Steve Vizard

His father, Godfrey, had been a patrol officer in Papua New Guinea in the early 1950s and had been involved in exploring and mapping the uncharted Gulf region around Kerema, including making first contact with native Kukukuku.

As a teenager, Vizard was raised on a bush property in the semi-rural suburb of Warrandyte.

Stephen William Vizard (born 6 March 1956) is an Australian television and radio presenter, producer, writer, lawyer and businessman.

He is an adjunct professor at Monash University and University of Adelaide.

Vizard was born in Melbourne, Australia, on 6 March 1956, the son of Godfrey Lancelot Pitt Vizard and June Purtell.

He grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn and was educated at Carey Baptist Grammar School.

After finishing high school in 1973, Vizard won a scholarship to study law and arts (philosophy), at the University of Melbourne, where he resided at Whitley College and later St Mary's College, and graduated in 1980.

In 1976, while at Melbourne University, Vizard appeared in the Archi (Architects') Revue and the following year he and fellow university students established, wrote and produced the University's inaugural Le Law Revue.

After being spotted in the revue, Vizard wrote material for the inner Melbourne comedy scene.

Between 1976 and 1982, while still studying at Melbourne University, Vizard wrote and performed in over a dozen productions, working at such theatres and cabarets as The Last Laugh and the Flying Trapeze with a variety of local performers including Rod Quantock, Wendy Harmer, Glenn Robbins, Peter Moon and Paul Grabowsky, who would later work with Vizard as the band leader on his Tonight Live show.

From 1979 to 1985, Vizard was the voice-over man for the racing show Punter to Punter, starring Trevor Marmalade, Dr Turf and Con Marasco, on community radio station Triple R.

From 1981 to 1986, he practised law as a partner in a Melbourne law firm and until 1988 worked as an international commercial negotiator for multinational RTZ (Rio Tinto Zinc), mainly in Britain and Germany.

In 1985 Vizard co-wrote and produced a feature film, The Bit Part, starring Nicole Kidman, for which he was nominated for a Writers' Guild award for Best Feature Film Screenplay.

In 1987 he was the head writer and a performer on a television sketch comedy show, The Eleventh Hour, which kick-started the television careers of Vizard, Mary-Anne Fahey, Mark Mitchell, Glenn Robbins, Ian McFadyen and Peter Moon.

In 1987, Vizard performed in the first Melbourne International Comedy Festival, launched by Peter Cook, and was one of the hosts of the Comedy Festival Gala in 1991.

In 1989, Vizard established, wrote and produced the primetime sketch comedy series Fast Forward.

The series was Australia's highest rating comedy series.

Fast Forward, and its successor programme, Full Frontal, ran for 10 years and won multiple Logie Awards.

Vizard's characters on Fast Forward included advertising guru Brent Smyth (with Peter Moon), Darryl (the gay airline steward, with Michael Veitch), "Fakari" rug salesman Roger Ramshett (with Peter Moon), and newsreaders Dirk Hartog.

He also performed impersonations, most notably of Derryn Hinch, Richard Carleton, Don Lane, Ian Turpie, George Donikian, Geoffrey Robertson and even Gough Whitlam in one instance.

Between 1990 and 1993 Vizard hosted his own high rating nightly national talk show, Tonight Live with Steve Vizard.

He interviewed over a thousand guests, from entertainment legends including Bob Hope, Audrey Hepburn, Mickey Rooney, and Kirk Douglas, to musical stars including Phil Collins, Bob Geldof, Peter Allen, Quincy Jones and BB King, to writers and filmmakers such as Jeffrey Archer, Edward de Bono, Robert Ludlum, Sir Peter Ustinov and Oliver Stone, to comedians such as Spike Milligan, Sir Harry Secombe, Phyllis Diller, Spinal Tap, Robin Williams to Prime Ministers and public leaders.

Vizard has written for and produced various Logie and AFI award-winning television shows – from Fast Forward to Kangaroo Palace; he has hosted his own five night a week national tonight show, Tonight Live With Steve Vizard for which he was three times nominated for and won a Gold Logie in 1991.

Vizard hosted many awards nights and concerts including the 1992 Logie Awards, the Bali Bombing Memorial Concert and the 1995 nationally televised 50th Anniversary of the End of World War Two Concert.

By 1994, when he retired from on-air roles, Vizard had been nominated for a Gold Logie as Australia's most popular television performer on four occasions, winning in 1991.

He had also won three further Logies as Australia's most Popular Television Presenter as well as 4 Television Society Awards, a Variety Club for Best Comedy Artiste and a Rolling Stone magazine award for Best Television Performer.

During Vizard's hosting of the 1994 Australian Film Institute Awards, he joked about Australian screen legend Bill Hunter, who had appeared in several nominated movies that year, "each and every nominated film must feature Bill Hunter. This is a pro-rata rule ... Short films may enter into a Bill Hunter-sharing arrangement."

Vizard founded one of Australia's largest independent Production houses, Artist Services, which was subsequently sold to Granada; he has been the president of the National Gallery of Victoria and the chairman of the Victorian Major Events Company, securing events such as the World Cycling Championships and the World Gymnastics Championships; he has appeared on the cover of Time and Rolling Stone; he was an elected representative to the 1998 Constitutional Convention; he was Father of the Year in 2001.

In 1998 Vizard performed with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, narrating Saint-Saens' Carnival Of The Animals.

Vizard was embroiled in three highly publicised legal proceedings, involving the theft of moneys by his former accountant from the Vizard Companies, and Vizard's civil penalties in 2005 for breaching directors' duties.

At the 2006 Logie Awards, Vizard appeared with long-time collaborator Michael Veitch in a sketch that reprised one of their most famous roles, that of two camp, bitchy airline stewards.

Since 2009, Vizard has appeared as a regular on various television shows including Tens Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation, Nine's Today Show and A Current Affair.

Vizard has also appeared in a regular role in Mick Molloy's Foxtel comedy series, The Jesters.

In 2010, Vizard was nominated for a lifetime achievement award for outstanding contribution to the Film & Television Industry.

From 2010 he has appeared as a regular weekly panelist on Channel Ten's prime time 7PM Project and The Project and has filled in for one of the shows hosts, Dave Hughes.

He was a panelist and interviewer on the 7PM Project controversial interview with St Kilda sex scandal schoolgirl Kim in which the interviewers were clearly sceptical about her attempts to withdraw her previous allegations—the show aired her post-interview confession that she had just lied to them.

He has broadcast on the Austereo, Fairfax and Macquarie radio networks and in 2011 was nominated for best Talkback Presenter in Australia; he has written several books ranging on topics ranging from humour to Australia's population policy; and has written works for theatre including The Last Man Standing, the Melbourne Theatre Company's commemorative Gallipoli production in 2015.

In July 2011, Vizard appeared in the television movie Beaconsfield, playing the late 60 Minutes reporter Richard Carleton in the drama about the Beaconsfield Mine collapse in Tasmania and the rescue of miners Todd Russell and Brant Webb 14 days later.

In 2013, 2014 and 2015 Vizard appeared as a regular "Agony Uncle" in the ABC's primetime series The Agony of Christmas, The Agony of Modern Manners and The Agony.

He was the one of lead actors in the 2014 award-winning Tropfest film Granny Smith and was a contributor to the ABC broadcast history of Australian comedy, Stop Laughing This Is Serious.