Samuel Jonathan McMillan is an Australian musical comedian, satirist,

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

and radio presenter who performs under the stage name Sammy J. He embraces a variety of media in his comedy, including the use of video and self-composed music, and frequently collaborates with Australian puppet comedian

Randy Feltface Randy Feltface, mostly referred to merely as Randy or, on occasion, Randy the Purple Puppet, is an Australian puppet comedian portrayed by Heath McIvor. Randy is a fixture on the international stand-up circuit and makes regular guest appearances ...

. He has released several CDs and DVD compilations of his work. He has performed at comedy festivals in Australia,

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

and

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, and has appeared on various Australian television shows, including '' Sammy J & Randy in Ricketts Lane'', a sitcom based on the duo's touring show of the same name.

Early life and education

Samuel Jonathan McMillan was born in

Mornington, Victoria Mornington is a seaside suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia located on the Mornington Peninsula south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District. It is the most populous locality in the Shire of Mornington Peninsula local government ...

. He studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

for two and a half years, where he directed and appeared in the Melbourne Law Comedy Revue. He was a member of United Nations Youth Australia and was editor of its newsletter in 1999 and 2000. He says he was more interested in writing jokes than studying, and halfway through the course decided to drop out. He subsequently graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

(Media and Communications) in 2006 and began to pursue a full-time comedy career. He performs under the stage name "Sammy J", an old high school nickname and contraction of his full name, Samuel Jonathan McMillan. The first time he publicly used the stage name was during a performance on ''

Hey Hey It's Saturday ''Hey Hey It's Saturday'' is a long-running variety television program on Australian television. It initially ran for 28 years on the Nine Network from 9 October 1971 to 20 November 1999, with a recess in 1978. Its host throughout its entire ...

's'' "Red Faces" segment in 1999.

Solo career

In 2006, McMillan took the Best Newcomer award at the

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

for his debut solo show, ''Sammy J's 55 Minute National Tour''. In 2009, McMillan created a one-man musical comedy show inspired by his schooldays titled ''1999''. In 2011 he featured in an episode of ABC TV's ''Comedy Warehouse'' series, and in 2012 headlined the inaugural Jakarta Fringe Festival alongside

Bill Bailey Mark Robert Bailey (born 13 January 1965), known professionally as Bill Bailey, is an English musician, comedian, actor and television presenter. He is known for his role as Manny in the sitcom '' Black Books'' (2000–2004), and for his regula ...

. In 2017 his solo show ''Hero Complex'' toured Australia, telling the story of his childhood love of

The Phantom ''The Phantom'' is an American adventure comic strip, first published by Lee Falk in February 1936. The main character, the Phantom, is a fictional costumed crime-fighter who operates from the fictional African country of Bangalla. The char ...

. The show won Best Comedy at the Melbourne Fringe Festival and McMillan was nominated for Best Comedy Performer at the 2017

Helpmann Awards The Helpmann Awards are accolades for live entertainment and performing arts in Australia, presented by industry group Live Performance Australia (LPA) since 2001. The annual awards recognise achievements in the disciplines of musical theatre ...

. He has appeared on various Australian television shows including '' 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 ...

'' and ''

Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation ''Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation'' is an Australian game show produced by Granada Productions. The first four seasons aired on Network 10 from 2009-12, before moving to the Nine Network in 2018 for two seasons. The show was originally hosted b ...

'', and wrote and performed on

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

's satirical news show '' The Mansion''. In 2013 he hosted '' Wednesday Night Fever'', a satirical sketch show on ABC television, conducting interviews and performing songs based on the week's news. During the

2016 Australian federal election The 2016 Australian federal election was a double dissolution election held on Saturday, 2 July 2016, to elect all 226 members of the 45th Parliament of Australia, 45th Parliament of Australia, after an extended eight-week official campaign p ...

, McMillan created and hosted ''Sammy J's Playground Politics'', a series of

political satire Political satire is a type of satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics. Political satire can also act as a tool for advancing political arguments in conditions where political speech and dissent are banned. Political satir ...

shorts on

ABC iview ABC iview is a video on demand and catch-up TV service run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Currently iview video content can only be viewed by users in Australia. As of 2016, ABC iview attracts around 50 million plays monthly and a ...

in the style of '' Play School'', which became a recurring segment on his own show ''Sammy J's Democratic Party'', premiering in May 2017. In 2018, McMillan inherited the '' Clarke and Dawe'' time slot on ABC television, performing a weekly satirical sketch before the news. Popular characters from this series include the "Government Coach" and "National Yoga". His comedic responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have attracted millions of views online. McMillan is an ambassador for both

Oxfam Australia Oxfam Australia is an Australian, independent, charity, not-for-profit, secular, community-based aid and development organization, and is an affiliate of the Oxfam International Confederation. Oxfam Australia's work is divided into four broad c ...

and the youth mentoring organisation Big Brothers Big Sisters Australia. In April 2018, he released his first book, ''The Long Class Goodnight'', under his stage name Sammy J. From 2016 to 2017 he went on a national tour of Australia and licked every state parliament building, ending the tour by licking

Parliament House, Canberra Parliament House is the meeting place of the Parliament of Australia, the Legislature, legislative body of Politics of Australia, Australia's federal system of government. The building also houses the core of the Executive (government), execut ...

. In November 2019, the ABC announced that McMillan would host

ABC Radio Melbourne ABC Radio Melbourne (official List of radio station callsigns in Victoria, 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 Radi ...

's ''Breakfast'' show from 20 January 2020, replacing Jacinta Parsons and Sami Shah. Sammy J left his role in December 2024 after five years. In May 2020, McMillan's song "Pink Clouds" was announced as the winner of the International Songwriting Competition, in the comedy category. Some of McMillan's influences include

Lano and Woodley Lano and Woodley ( Colin Lane and Frank Woodley) is an Australian comedy duo. Previously, the two had been part of comedy trio The Found Objects along with Scott Casley. Casley left and so Lano and Woodley debuted as a double-act in March 1993 ...

Tom Lehrer Thomas Andrew Lehrer (; born April 9, 1928) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, satirist, and mathematician, who later taught mathematics and musical theater. He recorded pithy and humorous, often Music and politics, political songs that ...

, Tony Martin,

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

and

Adam Hills Adam Christopher Hills (born 10 July 1970) is an Australian comedian, radio and television presenter. In Australia, he hosted the music quiz show '' Spicks and Specks'' from 2005 to 2011, and again in 2021 onwards, and the talk show '' Adam Hi ...

Releases

Sammy J has released several CDs and DVD compilations of his work, including the album ''Symphony in J Minor'' which was nominated for Best Comedy Release at the 2019 ARIA Awards.

Collaboration

In 2008, McMillan collaborated with puppeteer Heath McIvor on a musical, ''Sammy J in the Forest of Dreams''. The show, which starred McMillan and 14 foul-mouthed puppets operated by McIvor, was an adult fairy tale parodying the format of

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

children's movies. ''Forest of Dreams'' was well received by critics in Melbourne, earning a nomination for the festival's Barry Award for the most outstanding show and winning ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'' Critics Award for the best local act. Following a successful Edinburgh season, the show toured the UK and played at the Leicester Square Theatre in London. In 2010 he began working with

to create ''Ricketts Lane'', which won the Barry Award for Most Outstanding Show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. It then played at the Sydney Opera House. The two debuted the sequel, ''Bin Night'', in 2011 at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival where they performed the song "Secrets", and later that year became regular cast members on the sketch comedy show '' Good News World'', earning a national television following through their weekly songs and sketches. In 2012 the duo debuted ''The Inheritance'', which played in most Australian capital cities and received five star reviews in Edinburgh. The same year, Sammy J and Randy hosted the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Gala, creating an original opening musical sequence in which they set about kidnapping the "real" host, Adam Hills. In November that year, they were commissioned by radio station Triple J to create a musical tribute to Australian music. The duo also appeared on the final episode of ABC's '' Q&A'' singing a song about the year in politics, and finished the year performing at the

Falls Festival Falls Music & Arts Festival (commonly known as Falls) is a multi-day music festival held annually in Byron Bay (New South Wales) and Fremantle (Western Australia), Australia over the New Year's Eve and January period. The festival hosts contem ...

in Marion Bay, Tasmania. In December 2013, McMillan and Randy debuted ''Sammy J & Randy's Difficult First Album'' which is a live recording of one of their Brisbane performances of ''Sammy J & Randy: The Arena Spectacular''. In September 2015, '' Sammy J & Randy in Ricketts Lane'', a sitcom based on their touring show of the same name, was released o
ABC iview
It was broadcast on ABC TV in October that year, before airing on

Seeso Seeso was an over-the-top subscription streaming service owned by Comcast through NBCUniversal, launched on January 7, 2016, and closed on November 8, 2017. It provided comedy content such as original and broadcast television shows. History ...

in the US and

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

in the UK & Ireland.

''The 50 Year Show''

At the 2008

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, co ...

the then 25-year-old McMillan launched ''The 50 Year Show'', the first in a series of live comedy shows which he plans to reprise every five years, ending in 2058 when he will be 75. McMillan describes the show as "a living, breathing comedic time capsule. Every five years we can observe the world, make predictions, see how the world's changed." It includes segments such as a 50 Year Soap Opera, a 50 Year Story; and the 50 Year Dancers, a group of five-year-olds performing a routine which they will repeat at each show. McMillan first conceived the idea for ''The 50 Year Show'' in 2007 while sitting on a London bus full of elderly people and wondering how he could make his mark. The second instalment took place on 3 October 2013, continuing each segment with the original cast performing alongside their younger selves on a giant projection screen, and the third show took place on 27 September 2018 at the Northcote Town Hall. The fourth show took place at the Melbourne Town Hall on 6 October 2023.

Discography

Albums

Video releases

Awards and nominations

ARIA Music Awards

The

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

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 Records (Australia), Festival, Sony Music ...

(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 o ...

. They commenced in 1987. ! , - ,

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, ''Skinny Man, Modern World'' , rowspan="4", Best Comedy Release , , rowspan="4", , - ,

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, ''Bin Night'' (with Randy) , , - ,

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, ''Live'' (with Randy) , , - ,

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, ''Symphony in J Minor'' , , -

Melbourne International Comedy Festival

* 2006 - Best Newcomer Award Winner * 2008 - ''The Age'' Critics' Award Winner (with Randy) * 2010 - Barry Award for Most Outstanding Show (with Randy)

References

External links

*
Sammy J
on

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sammy J Living people Australian comedy musicians Comedians from Melbourne Australian male musical theatre actors Radio personalities from Melbourne People from Frankston, Victoria University of Melbourne alumni Australian satirists Year of birth missing (living people) People educated at Peninsula Grammar