Little Atoms with Tim Minchin (and Rebecca Watson)

On this week's Little Atoms Neil Denny and special guest host Rebecca Watson are joined by Tim Minchin.

Tim Minchin is an Australian musician, actor, comedian and writer. Originally from Perth, he completed a Bachelor of Arts in English and Theatre at the University of Western Australia in 1995, then an Advanced Diploma in Contemporary Music at the Conservatorium of WA – part of the WA Academy of Performing Arts – in 1998.

In 2002, he moved to Melbourne, where he began to develop the solo comedy shows which have gained him public and critical acclaim in the last three years. He developed his unique style during an 18-month period when he played regularly in the famous 40-seat cabaret room of The Butterfly Club in South Melbourne, before producing his break out show, Dark Side, at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2005. This show won the inaugural Festival Directors' Award and was picked up by legendary Edinburgh producer, Karen Koren, matriarch of the Gilded Balloon.

At the Edinburgh Fringe, Tim became one of the most successful ever debut acts, selling out the 300-seat Debating Hall and winning the Perrier Award for Best Newcomer. He subsequently went on to perform Dark Side at the Soho Theare and the Lyric Theatre in London's West End, and also appeared on a bill with Mariah Carey and Westlife at the Royal Albert Hall.

He appeared at the Montreal Just For Laughs Festival in 2006 and the HBO US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado in January 2007, where he won the award for Best Alternative Comedian. In November that year, he performed at the HBO Comedy Festival in Las Vegas and sold out short seasons at Ars Nova in New York and the ACME Comedy Theatre in LA.

Television credits include Comedy Shuffle (BBC), Never Mind The Buzzcocks (BBC), The World Stands Up (Paramount Comedy), Comedy Cuts (ITV), Spicks and Specks (ABC) and The Sideshow (ABC). He has appeared on British and Australian radio and has recorded two specials for BBC Radio 2: “Tim Minchin and Friends” and “Tim Minchin's Loving and Peaceful Yuletide Half Hour” .

He has released two live comedy albums, Dark Side (2005) and So Rock (2006). His debut DVD, So Live, was recorded at the Sydney Opera House in May 2007 and was released by Madman Entertainment in November that year.

When not on tour, Tim lives in London with his wife and young daughter.





For one week only Little Atoms has a special guest host, in the form of Rebecca Watson. Rebecca is leading a team of skeptical female activists at Skepchick.org, co-hosting the weekly podcast The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, producing pin-up calendars, and attending rock shows. Her pilot radio show Curiosity, Aroused was a winner of the 2007 Public Radio Talent Quest and has been aired on ten public radio stations in the US. She currently lives in Boston, Massachusetts, where she works as a copywriter in order to fund her hardcore skepticism habit. There is currently an asteroid orbiting the sun with her name on it. She does nothing in moderation and hopes it shows.