In the space of two years, Jimmy Rees has gone from being Jimmy Giggle, excitable kids’ show host, to Jimmy Rees, super-successful comedian and host of new show Tiny Oz.
“That’s been an interesting transition, to be honest,” Jimmy tells TV WEEK from an Adelaide hotel room, partway through his national comedy tour. “It’s something that I thought would take a little bit longer.”
Jimmy, 34, spent a decade hanging out with owl puppets on the ABC’s Giggle And Hoot, and “absolutely loved it”. But in the studio, when the cameras stopped rolling, his own sense of humour would come through.
Jimmy found fame on the ABC kids show Giggle and Hoot.
(Image: TV WEEK)“It was a bunch of adults making a kids’ TV show,” he remembers. “There was always humour and sometimes [it got] a little bit naughty between takes.
“Feeding off the guys who were playing Hoot and Hootabelle was always fun.”
In 2019, when Jimmy was offered the chance to appear on Dancing With the Stars as himself, rather than Jimmy Giggle, he took it, even though the timing was tricky.
His wife Tori was due to give birth to their twin boys, Mack and Vinny, brothers for Lenny, just weeks before the show began.
“At the moment, I’m really enjoying making my own content.”
(Image: Instagram)“Getting on Dancing With The Stars was a big thing for me because I’d been doing Giggle And Hoot and I wanted to break out of that at some point and do this comedy thing,” he explains.
“My wife was ridiculously supportive even though she had newborn twins, and obviously Lenny, too.”
Jimmy was a favourite in the competition till a medical emergency involving Mack caused him to pull out. The baby boy was having a tongue tie fixed when a main blood vessel was accidentally cut.
“There was one lady at Gosford Hospital who had clocked off for the night, the head ENT [ear, nose and throat specialist] there,” Jimmy remembers.
Jimmy and his wife Tori share twins, Mack and Vinny, and Lenny.
(Image: Instagram)“She got a call saying, ‘There’s a seven-week-old baby coming in and he’s in critical condition because he’s bleeding profusely,’ and she went, ‘What, from a tongue tie?’ She just turned her car around, went straight back to the hospital, and saved his life, I guess.
“It was amazing and we still occasionally keep in touch with her and just give our sincere thanks to her all the time.”
Jimmy says Mack recovered well, but they’re keeping an eye on him, especially his speech, to see how it develops.
“It’s hard to compare him to his twin brother, because they’re not identical, but he’s all fine and healthy.”
Just months after Jimmy appeared on Dancing With The Stars, he announced that he was leaving Giggle And Hoot.
At first, things were quiet – “there was a bit of a weird time there where I didn’t have any work and there was a pandemic” – but then he started making comedy videos and posting them online.
His “Meanwhile In Australia” series and “The Guy Who Decides…” quickly went viral.
“I was just blown away with how well it went,” he says. “I think a lot of people look around for that little bit of light relief and I was glad I could provide that to people.”
In 2019, Jimmy appeared on Dancing With the Stars.
(Image: Seven)With an audience of millions through TikTok and other social media, Jimmy soon found that work offers were coming to him. One of those offers was from the makers of Tiny Oz, a series that recreates historical events in miniature form.
“They said, ‘Hey, we’ve got this cool idea, it’s an adventure of discovery and history and we’d love someone to come on board who can have a bit of fun with the whole idea.’ I was intrigued by it.”
As for the future, Jimmy is “open to it all”.
“But at the moment, I’m really enjoying making my own content,” he adds. “I’m running my own race. I kind of enjoy that.
“I think, [if I] had my time again, I would have done it earlier.”
