Joshua Michael Thomas is an Australian comedian, actor, and writer. In 2005, he won the

Melbourne International Comedy Festival The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is the largest stand-alone comedy festival and the largest international comedy festival in the world. First held in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks, typically starti ...

's Raw Comedy Competition. He has since appeared on television numerous times, including as a regular and

Generation Y Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990 ...

team captain on

Network 10 Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's UK & Australia division and is one of the five national free-to-a ...

's '' Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation''. In 2013, Thomas created the award-winning

ABC2 ABC Family is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and part of its ABC Television network. The channel broadcasts a range of family and teen entertainment programming. The channel oper ...

and Pivot television series '' Please Like Me'', which he also co-wrote and starred in.ABC2 Homepage for 'Please Like Me'
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Early life and education

Joshua Michael Thomas was born in Blackwater, Queensland, the son of Rebecca and Mike Thomas. He lived in Chapel Hill and Westlake in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

's western suburbs and attended Kenmore State High School, from which he matriculated in 2004. He studied for a Bachelor of Creative Industries, majoring in television, at the

Queensland University of Technology The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public university, public research university located in the city of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. It has two major campuses, a modern city campus in Gardens Point, Brisbane, Gardens Point ...

, but dropped out after one year.

Career

In 2005, he won the

's RAW Comedy Award. He made the finals of '' So You Think You're Funny'' at the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

. The following year, he was selected to perform in The Comedy Zone, a showcase of Australia's most promising up-and-coming comedians presented by the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. In 2007, Thomas' first solo show, "Please Like Me" debuted at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, where it received the Melbourne Airport Award for Best Newcomer. His live shows have toured both nationally and internationally, appearing in both Edinburgh and

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

's comedy festivals. In 2010, Thomas toured his coming-out themed stand-up show "Surprise", taking it to the Adelaide Fringe, Brisbane Comedy Festival and Melbourne International Comedy Festival. 2011 saw him touring ''Everything Ever'' at the Melbourne Comedy Festival, among other locations. In 2024, Thomas performed his first ever

show entitled ''Let's Tidy Up'', having already toured the show in North America, Australia and New Zealand and performed warmup shows at the Soho Theatre, London and the Lowry, Salford. He was also a contestant on the second season of '' Taskmaster Australia''.

Podcast

Thomas has a podcast called ''Josh Thomas and Friend'', available from iTunes, which features Thomas and his comedian friends Mel Buttle and Tom Ward. In November 2009 a second series of the podcast was released on iTunes, and the first series was deleted. The third series was released in 2011, and the second series was deleted as well.

Television

In 2009, Thomas became a regular and

team captain on

's '' Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation''. He also competed in Celebrity MasterChef Australia, but lost in the first heat to

Kirk Pengilly Kirk Pengilly ( ; born 4 July 1958) is an Australian musician and member of the Australian rock group INXS. Kirk plays saxophone and guitar, and also performs as a backing vocalist. Early career Pengilly moved to Sydney in 1966, and became best ...

INXS INXS (a phonetic play on "in excess") were an Australian rock band, formed as the Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney. The founding members were bassist Garry Gary Beers, main composer and keyboardist Andrew Farriss, drummer Jon Farriss, gu ...

''Please Like Me''

In February 2013, the television series '' Please Like Me'', written by Thomas, debuted on

Participant Media Participant Media, LLC was an American independent Film industry, film and television production company founded in 2004 by Jeffrey Skoll, dedicated to entertainment intended to spur social change. The company financed and co-produced film and te ...

's television network Pivot acquired the series for the US and premiered all six episodes as a binge marathon on 1 August 2013 to celebrate the channel's launch after premiering the first episode online. The initial six-part series is based on his stand-up comedy shows and stars Thomas as himself. In 2014, the series was nominated for an International Emmy Award for Best Comedy Series. For his work on the series, Thomas has won various accolades, including an AACTA Award for Best Television Screenplay in 2015. It was also short-listed for the Betty Roland Prize for Scriptwriting at the

New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards The New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, also known as the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, were first awarded in 1979. They are among the richest literary awards in Australia. Notable prizes include the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, th ...

''Everything's Gonna Be Okay''

In 2018, Thomas created ''

Everything's Gonna Be Okay ''Everything's Gonna Be Okay'' is an American comedy television series created by Australian comedian Josh Thomas. ''Everything's Gonna Be Okay'' premiered on Freeform on January 16, 2020. In May 2020, the series was renewed for a second seaso ...

'', a television comedy about a single man in his twenties (played by himself) who stays in the United States after his father dies to take care of his teenage half-sisters. The show was given a pilot order by Freeform, and was picked up to series. The show premiered in January 2020, with Thomas starring, writing, and serving as the showrunner in the series.

Personal life

He is openly gay. Thomas was diagnosed with

attention deficit hyperactivity disorder Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and emotional dysregulation that are excessive and pervasive, impairing in multiple con ...

(ADHD) at the age of 28. In 2021, he revealed that he is also

autistic Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing di ...

Awards and nominations

AACTA Awards

! , - ,

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, Josh Thomas , Best Comedy Performance , , , - , rowspan="3" ,

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, ''Please Like Me – Season 2'' , Best Comedy Series , , , - , ''Please Like Me – Season 2, Episode 7: 'Scroggin , Best Television Screenplay , , , - , ''Josh Thomas'' , Best Comedy Performance , , , - ,

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, ''Please Like Me – Season 3'' , Best Comedy Series , , , -

Australian Writers Guild Awards

! , - , rowspan="2" , 2013 , ''Please Like Me – Series 1, Episode 3: 'Portuguese Custard Tarts''' , rowspan="7" , Best Writing in a Comedy: Situation or Narrative , , , - , ''Please Like Me – Series 1, Episode 5: 'Spanish Eggs''' , , , - , 2015 , ''Please Like Me – Series 2, Episode 7: 'Scroggin''' , , , - , rowspan="3", 2016 , ''Please Like Me – Season 3, Episode 2: 'Simple Carbohydrates''' , , , - , ''Please Like Me – Season 3, Episode 5: 'Coq au Vin''' , , , - , ''Please Like Me – Season 3, Episode 6: 'Pancakes with Faces''' , , , - , 2017 , ''Please Like Me – Season 4, Episode 5: 'Burrito Bowl''' , , , -

GLAAD Media Awards

! , - , 2014 , rowspan="3", ''Please Like Me'' , rowspan="4", Outstanding Comedy Series , , , - , 2015 , , , - , 2016 , , , - , 2021 , ''Everything's Gonna Be Okay'' , , , -

Logie Awards

! , - , 2014 , ''Please Like Me'' , Most Outstanding Light Entertainment Program , , , - , rowspan="2", 2015 , Josh Thomas , Most Popular Actor , , rowspan="2", , - , ''Please Like Me'' , Most Outstanding Comedy Program , , - , rowspan="2", 2016 , Josh Thomas , Best Actor , , rowspan="2", , - , rowspan="2", ''Please Like Me'' , rowspan="2", Most Outstanding Comedy Program , , - , 2017 , , , -

Other Awards

{, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" , - ! Year ! Award ! Category ! Nominee ! Result , -won , 2011 ,

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

, Best Comedy Release , ''Josh Thomas Surprise Warehouse Comedy Festival'' , , - , rowspan="2", 2014 ,

International Emmy Awards The International Emmy Awards, or International Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based International Academy of Television Arts and Sc ...

, Best Comedy Series , rowspan="4", ''Please Like Me'' , , - , Rose d'Or , Sitcom , , - , rowspan="2", 2015 , rowspan="2", Dorian Awards , LGBTQ TV Show of the Year , , - , Unsung TV Show of the Year , , - , 2021 , Hollywood Critics Association TV Awards , Best Cable Series, Comedy , ''Everything's Gonna Be Okay'' ,

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Josh 1987 births Australian gay actors Australian gay writers Australian LGBTQ comedians Australian LGBTQ screenwriters Australian male comedians Australian male television actors Australian male television writers Australian podcasters Autistic actors Autistic LGBTQ people Gay comedians LGBTQ writers with disabilities Living people People from Blackwater, Queensland People with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder