Podcast

A handpainted green banner with the face of host Kaitlyn Blythe, a white person with wavy brown hair and glasses, in profile. Over the top of the image is the title "JUST A SPOONFUL".

Just A Spoonful is the podcast that is young and fully sick. This warm, funny podcast brings you long-form conversations between young disabled and chronically ill creatives talking about how they’re living and what they live for.

Created and hosted by Kaitlyn Blythe, Just A Spoonful has been charming listeners for years with wide-ranging interviews about pop culture, the creative industries, relationships, ambition and ableism.

Sharmini Kumar – Just A Spoonful

My guest for this episode is playwright, screenwriter, director and doctor Sharmini Kumar, and we talk a little about being settlers in Australia, and her fraught relationship with the Western literary canon. Sharmini is the founder of AustenCon, an annual one-day convention for lovers of Jane Austen, which is actually happening tomorrow if you're listening to this as it comes out! This year's AustenCon is happening on the 6 November 2021, in person at the Abbotsford Convent here in Melbourne as well as online. Link in the show notes. And I will be appearing on the 3.30pm panel 'Non-canonical pairings' where we basically get to ship Jane Austen characters with anyone we want. The panel will be streamed online and available for 48 hours after streaming! Sharmini Kumar is a friend of mine and we bonded over a mutual love of nerdy things. We nerd out a lot, especially over literature, and talk about what sparked her interest in Jane Austen and her passion for helping people of colour see themselves represented in the Western canon. Sharmini's day job is working as a GP, and I find it particularly interesting to hear from a doctor who lives with chronic health conditions. AustenCon 2021 information, tickets and schedule: https://www.24carrotproductions.com/austen-con You can find Sharmini here: https://twitter.com/sharminime Just A Spoonful Live is coming! 3rd December 2021. More info here: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/just-a-spoonful-podcast-live-tickets-194918365077?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=escb Thank you to my Patreon supporters who make my work and rent payments possible! You can subscribe to find bonus content and special offers here https://www.patreon.com/BlytheByName Podcast artwork by Melbourne-based artist Erin Michelle Just A Spoonful's theme music is 'Sleepless' by Anna O This podcast is created on the stolen lands of the Wurundjeri People and I extend my respect to elders past and present.
  1. Sharmini Kumar
  2. Maria Lewis
  3. Scott Mercer
  4. Robyn Lambird
  5. Bhavani Esapathi
  6. Carly Findlay
  7. Anna Spargo-Ryan

Since launching in 2014, this independently produced podcast by one very tired disabled comedian (Kaitlyn) has appeared in iTunes’ New & Noteworthy section more than once alongside the commercial heavy hitters, and made the Australian iTunes Podcast Top 100 twice (at #99) (take that, Dr Karl). Clips from the show have appeared on triple j, ABC Radio, and 4ZZZfm.

“feels like a chat with a mate”

Readings Books

Host Kaitlyn Blythe has featured on panels about podcasting at the National Young Writers Festival and ABC’s OzPod. frankie magazine once featured Kaitlyn in their ‘Bright Young Things’ feature for creating Just A Spoonful.

Guests on the podcast have included best-selling author and screenwriter Maria Lewis (Who’s Afraid, The Rose Daughter, SBS The Feed), Paralympian/model/vlogger Robyn Lambird, author and appearance activist Carly Findlay (Say Hello, Growing Up Disabled In Australia), and so many other talented creatives from Australia and beyond, both well-known and under-the-radar.

  • Man with short light hair and a beard, wearing a blue top, stares ahead with a neutral expressing. Behind him are the words "GIMME EMPATHY" in blue matching his shirt.
    Scott Mercer
  • Woman with long dark hair, wearing broad-brimmed hat and a blue top, looks over her shoulder
    Leah Musch
  • Woman with long red hair sits in her wheelchair, leaning her chin on one hand and smiling
    Jill Pantozzi
  • Woman with short pink hair, glasses and a Marvel shirt smiles at something to her side
    Miranda Sparks
  • A smiling woman with red skin has a bow in her short curly hair and is wearing a frilly top.
    Carly Findlay
  • A smiling woman with long dark hair is wearing a black top and a turquoise necklace pendant
    Anna Spargo-Ryan

Despite frequent hiatuses due to the host’s chronic illness (totally on-brand for JASP), this podcast has built up a loyal following and its production is supported in part by the generous members of Kaitlyn’s Patreon.

In 2021, on the International Day of People With Disability, Kaitlyn produced and hosted the podcast’s first live event, Just A Spoonful Live.

Recording live in Melbourne’s Wheeler Centre in front of a live audience, Kaitlyn interviewed screenwriter/comedian Alistair Baldwin (The Weekly, Hard Quiz) and screenwriter/author Jess Healy Walton (Get Krack!n, Stars In Their Eyes) about disabled representation on screen and behind the scenes, the comedy in being disabled, and storytelling that’s for us by us.

Just A Spoonful Live as seen when it was streamed online. The main picture is of three people sitting in socially distanced chairs on a stage, with the Just A Spoonful logo on a screen behind them. From left to right: Kaitlyn Blythe, a white person with brown hair wearing a white outfit, sitting legs crossed and holding one finger up while laughing and looking into the audience, accentuating a point. Next to the right is Alistair Baldwin, a young white man wearing glasses, a blue shirt, jeans, sneakers and leg braces, laughing and sitting back. On his other side sits Jess Healy Walton, a white person with a bright pink short hairstyle, a blue striped top and jeans, a face mask on and their crutches leaning against their chair. They are looking over at Kaitlyn and Alistair. On the right-hand side of the screen is the box with the Auslan interpreter, Glenda Judd, who is standing on the side of the stage and interpreting.
Just A Spoonful Live at The Wheeler Centre (2021). L-R: Kaitlyn Blythe, Alistair Baldwin, Jess Healy Walton, Auslan interpreter Glenda Judd.

In order to be as accessible as possible for its target audience (chronically ill and disabled people), JASP Live took place in a fully wheelchair accessible venue with hearing loop available, live captions provided by a professional human captioner (as automated captions can often be unintelligible), and an Auslan interpreter; the event was also simultaneously streamed online for ticketed viewers, and the video livestream included captions and Auslan interpretation.

Full-length video of Just A Spoonful LIVE 2021, with Auslan and captions.

The event was supported by a City of Melbourne Arts Grant and a grant from Regional Arts Victoria’s Sustaining Creative Workers Initiative.

Just A Spoonful is available wherever you get your podcasts

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