1980s A former stand-up comedian and commercial voice-over-man, Tony Martin moved to
Brisbane, Australia, from New Zealand when he was 21 to work as a radio copywriter. Having worked in radio and amateur theatre back in NZ, Martin approached the
ABCTV's The D-Generation in 1986 to work as a writer only to be told that filming on the first series had been completed. In the interim, he was invited to work as a researcher on ABC-TV's
The Gillies Republic which was the follow-up to the highly successful political satire
The Gillies Report (1984–85). The show was not a success but Martin learnt a considerable amount from the production's mistakes, and made his Australian TV debut as 'Man in Bad Suit' in episode 4. radio (1987–1992), which led to the 1990 compilation album
The Breakfast Tapes. On air, Martin was frequently referred to by the other D-Gen members as "The Fat Man." Along with
Rob Sitch, Martin left the radio show a little earlier than the other members to prepare The D-Gen's next venture for ABC TV (although he did make time to host
Bulltwang, a Sunday Night radio show on Triple M with
Mick Molloy, which ran for sixteen weeks in 1990).
1990s Instantly recognisable as the "tall skinny guy with glasses," Martin was one of the most valuable members of the D-Gen as a writer and performer on
The Late Show (1992–1993). His co-introductions to almost every episode and "Street Interviews" segment highlighted his effective comedic partnership with Mick Molloy. Noted for his quick wit and passion for mimicry, Martin also appeared in countless
Late Show sketches (including as sleazy filmmaker Warren Perso in the classic sketch:
The Last Aussie Auteur), and provided the voices of Senior Sergeant Bargearse in the serial
Bargearse (dubbed episodes of
Bluey) and Governor Frontbottom and Judge Muttonchops in the serial
The Olden Days (dubbed episodes of
Rush). Martin compiled all three volumes of
The Best Bits of The Late Show with
Santo Cilauro and Wayne Marx, and also co-produced the "dangerously overstuffed" double DVD set,
The Best Bits of The Late Show: Champagne Edition, which was released in 2001. After
The Late Show finished, Martin and Mick Molloy went on to develop and perform their top-rating national radio programme
Martin/Molloy, which produced three
ARIA award-winning compilation albums:
The Brown Album (1995),
Poop Chute (1996) and
Eat Your Peas (1998).
2000s In 2000, Martin was nominated for the
Melbourne International Comedy Festival Award for his show
A Quiet Word with Tony Martin. He made several guest appearances on ''
Thank God You're Here, The Panel, The Mick Molloy Show (reprising his "Street Interview" skills), Kath & Kim'' (as
Magda Szubanski's fiddle-playing boyfriend), and
Welcher and Welcher. In 2004, Tony Martin and
Shaun Micallef began work on a TV sketch comedy series for the ABC with the working title
Mouse-Patrol but after they wrote enough material for the first three episodes, the project was cancelled by management, much to Martin's disappointment who commented in an interview in 2009 that the un-filmed scripts contained the best sketch stuff he had written for TV. On 3 April 2006, Martin returned to the
Austereo network to produce a nationally syndicated show with
Ed Kavalee and
Richard Marsland on
Triple M named
Get This. Although
Get This was a ratings success and developed a dedicated legion of fans, on 16 October 2007 Triple M announced that the show would be axed, so the network could focus company attention and resources on new breakfast shows debuting across the country such as
The Shebang in Sydney and a new, multimillion-dollar Melbourne-based show presented by
Peter Helliar and
Myf Warhurst, both of which were ironically also cancelled by Triple M over the next couple of years. Towards the end of the show's run, a gathering of about 170 devoted fans took place outside the Triple M studios in Melbourne on 5 November 2007 to protest against the cancellation of the program. Martin wrote an online column called "Scarcely Relevant" at The Scrivener's Fancy which was updated weekly 2009–2011. The website was placed on hiatus in June 2011 so Martin could concentrate on his latest TV project. The site was closed in November 2011. As of June 2012, the archived columns are available to download as an ebook. Martin directed episodes of ABC TV's
The Librarians and ''
Judith Lucy's Spiritual Journey, and, from 2008 to 2015, co-hosted shifts on 3RRR with Tony Wilson as The Two Tones''.
2010s After a successful guest appearance on
Sunday Arts (ABC-TV) in 2009 in which he interviewed US writer and lecturer
Robert McKee, Martin commenced working on a new programme called
A Quiet Word With ... which began airing on ABC1 on 28 September 2010. Rather than being a conventional celebrity-interview show, the programme featured Martin having relaxed and informal conversations with comedians and performers that he admired, and in some cases, had worked with during his own career. The first two episodes, featuring English comedian
Bill Bailey and US actor and writer
Carrie Fisher, were aired, respectively, in September and November 2010. The remaining ten episodes were screened weekly on ABC1 from 2 April 2011, beginning with British actor and comedian
Alan Davies, and concluding on 4 June 2011 with British actor and writer
Richard E Grant. In February 2011, Martin appeared as one of the regulars on the radio-comedy programme
The Lonely Hearts Club which was broadcast weekly on
ABC Radio National on Saturday nights from 10 pm to midnight. The show, delivered in a deadpan, straight fashion, featured an uncredited Martin appearing under the pseudonym of 39-year-old Duncan Jardine, one of Australia's most successful second-unit directors, alongside
Angus Sampson,
Stephen Curry and
Sam Pang also uncredited as fictitious co-hosts. The first episode was broadcast on 12 February 2011 and the eighth and final episode was heard on 2 April 2011. In December 2010, the
Nine Network announced that Martin would be reunited with his former co-host on
Get This,
Ed Kavalee, for an upcoming comedy show entitled
The Joy of Sets. This comedy television series looking at the elements used to construct television shows, commenced screening on 20 September 2011 in the 9:00 pm Tuesday timeslot on Nine. The debut episode rated well but audience figures declined for the subsequent episodes, prompting Channel 9 to move the show to a later timeslot of 10.30pm midway through the series. The eighth and final episode aired on 8 November 2011. In late 2012, Martin wrote and directed episodes of a new eight-part comedy series
Upper Middle Bogan, filmed on location in Melbourne and which aired on ABC-TV in August 2013. The series was created and written by
Wayne Hope and
Robyn Butler of Gristmill Productions who also created
The Librarians and
Very Small Business. Martin later wrote and directed episodes of the second series of the show in 2014. In 2013, Martin announced via
Twitter that he was in the UK working as a co-writer on
Ross Noble's new comedy-travelogue programme
Freewheeling which aired on the UK comedy channel
Dave. Back home, Martin made a return to live comedy with his show
The Yeti opening at the Melbourne Fringe Festival in September 2013. In 2015, Martin performed at the
Melbourne Fringe with his show
The Arse/Elbow Equation which he later performed at
Brisbane Arts Theatre in early 2016. In 2014, Martin and writer/editor Sarina Rowell began writing a new sitcom,
Childproof, about a couple who decide not to have children. But after two years of pitching the idea, they were unable to sell the project to any of the TV networks. Instead, in September 2017, Martin and comedian
Geraldine Quinn recorded the scripts as a live podcast at the Melbourne Fringe Festival, later downloadable for free.
Childproof was subsequently named Best Comedy Podcast at the 2018 Australian Podcast Awards. From 2015, Martin was a guest vocalist for
Damian Cowell's Disco Machine, appearing on their self-titled 2015 album, their 2017 album
Get Yer Dag On, and 2021's
Only The Shit You Love. In May 2016, he joined the
Nova 100 breakfast show
Chrissie, Sam & Browny, initially as a temporary replacement for regular co-host
Sam Pang, and then as a weekly guest co-host until the show ended in December 2022. Since 2016, Martin has also appeared as a regular co-host on Ed Kavalee's
T.E.A.M Effort podcast, His first novel
Deadly Kerfuffle was published by Affirm Press in October 2017. In May 2018, Martin & producer Matt Dower began releasing a new fortnightly comedy podcast
Sizzletown which by mid-August had achieved over 160,000 downloads.
Sizzletown won Best Comedy Podcast and Outstanding Podcast Production at the 2019 Australian Podcast Awards. From 2017, Martin has been a regular panelist on comedy game show
Have You Been Paying Attention?, and from 2018 to 2022, was the official announcer for the TV Week
Logie Awards.
2020s In 2022, Martin produced and directed the web series
Shut Up, written by Sarina Rowell and starring
Debra Lawrance and
Celia Pacquola. In 2023, he was a staff writer on ''
Aunty Donna's Coffee Cafe''. In 2024, Damian Cowell and Martin formed the
electropop duo Arseless Chaps. In 2025, he performed at the
Adelaide Fringe and toured with his show
Gasbag.
Movies Martin wrote, produced and directed the 2003 comedy movie
Bad Eggs (in which he also made a cameo appearance as a game show host), and wrote and directed the unreleased 2007
mockumentary BoyTown Confidential. He has also played minor roles in several films (mostly those of former
Late Show colleagues), including
The Castle (1997),
Tackle Happy (2000),
Crackerjack (2002) and
BoyTown (2006). He had roles in two films made by his former
Get This co-host Ed Kavalee:
Scumbus (2012) and
Border Protection Squad (2012).
Books Martin's first book,
Lolly Scramble, a collection of humorous autobiographical essays, was published in 2005. His second book,
A Nest of Occasionals, was released in October 2009. The latter, reprinted in a second edition in April 2011, was voted as the best work of Australian comedy in any medium in 2009 by the comedy review website Australian Tumbleweeds In 2012,
Scarcely Relevant, a collection of Martin's columns from the now closed Scriveners Fancy website, was released online as an ebook. Martin's 2017 novel
Deadly Kerfuffle was shortlisted for the 2019
Russell Prize. == Personal life ==