Tim Minchin

Minchin was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2020 Australia Day honours.

In response to a Twitter Q&A, Minchin revealed that he and a British playwright are currently in early development in writing a new musical, and will begin composing mid-2020. He also revealed that the musical is planned to open in Australia and will be a biographical story opposed to an original or adaptation.

In 2019, Minchin acted in and wrote Upright (TV series), a television series appearing on FOX Showcase in Australia and Sky Atlantic in the UK.

On 30 August 2018, Minchin announced he would be returning to touring his musical comedy (after a 7-year break) in a new tour called BACK, also billed as "Old Songs, New Songs, Fuck You Songs". The tour started in Adelaide, touring Australia and New Zealand in March and April 2019, followed by a tour of the UK in October and November 2019. The tour featured new comedic songs such as "Fuck This", "Leaving LA", and "If This Plane Goes Down", as well as songs from his recent musical works such as "When I Grow Up" from Matilda the Musical and "Seeing You" from Groundhog Day. The show also saw Tim reveal a new band that played alongside him for the rest of the night. This band played throughout the show, performing with Minchin for songs ranging from "Cheese" (first introduced in Tim Minchin and the Heritage Orchestra), "Prejudice" and new song "I'll Take Lonely Tonight" to a modified version of "If I Didn't Have You". A new song called "15 Minutes (of Shame)" was also performed with the live band. Tim has stated on Instagram that the album of this show will be released in 2020.

In 2018, Minchin acted in Squinters, an ABC comedy.

In October 2017 during a Facebook Live Q&A with The Guardian discussing Matilda with Dennis Kelly, Minchin expressed interest in the idea of adapting the Neil Gaiman novel Stardust into a stage musical, but also revealed it's unlikely he would ever do a family musical again.

In 2015, it was announced he had teamed up again with the creative team from Matilda to write the music and lyrics for the new stage musical Groundhog Day. The musical had its premiere at The Old Vic in 2016, before transferring to Broadway. Groundhog Day began previews in July 2016, with a scheduled run until 19 September 2016. The musical ran on Broadway from 16 March 2017 in previews, officially on 17 April 2017 and closed on 17 September 2017 after 176 performances and 31 previews. A planned US tour was later cancelled, however the musical is expected to return to London's West End.

In 2016, during the course of Australia's Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse Minchin wrote "Come Home (Cardinal Pell)", which criticized Cardinal George Pell. Launched on Channel Ten's The Project, it received wide publicity, but was highly controversial. Immediately after its debut, journalist Steve Price criticised the piece, describing it as "personal abuse" of Pell. Liam Viney described it as being a protest song and analysed its mechanics. Minchin later described it as "the most overt piece of activism I've done".

The song helped fund journeys to Rome for victims of sex abuse so they could watch the cardinal deliver his evidence, with a GoFundMe account set up by The Project hosts Meshel Laurie and Gorgi Coghlan. The ABC 7.30 programme noted on 17 February 2016: "the song's going viral with almost 200,000 YouTube views" but "supporters of Cardinal Pell say it's verbal abuse set to music." Jesuit human rights lawyer Frank Brennan said it risked endangering the integrity of the royal commission. Conservative Columnist Andrew Bolt described the song as a "hymn of hatred".

"Come Home (Cardinal Pell)" reached No. 11 on the Australian Singles Chart, for the week of 20 February 2016. Later, it was nominated for APRA's Song of the Year, and Kate Miller-Heidke performed the song at the APRA Music Awards ceremony.

In 2015 Minchin guest starred in the Australian comedy television series, No Activity.

The shows consist largely of Minchin's comedic songs and poetry, with subjects including social satire, inflatable dolls, sex fetishes, and his own failed rock star ambitions. In between songs, he performs short stand-up routines. Several of his songs deal with religion, a subject with which Minchin—an atheist and a fan of Richard Dawkins—says he is "a bit obsessed". He argues that, as one of the most powerful and influential forces in the world, religion should never be off-limits to satirists. He says that his favourite song to perform is "Peace Anthem for Palestine", which reflects his feelings about religious conflict. In October 2010, he was made a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association. His comedy also deals with taboos more broadly. A prime example of this is the song "Prejudice", which parodies the power awarded to something as simple as a word.

You're in such a strong position when you understand the scientific process because all you say is, "Do you understand that the great breakthrough of humanity was figuring out how to make decisions about things whilst discarding human foibles? So, anecdotal evidence involves all your subjectivity—if we do it like this we don't have that anymore. Why, surely do you understand how powerful that is?" And if they don't, then that's what you have to explain to them. It's an extremely powerful thing and a very basic thing.

I've always been an atheist; I've always been an empiricist really. I've never believed in ghosts or psychics or anything like that 'cause it's quite simple—you don't have to know much to go, "Really?" Or, to just apply Occam's Razor, to go, "Is it more likely that souls do circus tricks, or more likely that they're talking to dead people? And if the latter, by what process? What do you mean talking to dead people? Aren't their voice boxes rotten? So without a voice box, how do they talk, and by what means?" It doesn't take much to be skeptical about that. But really understanding, as I'm still learning, why science is powerful, is a new step towards being boring at dinner parties.

In 2013, the University of Western Australia awarded Minchin an honorary Doctor of Letters degree for his contribution to the arts, recognising his outstanding achievements and worldwide acclaim as a composer, lyricist, actor, writer, and comedian. In 2015, he was awarded a second honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.

In 2013 Minchin played Atticus Fetch in Californication.

Minchin made his Sydney Theatre Company debut in 2013 in Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead alongside Toby Schmitz.

In 2013, Minchin moved with his family to Los Angeles so that he could work on Larrikins, a planned Australian-themed animated musical film for DreamWorks Animation, which he wrote the songs for and was set to co-direct with Chris Miller. The film was set to have an all-star Australian voice cast, headed by Hugh Jackman. However, in March 2017, the project was cancelled, possibly in a decision by Comcast, who had bought DreamWorks Animation a year earlier. Minchin called the outcome "unbearable", noting that he had turned down many projects during those four years, and that "there were 120 people working on that film." He and his family moved to Sydney in January 2018. Minchin co-starred as Friar Tuck in the 2018 American film Robin Hood.

During the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey Minchin sang "I Still Call Australia Homophobic" – a re-work of Peter Allen's, "I Still Call Australia Home" – that refers to those supporting the "No" case as homophobic and "bigoted cunts". The Minchin video was shown on the ABC Insiders TV current affairs program. He was criticised by politicians Tony Abbott and Mitch Fifield.

In August 2012, Minchin appeared on Chain Reaction, first being interviewed by Derren Brown, and later interviewing Caitlin Moran.

Minchin was cast in the role of Judas in the 2012 UK and Ireland arena tour of the Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. The tour extended into various other countries due to popular demand, with Minchin reprising the role in the world, with a filmed version being released in Autumn 2012. The filmed version, much to Minchin's annoyance, had his voice autotuned. The production toured Australia from May to July 2013, before returning to the UK and Ireland in Autumn 2013.

In 2012, Minchin appeared in a video hosted on the homepage of the British Humanist Association, describing humanism as important "because having a non-superstitious worldview allows you to go about your own business, making ethical decisions based on a general desire to do the most possible good."

Minchin has also appeared on various British radio and television shows, including the BBC's Never Mind the Buzzcocks (four times, once as guest host), BBC Radio 4's Mark Watson Makes the World Substantially Better, and two specials on BBC Radio 2. He often performs on his TV appearances, such as his spots on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross in October 2009 and July 2010. He performed a specially-written song entitled "Five Poofs and Two Pianos", a parody of the show's house band, 4 Poofs and a Piano. Minchin also appeared as a special guest on the 2009 edition of The Big Fat Quiz of the Year, performing a song written for the show ("It's Like 1984") in reference to a question regarding Google Street View. On Saturday 13 August 2011, Minchin hosted Prom 40, the first BBC Comedy Promenade Concert at the Royal Albert Hall. He appeared on Desert Island Discs on 6 May 2012.

In December 2011, Minchin performed a specially written song called "Woody Allen Jesus" on The Jonathan Ross Show. However, despite the show's producers and ITV's lawyers approving the composition for broadcast, it was removed at the last minute. Responding on his blog, Minchin stated: "Someone got nervous and sent the tape to ITV's director of television, Peter Fincham. And Peter Fincham demanded that I be cut from the show. He did this because he's scared of the ranty, shit-stirring, right-wing press, and of the small minority of Brits who believe they have a right to go through life protected from anything that challenges them in any way."

It was announced at the end of 2009 that one of Minchin's beat poems, "Storm", was to be made into a short animated movie. A blog was launched to accompany the film-making process, and a short trailer was released on 8 January 2010. The full movie was launched on YouTube on 7 April 2011.

Minchin was the subject of the winning entry in the 2010 Archibald Prize, Australia's most important portraiture competition. The winning entry was painted by Sam Leach.

Minchin embarked on a new arena tour starting with Birmingham on Wednesday 8 December 2010. A departure from the structure of his previous live shows, his act was scaled up to be performed with the Heritage Orchestra. It contained a mixture of material, including new songs on the subject of prayer and of rationality (themes which often appear in his previous work). Minchin stated that the aim of incorporating the orchestra into his act was to create a comedy show that would not be ruined by being performed in arenas, as stated in the special features of the DVD and Blu-ray. The show toured the UK and Australia, and was filmed at the Royal Albert Hall in London for a Blu-ray and DVD that was released in November 2011.

Minchin has made appearances on Australian TV shows, including the ABC's Spicks and Specks and The Sideshow. He has also made appearances on Network Ten's panel shows Good News Week (February 2010) and Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation (March 2010).

On 8 May 2010, Minchin's musical sitcom pilot Strings was broadcast on BBC Radio 2. Well received as it was by Radio 2, he decided against creating a full series.

He co-wrote Matilda the Musical—an Olivier Award-winning musical version of Roald Dahl's novel Matilda—with Dennis Kelly and produced Royal Shakespeare Company. It premiered at the Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, running from 9 November 2010 to 30 January 2011, and it began its West End run at the Cambridge Theatre on 25 October 2011 to great critical acclaim. In 2013, Matilda opened on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre, and earned 12 Tony Award nominations. The musical has subsequently been presented worldwide winning numerous awards.

A live recording of this at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, was released as an album for download via iTunes on 20 July 2009. An Australian recording was released solely in Australia on DVD on 9 September 2009, and then as a United Kingdom release in the second half of 2010.

A heavily cut-down version of the show released on DVD as So F**king Rock Live has aired several times on British TV channel E4, first on 23 July 2009. It aired at the start of 2011, forming E4's New Year's coverage.

Minchin also plays the role of Tom in the contemporary family drama Two Fists, One Heart, released 19 March 2009. He also wrote the song "Drowned" for the film's soundtrack.

During his 2009 interview for Australian Skeptics' podcast The Skeptic Zone, Minchin addressed his performance style as one that allows bringing up issues that can be upsetting or judgemental to others, such as the "moral hypocrisy about the idea that the Bible is perfect, the only place that you need to go to for your moral guidance...and about, obviously, prejudice in the church, its role in ostracising homosexuals...your defences are down when you're laughing as well and it's couched in music. All I'm doing is making things consumable that are otherwise difficult to consume."

Minchin has a background in theatre and has appeared in various stage productions, in addition to some small acting roles on Australian television. A documentary film about Minchin, Rock N Roll Nerd (directed by Rhian Skirving), was released theatrically in 2008 and broadcast by ABC1 in 2009. He is the composer and lyricist of the Olivier Award-winning, Tony Award-winning and Grammy Award-nominated show Matilda the Musical, based on the Roald Dahl book Matilda. His musical Groundhog Day, based on the 1993 film, opened in London in 2016, winning his second Olivier Award, and opened on Broadway in spring 2017.

In August 2008, Minchin debuted his third solo show, Ready for This?, at the Edinburgh Fringe and subsequently took it on tour across the UK. During the Edinburgh run, he contributed to The Guardian newspaper's podcasts, despite his new show containing a song about a Guardian critic who once gave his show a negative review. Responding to the song, which contains graphic violence, the critic laconically remarked that he had not yet had time to listen to it: "Life's too short and I've already done my bit by sitting through that show in Edinburgh."

Minchin's background is in theatre and he has appeared in various stage productions. He played the title role for the 2006 Perth Theatre Company production of Amadeus, a fictional play about the downfall of Mozart at the hands of the reigning court composer, a character based on and named after Antonio Salieri. His other stage acting roles have included the title role in the 2004 Perth Theatre Company / Hoopla production of Hamlet, and The Writer in the original PTC production of Reg Cribb's The Return. He has also acted for The Australian Shakespeare Company (Twelfth Night), the Black Swan Theatre Company (Così, One Destiny), and in various other plays, short films, and television commercials. Roles from his days in musical theatre include Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha and Pontius Pilate (and understudying Judas Iscariot twice) in Jesus Christ Superstar. He has also appeared playing small parts on the ABC telemovie Loot and on the show Comedy Inc..

Minchin says he entered into comedy "naively", having never even attended a live comedy gig before performing one himself. His break-out show Darkside (co-produced by Laughing Stock Productions) achieved critical success at the 2005 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, where it won the inaugural Festival Directors' Award and attracted the notice of Karen Koren, the manager of the well-known Gilded Balloon venues. Koren backed the show's run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where Minchin received the Perrier Comedy Award for Best Newcomer. His 2006 show So Rock was nominated for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival's top prize, the Barry Award, and in 2007 he was given the award for Best Alternative Comedian at the HBO US Comedy Arts Festival.

Live recordings of his 2005 and 2006 shows, Darkside and So Rock, have been released as CDs. In 2007, he released a DVD titled So Live, featuring a live recording in the Sydney Opera House Studio with material from both of his previous shows. As this DVD was only released in Australia, he released a DVD in 2008 entitled So F**king Rock Live in the UK, containing largely the same material as So Live.

Minchin is best known for his musical comedy, including six CDs, five DVDs, and live comedy shows that he has performed internationally. He has appeared on television in Australia, Britain, and the United States. After growing up in Perth, he attended the University of Western Australia (UWA) and the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), before moving to Melbourne in 2002. His show Darkside launched him into the public eye, achieving critical success at the 2005 Melbourne International Comedy Festival and the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In 2013, Minchin played the role of rock star Atticus Fetch on Showtime's Californication.

After graduating from WAAPA in 1998, Minchin started out composing music for documentaries and theatre. In 2000, he wrote and starred in the musical Pop at the Blue Room Theatre in Perth. He released a CD titled Sit with his band Timmy the Dog in 2001 but achieved little success. In 2002, after only one professional acting job, he moved from Perth to Melbourne to pursue work. Minchin struggled initially; he could not get an agent for a year and had been unable to find any acting work. While several record companies gave him positive feedback, they were not sure how his music—a mixture of satirical songs and more serious pop songs—could be marketed. He decided to compile all of his humorous songs into a single live show to "get the comedy stuff off my chest" before going back to more serious music.

He was educated at the private Christ Church Grammar School and started learning piano at the age of eight, but gave it up after three years because he did not enjoy the discipline. He redeveloped an interest in the instrument after he started writing music with his brother Dan Minchin, a guitarist, but still describes himself as a "hack pianist . . . a 'more you practise, the better you get' kind of guy". Minchin graduated from the University of Western Australia (UWA) in 1996 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and theatre, and from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in 1998 with an Advanced Diploma in Music (Contemporary Music). In 2013, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters from UWA. In 2015, he was awarded a second Honorary Doctor of Letters, along with Dennis Kelly, from Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.

Minchin was born in Northampton, England, to Australian parents and raised in Perth, Western Australia. His father, David Ellison Minchin, and grandfather, Max Ellison Minchin, were surgeons in Perth. He is descended from R. E. Minchin, founding director of Adelaide Zoo. Minchin is a British citizen by virtue of being born in the UK prior to the country's abolition of unconditional jus soli citizenship in 1983.

Timothy David Minchin AM (born 7 October 1975) is an Australian comedian, actor, writer, musician, composer, lyricist, and director. He was born in Northampton, England, to Australian parents, but raised in Perth, Western Australia.