Safran holding up his book

‘Comedy is a good way to scream,’ says John Safran, ‘Jew detective

Hanging out with neo-Nazis and ISIS supporters is just another day at the office for John Safran. That a Jewish bloke from Melbourne would choose to spend time in the company of extremists is not so surprising.

Safran first appeared on Australian television streaking in Jerusalem, wearing only a St Kilda scarf and beanie. He famously turned the camera on Ray Martin and tabloid journalism when he rummaged through Martin’s garbage. His last book, Murder in Mississippi, covered the death of a klansman in the deep American south. Perpetually drawn to conflict, he manages to be simultaneously laugh-out-loud funny and irreverent while addressing serious issues.

We’re dining at the City Wine Shop, which he chose because it provides a great view of goings-on across the road. Turning up to a protest one day, he was confronted with a very strange picture of his hometown. “The first rally I went to I walked up from Parliament Station and all these spots I was so familiar with, suddenly there are all these police in modern riot gear. And it just looked so weird … skinheads on the street … I thought, I want to follow this down the rabbit hole.”

Read the article by Kerrie O’Brien in The Courier.