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Greg Fleet
Fleet preparing to go on stage at a Melbourne show
Birth nameGregory Fleet
Born1962 (age 61–62)
Michigan, United States
Alma materGeelong Grammar School
Years active1984–present
GenresStand-up comedy
WebsiteOfficial site

Gregory Fleet (born 1962) is an Australian comedian and actor.

Early life

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Fleet was born in Michigan, in the United States. His father moved the family to Australia when Greg was four. He grew up in Geelong, and as a teenager boarded at Geelong Grammar School. Fleet briefly attended Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), but he was kicked out after a year for poor performance.[1]

Career

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Fleet began his acting career in the early 1980s with several performances in Australian television series and telemovies.[citation needed] He appeared in Matthew and Son alongside Nicole Kidman in 1984, and then played the role of "Delivery Man 2" in an episode of Prisoner a role that he discussed on Tony Martin's "Get This" radio show in 2010[citation needed], resulting in him gaining an underground fame and following as "Delivery Man 2". Fleet went on to star as Lt Scott Harris in the Australian mini-series A Thousand Skies.[citation needed]

He also appeared in the ABC TV police dramas Phoenix and Janus as well as playing guest roles in The Flying Doctors and Stingers.[citation needed]

In 1988, after a guest appearance in The Flying Doctors, Fleet took on the role of Dave Summers in the Australian soap Neighbours. His most dramatic sequence in this program involved killing the popular character of Daphne in a car accident. Though Fleet has often commented that he wasn't sure if the role was supposed to be comedy or drama.[citation needed] Fleet then appeared in the popular Australian comedy sketch show Full Frontal and was a regular on the live comedy show The Big Gig (ABC TV)/The Big Gig.[citation needed]

Since then, Fleet has been a regular stand-up comedian around Australia, and has appeared on many TV and radio comedy programs, including The Comedy Channel's Stand Up Australia!. He was the announcer and narrator for the comedy series Real Stories on the Ten Network, and provided the voice of "Sandy" the Yellow Labrador in TV commercials for the Home Hardware hardware store chain for 11 years.[citation needed]

In 2001, he was flown to London to appear in Al Murray's TV1 sitcom The Pub Landlord.[citation needed]

During 2006 and 2007. Fleet was often heard on Triple M's Get This radio program as a frequent guest co-host alongside Tony Martin, Ed Kavalee, and Richard Marsland. On occasions he filled in as a last-minute replacement guest as he only lived a short distance away from the Triple M studio.[citation needed]

In 2011, Fleet commissioned a DVD containing segments of some of his best-known performances. The DVD was sold as Bootlegs and Jumperpants and was sold for $19.95.[2] Fleet mentioned that the funds from this DVD were going towards financing the filming of his classic 1995 show Thai Die as a feature-length comedy special. It was scheduled to be filmed on 7 November 2011 at The Comics Lounge in Melbourne, and it was released in 2012.[3]

In 2015, Fleet starred in the Australian zombie comedy film Me and My Mates vs the Zombie Apocalypse, alongside fellow Australian comedians Jim Jefferies and Alex Williamson.[4]

In recent years he has appeared in Underbelly: Squizzy playing Richard Harris "Australia's most violent prisoner" and series one of Wolf Creek as the bikie Gundog. In 2023, he played in Allan King's psychological horror film Vincent as the drug dealing paedophile Micky StPeters.[citation needed]

In 2018, he wrote and starred in the modern adaptation of Macbeth, Signifying Nothing the second of his plays to win best theatre and critics choice awards st the Adelaide fringe.[citation needed]

In 2021, he co-wrote and acted in the play The Twins with his old school friend Ian Darling AO which opened at the 2021 Adelaide Fringe Festival and won the Mental Health Awareness Award.[5]

In mid 2024, he finished writing his fourth book The Last Ride which will be in stores early 2025.[citation needed] He also finished work on a screenplay called I Know, I Know based on his novel The Good Son. The screenplay was co-written with his partner, filmmaker Philippa Bateman.[citation needed]

In 2024, Fleet announced his semi retirement from performing stand up comedy having appeared in 27 consecutive Melbourne International Comedy Festivals half a dozen Edinburgh Fringe festivals and performing all over the world.[citation needed]

Books

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Thai Die (2002) Random House[6]

These Things Happen (2015) Macmillan 9781743537916[7]

The Good Son (2018) Random House

"The Last Ride" (2024)

Personal life

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Fleet with a fan at a Melbourne club

When Fleet was ten, his father faked his own death, only to reappear later in his life. His father changed his name, married, and fathered another child during this absence, and then eventually returned to the United States. Fleet expanded upon these experiences in his live show I Wish You Were Dead.[8]

Fleet has also fought a long battle with heroin addiction, a subject he has covered in many media interviews, his live show 10 Years in a Long Sleeved Shirt, and on the 1997 ABC television program Smallest Room in the House.[9][10] In 2015, Fleet also revealed a six-month-long addiction with methamphetamine in 2005.[7] In 2007, Fleet went into drug rehab and returned for the 2 April 2007 episode of Get This. Although Fleet had claimed to be drug-free, he admitted in an interview in April 2011 that he was stoned during that performance.[10]

Fleet is a passionate long-distance supporter of the Hibernian Football Club of Edinburgh, Scotland.

References

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  1. ^ "Why he failed acting school". The Age. Melbourne. 23 March 2005. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
  2. ^ "Greg Fleet - Thai Die". DVDLand. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  3. ^ Hare, Jim (1 March 2012), Greg Fleet: Thai Die (Documentary, Comedy), Greg Fleet, Punchline, retrieved 16 January 2024
  4. ^ Colley, Clare (23 July 2015). "Canberra film Me and My Mates vs the Zombie Apocalypse cinema premiere". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  5. ^ Pascale, Louise (23 March 2021). "THE TWINS wins "Mental Health Awareness Award"". Mental Health Coalition of South Australia.
  6. ^ "Laugh! I nearly died". The Age. 5 July 2002. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
  7. ^ a b "The Iceman Cometh: An extract from These Things Happen by Greg Fleet". News.com.au. 24 August 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
  8. ^ "Dad and gone". The Sydney Morning Herald. 28 June 2003.
  9. ^ Javes, Sue (18 June 2003). "Straight talking". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
  10. ^ a b Bragge, Lily (5 June 2005). "Keep it clean". The Age. Melbourne. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
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