Andy Lee (comedian)

Andrew Thomas Lee (born 24 May 1981) is an Australian comedian, musician and children's writer. He is known for working alongside Hamish Blake as part of the comedy duo Hamish & Andy.

Andy Lee
Lee at the 2011 Australian Commercial Radio Awards
Birth nameAndrew Thomas Lee
Born (1981-05-24) 24 May 1981
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
MediumRadio, television
NationalityAustralian
Years active2003–present
GenresComedy
Websitehttp://www.hamishandandy.com

Personal life

Andy Lee is the middle child of Michael and Margaret Lee.[1] Lee has a younger sister, Alex Miles, who writes pantomimes and stars in the comedy stage show Porky Pies. He also has an older brother, Cameron, with whom Lee started the band Zoophyte.

Lee attended Balwyn Primary School and Camberwell Grammar School. He was also a member of the Scouting Movement, performing in Camberwell Showtime and Melbourne Gang Show. He then went on to study Commerce at the University of Melbourne, where he met comedic partner Hamish Blake in 2001.

In 2006, Lee was announced as Cleo's Bachelor of the Year.[2]

Lee previously dated Megan Gale. They ended their relationship in 2010.[3]

In January 2015, it was announced that Lee was dating model and PR Graduate Rebecca Harding. Their break-up was confirmed by Lee in July 2016. They were reported to have reconciled a few months later.[4]

Career

Hamish & Andy

Lee (left) and Blake (right) at the 2009 ARIA Awards

Lee and Blake teamed with Ryan Shelton and several others to create a show called Radio Karate for RMIT University's student television company RMITV, broadcast on community-access television station Channel 31. They also trained with, and appeared on, RMIT's student radio station SYN, and they subsequently had a few spot projects on FOX FM.

Lee and Blake then hosted a televised comedy programme on Australia's Seven Network, The Hamish and Andy Show, which was shortly cancelled after bad ratings. Critics acknowledged their talent but panned the show as poorly executed.[5] Since this show, Lee and Blake have almost always performed together. They are now consistently referred to as Hamish & Andy. Another early TV project the duo took part in creating was the mockumentary TV show Real Stories (not to be confused with True Story, a later series by the pair).

Blake and Lee hosted the national (Hit Network) drive-time radio program Hamish & Andy that ran between 4 pm and 6 pm, Monday to Friday. In 2011, the program was cut back to a weekly Friday show due to dueo wanting to pursue other opportunities.[6] The radio show was considered to be immensely successful, scoring top positions in the radio ratings in the crucial Sydney and Melbourne markets (as well as Perth).[7] Their audience share was around 20%, which is the highest ever recorded for a national FM show in Australia.[7]

Lee won the first series of Joker Poker, a celebrity poker show in which contestants win money for charity. He appeared on the Network Ten program Australia's Brainiest Comedian.

He was selected as one of the entrants to the Who's Who in Australia 2011 edition.[8]

On 10 May 2010, Andy and Hamish appeared on the TV show Good News Week.

In 2011, the duo made a deal with Channel Nine, creating a ten-part series called Gap Year: New York. In 2012, the comedy duo created a second Gap Year season, titled Hamish and Andy's: Euro Gap Year, in which the two travelled throughout Europe leading up to the 2012 London Olympic Games. In 2013, they continued the Gap Year series, creating a third season titled Hamish & Andy's Gap Year Asia. In 2014, they completed their fourth and final gap year in South America, aptly titled Hamish & Andy's Gap Year South America. Other projects the pair have worked on include a weekly podcast (as opposed to when they worked on the radio) on the PodcastOne network as well as the aforementioned TV series True Story.

Solo work

Lee was a founding member of Melbourne band Zoophyte, along with his brother Cameron. In 2007, Lee had retired from the band due to other commitments, but he occasionally appeared as a guest at gigs.[9]

In 2015, Lee formed Coolboys and the Frontman with comedic partner Hamish Blake and producer Jack Post.

Lee released an educational times table CD in 2003, The Sing Along Times Table CD Book. The CD was re-discovered in 2005/2006 after an "alert listener" informed Blake, causing him to tease Lee about it on their radio show.[10]

Ahead of the 2020 AFL season, Seven Network's The Front Bar announced that Lee would join original hosts Andy Maher, Mick Molloy and Sam Pang as a regular cast member.[11]

In late 2020, he was announced as the host of the Australian version of the game show The Cube for Network 10. He will also be an executive producer for the show,

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Result Ref
2006 Cleo Bachelor of the Year Cleo Bachelor of the Year Won [12]
2013 Logie Awards Most Popular Personality on TV Nominated [12]

References

  1. Money, Lawrence (23 August 2015). "Radio prankster Andy Lee's mum gets thumbs up on Twitter". The Age.
  2. "Andy Lee bachelor of the year". news.com.au.
  3. "Andy Lee and Megan Gale split up". The Sydney Morning Herald. 15 December 2010.
  4. Epstein, Jackie (6 December 2016). "Andy Lee back with ex-girlfriend". Herald Sun. Retrieved 25 December 2016.
  5. "Hamish & Andy". www.theage.com.au.
  6. "The Spy Report: Hamish and Andy quitting daily radio show". Archived from the original on 4 November 2010.
  7. "Southern Cross Austereo - Absolutely Engaging" (PDF). www.austereo.com.au.
  8. "Who's Who pack now boasts Siddle, Hamish and Andy and the Masterchef judges". Herald Sun. 9 December 2010.
  9. Moran, Jonathon (15 April 2007). "Andy Shows Another Side | thetelegraph.com.au". Dailytelegraph.com.au. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  10. "Hamish & Andy: Hamish & Andy - Andy's Timetable Sing-A-Long CD!". handa.libsyn.com. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
  11. The Front Bar "selects" Andy Lee in the TV Show Draft The Front Bar on Twitter
  12. "Andy lee". TV Week Logie Awards 2013. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
Preceded by
Ryan Phelan
Cleo Bachelor of the Year
2006
Succeeded by
Jason Dundas
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