After a one-night stand, this comedian was told he’d be a dad. But not all was as it seemed

Among the people inadvertently promoting Simon Taylor’s new sitcom The Sonny Disposition – a satire about the chaotic, ego-driven world of podcasting – are Kyle Sandilands, Karl Stefanovic and Anthony Albanese.

“The timing is perfect,” says the comedian, who created the series with Josh Samuels. “Every day, someone in my team is messaging me going, ‘Kyle Sandilands just started a podcast! Karl’s in the news for an episode about right-wing extremists!’ And then Albo got himself in trouble [over the so-called melon-gate affair].”

But the idea for The Sonny Disposition occurred well before these headline-grabbing incidents.

“It actually came from me not wanting to do a podcast,” says the 38-year-old, who was hired as a writer for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno at 24 before becoming the first Australian stand-up to perform on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. “Everyone’s like, ‘You’re a comedian; where’s your podcast?’ But I’m so sick of them. There are so many already, and I don’t know what I’d be offering that’s different. So I’m offering this instead – a sitcom about podcasters.”

What fascinates Taylor is the medium’s “Wild West” aspect, and the performative authenticity of many hosts.

“As a journalist, you have to follow ethical guidelines,” he says. “But as a podcaster, you can reach an audience without any of those pesky ethics. You get to be the CEO as well as the face of the show. You’re a gunslinger; you’ll do anything to beat the other guy’s ratings and win over the algorithm.”