Andrew Hansen

Andrew John Hansen (born 18 September 1974) is an Australian comedian, musician and author, best known for being a member of satirical team The Chaser.

Andrew Hansen was born on 18 September 1974.

He was school captain of The Hills Grammar School in Kenthurst, New South Wales, and is a graduate of the University of Sydney, with honours in Australian literature and Australian history.

In 1996, he appeared as a subject in Simon Target's documentary Uni, about three students studying at the University of Sydney (Hansen later satirised Target in CNNNN, where he played the network's British correspondent who was also called Simon Target).

Soon-to-be fellow Chaser member Charles Firth was one of the other two students featured, with Craig Reucassel and Chas Licciardello also making occasional background appearances.

During the documentary it was revealed that Hansen suffered from clinical depression while attending the university.

Hansen starred in The Chaser's satirical American news show CNNNN as the leader of the "newsband".

He was also characters Rudi J Blass, director of "Newstainment", and Simon Target, an English reporter.

Hansen's performance in the first season of CNNNN earned him the Australian Comedy Award for Outstanding Television Newcomer.

Hansen has been a regular writer and performer on The Chaser's War on Everything since the pilot episode.

As a member of The Chaser, Hansen's television work includes co-writing and starring in ABC Television shows CNNNN (2002–2003), The Chaser Decides (2004, 2007), Chaser News Alert (2005), The Chaser's War On Everything (2006–07, 2009), Yes We Canberra! (2010), The Hamster Wheel (2011–12), The Hamster Decides (2013) and The Chaser's Media Circus (2014–2015).

He has also co-written and performed in The Chaser's stage shows, Cirque du Chaser (2005) and The Chaser's Age of Terror Variety Hour (2008).

With Chaser colleague Chris Taylor, Hansen starred in a scripted radio comedy series on triple j titled The Blow Parade, which was released on CD and the iTunes Store.

Hansen co-wrote and appeared in the live show Cirque du Chaser, which toured Australia in 2005.

Hansen is a pianist and guitarist and in addition to his songwriting, Hansen composed the show's theme music, which received the APRA-AGSC Screen Music Award for Best Television Theme (2006).

For Season 1 of the program, he received the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Performance in Television Comedy (2006).

The most controversial song that Hansen has performed was The Eulogy Song, which was originally written for Chris Taylor's play Dead Caesar, with music by Hansen and lyrics by Taylor.

On 17 October 2007 episode of The War, Hansen performed the song which satirised the lives of several deceased celebrities, including Peter Brock, Stan Zemanek, Princess Diana, Donald Bradman, Steve Irwin, John Lennon, Jeff Buckley and Kerry Packer, expressing the view that people with flaws during life are often disproportionately hailed as "top blokes" after death.

The song became the target of significant media attention, with several radio and television personalities saying the song was in "bad taste", and both the prime minister of Australia John Howard and then Leader of the Opposition Kevin Rudd expressing negative views.

Hansen composed and performed the music for the Sydney Theatre Company's 2007 musical comedy Dead Caesar, which was written by Chaser colleague Chris Taylor.

He also played the roles of Marc Antony and Lucius.

In 2008, Hansen toured Australia with The Chaser's second stage show, The Chaser's Age of Terror Variety Hour.

In October 2009, Hansen hosted The Goodies: Before, During and After, a live show by British comedy trio The Goodies at Sydney's Riverside Theatre (Parramatta) and at the World's Funniest Island comedy festival.

It premiered on triple j on 28 April 2010.

The series was released on CD and through the iTunes Store with bonus tracks.

This album won the 2010 ARIA Award for Best Comedy Release.

In 2011, Hansen joined various combinations of The Chaser team's members for a series of live shows in Sydney entitled The Chaser's Empty Vessel.

He was a producer and regular panellist on The Unbelievable Truth (2012).

In 2014, Hansen and Chris Taylor toured Australia with a revue show of new songs and sketches entitled One Man Show.

In 2015, they toured In Conversation with Lionel Corn, a parody of writers festival sessions.

Hansen co-presented Radio Chaser, a daily comedy show on Triple M, throughout 2017–19.

Hansen has occasionally hosted programs on ABC Radio Melbourne, including the summer and Easter seasons of its Breakfast show in 2019–20.

Hansen performed an updated version of The Eulogy Song in his 2020 tour.

From 10 April 2021, performances of the song included a reference to the passing of Prince Philip, who had died the night prior.

Hansen composed the music for and starred in The Blow Parade, a scripted radio comedy series he made with Chris Taylor.

The show spawned an album of 100 sketches, released in 2020.

He currently co-presents the comedy podcast The Chaser Report, produced by NOVA Entertainment.

In 2020, Hansen began touring Solo Show, a set of sketches and songs about people going it alone, performed on guitar, piano and iPad.

He presented the show in Adelaide and Brisbane before postponing the remaining dates due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.

Hansen has appeared in multiple versions of the live quiz show, Good Game Live at the EB Games Expo.