Gareth's Guests
Straight up interviews from The Gareth Cliff Show on CliffCentral.com - without any interruptions.
Al J Venter
South African foreign correspondent Al J Venter returned from the Central African Republic six weeks ago, having had personal experience of a Russian mercenary force that has virtually taken over an African state. The international community is now familiar with the activities of the Moscow-run Wagner Group, an exploitative military…
Peter Boghossian
Peter Boghossian is one of the most erudite social commentators and analysts of modern phenomena like wokeism, cancel culture, ideology and his favourite subject, philosophy. Having lectured thousands of students at some of America’s most prestigious universities, he has become a leading voice in criticising academia, and has written a…
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Simon Sebag Montefiore is one of the great history authors of our time. In his most ambitious project yet, he tells the history of the world through the stories of families. In this discussion, Gareth Cliff and him explore the tapestry of human history - from the earliest days, to…
Iris Singer
Iris Singer is an Austrian filmmaker and activist who has been telling the story of the Holocaust and survivors of the Holocaust - as well as organising events and tours to remind young people of the importance of history, and the most devastating genocides of the 20th century. In this…
Bali Padda
Bali Padda, former COO of LEGO, was one of the people who transformed that company from sinking ship to juggernaut. In his book, 'Deliver What You Promise', Bali shares business lessons from his own story to help the rest of us to become more efficient, to understand our businesses better,…
Al J Venter
Al J Venter has written books on and brought us the news from war zones all over the planet. He has witnessed things most of us cannot comprehend: closer, louder and more frightening than any second-hand account can accurately portray. In this discussion, Al talks about the most dangerous places…
Thomas Grant KC
Thomas Grant KC is an English barrister, author and polemicist. His latest book on Sir Sydney Kentridge, called The Mandela Brief, is the incredible story of one of Apartheid South Africa’s most infamous trials. In this discussion, he and Gareth Cliff talk about Kentridge, the law, oligarchs, mock trials of…
David Smith
David Smith is the Washington correspondent of The Guardian. From 2010 to 2015, he was their Africa correspondent, and was based in Johannesburg. He has a completely different take on the midterm elections compared to Joel Pollak - who Gareth spoke to recently. They discuss the main issues on the…
Joel Pollak
Joel Pollak is the Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News, and the host of his own talk show. In this discussion - just more than a week before the US midterm elections - Gareth and Joel get into the politics of America in 2022… the issues that voters care about, the…
Professor Christopher Paul Szabo
Gareth chats to the host of Beyond Madness - Professor Christopher Paul Szabo. They discuss what the podcast series is about, and talk how we deal with mental health… because there’s no health without mental health!
Geordin Hill-Lewis
Geordin Hill-Lewis is the youngest mayor of Cape Town, and he’s currently in charge of the Mother City - with all its charm, beauty, and of course, problems. Geordin and Gareth tackle some of the controversial questions that always seem to come with the territory in Cape Town, and get…
Bill Nasson
Bill Nasson is a Professor of History who, along with several other authors, has written a New History of South Africa. He and Gareth discuss how the book was put together, why history should be about great stories, and how politicised so much of it has become. Bill also has…
Larry Elder
Larry Elder is a talk show host, political commentator and black conservative voice in America. In this conversation, he and Gareth talk about race in America, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the conservative movement, and how awful California is.
Johann Hari
Johann Hari has written an astonishing book about how we’re more distracted than ever, and how everyone (and he does mean EVERYONE) can’t focus. It’s partly obvious - screens, technology, non-stop reels of news, pictures, videos and self-absorbed nonsense… but it’s also much more dangerous. It’s actually making us dumber…
Dr Alan Mendoza
Dr Alan Mendoza is a Founder and the Executive Director of the Henry Jackson Society - which is a British-based think tank with a global outlook. He directs analysis, research focus, strategy and development for the organisation. Since this discussion was recorded on the day Boris Johnson resigned as Prime…
Erika Bornman & Celimpilo Malinga
Two brave women made it out of a cult and lived to tell the tale. Erika Bornman and Celimpilo Malinga were both taken to KwaSizabantu at a young age and raised in the mission. There they were subjected to some disturbing and abusive experiences, and somehow found a way to…
Jason Goliath
Comedian Jason Goliath comes in guns blazing as he stands up for fat people against Gareth Cliff and Ben Karpinski. They also get into a discussion about how he survived lockdown, how a hacker defrauded his business of over R250k, the difference between ‘digital’ and ‘real life’ comedians, and being…
Professor David Block
Professor David Block is an astronomer and highly sought-after inspirational speaker. He joins Gareth to have an eye-opening conversation about the black hole photo from the Milky Way, the recent lunar eclipse, and his astronomical achievements!
Pie-Pacifique Kabalira-Uwase
Pie-Pacifique was 13 when the war in Rwanda started, and he lived through the terror of the ensuing genocide. His experience of it, and the story of how his life fell apart and was rebuilt from nothing is inspiring and extraordinary. He sat down with Gareth to explore just a…
Riaad Moosa
Warning: excessive laughter might occur while listening to this podcast! From entertaining fans online with his virtual comedy club, to gracing the big screen in the hit film, New Material, comedy heavyweight, Dr Riaad Moosa has kept us entertained for the past two years. And soon he’s returning to a…