Tom Gleisner

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Tom Gleisner AO (born October 24, 1962, in Melbourne, Australia) is an Australian comedian, writer, producer, director, and television presenter who co-founded Working Dog Productions in 1993. He co-created the improv television format Thank God You're Here (2006 to 2009, revived 2023), which drops celebrity guests into unknown scenes they must improvise through, and hosts the long-running panel show Have You Been Paying Attention? (2013 to present). He was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2018 for distinguished service to media and television.

Gleisner was born in Melbourne and attended Xavier College before studying at the University of Melbourne, where he graduated in 1987 with a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws. While at university in 1983, he began collaborating with Santo Cilauro and Rob Sitch in the Law Revue production Legal A.I.D.S. and wrote and performed in the 1985 Melbourne University Revue Too Cool for Sandals.

His television career began with writing credits on The D-Generation (1986 to 1987), a comedy program that established the ensemble he would work with for the next four decades. His breakthrough came with The Late Show on ABC (1992 to 1993), where he performed alongside Cilauro, Jane Kennedy, Rob Sitch, Tony Martin, Mick Molloy, and Judith Lucy. He was best known on the show as the newsreader on Late Show News and co-host of Countdown Classics alongside Jane Kennedy.

After The Late Show, Gleisner co-founded Working Dog Productions in 1993 with Cilauro, Sitch, Kennedy, and Michael Hirsh. Through Working Dog he co-wrote and co-produced the mockumentary series Frontline (1994 to 1997), co-created the cop show parody Funky Squad (1995), and hosted the weekly panel show The Panel (1998 to 2004). He co-wrote the films The Castle (1997) and The Dish (2000).

In 2006 Working Dog launched Thank God You're Here on Network Ten, an improv comedy format in which celebrity guests are dropped through a door into an unknown scene and greeted with the words "Thank God you're here" before improvising their way through scripted scenarios alongside experienced improv actors. Gleisner served as the permanent judge throughout the original four-season run (2006 to 2009). The format was adapted for NBC in the United States and revived in Australia in 2023. The show's creators drew on Australia's strong Theatresports culture, built through ABC broadcasts and national tournaments during the 1980s and 1990s.

Since 2013 Gleisner has hosted Have You Been Paying Attention?, a weekly news satire panel quiz on Network Ten that has become one of the most popular comedy programs on Australian television and a multiple Logie Award winner. He also co-wrote and co-produced the political satire The Hollowmen (2008), the workplace comedy Utopia (2014 to 2023), and the animated series Pacific Heat (2016).

Historical Context

Gleisner's career traces the development of Australian television comedy from university revues through sketch shows to the establishment of one of the country's most successful independent production companies. The university revue tradition in Melbourne during the 1980s served as an incubator for comic talent in much the same way that improv theatres in Chicago and Toronto did in North America, and the ensemble that formed around Gleisner, Cilauro, Sitch, and Kennedy at Melbourne University would remain intact as a creative unit for more than thirty years.

Thank God You're Here represents Gleisner's most direct contribution to improvisational performance. The format, classified in Theatresports terminology as a justification game analogous to Actor's Nightmare, placed improvisation at the center of a mainstream prime-time television program at a time when most Australian audiences associated improv primarily with live Theatresports competitions. The show's success demonstrated that improv-based formats could attract mainstream television audiences and international format licensing interest.

Australia's improv culture, shaped by decades of Theatresports broadcasting and national tournaments rooted in Keith Johnstone's methods, provided the performance infrastructure that made Thank God You're Here possible. The experienced improv actors who populated each scene brought skills developed through Australia's robust Theatresports community, creating a bridge between the grassroots improv scene and prime-time television.

Legacy

Working Dog Productions, which Gleisner co-founded, has become one of Australia's most enduring and successful independent production companies, producing critically acclaimed television across comedy, satire, and drama for more than three decades. The company's collaborative model, in which the same small group of creators writes, produces, and performs together across multiple projects, reflects the ensemble sensibility that emerged from their university revue and Late Show origins.

Thank God You're Here introduced millions of Australian television viewers to improvisational performance as entertainment, expanding the audience for improv beyond the Theatresports community that had sustained it for decades. The format's international licensing, including the NBC adaptation, carried Australian improv sensibility into global television markets. The 2023 revival confirmed the format's durability and its continued appeal to audiences who enjoy watching performers think on their feet.

Gleisner's appointment as a Member of the Order of Australia in 2018 recognized not only his television career but also his philanthropy, including his chairmanship of Challenge, an Australian cancer support organization, and his co-founding of Learning For Life, a not-for-profit centre providing early intervention services for autistic children.