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Quick Facts
Biography
Thomas Francis Gleeson (born 2 June 1974) is an Australian stand-up comedian, writer, television and radio presenter. Gleeson co-hosts The Weekly with Charlie Pickering alongside Judith Lucy and hosts Hard Quiz, both on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
In 2019, Gleeson won the Gold Logie Award for Most Popular Personality on Television.
Early life
Gleeson was born in Gunnedah, New South Wales, and lived at nearby Tambar Springs before boarding at St. Joseph's College, Hunters Hill, in Sydney. He graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Science in mathematics and physics. During his degree, Gleeson played the drums and occasionally sang vocals in an Australian band, the Fantastic Leslie, before leaving in September 2000 to pursue a career in comedy.
Career
Comedy
Gleeson's first stage appearance was as the character "Malcolm" (for two years) dressed in a flannelette shirt, tracksuit pants and a wig. He later went on to perform at major comedy events including the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Brisbane Comedy Festival. He also did a television appearance on The Comedy Channel's Comedy Slapdown.
In December 2007, Gleeson entertained Australian troops on active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. He wrote of this experience in his book Playing Poker with the SAS: A comedy tour of Iraq and Afghanistan, which was published in October 2008.
Three of Gleeson's stand up shows have been nominated for the Helpmann Award for Best Comedy Performer: Tom On! (2007), Up Himself (2011) and Quality (2014).
Radio
During 2009, Gleeson presented the Melbourne radio breakfast program Mix Mornings with Brigitte Duclos on Mix 101.1.
Television
In 2003 and 2004, Gleeson appeared in Network Ten's comedy sketch program skitHOUSE, playing various characters including the "Australian Fast Bowler", a parody of Dennis Lillee. In 2006, Gleeson won Australia's Brainiest Radio Star.In 2008, he was a panelist on the short-lived Big Brother's Big Mouth. In 2009, Gleeson was in the "They don't get it in Australia" advertising campaign, where he asks people in the United States about Red Rooster.
In 2013, Gleeson co-hosted Australian comedy chat show This Week Live with Tommy Little, Dave Thornton and Meshel Laurie. In 2015, Gleeson appeared on the ABC satirical television news program The Weekly with Charlie Pickering, hosting the segments "This Is What You Think", "Go Away" and "Hard Chat". In 2016, he began presenting Hard Quiz, a spin-off of his "Hard Chat" segment from The Weekly. In 2017, Gleeson was credited for the decision to cast Sophie Monk as the lead in The Bachelorette Australia.
Awards
Gleeson won the Gold Logie Award for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television at the 2019 Logie Awards.