Dan Ilic (born 20 November 1981) is an Australian presenter, comedian and filmmaker. Ilic has been known for his parody work, including videos and ''Beaconsfield: The Musical'', which he wrote, and more recently for his work on the show '' Hungry Beast''. Dan's mother is half Lebanese and half Italian. Dan's father was born in Germany to Serbian parents. He was previously the head of satirical content for digital content provider AJ+ until he was fired for misusing company materials for a failed audition to The Daily Show.

Performing

Ilic started his performing career with the Cumberland

Gang Show A Gang Show is a theatrical performance by members of Scouts and Guides. The shows are produced with the dual aims of providing a learning opportunity for young people in the performing arts, as well as contributing to the artistic and cultural ...

and eventually joined the production team as a junior producer at the age of 13. He spent 11 years performing and producing Cumberland Gang Show, and became a regular fixture in Sydney's amateur musical theatre scene. At Macquarie University he performed in several shows including Chris McDonald's ''The Beatification of Newt Berton'', the ''Great Viagra Robbery'' (in which performed with

Heath Franklin Heath Franklin (born 23 December 1980) is an Australian comedic performer, improviser and writer. Career He appeared on ''The Ronnie Johns Half Hour'' sketch comedy show, ABC TV's '' Spicks and Specks'', Working Dog's ''Thank God You're Here'' ...

and James Pender). The show toured to 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, typical ...

and a short run in Canberra in 2003. Ilic was also part of the university sketch comedy The 3rd Degree which formed the base of the Network Ten's cult sketch comedy television show '' The Ronnie Johns Half Hour'' with Ilic not only a cast member and writer, but also animator and producer of several sketches. In 2007 he started the Sydney sketch comedy club night Comicide and in 2008 toured a "best of" show, ''Comicide: Death by Funny'', to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. Ilic was a reporter/presenter on the

Andrew Denton Andrew Christopher Denton (born 4 May 1960) is an Australian television producer, comedian, Gold Logie-nominated television presenter and former radio host, and was the host of the ABC's weekly television interview program '' Enough Rope'' a ...

produced show '' Hungry Beast'', aired on

ABC1 ABC TV, formerly known as ABC1, is an Australian national public television network. It is owned and operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and is the flagship ABC Television network. The headquarters of the ABC TV channel an ...

, and as a writer/performer on '' Can of Worms'' on Network Ten. After ''Hungry Beast'' finished its second season in 2010, Ilic was one of nine members of the team to be selected by Denton to develop online content for Zapruder's Other Films. Other television appearances include ''

Romper Room ''Romper Room'' is an American children's television series that was franchised and syndicated from 1953 to 1994. The program targeted preschoolers (children five years of age or younger), and was created and produced by Bert Claster and his p ...

'' (

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

), ''

9am with David & Kim ''9am with David & Kim'' is an Australian morning show which premiered on Monday 30 January 2006 on Network Ten. It aired live from 9am - 11am weekdays, and was hosted by musician and former '' Getaway'' reporter David Reyne and former ''Nation ...

'' (

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 fiv ...

), '' 4 Corners'' ( ABC-TV), and '' ADbc'' (

Special Broadcasting Service The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from the Australian Government. SBS operates six TV channels ( SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS Wor ...

). He now hosts a podcast that many have described as a Bert Newtown take on Louis Theroux.

''Beaconsfield: The Musical''

Ilic's production ''Beaconsfield: The Musical'', which premiered 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 metro ...

in late 2008, focused on the

media circus Media circus is a colloquial metaphor, or idiom, describing a news event for which the level of media coverage—measured by such factors as the number of reporters at the scene and the amount of material broadcast or published—is perceived to ...

that surrounded the events of the 2006 Beaconsfield mine collapse. The show received strong reviews, but its original title, ''Beaconsfield: A Musical in A-Flat Minor'', was strongly criticised, leading to the change in name.

Directing

In 2008, Dan moved to Melbourne to direct The Comedy Channel's satirical news program, ''The Mansion'' starring Michael Chamberlin and

Charlie Pickering 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'', a weekly news satire television show on the ABC, as wel ...

. He has also filmed and produced a selection of short video parodies, along with other related online work. These have included filming and editing for the Axis of Awesome's ''Election '07 Rap Battle''; an anti-web censorship advertisement, ''Censordyne'', produced for GetUp; a parody website describing a fake television series about the murder of Michael McGurk; and a parody video of the Freeview advertising campaign produced for ''Massage My Medium'', a comedy stand-up routine featuring Ilic and

Marc Fennell Marc Fennell is an Australian film critic, technology journalist, radio personality, author and television presenter. Fennell is a co-anchor of '' The Feed'' and the host of ''Mastermind''. Career Film critic In 2002, Fennell was a winner o ...

, which in turn was removed from YouTube when it was accused of being a copyright violation, as the work employed footage from the advertisement being parodied. At times his work has been the subject of criticism – his parody of the Where the bloody hell are you? advertising campaign, designed to attract tourists to Australia, received threats of legal action from

Tourism Australia Tourism Australia is the Australian Government agency responsible for promoting Australian locations as business and leisure travel destinations. The agency is part of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and employs 187 staff (includ ...

. Ilic was also behind Vicroads' controversial "Don't be a dickhead" campaign, which makes fun of "gingers" and "emos" in an attempt to create awareness of using mobile phones while driving. In December 2014 it was announced that Ilic would take up a position in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

as "senior producer of satire" with AJ+, part of

Al Jazeera Media Network Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN) (Arabic: الجزيرة‎, romanized: al-jazīrah, IPA: �l (d)ʒæˈziːrɐ , referring to the Qatar Peninsula) is a Qatari international state-owned public media conglomerate headquartered at Qatar Radio and T ...

. But in 2015 he was sacked after using company equipment to film an audition for

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form from ...

References

about the Massage My Medium
Beaconsfield: The Musical – The Age
A review of the 2009 MICF production of Beaconsfield: The Musical

* ttp://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/al-jazeera-fires-comedian-dan-ilic-for-using-studio-to-apply-for-the-daily-show-20150615-ghoqt8.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Ilic, Dan 1981 births Living people Australian television personalities Australian male comedians Australian people of Serbian descent Australian people of Lebanese descent Australian people of Italian descent Al Jazeera people People from Sydney Macquarie University alumni People educated at Oakhill College

Performing

''Beaconsfield: The Musical''

Directing

References

External links