Meshel Laurie (born Michelle Laurie 29 May 1973) is an Australian podcaster and author.

Comedy career

Laurie's first

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 ...

show was ''Dairy Belles'' which she performed with

Corinne Grant Corinne Grant (born 12 June 1973) is an Australian lawyer, comedian and television presenter. Career After briefly studying as a nurse in Wodonga, Grant started her career as an actor in Melbourne, obtaining a degree in drama. After graduating, ...

. In 1998 she was granted the Brian McCarthy Memorial Moosehead Award to produce ''The Virgin Mary 2 - This Time It's Personal''. Her success began to skyrocket when, in 2000, she debuted ''The Whore Whisperer: Confessions of a Madam'' at the

Melbourne Fringe Festival The Melbourne Fringe Festival is an annual independent arts festival in Melbourne, Australia, usually over three weeks from late September to early October. Held since 1982, the Festival includes a wide variety of art forms, including theatre, com ...

- a show all about her experiences working in brothels. A sell-out in its first season, ''The Whore Whisperer'' went on to sell out seasons at the

Adelaide Fringe The Adelaide Fringe, formerly Adelaide Fringe Festival, is the world's second-largest annual arts festival (after the Edinburgh Festival Fringe), held in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Between mid-February and mid-March each year, i ...

, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, the

Edinburgh Fringe 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 ...

and the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...

Broadcasting career

In 2000, Laurie co-hosted ''Enough Rope'' on

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 ...

with Josh Kinal. This was a weekly programme about comedy that included the comedy tracks, a look at the comedy industry and interviews with numerous guests including:

Wil Anderson William James Anderson (born 31 January 1974) is an Australian comedian, writer, presenter, and podcaster. Early life William James Anderson was born on 31 January 1974 in Sale, Victoria, and grew up on a dairy farm near Heyfield, Victoria.< ...

Daniel Kitson Daniel John Kitson (born 2 July 1977) is an English comedian and writer. Early life Daniel John Kitson was born in Denby Dale on 2 July 1977, the son of a primary school headteacher mother and a lecturer father. He was a pupil at Scissett Midd ...

Simon Munnery Simon Munnery, also known as his characters "Alan Parker: Urban Warrior" and "The League Against Tedium", is an English comedian. He performs mainly to an alternative audience but has pierced the mainstream both with his BBC Radio 1 show in 19 ...

Rachel Berger Rachel Berger is an Australian comedian, actress, and writer. Berger was born in Israel to Polish Jewish parents and emigrated to Melbourne at the age of five.Wilmoth, Peter, "Sticking to the script", The Weekly Review, 2 June 2010, She is a ...

. Regular segments featured

Adam Richard Adam Richard (born Adam Richard Dellamarta, 1 January 1971 in Carlton, Victoria) is an Australian comedian, actor, radio presenter, writer and media personality, best known co-writing and starring in '' Outland,'' an ABC1 comedy series about a ...

and Toby Sullivan. The show was controversially cancelled at the end of 2002. In 2004, Laurie hosted ''Stand Up!'', a comedy show on ABC TV. She was also a regular on national variety show ''

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 ...

''. Laurie has also appeared on '' The Glass House'', '' Spicks and Specks'', ''

Good News Week ''Good News Week'' is an Australian satirical panel game show hosted by Paul McDermott that aired from 19 April 1996 to 27 May 2000, and 11 February 2008 to 28 April 2012. The show's initial run aired on ABC until being bought by Network Ten in ...

'', '' ADbc'', '' The Circle'', ''

Studio 10 ''Studio 10'' is an Australian morning talk show on Network 10. The show airs between 8:30am and noon on weekdays and a highlights show airs between 9:30am and noon on weekends. ''Studio 10'' is broadcast live from Network 10 Studios in Pyrm ...

'', '' The Project'' 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 2005, Laurie joined Nova 106.9 in Brisbane as a founding breakfast presenter on ''Meshel,

Ash, Kip and Luttsy ''Ash, Luttsy & Susie'' is an Australian Breakfast radio show made up of Ashley Bradnam, David "Luttsy" Lutteral and Susie O'Neill. It is broadcast on Nova 106.9 Brisbane from 6am to 9am on weekdays. They are the #1 Breakfast radio program in Bri ...

'' - it became the highest rating breakfast show in Brisbane. Over the years Ash, Kip and Luttsy resigned with other presenters joining Laurie including Tim Blackwell and

Marty Sheargold Martin Donald Sheargold (born 19 June 1971) is an Australian stand-up comedian and radio broadcaster. Sheargold was part of Nova FM's national drive show '' Kate, Tim & Marty'' with Kate Ritchie and Tim Blackwell until 11 September 2020. He ...

. ''

Meshel, Tim and Marty ''Kate, Tim & Joel'' is an Australian drive radio show with Kate Ritchie, Tim Blackwell and Joel Creasey. It is broadcast on Nova FM from 4pm to 6pm on weekdays. A daily podcast featuring the best bits from each show is available on iTunes ...

'' remained in breakfast until August 2011 when the show was moved to Melbourne to broadcast live nationally on Drive on Nova FM. In 2013, Laurie co-hosted ''

This Week Live ''This Week Live'' is an Australian comedy chat show screening weekly on Network Ten from 24 July 2013. It is hosted by comedians Dave Thornton, Tommy Little, Tom Gleeson and Meshel Laurie. The show features discussions of topical subjects, gu ...

'', alongside

Dave Thornton Dave Thornton (born 13 December 1979) is an Australian stand-up comedian, actor, television and radio presenter. He has performed stand-up comedy throughout Australia, in Edinburgh, Singapore and New York. He has also appeared on Australian tele ...

, Tommy Little and

Tom Gleeson Thomas Francis Gleeson (born 2 June 1974) is an Australian stand-up comedian, writer, television and radio presenter. Gleeson formerly co-hosted ''The Weekly with Charlie Pickering'' alongside Judith Lucy and currently hosts ''Hard Quiz'', both ...

. In October 2013,

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 ...

announced that she would join Tommy Little to host ''

Meshel & Tommy ''Meshel & Tommy'' was an Australian breakfast radio show on Nova 100 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was hosted by Meshel Laurie and Tommy Little. The show began on 10 December 2013, replacing ''Hughesy & Kate'', and finished on 3 Decemb ...

'' replacing ''

Hughesy & Kate ''Hughesy & Kate'' was an Australian radio station drive show on the Hit Network. The show was hosted by Dave Hughes and Kate Langbroek with anchor Jack Laurence. In addition to the national radio drive show, an inflight version was also produc ...

''. The show started in December 2013. In January 2014, Laurie was replaced by

Kate Ritchie Katherine Leigh Ritchie is an Australian actress, radio presenter and children's author, she remains best known for her long-running role as original character Sally Fletcher on the television soap opera '' Home and Away'', for which she won tw ...

on drive joining Tim Blackwell and Marty Sheargold. In October 2015, Meshel announced that she would be leaving Nova 100 at the end of the year to host ''Matt & Meshel'' on

KIIS 101.1 KIIS 1011 (official callsign: 3TTT) is a commercial FM radio station broadcasting in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, on a frequency of 101.1 MHz and is the Melbourne affiliate of ARN's KIIS Network. The station was formerly known as 3DB ...

with

Matt Tilley Matt Tilley (born 4 March 1969 in Melbourne) is an Australian ex-radio presenter and stand-up comedian. Personal life Tilley was raised in Mount Eliza. He completed his secondary school education in 1986 at The Peninsula School in Mount Eliza ...

. She also hosted the

3PM Pick-Up ''3PM Pick-Up'' was an Australian drive radio show with Katie 'Monty' Dimond, Yumi Stynes and Kate Langbroek. It was broadcast on the KIIS Network from 3pm to 4pm on weekdays. Daily podcasts were available for download from the show's website. ...

with Katie 'Monty' Dimond on the

KIIS Network The KIIS Network is an Australian commercial radio stations owned and operated by the ARN. Formerly branded as the Mix Network, the network was rebranded as the KIIS Network in 2015 following the relaunch of KIIS 101.1 Melbourne. The KIIS Ne ...

. In October 2017 Australian Radio Network announced that ''Matt & Meshel'' would not be renewed in 2018. In 2015, Laurie began an interview podcast called ''Nitty Gritty Committee''. In November 2016, in conjunction with author and journalist Emily Webb, she began producing and hosting ''Australian True Crime Podcast''. In September 2018, she travelled to South Sudan for a season 4 episode of SBS's ''

Go Back To Where You Came From ''Go Back to Where You Came From'' is a Logie Award-winning Australian TV documentary series, produced by Cordell Jigsaw Productions and broadcast in 2011 (Season 1), 2012 (Season 2), 2015 (Season 3) and 2018 (Season 4) on SBS. The series fo ...

''. In January 2021, Laurie returned to radio hosting Breakfast with Adam Straney and Damien Leith on Wave FM in Wollongong whilst Jade Tonta is on maternity leave. A book, ''CSI Told You Lies:Giving victims a voice through forensics'', was published by Laurie in August 2021.

Personal life

Laurie was born in

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 C ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, and moved to

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 ...

early in her career as a stand-up comic to take advantage of its strong comedy industry/community. Laurie is a

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

. In June 2009, Laurie announced via Twitter that she was pregnant with twins, due in the summer. On 23 November 2009, Laurie announced the birth of her twinsa boy, Louis, and a girl, Daliborn on 20 November 2009. In 2010, Laurie launched a blog to help promote charity and the ways that people can give back to communities all around the world. Her book, ''Buddhism for Breakups'', was published in 2017 by Blank Inc.

References

External links

*
Australian True Crime Podcast
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laurie, Meshel Living people Australian Buddhists Nova (radio network) announcers People from Toowoomba 1973 births Australian women podcasters Australian women radio presenters