hundred times before. I would say that “big ideas’ on ABC at early hours of the morning, might be more insightful and intellectual. If anything the show lets the average feel insightful and intellectual, but not really.

    Is SBS really running out of stuff to broadcast? Maybe more documentaries?

  9. A rather awkward conversation at times (not unlike many real dinner parties) but an enjoyable way to spend an hour. I was very touched by the poem written by Jack’s father……love to get a copy.

  11. I like Waleed, but wasn’t expecting this to be a great show. It was really enjoyable viewing, with a good balance of guests. Hoping for more of the same next week.

  16. The premise reminds me of a dinner party sketch the Late Show did in the mid-90’s.

    “We recently had a win, we succeeded in having the word “walkman” changed to “walkperson”
    “Why people invite Australian Democrats, I don’t know.”

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