Rees was the host of the Australian
ABC children's program
Giggle and Hoot from 2009 to 2020. In the program, Jimmy Giggle (Rees) is shown to enjoy mending objects, although he relies on a "problematic magic button" that never works. He is portrayed as having a brilliant talent in creating new things out of regular items. He also plays several musical instruments in the program, including the
ukulele,
double bass,
baritone saxophone,
piano and
guitar. It was reported that Rees beat 5,000 other actors to win the role, and moved to the
Central Coast from his home town in
Victoria for the role. Rees competed in the
sixteenth season of the Australian version of
Network 10's
Dancing with the Stars in 2019, where he was partnered with Alexandra Vladimirov. Rees made it to the top 5 of the contest but withdrew from the competition when one of his infant twin sons Mack suffered complications during a routine medical procedure. During the
Dancing with the Stars competition Rees scored best dancer in his renditions of the
foxtrot and
salsa performed to
George Ezra's "
Hold My Girl" and
Pitbull's "
I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)", respectively, and won the second week of the competition with his rendition of the
Jive performed to
Queen's "
Don't Stop Me Now". Rees was also a member of the winning team "La La Land" of the group dance with fellow competitors
Courtney Act,
Jett Kenny and
Michelle Bridges. Rees has also starred in a number of
pantomime stage productions. He has performed in
Bonnie Lythgoe productions including
Snow White Winter Family Musical in 2014 and
Cinderella in 2016. In July 2019 Rees is scheduled to appear in a production of
Jack and the beanstalk as "Silly Billy", alongside fellow Australian actors
Peter Rowsthorn and Luke Joslin. Rees has also made appearances on a number of Australian TV programs including
JuicedTV in 2015 and
Whovians in 2017. In 2018, Rees was crowned
King of Moomba with
Chrissie Swan as
Queen of Moomba. In November 2019, Rees announced that he had decided to end his stint with
Giggle and Hoot. He was quoted as saying that he had decided to move on to a different phase of his life. The show's "gruelling schedule", involving shooting for 47 weeks a year, had made it difficult for his growing family of three young children. In 2020, he started releasing short humorous videos on
TikTok and
YouTube, covering topics such as parenting, packaging and the
COVID-19 pandemic. His most well-known videos are those in a series called "
Meanwhile in Australia", where he plays the role of political leaders such as the then-
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and each
state and territory Premier (of a state) or
Chief Minister (of a territory) negotiating lockdowns, border restrictions and
vaccinations. As of August 2021, the series had gained over 8 million followers on social media and 10 million fans on TikTok. ==Honours and awards==