Biography
Andrew John Hansen (Born 1974) is an Australian comedian and musician, best known for being a writer and performer in The Chaser.
He is particularly known for his songs as well as his character pieces in the show The Chaser's War On Everything, which include Scenes From The Life Of The Crazy Warehouse Guy, the Surprise Spruiker, Clive The Slightly Too-Loud Commuter, and Mr. Ten Questions. In 2006 he received the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Performance in Television Comedy.
His other television work includes co-writing and appearing in CNNNN and The Chaser Decides, as well as writer/performer contributions to Comedy Inc. and the ABC's My Favourite Album. His performance in the first season of CNNNN earned him the Australian Comedy Award for Outstanding Television Newcomer. Andrew also does the voice-over for the ABC's First Tuesday Book Club.
In theatre, he co-wrote and appeared in Cirque du Chaser, which toured Australia in 2005. In 2007 he composed and performed the music for the Sydney Theatre Company's Dead Caesar, written by Chaser colleague Chris Taylor. He also played the roles of Marc Antony and Lucius.
On radio he co-wrote and presented The Friday Chaser on Australia's Triple M.
Among his musical credits, Hansen composed the theme song for The Chaser's War On Everything, which received the APRA-AGSC Screen Music Award for Best Television Theme (2006). Original songs performed on Chaser TV shows include 'Prolix Songwriter', 'I Don't Think Comedy Songs Work on TV', 'Fan of Doctor Who', 'The Credits Song', 'The Filler Song', 'Let's Tilt Australia', 'Big Dubya', 'The Fall Into Line Dance', 'Share the Pain', 'Beatles Answering Machine', 'Will This Song Become a Mobile Ringtone?', 'Crean of the Crop', 'Vote for the Greens', and 'We've Been Golden Showered by Johnny Winston Howard'.
He composed and produced the music for Nickelodeon's Sarvo and Napman, and songs for the Sesame Street character Ollie.
He was also the guitarist and vocalist for independent Sydney band The Fantastic Leslie. In July of 1999 the band released their 6-track EP A Tiny Mark which was distributed through MGM Distribution.
Hansen has also been known to feature on the music comedy circuit, including a recorded performance of one of his more famous songs, 'I Wish I Was A Scottish Stand-Up Comedian', for the Laugh-A-Poolooza 2006 DVD release.
In print, he is a writer for The Chaser newspaper, which now exists online as chaser.com.au, and co-author of The Chaser Annuals.
He co-wrote the short film Garbage Man with Charles Firth and British comedian Henry Naylor. It was a Tropfest finalist in 2005 and a prizewinner at Germany's Ohne Kohle festival.
He attended The Hills Grammar School in Kenthurst, New South Wales and is a graduate of the University of Sydney with honours in Australian literature. In 1996 he appeared as a subject in Simon Target's documentary Uni about three students studying at the University of Sydney (Hansen later satirised Target in CNNNN where he played the network's British correspondent who was also called Simon Target). Charles Firth was one of the other two students featured.
In the Chaser's War on Everything DVD Volume 2's commentary, he revealed that he is a fan of computer games and Doctor Who. This may have sparked the inspiration for one of his songs sung on The Chaser's War on Everything Season 1, about Doctor Who.
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