David O'Neil (born 8 May 1965) is an Australian stand-up comedian, actor,

bass guitarist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboard bass or a low bra ...

, writer, television and radio presenter with unusually large thumbs.

Early career

Dave was a Cub,

Scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, sectio ...

, Venturer and

Rover Rover may refer to: People * Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian * Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer * Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist Places * Rover, Arkansas, US * Rover, Missouri, US * ...

. His late father Kevin was the

Group Leader A team leader is a person who provides guidance, instruction, direction and leadership to a group of individuals (the team) for the purpose of achieving a key result or group of aligned results. Team leaders serves as the steering wheel for a group ...

at the 1st/3rd Mitcham Scout Group. After finishing high school, O'Neil completed a course in primary school teaching; however, he never taught. He became a field officer for the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

, giving talks and training sessions, where he first enjoyed public speaking and the opportunity to tell jokes. In the late 1980s, he was a member of Melbourne band Captain Cocoa, in which he played bass. His

identical twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...

brother, Glenn, was the lead vocalist.

Radio career

O'Neil ventured into radio in the early 1990s, appearing on the Osso Booko Show on Melbourne community station

3RRR 3RRR (pronounced "Three Triple R", or simply "Triple R") is an Australian community radio station, based in Melbourne. 3RRR first commenced broadcasting in 1976 from the studios of 3ST, the student radio station of the Royal Melbourne Institut ...

from 1992 to 1997. He co-hosted the one-hour sketch comedy show on Sundays with Vic Plume and Alan Parkes. He also spent some time on the RRR Breakfast team with

Kate Langbroek Katherine Langbroek (born 8 August 1965) is an Australian comedian, radio and television presenter. Langbroek has previously hosted ''Hughesy & Kate'' with Dave Hughes on the HIT Network. Career Langbroek has a degree in journalism and has app ...

and regular phone-ins from

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, ...

. In 2001 he joined then-new radio station

Nova 100 Nova 100 (call sign: 3MEL) is a commercial radio station in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, broadcasting on 100.3 MHz. The station is owned by NOVA Entertainment along with sister station, smoothfm 91.5. History Nova 100 commenced on th ...

in Melbourne, on the top-rating '' Hughesy, Kate & Dave'' breakfast show. He later left in July 2006 for Nova's sister station, Vega 91.5 to co-host the breakfast show ''Dave and Denise with

Shaun Micallef Shaun Patrick Micallef (; born 18 July 1962) is an Australian comedian, actor, writer and television presenter. He is currently the host of the satirical news comedy series ''Shaun Micallef's Mad as Hell'' on the ABC. He also hosted the game sh ...

''. In 2007, Ian "Dicko" Dickson and

Chrissie Swan Christina Swan (born 3 November 1973) is an Australian television and radio presenter and media personality. Swan co-hosts '' Chrissie, Sam & Browny'' on Nova 100 with Sam Pang and Jonathan Brown. In 2022, she served as a judge on '' The Mas ...

joined the show with

Denise Scott Denise Margaret Scott (born 24 April 1955) is an Australian stand-up comedian, actor, television and radio presenter. Career Scott has appeared frequently on Australian television since her regular slot on ABC TV's ''The Big Gig'' in 1990, an ...

with

leaving the station. In 2010, once Vega 91.5 became Classic Rock 91.5,

departed the breakfast team. However, on 15 July 2010 Ian "Dicko" Dickson and O'Neil were axed from Classic Rock 91.5. From 2017 Dave was a regular guest and fill in for Sam Pang on Nova 100 “Chrissie, Sam and BROWNY” breakfast show in Melbourne.

Other activities

At the Australian federal election in 2007, O'Neil stood as an independent candidate for the federal seat of Gellibrand in Melbourne's industrial and portside inner western suburbs including Williamstown, Newport, Spotswood, Footscray, Braybrook, Altona and parts of

Altona Meadows Altona Meadows is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Hobsons Bay local government area. Altona Meadows recorded a population of 18,479 at the . Located p ...

and Laverton. He received 2.3% of the vote. In 2017 Dave began a new

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

''The Debrief with Dave O'Neil''. Each episode he drives a comedian home from a gig and discusses comedy and their career. It's available through iTunes and other podcast apps. Guests on the show have included Colin Lane,

Tom Ballard Thomas Colin Ballard (born 26 November 1989) is an Australian comedian, radio and television presenter. Early life Ballard was born to parents Judy and Neil Ballard and grew up in Warrnambool, Victoria. He attended Brauer Secondary Colle ...

Dilruk Jayasinha Dilruk Jayasinha (born 30 January 1985) is a Sri Lankan Australian comedian, actor and former accountant. Early life Jayasinha relocated to Melbourne to attend university, before working for a major accounting firm. It was at this time that ...

, Fiona O'Loughlin,

Joel Creasey Joel Creasey (born 11 August 1990) is an Australian stand-up comedian, actor, television and radio presenter. Creasey has performed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, as well as performing at the New York International Fringe Festiv ...

and

Cal Wilson Cal Wilson (born 5 October 1970) is a New Zealand stand-up comedian, author, radio and television presenter. Early life After attending high school in Christchurch, New Zealand, Wilson completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Canterbu ...

. Daves other podcasts include “Somehow Related” which he co-hosts with Glenn Robins and “The Junkees” co-hosted with Kitty Flanagan.

Film/television appearances

Film

*In 2002, O'Neil featured on the hit Australian movie ''

The Nugget ''The Nugget'' is a 2002 Australian comedy film about three friends who find the world's largest nugget of gold. Storyline The story concerns a group of three road workers who stumble upon the world's biggest nugget of gold, and become instant ...

'' along with

Eric Bana Eric Banadinović, (born 9 August 1968), known professionally as Eric Bana (), is an Australian actor and comedian. He began his career in the sketch comedy series '' Full Frontal'' before gaining notice in the comedy drama '' The Castle'' (19 ...

. *In 2003, O'Neil also appeared with

Vince Colosimo Vincenzo Colosimo (born 11 November 1966) is an Australian AFI Award winning stage, television and screen actor. He has worked in both Australia and the United States. He is of Italian descent and lives in Melbourne, Australia. He was previousl ...

and Stephen Curry on the Australian movie ''

Take Away A take-out or takeout (U.S., Canada, and the Philippines); carry-out or to-go (Scotland and some dialects in the U.S. and Canada); takeaway (England, Wales, Australia, Lebanon, South Africa, Northern Ireland, Ireland, and occasionally in Nort ...

'' as the butcher. *In 2010, O'Neil features in a cameo performance in the upcoming Australian mockumentary musical film ''Ricky! the movie''.

Television

O'Neil has appeared on ''

Under Melbourne Tonight ''Under Melbourne Tonight'' was a weekly live variety hour television program produced by RMITV that broadcast on C31 Melbourne. Reaching a weekly viewership of 55,000 people each week, the show was reviewed in ''The Age''s Green Guide by Jim Sch ...

'', ''

The Loft Live ''The Loft Live'' was a weekly live variety hour television program produced by RMITV that broadcast on C31 Melbourne. The cast included Rove McManus (1997-1999), Scott Brennan, Peter Helliar, Adam Richard, Myf Warhurst, Ged Wood, Bert Kennedy, K ...

'', '' Spicks and Specks'', ''

Sleuth 101 ''Sleuth 101'' was an Australian comedy "improvisatory whodunit game show" television series, broadcast on ABC1 in 2010. The series revolves around a murder-mystery that must be solved by a celebrity guest detective. Each episode features a gu ...

'', '' Adam Hills In Gordon Street Tonight'', ''

Tractor Monkeys ''Tractor Monkeys'' is an Australian comedic television quiz show hosted by Merrick Watts. Seventeen episodes screened on ABC1 in 2013. Format The show features two teams of guest panellists, one led by comedian Dave O'Neil David O'Neil (b ...

'', ''

All Star Family Feud ''All Star Family Feud'' was an Australian game show which aired on Network Ten from 14 March 2016 until 6 May 2018. The series, which is a spin off of ''Family Feud'', sees celebrities compete in teams to raise money for their chosen charity. '' ...

'', '' Celebrity Name Game'', '' The Project'', ''

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 ( ...

'', ''

Have You Been Paying Attention? ''Have You Been Paying Attention?'' (abbreviated on social media as HYBPA? and stylised on-screen as Have you been paying attention? in sentence case) is an Australian panel game television quiz show on Network 10. The series, which is produce ...

'' and ''

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 ...

''. *In 1997, O'Neil featured on the

RMITV RMITV is a not-for-profit, community access television production facility based at RMIT University City Campus in Melbourne, Australia. It is a full member of the Melbourne Community Television Consortium, a not-for-profit consortium that ...

show ''

s 1997 Christmas Special. *From 1999 to 2000, O'Neil also featured on the

show ''

'' on 8 July 1999 and again on "''The Loft Live'' Comedy Benefit" episode on 10 February 2000. *From 2005 to 2021, he also appeared frequently on the Australian music TV show '' Spicks and Specks''. *In 2010, O'Neil also appeared on the first episode of

ABC 1 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 ...

miniseries ''

'', in which he was a guest detective, solving a murder mystery. *From 2011 to 2013, he also appeared regularly on the

talk show '' Adam Hills In Gordon Street Tonight''. *In 2013, he appeared on the ABC's ''

''.

References

External links

Official website

Biography
on Creative Representation
Somehow Related podcast
{{DEFAULTSORT:ONeil, Dave 1965 births Living people Australian male comedians Australian radio personalities Comedians from Melbourne Independent politicians in Australia