Joshua Michael Thomas (born 26 May 1987) is an Australian comedian, actor and writer. In 2005, he won 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 ...

's Raw Comedy Competition. He has since appeared on television numerous times, including as a regular and

Generation Y Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the Western demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000s ...

team captain on Network Ten's ''

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 ...

''. In 2013, Thomas created the award-winning

ABC2 ABC TV Plus (formerly ABC2 and ABC Comedy) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and part of its ABC Television network. The channel broadcasts a range of general entertainment pr ...

and

Pivot Pivot may refer to: *Pivot, the point of rotation in a lever system *More generally, the center point of any rotational system *Pivot joint, a kind of joint between bones in the body *Pivot turn, a dance move Companies *Incitec Pivot, an Austra ...

television series ''

Please Like Me ''Please Like Me'' is an Australian television comedy-drama series created by and starring Josh Thomas. Thomas also serves as a writer for most episodes. The series premiered on 28 February 2013 on ABC2 in Australia and is now available on Ne ...

'', which he also co-wrote and starred in.
ABC2 Homepage for 'Please Like Me' TV series

Early life

Thomas was born in

Blackwater, Queensland Blackwater is a rural town and locality in the Central Highlands Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Blackwater had a population of 4,702 people. It is a town in a significant coal mining area in Central Queensland. The name of the township ...

, the son of Rebecca and Mike Thomas. He lived in

Chapel Hill Chapel Hill or Chapelhill may refer to: Places Antarctica * Chapel Hill (Antarctica) Australia *Chapel Hill, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane *Chapel Hill, South Australia, in the Mount Barker council area Canada * Chapel Hill, Ottawa, a neighbo ...

and Westlake in Brisbane's western suburbs and attended Kenmore State High School, from which he matriculated in 2004. He studied for a Bachelor of Creative Industries, majoring in Television at the

Queensland University of Technology Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public research university located in the urban coastal city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. QUT is located on two campuses in the Brisbane area viz. Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove. The univ ...

, but dropped out after one year.

Career

In 2005 he won the

's RAW Comedy Award. He made the finals of ''

So You Think You're Funny So You Think You're Funny? (SYTYF) is an annual stand-up comedy competition for new acts. The competition began in 1988 in the United Kingdom. The finals are held every August at The Gilded Balloon during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Past ...

'' at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The following year, he was selected to perform in The Comedy Zone, a showcase of Australia's most promising up-and-coming comedians presented by the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. In 2007, Thomas' first solo show, "Please Like Me" debuted at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, where it received the Melbourne Airport Award for Best Newcomer. His live shows have toured both nationally and internationally, appearing in both Edinburgh and

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

's comedy festivals. In 2010, Thomas toured his coming-out themed stand-up show "Surprise", taking it to the Adelaide Fringe, Brisbane Comedy Festival and Melbourne International Comedy Festival. 2011 saw him touring ''Everything Ever'' at the Melbourne Comedy Festival, among other locations.

Podcast

Thomas has a podcast called ''Josh Thomas and Friend'', available from iTunes, which features Thomas and his comedian friends

Mel Buttle Melinda Claire Buttle is an Australian comedian, television and radio presenter and writer. Buttle is co-hosting ''The Great Australian Bake Off'' alongside Claire Hooper. In April 2013, she was awarded the Directors Choice Award at the Melbour ...

and

Tom Ward Tom Ward (born 11 January 1971) is a British film, stage and television actor. Early life Tom Ward was born in Swansea, Wales, the son of poet and academic John Powell Ward, and Sarah Ward OBE, a farmer. Ward was sent to the Dragon School i ...

. In November 2009 a second series of the podcast was released on iTunes, and the first series was deleted. The third series was released in 2011, and the second series was deleted as well.

Television

In 2009, Thomas became a regular and

team captain on Network Ten's ''

''. He also competed in Celebrity MasterChef Australia, but lost in the first heat to

Kirk Pengilly Kirk Pengilly ( ; born 4 July 1958) is an Australian musician and member of the Australian rock group INXS. Kirk plays saxophone, guitar and also performs as a backing vocalist. Early career Pengilly moved to Sydney in 1966, and became best fri ...

of INXS.

''Please Like Me''

In February 2013, the television series ''

'', written by Thomas, debuted on

. Participant Media's television network

acquired the series for the US and premiered all six episodes as a binge marathon on 1 August 2013 to celebrate the channel's launch after premiering the first episode online. The initial six-part series is based on his stand-up comedy shows and stars Thomas as himself. In 2014, the series was nominated for an International Emmy Award for Best Comedy Series. For his work on the series, Thomas has won various accolades, including an

AACTA Award The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, known as the AACTA Awards, are presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). The awards recognise excellence in the film and television industry, ...

for Best Television Screenplay in 2015. In 2015 it was short-listed for the Betty Roland Prize for Scriptwriting,

New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards The New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, also known as the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, were first awarded in 1979. They are among the richest literary awards in Australia. Notable prizes include the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, t ...

''Everything's Gonna Be Okay''

In 2018, Thomas created ''

Everything's Gonna Be Okay ''Everything's Gonna Be Okay'' is an American comedy television series created by Australian comedian Josh Thomas. Thomas previously created, wrote, directed and starred in the semi-autobiographical award-winning series ''Please Like Me''. ''Ev ...

'', a television comedy about a single man (played by himself) in his twenties who stays in the United States, after his father dies, to take care of his teenage half-sisters. The show was given a pilot order by Freeform, and was picked up to series. The show premiered in January 2020, with Thomas starring, writing, and serving as the showrunner in the series.

Personal life

He is openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

. Thomas was diagnosed with

attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by excessive amounts of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that are pervasive, impairing in multiple contexts, and otherwise age-inap ...

(ADHD) at the age of 28. In 2021, he revealed that he is also

autistic The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

Awards and nominations

ARIA Music Awards

The ARIA Music Awards are a set of annual ceremonies presented by

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing ...

(ARIA), which recognise excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of the

music of Australia The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions of ...

. They commenced in 1987. ! , - , 2011 , , ''Josh Thomas Surprise Warehouse Comedy Festival'' , , ARIA Award for Best Comedy Release , , , , , -

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Josh 1987 births Living people Australian male comedians Australian podcasters Australian male television actors Gay comedians Australian television writers Australian gay writers Australian gay actors Australian male television writers People on the autism spectrum