Tim Minchin

Tim Minchin needs a new set of clothes. Try as he might his comedy attire now looks a bit like artistic hand-me-down’s which have been stretched by his growing size and popularity.

Yes, that’s a long-winded way of saying that Minchin has become a bit of a comedy mega-star. A celebrity who is as important for what he says as much as what he does.

From Jonathan Ross to The Wright Stuff the Australian comic is now a chat show or panel show regular as well as musical comedian whose score for the remake of Roald Dahl’s Matilda has been given official ‘genius’ status for the number of awards it has received.

However it hasn’t always been that way. Initially Minchin struggled to break through, describing himself as a cabaret act than a comedian. His subsequent fame could be attributed to both the rise in popularity of blogs, way comedy recognised a larger variety of acts as much as any critic or talent spotter.

Even during his breakthrough year when his show Dark Side won Melbourne Comedy Festival's director's choice award Minchin struggled to convince everyone of his talent – Guardian journalist Phil Daoust gave the comedian a one-star review for his Fringe show.

It could be said that Minchin took the review fairly well, though he did pen a song claiming to want cut big chunks out of the writers face and force his children to eat them.

After his breakthrough Minchin has gone on to record six audio albums of his songs as well as two DVDs. One of Dark Side and the other Ready For This.

In 2009 Minchin co-wrote Matilda – A Musical with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Dennis Kelly. The show has been a phenomenal success since it opened in 2010, with pretty much across the board acclaim from the industry. At the time of writing Matilda has been nominated for 10 Laurence Olivier Awards, and though it’s not a solo Minchin effort, his contribution to the show was significant.

We also think Minchin photoshop’s his own eyes green, or wears coloured contacts as most publicity photos he is in he looks like a character from True Blood.