Wil Anderson

Wil Anderson
Born William James Anderson
(1974-01-31) 31 January 1974
Sale, Victoria, Australia
Occupation Comedian, writer, presenter, podcaster

William James "Wil" Anderson (born 31 January 1974) is an Australian comedian, writer, presenter, and podcaster.

Early life

Anderson was born in Sale, Victoria and grew up on a dairy farm[1] near Heyfield, Victoria. He attended Gippsland Grammar School in Sale.[2][3] He later went on to study journalism at the University of Canberra, graduating top of his course.[2]

Career

Anderson started his career in newspaper journalism, before venturing into stand-up comedy.[4] In his early career, Anderson made numerous appearances on Good News Week, on both the original and revamped version. On 19 June 1996, Anderson appeared as the guest comedian on the RMITV Show Under Melbourne Tonight[5] and appeared with RMITV again on the Under Melbourne Tonight spin-off What's Goin' On There? on 3 June 1998.

From 2000 to 2004, Anderson co-hosted the triple j breakfast radio show with Adam Spencer.[6]

Between 2001 and 2006 Anderson hosted comedy talk-show The Glass House, broadcast on ABC. The show saw him working with Corinne Grant and Dave Hughes. In November 2006 the show was cancelled amid media speculation that the cancellation was made due to pressure from the Howard government.[7] Howard responded with, "I do not tell the ABC what programs it should run. I respect the independence of the ABC."[8] In 2007, Anderson was nominated for the "Most Popular Presenter" award at the Logies for his role on the show.[9]

Anderson was the subject of controversy after he made jokes about the late father of Australian Idol finalist Shannon Noll at the 2006 Melbourne International Comedy Festival.[10]

From April 2007 to November 2008, Anderson joined with Tony Lehmann to host Wil & Lehmo, an afternoon drive-time radio program on Triple M.[11][12]

In May 2008, Anderson became the executive producer and host of The Gruen Transfer, a panel talk show about advertising televised on ABC.[13] It was the water-cooler show of the year, debuting with a record-breaking audience of 1.287 million viewers, the highest rating debut entertainment program in the history of the ABC.[14]

While Anderson's television and radio career has made him a highly recognised comedian in Australia, standup comedy remains his foremost discipline,[15] Since 1997, Anderson has used a pun on his name for the title of his live shows.

Live shows

Anderson has performed at numerous festivals, including the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal, Canada.

Podcasts

Anderson is currently creating or co-creating four free podcasts: TOFOP, a comedy podcast with friend and actor Charlie Clausen; FOFOP, where Anderson chats with 'Guest Charlies' in lieu of Clausen; Wilosophy, where Anderson interviews guests about their life philosophies; and 2 Guys 1 Cup, an AFL podcast with Clausen. He has also expressed interest in starting a Survivor recap podcast entitled Outwil, Outplay, Outlast.

TOFOP ("Thirty Odd Foot Of Pod") debuted in 2010 as a weekly podcast in which Anderson and Clausen chatted about variety of subjects, including film, popular culture, sport, personal anecdotes, and detailed discussions on bizarre hypothetical situations. Following significant media coverage in June 2012, TOFOP rose to become the most popular comedy podcast in Australia.[18][19] In September 2012, the podcast was placed on hiatus as a result of Clausen gaining a starring role as Zac MacGuire in popular Australian soap opera Home and Away.[20] The podcast resumed in June 2014.[21]

In February 2013 Anderson launched a spin-off podcast, FOFOP, where he is joined by 'Guest Charlies' in lieu of Clausen. Regular guests have included Dave Anthony (known as Guest Charlie No. 1), Justin Hamilton (known as Hamo), Rove McManus, Tom Gleeson, Harley Breen, Lindsay Webb, Felicity Ward, Celia Pacquola, Matt Kirshen, Daniel Sloss, Greg Behrendt, Jen Kirkman and Gareth Reynolds.

Anderson launched his Wilosophy podcast in December 2014. The inaugural episode featured Todd Sampson, while subsequent guests include Adam Spencer, Judith Lucy, John Safran, Felicity Ward, Osher Günsberg, Jarrod McKenna, Annabel Crabb, Marc Maron, Dee Madigan, Nazeem Hussain, Corinne Grant and Karl Kruszelnicki. Anderson explained in January 2015 that the podcast will continue.[22]

In March 2016, Anderson and Clausen launched another weekly podcast, 2 Guys 1 Cup, in which they discuss Australian rules football.

In a January 2015 episode of podcast TOFOP, Anderson recalled his first Logie Awards ceremony, held in 2008, when he garnered controversy for his live tweets from the event. Anderson explained that he has never been a fan of the event, as he believes that a large number of other causes for celebration exist in Australia that never receive the recognition they deserve.[23]

Personal life

Since 2011, Anderson has split his time between Australia and the United States.[15][24]

Anderson suffers from a form of osteoarthritis which he mentions in some of his performances.[25]

Anderson is a passionate supporter and long time-member of the Western Bulldogs Football Club, who compete in the Australian Football League. On 20 May 2014 Anderson was named as a club ambassador for season 2014.[26][27]

Former AFL footballer Stuart Anderson is a cousin of Wil's.

Awards

2011

2010

2009

2008

Recordings

References

  1. ↑ Twenty Questions Tuesday. Retrieved 3 March 2016
  2. 1 2 Anderson, Wil (September 2012). "Wil Anderson" (Interview). Interview with Angus Fontaine. GQ.com.au. pp. 2–6. Archived from the original on 28 September 2012. Retrieved 28 September 2013.
  3. ↑ Callaghan, Greg (30 July 2011). "10 questions - Wil Anderson". The Australian. News Corp.
  4. ↑ Yoshinaga, Peta (4 September 2015). "'Milking cows harder than stand-up': Why Wil Anderson ran from dairy to comedy". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 13 February 2016.
  5. ↑ http://web.aanet.com.au/~vfok/umt/episodes/list96.htm
  6. ↑ "Bio". Adam Spencer - The Big Book of Numbers. Adam Spencer. 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  7. ↑ McManus, Gerard (1 November 2006). "I didn't axe Glass House: PM". News.com.au. Retrieved 3 November 2006. By staff writers, Gerard McManus and AAP
  8. ↑ "I didn't get Glass House axed: PM". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. 1 November 2006. Archived from the original on 19 April 2008. Retrieved 28 September 2013.
  9. ↑ "Logie Award nominations". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2 April 2007. p. 1. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012.
  10. ↑ Braithwaite, David (1 May 2006). "Where there's a Wil there's a way out". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 6 November 2012.
  11. ↑ "Lehmo to join Wil Anderson on Triple M drive". Radioinfo. 8 February 2007. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  12. ↑ "Wil Anderson, Tony Lehmann sacked from Triple M". The Daily Telegraph. 4 November 2008. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  13. ↑ Ziffer, Daniel (7 February 2008). "Anderson plays nice with Aunty". The Age. Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 28 September 2013.
  14. ↑ Speaker Profile of Wil Anderson at The Celebrity Speakers Bureau
  15. 1 2 Marshall, Konrad (6 April 2013). "Lunch with Wil Anderson". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 3 May 2013. Retrieved 30 September 2013.
  16. ↑ Wil Anderson, Fire at Wil - comedy.com.au, 2016
  17. ↑ "Wil Anderson performs Man Vs Wil", Beat Magazine, Furst Media, 2011, archived from the original on 12 November 2013
  18. ↑ Bennett, Sally (23 June 2012). "Podcasts Freed the Radio Star". Herald Sun. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
  19. ↑ "TOFOP: Wil Anderson & Charlie Clausen". Retrieved 30 September 2013.
  20. ↑ "TOFOP #83 - Weng Weng". TOFOP. 9 September 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2012.
  21. ↑ http://www.tofop.com/tofop-84-were-back-were-bad-youre-black-im-mad-2/
  22. ↑ "WILOSOPHY with Wil Anderson". iTunes Preview. Apple Inc. 12 December 2014. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  23. ↑ "FOFOP 177- Sniglets Really Satisfy" (Audio upload). TOFOP - Wil Anderson & Charlie Clausen. libsyn. 23 January 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  24. ↑ anthony, dave. "Storytelling is dead" (Podcast). Fofop.
  25. ↑ Blake, Elissa (8 September 2013). "Wil Anderson: laughing at adversity". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 12 November 2013. Retrieved 30 September 2013.
  26. ↑ http://www.westernbulldogs.com.au/news/2014-05-20/anderson-named-bulldogs-ambassador
  27. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PJjqSVsGLE Will Anderson on Fox Footy
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