 His play "Cowboy Humour" was part of the Short and Sweet play festival in 2008, which has previously featured Astle's plays including "The Gentleman Had An Axe" in 2007 and "The Mercy Kitchen".Astle has taught journalism at RMIT University and in 2004 was awarded a DSC Teaching Award for best sessional teacher.In 2013, he helped create the word "phub" (a portmanteau of phone and snub), for when someone is ignored in favour of a mobile phone).