Ray O'Leary

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Ray O'Leary
Ray O'Leary at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe-08 (cropped).jpg
O'Leary at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Born
Matthew O'Leary [1]

(1989-02-05) February 5, 1989 (age 36) [2]
Whanganui, New Zealand
Alma mater Victoria University of Wellington (MPhil)
Occupations
Comedy career
Medium
  • Television
  • stand-up
Years active2015–present
Genres
  • Observational
  • deadpan

Matthew "Ray" O'Leary is a New Zealand comedian, TV personality and actor, known for his deadpan humour and grey suit. [3] [4] [5] [6]

Contents

Early life and education

O'Leary grew up in Whanganui, New Zealand, where he attended Cullinane College. [7] [4] He has a bachelor's and master's degree in philosophy from Victoria University of Wellington. [8] [9] [10] [1]

At university, O'Leary's friends gave him the nickname "Ray" because they thought he sounded like Ray Romano. [1]

Peter Singer's 1975 book Animal Liberation convinced O’Leary to become vegan. [11]

Career

Tired of working as a public servant, O'Leary began performing stand-up comedy in 2015 in Wellington. [9] By 2018, he was also writing for television shows. [9] He has written for 7 Days.

O'Leary has appeared on various panel shows, including Have You Been Paying Attention? , The Cheap Seats , Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee , 7 Days , and Patriot Brains . [3] Other television programs O'Leary has been in include Thank God You're Here , 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. [3]

In 2018, O'Leary and Lucy Roche performed the show Young, Dumb and Full of Comedy. [12] 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 and the Sydney Comedy Festival. [5] [3]

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, Melbourne, Brisbane, Auckland, and Wellington. [13] [14] [6]

Influences on O'Leary include Scott Aukerman, Nate Bargatze, Ellen DeGeneres, Stewart Lee, Norm Macdonald, Guy Montgomery, and Tig Notaro. [9] [6] Fans of O'Leary have been known to dress up as him at his shows. [5] [8]

O'Leary won Best Newcomer at the 2016 Wellington Comedy Awards, and was nominated for the Billy T Award in 2017, for his show A Pessimist's Guide to Optimism, [15] and in 2020, for his show Ray Against the Machine. [3] [4]

As of 2024, O'Leary is repped by Jubilee Street Management. [16]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Russell, Emma (16 May 2017). "Whanganui comedian nominee for Billy T award". Whanganui Chronicle.
  2. ↑ The Doctor Squee Show - Ray O'Leary Interview - Time stamp 2:10mins https://www.youtube.com/live/MzGH_FRaxc8
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 James, Shauni (19 January 2023). "Comedian Ray O'Leary bringing his deadpan and whip-smart humour to Rotorua". Rotorua Daily Post.
  4. 1 2 3 Empson, Madelaine (27 April 2021). "Don't ask Ray O'Leary about his dogs". Regional News – Eyes on Wellington.
  5. 1 2 3 Low, Lenny Ann (31 March 2023). "The new wave of Kiwi comics ready to tickle Australian audiences". The Sydney Morning Herald .
  6. 1 2 3 Bennett, Steve (11 April 2024). "Ray O'Leary: Your Laughter Is Just Making Me Stronger". Chortle.
  7. ↑ "120-year-old tree falls on house of Whanganui comedian Ray O'Leary". NZ Herald. 16 April 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  8. 1 2 Hubbard, Catherine (17 February 2023). "Ray O'Leary's dark, observational comedy tickles the funny bone". Stuff.co.nz.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Miller, Ayla (24 September 2018). "Twenty plus questions with comedian Ray O'Leary". On the Record.
  10. ↑ Wilson, Zaryd (14 June 2019). "Big read: Whanganui comedian Ray O'Leary on dark comedy, philosophy and making a living being funny". Whanganui Chronicle.
  11. ↑ "Comedian Corner: Ray O'Leary". Canta. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  12. ↑ Longshaw-Park, Rachel (11 May 2018). "REVIEW: Lucy Roche and Ray O'Leary: Young, Dumb and Full of Comedy (NZ International Comedy Festival)". Theatre Scenes.
  13. ↑ Burnett, Jamie (21 February 2024). "Comedian Ray O'Leary". 6PR.
  14. ↑ Jones, Bridget (12 April 2024). "'That is how Ray eats for cheap'". The Post.
  15. ↑ "Meet the 2017 Billy T Nominees". 7 March 2017. Archived from the original on 16 April 2017. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  16. ↑ "Ray O'Leary". Jubilee Street Management. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
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