Matthew "Ray" O'Leary is a New Zealand

comedian A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...

, TV personality and actor, known for his

deadpan Deadpan, dry humour, or dry-wit humour is the deliberate display of emotional neutrality or no emotion, commonly as a form of Comedy, comedic delivery to contrast with the ridiculousness or absurdity of the subject matter. The delivery is meant t ...

humour and large grey suit.

Early life and education

O'Leary grew up in

Whanganui Whanganui, also spelt Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whanganui is ...

, New Zealand, where he attended Cullinane College. He has a bachelor's and master's degree in

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

from

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington (), also known by its shorter names "VUW" or "Vic", is a public university, public research university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and w ...

. At university, O'Leary's friends gave him the nickname "Ray" because they thought he sounded like

Ray Romano Raymond Albert Romano (born December 21, 1957) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for his role as Raymond "Ray" Barone on the CBS sitcom ''Everybody Loves Raymond'' (1996–2005), for which he won three Primetime Emm ...

Peter Singer Peter Albert David Singer (born 6 July 1946) is an Australian moral philosopher who is Emeritus Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. Singer's work specialises in applied ethics, approaching the subject from a secu ...

's 1975 book '' Animal Liberation'' convinced O’Leary to become vegan.

Career

Tired of working as a public servant, O'Leary began performing stand-up comedy in 2015 in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

. By 2018, he was also writing for television shows. He has written for ''7 Days''. O'Leary has appeared on various

panel show A panel show or panel game is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participate. Celebrity panelists may compete with each other, such as on '' The News Quiz''; facilitate play by non-celebrity contestants, such as on ' ...

s, including ''

Have You Been Paying Attention? ''Have You Been Paying Attention?'' (abbreviated as HYBPA?) is an Australian panel game television quiz show on Network 10. The series, which is produced by Working Dog Productions, is a mix of news and comedy which sees host Tom Gleisner quiz ...

'', '' The Cheap Seats'', ''

Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee ''Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee'' is a New Zealand television comedy panel show on Three, created and presented by Guy Montgomery and co-hosted by Sanjay Patel. The show is loosely based on a spelling bee: each episode, four comedian ...

'', '' 7 Days'', and ''

Patriot Brains ''Patriot Brains'' is a New Zealand comedy panel game show, airing on TVNZ 2 in New Zealand and SBS Viceland in Australia since April 2021. Premise The show, hosted by English comedian Bill Bailey in series 1 and Sue Perkins in series 2, f ...

''. Other television programs O'Leary has been in include ''

Thank God You're Here ''Thank God You're Here'' is an Australian television improvised comedy program created by Working Dog Productions, which premiered on 5 April 2006 on Network 10, where it aired for the first three and from the fifth season onwards; the fourt ...

'', ''Raised by Refugees'', '' Golden Boy'', and ''My Favourite Dead Person''. Podcasts he has participated in include ''Waterdeep Mountain High'' and ''Socrates Walks Into A Bar''. In 2018, O'Leary and Lucy Roche performed the show ''Young, Dumb and Full of Comedy''. O'Leary presented his comedy show ''Everything Funny All the Time Always'' in 2023 across New Zealand and then at 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 ...

and the

Sydney Comedy Festival The Sydney Comedy Festival is held annually in Sydney, Australia. Launched in 2005 as The Cracker Sydney Comedy Festival at a number of inner city venues, the Festival has grown quickly and now attracts 111,000 patrons every year at venues all ...

. He appeared in the fourth series of '' Taskmaster NZ'' in 2023. In 2024, he performed his show ''Your Laughter Is Just Making Me Stronger'' in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Melbourne, Brisbane, Auckland, and Wellington. Influences on O'Leary include

Scott Aukerman Scott David Aukerman (born July 2, 1970 Note: see 10:20) is an American writer, actor, comedian, television personality, director, producer, and podcast host. He was a writer and performer in the later seasons of the sketch series '' Mr. Show'' f ...

Nate Bargatze Nathanael Bargatze ( ; born March 25, 1979)Ellen DeGeneres Ellen Lee DeGeneres ( ; born January 26, 1958) is an American former comedian, actress, television host, writer, and producer. She began her career in stand-up comedy in the early 1980s, gaining national attention with a 1986 appearance on '' ...

Stewart Lee Stewart Graham Lee (born 5 April 1968) is an English comedian. His stand-up routine is characterised by repetition, internal reference, and deadpan delivery. Lee began his career in 1989 and formed the comedy duo Lee and Herring with Richard ...

Norm Macdonald Norman Gene MacdonaldThe capitalization of Norm Macdonald's surname has been inconsistently reported in publications such as ''TV Guide''. Books that discuss him, such as ''Shales'' (2003) and Crawford' (2000), as well as other sources such as ...

Guy Montgomery Guy Montgomery (born 29September 1988) is a comedian from New Zealand. He is known for his panel game show ''Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee'', which he began as a web series before becoming a TV series, for +HR=E in New Zealand, and late ...

, and

Tig Notaro Tig Notaro (born Mathilde O'Callaghan Notaro, March 24, 1971) is an American stand-up comedian, writer, radio contributor, and actress known for her deadpan comedy. Her acclaimed album ''Live'' was nominated in 2014 for the Grammy Award for Best ...

. Fans of O'Leary have been known to dress up as him at his shows. O'Leary won Best Newcomer at the 2016 Wellington Comedy Awards, and was nominated for the

Billy T Award The Billy T Award is a New Zealand comedy award recognising up-and-coming New Zealand comedians with outstanding potential. It has been presented annually since its inception in 1997 when Cal Wilson and Ewen Gilmour shared the award. The Billy T ...

in 2017, for his show ''A Pessimist's Guide to Optimism'', and in 2020, for his show ''Ray Against the Machine''. , O'Leary is repped by Jubilee Street Management.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OLeary, Ray 21st-century New Zealand male actors Date of birth missing (living people) Living people New Zealand male comedians People educated at Cullinane College Contestants on New Zealand game shows Victoria University of Wellington alumni Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century New Zealand comedians New Zealand stand-up comedians