o2-arena-Tim Minchin

Tim Minchin
Timothy David Minchin (born 7 October 1975 in Northampton, UK) is an Australian comedian, actor, musician, and skeptic.
He is best known for his musical comedy, which has featured in three CDs, three DVDs and a number of live comedy shows which he has performed internationally. He has also appeared on television and radio in both Australia and Britain. After growing up in Perth, Western Australia, he attended the University of Western Australia and WAAPA before moving to Melbourne in 2002 where he began to develop his act. His breakout show, "Dark Side", launched him into the public eye, achieving critical success at the 2005 Melbourne International Comedy Festival and the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Minchin has a background in theatre and has appeared in various stage productions, in addition to some small acting roles on Australian TV. He has written a script for a television pilot which has received some interest from US networks; in late 2007 he was reported to be in talks with HBO. A documentary film about Minchin, Rock N Roll Nerd (directed by Rhian Skirving), was released theatrically in 2008 and broadcast by ABC1 in 2009.
Personal life
Minchin was raised in Perth, Western Australia. and educated at Christ Church Grammar School. He 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 practice, the better you get' kind of guy". Minchin graduated from the University of Western Australia in 1995 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Theatre, and in 1998 completed an Advanced Diploma in Contemporary Music at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts.
He currently lives in London with his wife, Sarah, whom he has been with since he was 17 and whom he married in 2001. They have a daughter named Violet, who was born on November 24, 2006 and son named Caspar, who was born on July 3, 2009.Minchin often refers to his family life in his songs and stand-up and often draws on how he met his wife Sarah when he was 17 and on their life as a couple.
Musical Comedy


Minchin playing the piano on-stage
Minchin describes his act as a "funny cabaret show" and sees himself primarily as a musician and songwriter as opposed to a comedian; his songs, he says, "just happen to be funny." His reasoning for combining the disciplines of music and comedy was revealed in one interview when he said "I'm a good musician for a comedian and I'm a good comedian for a musician but if I had to do any of them in isolation I dunno."
He draws on his background in theatre for his distinctive onstage appearance and persona. In his performances, he typically goes barefoot with wild hair and heavy eye makeup, which is juxtaposed with a crisp suit and tails, and a grand piano. According to Minchin, he likes not wearing shoes in his shows because it makes him feel more comfortable. He considers the eye makeup important because while he is playing the piano he is not able to use his arms and relies on his face for expressions and gestures; the eyeliner makes his features more distinguishable for the audience. Much of his look and persona, he says, are about "treading that line between mocking yourself and wanting to be an iconic figure. Mocking the ridiculousness and completely unrealistic dream of being an iconic figure." The eccentric appearance removes Minchin from reality somewhat, allowing him to make outrageous statements onstage "without annoying (most) people."
The shows consist largely of Minchin's comedic songs and poetry, with subjects ranging from social satire, to inflatable dolls and sex fetishes, to 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. His comedy also deals with taboos more broadly, a subject which Minchin says interests him due to what he considers the hypocrisy in the things society classifies as appropriate and inappropriate. A prime example of this is the song "Prejudice" which parodies the power awarded to something as simple as a word.
Early Career (1998-2007)
After completing an Advanced Diploma in Contemporary Music 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 [his] chest" before going back to more serious music.
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 entitled 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.
Ready For This? (2008-2010)
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 savage review.
A recording of this show, recorded live at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London was released as an album for download via iTunes on July 20, 2009. An Australian recording was released on DVD, solely in Australia on September 9, 2009 and a UK release is anticipated in the second half of 2010.
In December 2009, the track "White Wine In The Sun" was released as a downloadable single online. Fans on Minchin's official forum launched a campaign to get this festive track into the Christmas charts by purchasing it from various online download retailers A Facebook group was also launched to support the campaign as well as a drive on Twitter in which celebrities were contacted about the campaign and a succession of e-mails to radio DJs in a bid to get them to play the song. It was later announced that 50% of the December profits from the song would be donated to The National Autistic Society. The bid was ultimately unsuccessful in the face of huge publicity around the battle between Rage Against The Machine and Joe McElderry, but Minchin told fans he was grateful for the effort behind the campaign.
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 to be released in 2010. A blog was launched to accompany the film-making process and a short trailer was released on January 8, 2010.
He performed Ready For This? for what he envisages as the final time on February 27, 2010 in Sydney. He did however perform a set at The Big Libel Gig on March 14, 2010 in protest at Britain's libel laws, along with other performers including Dara Ó Briain, Marcus Brigstocke, Shappi Khorsandi, Robin Ince and Ed Byrne. As well as this, he is scheduled to perform at Camp Bestival as part of the Jestival Sessions in July 2010.
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.
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