Welcome to Quick Q – Monday Media’s weekly Q&A series dedicated to finding out more about the personalities that matter most in the Australian media landscape.

Every week The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age asks key figures across corporate media, business, sport, federal politics, radio, television and culture to answer a series of questions about their lives, careers, hobbies and news habits.

This week’s conversation is with comedian and broadcaster Meshel Laurie, co-host of the popular Australian True Crime podcast and author of CSI told you lies: Giving victims a voice through forensics.

How did you get your big break?
I don’t think I ever got one big break; it was a lot of small breaks through the support of other people, from Julia Morris and her manager Ingrid seeing something in me when I was 20 and helping me move to Melbourne, to Dave Hughes wanting me to fill in whenever Kate Langbroek was out of action on their radio shows.

What are your daily news media habits?
I have three sites I check first thing each morning because they represent different political perspectives, so they either report completely different news or different angles on the same stories. If I wake up through the night for any reason, I’ll check them again before going back to sleep. I probably check in five or six times a day. That’s normal, isn’t it?

Which living person do you most admire?
There are so many people I admire but I have to say I think Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is the unlikely hero the world needs right now. He was a lawyer who became a comedian, and he starred in a TV show as a guy who accidentally became president before he became president for real. Now he has to be the bravest, most inspiring president in the world – and I think he’s doing it. He makes me believe that one day Shaun Micallef could lead Australia to glory.

Your guilty streaming pleasure?
Killing It on Stan – but I’m never guilty about pleasure. I do feel pretty dumb, having only just discovered the wonderful Australian comedian and actress Claudia O’Doherty [who has a main role in Killing It]. She’s a little ripper.

Which phrase do you overuse?
So hard to think of one you can print.

What did you want to do when you grew up?
I always wanted to be a performer. I’ve never had a fear of public speaking, so I’ve had to train myself to be sensitive to other people’s stress levels in those situations, especially my children!