James O’Loghlin: ‘I’d lie awake at night thinking: “Is there one thing I can do that will help my dying friend?”’

ABC broadcaster and author James O’Loghlin in Coogee, Sydney. Photograph: Blake Sharp-Wiggins/The Guardian

Strolling along the clifftop path that winds down to Coogee beach, James O’Loghlin and I pass a steady stream of small, ordinary pleasures. A well-fed beagle is lifted from a car for a walk; a woman in pink tights stretches on a yoga mat in the midday sun; an older couple share hot chips on the grass.

“There’s a guy skipping, that’s nice,” O’Loghlin says, pointing at an athletic-looking young man with a rope.

O’Loghlin, a comedian, writer and broadcaster, is an upbeat walking companion; quick to laugh, relentlessly curious and “always looking for stories”.