Why is your favourite meal oxtail soup? Who taught you to throw salt over your shoulder when you drop it? How did you learn about unconditional love, knitting a blanket, or appreciating a fine whiskey?
If you dig a little deeper, the answer probably has something to do with your grandparents.
There’s something special about the nonnas, zeidas and babushkas who’ve shaped not just the generations that followed them, but Australia itself.
Comedian Lizzy Hoo’s Chinese-Malaysian, Irish Australian heritage isn’t just a big part of her stand-up specials. The heartwarming and hilarious histories of her forebears are in her DNA.
Now, Lizzy’s keen to learn about the grandparents of some of your favourite Australians - like broadcaster Linda Marigliano's nonna, singer Deni Hines’ grandmother, comedian Suren Jayemanne’s siya and more.
I just remember my grandfather looking at my grandmother like she was shimmering gold.Pat Abboud
In Grand Gestures, you’ll get to the heart of our inter-generational connections by taking a closer look at what gets passed along, what we hide to avoid hurting those we love, and the warmth and knowledge we miss when our grandparents are gone.
I remember when I was a ratty teenager and my Babushka Raya was more like my second mum... I remember her saying to me, 'One day I will be gone and you will regret this'. And she's so right.Alice Zaslavsky
Follow Grand Gestures in your podcast app so you don’t miss an episode when the series launches on Thursday June 20.
Find the series in Apple Podcasts, Spotify and more.
Grand Gestures is a Deadset Studios production for SBS Audio
Host: Lizzy Hoo
Executive Producer: Kellie Riordan
Supervising Producer: Grace Pashley
Producers: Liam Riordan and Luci McAfee
Sound designer: Jeremy Wilmot
Production Manager: Ann Chesterman
Special thanks: Rachel Fountain
SBS Audio team: Caroline Gates, Joel Supple, and Max Gosford
Artwork by Universal Favourite
We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the land on which this show was made.
Transcript
Alice Zaslavsky
I remember when I was a ratty teenager, and Babushka Raya was more like my second mum. So I was having, you know, the angsty teenage arguments with both of them. And I remember her saying to me, 'one day, I'll be gone. And you will regret this'. And she's so right. But I think about that, in the context of the relationship that I hope that my daughter has with her grandparents.
Lizzy Hoo
Have you ever thought about how much of who you are, who we all are, comes from our grandparents. I'm Lizzy Hoo. And this is grand gestures. I'm the product of Chinese Malaysian, Irish, Australian grandparents, each with their own amazing stories, their passions, humour, mistakes, traumas and their secrets. And it's got me thinking about all the grandparents who've shaped Australia. In grand gestures, I'll be talking to some of our favourite Australians to find out what they've uncovered about their grandparents, and to hear about what's been passed down through the family line. There's the things we pick up by just observing how our grandparents act.
Pat Abboud
I just remember my grandfather looking at my grandmother like she was shimmering gold. And you could tell in his body language every day, you know, he'd get up in the morning and he'd like, make her coffee and be ready waiting for her. And it was so gorgeous to to watch.
Lizzy Hoo
Then there's those moments of family folklore where things get a little lost in translation
Jem Cassar-Daley
He was known as Poppy Cassar to us but for so long, he wrote Popey like P O, P E, Y. And we just knew him as Popey from then on, like that was just it
Lizzy Hoo
You'll hear about the treacherous journey some grandparents underwent to come to Australia. And the dramatic struggles some of them endured after arriving.
Pia Miranda
My nonno was crushed in between two trucks in an accident at the big markets. And I mean, who knows? If you sort of read up about it. There's lots of in quotation marks accidents that happened to Italians that markets at that time.
Lizzy Hoo
And we'll talk about the values our families have fortified over generations.
Suren Jayemanne
Health first, family second, work third - that was my grandfather's list of where your priorities should lie.
Lizzy Hoo
If you need a show that feels like a big hug from your grandma right now, you can find Grand Gestures on the SBS Audio app or wherever you listen to podcasts. And make sure you follow the show so you don't miss a single episode.
