Richard Fidler's life in Conversations — from comedy rebel to beloved Australian interviewer

Before he became one of Australia's most beloved interviewers, Richard Fidler was a curious child with an insatiable appetite to understand the forces that shaped history and humanity.

That hunger and self-proclaimed "nerdy curiosity" has become a trademark of Fidler’s four-decade-long career, from his days as a satirical performer to his role as a broadcaster.

"I've been working on that ever since, really."

Raised in a loving home with parents who nurtured his thirst for knowledge, Fidler vividly recalled the wall of books that filled their living room.

"I always imagined when I was old enough to read those books, I'd be able to figure out the secrets of life, the universe, and everything," he said.

While Fidler says a natural curiosity was with him "right from the start", he credits his wife of 32 years, Khym, for his distinctive on-air warmth and empathy.

"I was really very introverted — I still am, I think — but my wife was the one with the much better and wiser and often kinder appreciation of human nature," he said.

From busker to broadcaster

But long before he fell in love with Khym, Fidler had discovered a love of music.

Then, while studying history and politics at university in the 1980s, he turned to street performing in Canberra as a way of making money.

It was here that he met Tim Ferguson and Paul McDermott, and the Doug Anthony Allstars was born.

"We formed a busking group and started pulling huge crowds of bored public servants milling around Civic on Saturday mornings," he said.

The satirical, boundary-pushing musical trio went on to perform for 10 years, enjoying success in the United Kingdom and Australia.

He fondly recalls the back-and-forth banter with the audience and the "cuttingly funny" wit of English hecklers.

"I'm very comfortable talking in front of an audience," he said.

"It often strikes me I ought to be more frightened than I am before I go on stage, but I'm not."

Finding his audience

After parting ways with McDermott and Ferguson, Fidler found his home in local radio.

He attributes his radio success to the "wonderful mentors" who helped him hone his skills, but it was his own inquisitive nature and talent for deep listening that soon defined his style.

Now married to Khym, who he met through the Doug Anthony Allstars, and with their five-year-old son and two-year-old daughter in tow, the family relocated to Queensland where Fidler began presenting ABC Brisbane's Evenings program.

He was soon made host of the Mornings program, which included a segment called the Conversation Hour.

"It was the final hour of the program, where the presenter would have a local guest on for the hour, and a co-host," Fidler said.

That 60-minute segment evolved into something much bigger.

Together, Fidler and founding executive producer, Pam O'Brien, grew it into a standalone long-form interview program that was ultimately broadcast well beyond its original Brisbane audience and, in time, became a podcast powerhouse.

"I've worked with quite a few outstanding producers, but I'd never worked with anyone as brilliant, wise and delightful as Pam," Fidler said.

From its inception, Fidler had imagined the Conversations listener to be "someone like Khym".  

"She'd been an international actor, she'd been a TV presenter and now she's a stay-at-home mum in Brisbane with our young kids," he said.

"She was doing that thing with young kids where it's a real struggle to even get out of your pyjamas that are covered with yoghurt spew.

"[Mums] can't even sit down and read a damn thing for longer than a minute. And reading is always such a big thing for Khym. She's a bookish person like me. She didn't have time to do that. So radio could be a real comfort for her."

He didn't know it yet, but Fidler was also talking to another Brisbane mum — and his future co-presenter.

A new voice joins Conversations

In 2018, the show evolved again, this time to include a second host to share the role with Fidler.

Fellow Brisbanite Sarah Kanowski stepped behind the microphone, which Fidler described as a fitting appointment.

"Sarah was a regular listener to the show ... when she had young kids," he said.

"So I was talking to Sarah, I just didn't quite know Sarah in those days."

As for how he feels about sharing the role that was once exclusively his, Fidler — who has since moved back to Sydney — has only praise for his co-host.

"It's been really good to have a fellow presenter because there are things presenters know that producers can't really know, so Sarah and I can have those conversations with each other."

Beyond their collaborative partnership, it's clear Fidler genuinely enjoys Kanowski's company.

"When we do stage things together, she's always saying things that just make me lose it because she's so funny.

"Apart from having a first-rate mind, she's funny and witty and a really lovely person."

Curiosity key but no 'trauma mining'

Over the last two decades, Fidler and Kanowski have gently drawn captivating stories from close to 3,200 guests.

They come from all walks of life, sharing deeply personal stories of triumph and heartbreak, or imparting expertise on topics as diverse as the mysteries of mushrooms and the tactics of dictators.

Regardless of who the guest is or the insights they share, Fidler says curiosity must always be at the heart of the discussion.

"This is as true for Sarah as it is for me; we have to be authentically, properly, genuinely curious about that guest," he said.

With the show broadcast daily to two national radio networks and across the Pacific, and 40 million annual podcast downloads, the Conversations team clearly know how to connect with their audience.

It's why their feedback is abundant and glowing, with listeners unexpectedly riveted by a seemingly ordinary story.

An underground miner once emailed the team to say he had convinced his mates to switch from commercial radio to play Conversations instead.

"They listen to the show while they’re working way underground, then they have their lunch and talk about what they just heard," Fidler said.

While curiosity is at the heart of the show's format, there are lines that Fidler won't cross.

You won't hear him asking guests to recount their trauma.

Fidler admits that in the early years of the show, he had a different approach, driven by a commitment to truth-telling. 

But it came with consequences.

"I found myself at the end of the interview, and then editing it, feeling just terrible and not wanting to come into work anymore. It just made me sad, and sick," he said.

That's not to say he's opposed to airing guests' distressing experiences.

"Some stories are so specific in their horror that maybe it is the kind of thing people need to talk about," he said.

What's next?

As the show enters its third decade and Fidler and Kanowski commence a celebratory national tour, the question arises: does he have plans to turn off the microphone? Not yet.

"It's quite a sustainable job, and I still love it. And I love the people I work with too," Fidler said.

"We're a very happy family in Conversations."

The strength of that work "family" was felt at the end of last year when Fidler quietly took carer's leave to be with his wife, who was undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy for a nasopharyngeal tumour. 

Khym was declared cancer-free in March and is expected to need another year to fully recover.

As he reflected on why he was still eager to return to his role after such a challenging time for his family, it came back to Fidler's voracious thirst for knowledge.

"I get to find out something new all the time," he said.

With large volumes of reading required to research guests, Fidler and Kanowski both ingest a book a day.

"I love reading books. My reading for this job is about 98 per cent non-fiction," he said.

Fidler also notes that his role affords him the flexibility to pursue his passion for researching and writing his own books.

He has — so far — published four works of narrative history and hopes they will speak to his children as his legacy.

And he has a new title on the cards, with a trip planned to research ancient Mesopotamia in the Middle East and join an archaeological dig.

"That's not really a place I can go to right now, given that it sits right between Iran and Israel," he said.

"I'll probably record some Conversations while I'm in the middle of the ruins of the ancient city of Nineveh, ideally, or Nimrud in northern Iraq."

When asked what he has learned from his 20 years in the interview chair, Fidler shared a quiet reflection on a career spent connecting deeply with people.

"I think happiness is not a thing that we really search for — happiness is a by-product of a kind of contentment," he said.

"I've found that the people who find honour in their lives from being of service to other people tend to be the same people who don't ever go to bed at night wondering, 'What's the point of what I do?' or 'Why am I doing this?' 

"Even though their lives may be quite turbulent, they seem to derive a certain peace from that job."

Stream the 20th Anniversary Collection of Conversations on the ABC listen app.