Josh Szeps, previously known as Josh Zepps, is an Australian

media personality Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...

, political satirist, and television presenter. Szeps has previously hosted '' Weekend Breakfast'' on

ABC News ABC News is the journalism, news division of the American broadcast network American Broadcasting Company, ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other progra ...

. He was a founding host for HuffPost LiveHuffPost Live
Huffington Post; 16 February 2015 and his work has included satirical writing and presenting for Australian radio, as well as the hosting of '' Brink'', an American TV series. He also hosted the podcast

Point of Inquiry ''Point of Inquiry'' is the radio show and flagship podcast of the Center for Inquiry (CFI), "a think tank promoting science, reason, and secular values in public policy and at the grass roots". Started in 2005, ''Point of Inquiry'' has consist ...

for the

Center for Inquiry The Center for Inquiry (CFI) is a US nonprofit organization that works to mitigate belief in pseudoscience and the paranormal, as well as to fight the influence of religion in government. History The Center for Inquiry was established in 19 ...

Early life and education

Szeps is the son of actor Henri Szeps. He attended

Fort Street High School , motto_translation = Each person is the maker of their own fortune , sister_school = Suginami Sogo High School, Tokyo, Japan , location = Parramatta Road, Petersham, Inner West Sydney, New South Wales , ...

and the

University of Technology, Sydney The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Although its origins are said to trace back to the 1830s, the university was founded in its current form in 1988. As of 202 ...

. Szeps won Australia's highest radio prize for his long-running satirical comedy sketches on Sydney radio. He changed his last name from "Szeps" to "Zepps" in the United States to avoid pronunciation confusion.

Television

Szeps was the host and co-executive producer of ''

Australian Idol ''Australian Idol'' is an Australian singing competition, which began its first season in July 2003 and ended its initial run in November 2009. As part of the ''Idol'' franchise, Australian Idol originated from the reality program '' Pop Ido ...

Backstage'', the behind-the-scenes component of the namesake television series. Beginning in 2008, Szeps was the host and creative producer of the

Science Channel Science Channel (often simply branded as Science; abbreviated to SCI) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel features programming focusing on science related to wilderness survival, engineering, man ...

's '' Brink'', a news-style TV series which examined breakthroughs in

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, scie ...

and

discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discover ...

. The series ended the following year. Later, he was anchor and correspondent on CBS News Productions' Peabody-winning

Channel One News Channel One News was an American news content provider. The daily news program was accompanied by commercial advertising for marketing in schools, with supplementary educational resources. The Peabody award-winning Channel One News program w ...

. In 2012, Szeps was a founding host for HuffPost Live. Szeps was also a regular correspondent with

Al Roker Albert Lincoln Roker Jr. (born August 20, 1954) is an American weather presenter, journalist, television personality, and author. He is the current weather anchor on NBC's '' Today'', and occasionally co-hosts '' 3rd Hour Today''. He has an ...

on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...

. He has also appeared on the panel and co-hosted '' The Project'' on

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

in Australia and the

program ''Weekend Breakfast''. In January 2019, ABC announced that Szeps would replace Andrew Geoghegan as host of '' Weekend Breakfast''.

Radio

Over the Summer 2016/2017 period Szeps hosted the National Evenings Show on

ABC Local Radio ABC Local Radio is a network of publicly owned radio stations in Australia, operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. ABC Local Radio stations broadcast across the continent using terrestrial transmitters and satellites. Its program ...

across Australia. Szeps hosts a podcast tackling societal issues, ''Uncomfortable Conversations with Josh Szeps''. Since the end of 2021, Szeps has presented ABC Radio Sydney's Afternoons Program, after it was announced that his predecessor, James Valentine, would be moving to the Breakfast slot.

Voice career

Szeps was cast as the voice of "Olly the

Kookaburra Kookaburras are terrestrial tree kingfishers of the genus ''Dacelo'' native to Australia and New Guinea, which grow to between in length and weigh around . The name is a loanword from Wiradjuri ''guuguubarra'', onomatopoeic of its call. T ...

", one of three

mascots A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fic ...

in the Sydney Summer Olympics. After leaving university in 2000, Szeps was hired as a script assistant on '' BackBerner'', a comedy television series. He also worked in the production of 2SM and

2GB 2GB is a commercial radio station in Sydney, Australia owned by parent company Nine Radio, a division of Nine Entertainment Co., who also own sister station 2UE. 2GB broadcasts on 873 kHz, AM. In 2010, 2GB held 14.7% of the total radio ra ...

, two Australian

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

s. In 2003, Szeps was hired by Mike Carlton of 2UE, a commercial radio station in

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

. Szeps developed a radio

soliloquy A soliloquy (, from Latin ''solo'' "to oneself" + ''loquor'' "I talk", plural ''soliloquies'') is a monologue addressed to oneself, thoughts spoken out loud without addressing another. Soliloquies are used as a device in drama to let a character ...

for 2UE called "

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the ...

's Diary", in which he made a weekly

impersonation An impersonator is someone who imitates or copies the behavior or actions of another. There are many reasons for impersonating someone: *Entertainment: An entertainer impersonates a celebrity, generally for entertainment, and makes fun of ...

of the

Australian Prime Minister The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister heads the executive branch of the federal government of Australia and is also accountable to federal parliament under the principle ...

's thoughts on the past week's events. Szeps said to ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' in 2003 that "if John Howard wasn't in power, it's entirely possible my life would be going in a completely different direction". After John Howard was defeated in the

2007 Australian federal election The 2007 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 24 November 2007. All 150 seats in the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives and 40 of the seats in the 76-member Australian Senate, Senate were up for elect ...

, Szeps' radio spoof became "

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...

's Diary", a satire of the new Prime Minister in the same format. Szeps was the creator of ''

Never Never Newsreel The ''Never Never Newsreel'' was a weekly syndicated satirical radio sketch created by Australian satirist Josh Zepps that ran until June 2008. It was aired on Radio 2UE in Sydney and on syndicated stations across Australia. The ''Newsreel'' wa ...

'', a weekly

syndicated Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, ...

satirical radio sketch that ran until June 2008.

Personal life

Szeps was married on August 16, 2014, in Concord, New Hampshire, to Sean Joseph Gallerani, now known as Sean Szeps. The couple live in Sydney, Australia with their twins.

References

External links

Josh Szeps ABC Profile

at the

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Szeps, Josh Year of birth missing (living people) Australian expatriates in the United States Australian gay actors Australian podcasters Australian satirists Australian television presenters Australian LGBT broadcasters Australian LGBT journalists Living people