Ray O'Leary | |
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| Born | Matthew O'Leary [1] 1992or1993(age 31–32) Whanganui, New Zealand |
| Alma mater | Victoria University of Wellington (MPhil) |
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| Comedy career | |
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| Years active | 2015–present |
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Matthew "Ray" O'Leary is a New Zealand comedian, TV personality and actor, known for his deadpan humour and large grey suit. [2] [3] [4] [5]
O'Leary grew up in Whanganui, New Zealand, where he attended Cullinane College. [6] [3] He has a bachelor's and master's degree in philosophy from Victoria University of Wellington. [7] [8] [9] [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. [10]
Tired of working as a public servant, O'Leary began performing stand-up comedy in 2015 in Wellington. [8] By 2018, he was also writing for television shows. [8] 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 . [2] 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. [2]
In 2018, O'Leary and Lucy Roche performed the show Young, Dumb and Full of Comedy. [11] 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. [4] [2]
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. [12] [13] [5]
Influences on O'Leary include Scott Aukerman, Nate Bargatze, Ellen DeGeneres, Stewart Lee, Norm Macdonald, Guy Montgomery, and Tig Notaro. [8] [5] Fans of O'Leary have been known to dress up as him at his shows. [4] [7]
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, [14] and in 2020, for his show Ray Against the Machine. [2] [3]
As of 2024 [update] , O'Leary is repped by Jubilee Street Management. [15]
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