Charlie Pickering

Edgy, polished and inventive, Charlie Pickering is a political junkie and law graduate who chose to pay his HECS debt by squandering his degree.

Charlie spent ten years travelling the world as an award-winning comic before settling into the closest thing he had to a day job. As a stand-up comedian, Charlie has scored nominations for Best Newcomer in Edinburgh and the Melbourne Comedy Festival Award, as well scoring an invite to perform at the prestigious Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal. He’s entertained the troops in Afghanistan, hosted national radio shows and published the best-selling memoir Impractical Jokes before landing on TV as a Team Captain for four series of Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation in 2009.

Subsequently a founding host on The Project for 5 years, Charlie was at the centre of one of Australian television’s most daring experiments, re-defining the way that hundreds of thousands of Australians see the news. In 2015 he changed things up again, and premiered The Weekly with Charlie Pickering on ABC TV, under the aegis of his production company Thinkative Television.

If a weekly dose of Charlie wasn’t quite enough, he’s also had the monumental task of wrapping up the year that was with The Yearly with Charlie Pickering since 2015, and bringing in the New Year for the ABC since 2017.

In 2018, Charlie launched an exciting new series from Thinkative for the ABC – Tomorrow Tonight. In each episode he introduced Annabel Crabb and a panel of experts and comedians to a story that would have us all glued to the news, if it had happened yet. In a similarly speculative style, he also debuted an Audible commission – The Time Traveller’s Guide to Not Dying – in which Charlie voices the audio instruction manual for intrepid correspondents from the year 2041 as they visit key historical moments.

In 2022 Charlie tested his ability to bend the truth while keeping a straight face – initially a panellist in the premiere episode of Would I Lie to You? Australia on Network Ten, Charlie has subsequently been added to the series as a Team Captain for Season 2.

Proving to be a household name in Australian television, in 2022 Tomorrow Tonight returned for a second season and The Weekly with Charlie Pickering aired it’s eighth season on ABC.

“Charming company and a natural raconteur.” ★★★★ The Scotsman

“You won’t be disappointed.” ★★★★★ The Independent UK

“Dangerously funny.” Cape Town Argus

“Masterful.” ★★★★ New Zealand Herald

“Stuffs more material into an hour than other comics do in two.” Herald Sun