Tom Gleeson: ‘I might be deluded but I feel people know I’m coming from a good place’

When the comedian has to weigh up entertainment against hurting people’s feelings, he says he’ll pick entertainment every time As we walk down the top end of Collins Street, past the Rolex store on one side and Gucci boutique on the other, approaching the theatre bearing massive photos of his face, Tom Gleeson is describing how out of touch he is. “A mate of mine once said to me, ‘Everyone thinks you’re really relatable because you come from the country or whatever but you’re not relatable at all. You never had a real job. You’ve worked in the arts your whole life. You’ve never really had to set your alarm for a job. This idea that you’re somehow this regular Australian guy is just so not true.’” True or not, it’s at the core of Gleeson’s appeal. On screen, when he’s digging through the reputations of politicians and celebrities and plucking out the embarrassing or controversial nuggets of truth like a surgeon performing a gallstone removal, he’s often saying the things we’re all thinking. But instead of doing it over a pint he’s doing it from the stage at the Logies, surrounded by rich and powerful people whose careers rely on them seeming relatab

Apr 17, 2026 → Apr 18, 2026