Charlie Pickering (born 29 August 1977) is an Australian comedian, television and radio presenter, author and producer. Pickering currently hosts ''

The Weekly with Charlie Pickering ''The Weekly with Charlie Pickering'' is an Australian news satire series on the ABC. The series premiered on 22 April 2015, featuring Charlie Pickering as host with Tom Gleeson, Adam Briggs and Judith Lucy in the cast who joined the show i ...

'', a weekly news satire television show on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

, as well as its yearly spin-off special '' The Yearly with Charlie Pickering,'' co-host of ''Tomorrow Tonight'' with

Annabel Crabb Annabel Crabb (born 1973) is an Australian political journalist, commentator and television host who is the ABC's chief online political writer. She has worked for Adelaide's '' The Advertiser'', ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', ''The Age'', the ...

and

Adam Liaw Adam Liaw ( zh, t=廖崇明, p=Liào Chóngmíng; born 8 September 1978) is a Malaysian-born Australian cook, television presenter and author. He was the winner of the second season of ''MasterChef Australia'', defeating student Callum Hann in ...

and ''Breakfast'' on

ABC Radio Melbourne ABC Radio Melbourne (official callsign: 3LO) is an ABC Local Radio station in Melbourne, Australia. It began transmission on 13 October 1924, and was Melbourne's second licensed radio station after 3AR. Most Local Radio stations in Victoria sim ...

on Friday. He is known as a former co-host on the current affairs program '' The Project,'' and regularly appeared on the game show ''

Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation ''Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation'' is an Australian game show produced by Granada Productions which premiered on Network Ten on 5 May 2009. It is hosted by Shaun Micallef. History Original run The first series ran on Network Ten for 18 epi ...

'' as the "

Generation X Generation X (or Gen X for short) is the Western world, Western demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort following the baby boomers and preceding the millennials. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1960s as starting birth years a ...

" team captain.

Career

Early career

After leaving his job as a lawyer, Pickering appeared in the

Melbourne International Comedy Festival The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is the largest stand-alone comedy festival and the second-largest international comedy festival in the world. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks, typicall ...

(MICF) in 2002 with Michael Chamberlin in ''Boiling Point'', a show which earned them the Piece of Wood Award. Prior to this, Pickering had appeared with the sketch comedy group ''Enter the Datsun'' in the MICF in 1998, 1999 and 2002. In 2003, Pickering and Chamberlin teamed up again in ''Boiling Point 2'', the pair also appearing the same year with fellow comedian

Terri Psiakis Terri Psiakis is an Australian comedian and a presenter on radio and television. Radio Psiakis is a Saturday morning presenter on Melbourne radio station Triple M. Previously she was a casual presenter on Triple J, and her appearances most not ...

in ''Equal Third''. In 2004, he appeared in ''Revolver''. In 2005, Pickering launched ''Betterman'' at the MICF, a show he went on to tour in New Zealand where he won the Best International Act in the New Zealand Comedy Guild Awards, and also at the

Edinburgh Fringe Festival The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

where he was nominated for the

Perrier Award Perrier ( , also , ) is a French brand of natural bottled mineral water obtained at its source in Vergèze, located in the Gard ''département''. Perrier is known for its carbonation and its distinctive green bottle. Perrier was part of the ...

's Best Newcomer. In 2006 he presented his show ''Auto'' at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, receiving a nomination for the Barry Award. For the April 2013 Melbourne International Comedy festival, he co-hosted with

Waleed Aly Waleed Aly (born 15 August 1978) is an Australian journalist, academic, and lawyer. Aly is a lecturer in politics at Monash University working in their Global Terrorism Research Centre, and a co-host of Network Ten's news and current affairs ...

a series of shows titled ''The World's Problems Solved''.

Television

In 2008, Pickering co-hosted a show with Michael Chamberlin on

The Comedy Channel The Comedy Channel (promoted on air as comedy) is a defunct Australian subscription television channel available on Foxtel, and Optus Television. The channel ceased broadcasting on 1 September 2020. History A joint venture between Artist Serv ...

called '' The Mansion''. The series ran for 13 episodes. Pickering hosted season 3 of

Channel V Channel '' ("V" standing for the letter, not the Roman numeral "5") is a Chinese and former Asian pay television musical network originally launched by Star TV Hong Kong (now Fox Networks Group Asia Pacific). It was part of the unit of Disney ...

's travelling game show, ''

Cash Cab Cash Cab may refer to: * ''Cash Cab'' (British game show) * ''Cash Cab'' (American game show) * ''Cash Cab'' (Canadian game show) * ''Cash Cab'' (Japanese game show) * ''Cash Cab'' (Australian game show) {{disambiguation ...

''. From 2009 to 2012, he was a team captain on

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

's quiz show ''

'', representing

. In July 2009, he became a co-host on Network Ten's

infotainment Infotainment (a portmanteau of ''information'' and ''entertainment''), also called soft news as a way to distinguish it from serious journalism or hard news, is a type of media, usually television or online, that provides a combination of infor ...

program, '' The Project'' (originally ''The 7PM Project''), with

Carrie Bickmore Carrie Bickmore (born 3 December 1980) is an Australian talk show and current affairs Gold Logie award-winning television and radio presenter. Early life Bickmore was born in Adelaide, South Australia, in 1980, but moved to Perth, Western Aust ...

and

Dave Hughes David William Hughes (born 26 November 1970) is an Australian stand-up comedian, television and radio presenter. He is known for his larrikin personality, drawling Australian accent, and deadpan comedic delivery. Hughes co-hosts ''Hughesy, ...

. On 12 March 2014, Pickering announced that he was leaving ''The Project'' to "find new challenges", and in April 2015 he started hosting a weekly comedy/news satire program on

entitled ''

''. In 2018, Charlie hosted ''Tomorrow Tonight'' on the

with

. Other television appearances include ''

Rove Live ''Rove'', also titled ''Rove Live'', was an Australian television variety show that featured live music performances and interviews with local and international celebrity guests. The program premiered on the Nine Network on 22 September 1999, be ...

'', '' The Glass House'', ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 A ...

'', ''Stand Up!'' (ABC), The ''2006 Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala'' (Network Ten), '' @Seven'', '' The Project'', ''

Hughesy, We Have a Problem ''Hughesy, We Have a Problem'' was an Australian comedy panel television series which premiered on Network 10 on 30 January 2018. The program was hosted by Dave Hughes, who along with a panel of comedians, attempted to solve problems of viewers ...

'', ''

Show Me the Movie! ''Show Me the Movie!'' was a weekly Australian television comedy panel show, which premiered on Network 10 on 22 March 2018 and ran until 28 March 2019. The program was hosted by Rove McManus who, with team captains Joel Creasey, Jane Harber ( ...

'', '' Celebrity Name Game'' and '' Would I Lie to You? Australia''.

Radio

Pickering has also worked in Australian radio, including youth radio station

Triple J Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...

from 2001 to 2003. He has been a pundit on ''

Fighting Talk ''Fighting Talk'' is a topical sports show broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live during the English football season. The show is broadcast on Saturday mornings for an hour between 1100 and 1200 and is based on a similar format to the ESPN show '' Around ...

'' on

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station covering sport in the United Kingdom, broadcast ...

in 2006 and 2007. In December 2022, ABC announced that Pickering will host Breakfast on

on Friday from 2023.

Literature

Pickering published his first book, ''Impractical Jokes'' (), in 2010.

Personal life

Pickering was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and educated at St Leonard's College, Brighton Grammar School and

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...

where he graduated with

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

(American History) and

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

degrees. Pickering is married to

Sarah Krasnostein Sarah Krasnostein is an American-Australian non-fiction writer and legal academic. Education Krasnostein completed a BA/LLB (honours) degree from the University of Melbourne in 2005. She was admitted as an attorney of the State of New York i ...

and they have one child. He converted to

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...

in 2013.

Political views

As co-host of Channel Ten's ''The Project'', Pickering claimed to have voted Liberal "once". Pickering has hosted the ABC political and cultural commentary program ''The Weekly with Charlie Pickering'' since 2015. ''

New Matilda newmatilda.com, commonly known as New Matilda, is a left-wing independent Australian website of news, analysis and satire. History The website was established by John Menadue in August 2004. Its founding editor was Natasha Cica. The website is ...

'' describes the program as "a satirical news program with a progressive bent".To Our Leaders The Biggest Threat Isn't Boats, It's Us: Charlie Pickering Takes On Australia's Refugee Policy
newmatilda.com; August 26, 2018 On the program, Pickering has used his editorials to support

halal certification ''Halal'' (; ar, حلال, ) is an Arabic word that translates to "permissible" in English. In the Quran, the word ''halal'' is contrasted with ''haram'' (forbidden). This binary opposition was elaborated into a more complex classification kno ...

and gay marriage, and to speak out against the detention of asylum seekers. He has been a strong critic of the Catholic Church. In June 2018 he angrily denounced the Catholic seal of the confessional. In March 2019, he denounced and ridiculed people who questioned the guilt of Cardinal

George Pell George Pell (born 8 June 1941) is an Australian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as the inaugural prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy between 2014 and 2019, and was a member of the Council of Cardinal Advisers between 2013 ...

in a segment of his program he called "The Pedo Files". Pell was subsequently found not guilty by a unanimous finding of the

High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises Original jurisdiction, original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Constitution of Australia, Australia's Constitution. The High Court was established fol ...

.George Pell Not Guilty, High Court Finds
Sydney Criminal Lawyers; 7/4/2020

Bibliography

*Pickering, Charlie. ''Impractical Jokes'', Sydney:

Allen & Unwin George Allen & Unwin was a British publishing company formed in 1911 when Sir Stanley Unwin purchased a controlling interest in George Allen & Co. It went on to become one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century and to establish an ...

, 2010

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pickering, Charlie 1977 births People educated at Brighton Grammar School Australian Jews Australian stand-up comedians Converts to Judaism Living people Triple J announcers Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation Australian television talk show hosts Monash Law School alumni