From children’s entertainer to social media comedy star: Jimmy Rees’ career is on the up and up

Jimmy Rees is coming to terms with his fans returning to him.

After more than a decade as host of children’s TV favourite Giggle and Hoot, Rees pulled the pin on that part of his career to explore other options.

Then the pandemic happened and his comic turns around being stuck at home and each State premier’s regular COVID press conferences turned him into an internet celebrity.

It’s remarkable that Rees, who is married with three children and lives in Victoria, was able to pivot his career and morph from super popular children’s entertainer to super popular social media comedy star — the chances of attaining huge success in both those arenas must surely be slim-to-none?

“I know, right?” he says.

“It was pretty crazy to go from kids’ TV to that.

“But I knew (I wanted to) break the stereotype of just being in kids’ TV forever and ever.”

Thanks to the pandemic he was able to do just that, his regular Meanwhile in Australia videos posted to social media taking off in a way he never expected.

He had hit a nerve, struck a chord — and now all he could do was roll with what came next.

“I just threw everything at it in 2020,” he says.

“I had three kids under five, and I was living in Victoria, which was lots of fun for people who liked the outdoors — not.

“I had to do something, and that was it — so I threw everything at it.”

Despite the fact he left children’s TV more than five years ago, Rees is still regularly reminded of his years dressing in yellow pyjamas and entertaining the kids of Australia — and he’s totally fine with that — especially as it sometimes scores him a beer.

“The kids who watched Giggle and Hoot in the first iteration are the same people who are watching me now on TikTok,” says Rees.

“They literally drive past me, in the car that they own, on their P plates, going ‘Are you Jimmy Giggle?’ and their voices have broken and they are deep! And then they’ll yell, ‘Yeah, you put me to bed every night!’

“It’s so funny and so random — after one of my shows a couple of years ago on a Saturday night, we were in St Kilda, and afterwards (my friends and I) went and had beers across the road, and it was full of young people — and every single person who walked in the door was like, ‘Jimmy Giggle is here!’

“And they bought me a beer!’”

This week Rees is teaming up with Better Homes and Gardens’ Johanna Griggs to host the OzHarvest Unite to Feed Australia Live concert.

The event, to be screened on Seven on Tuesday, was organised by the food charity to help raise awareness for its fight against food insecurity.

It saw a huge line-up of Aussie acts come together to support the cause, including Daryl Braithwaite, Human Nature, Conrad Sewell, Danielle Spencer, Courtney Act and Fanny Lumsden, plus a host of other big-name acts.

But there was one performer Rees says he was particularly keen to catch up with — singer-songwriter Lior.

Lior is the voice behind Giggle and Hoot’s famous lullaby, a song which for many years heralded bedtime on the ABC Kids show but remarkably, the pair had never met.

“It was kind of a full-circle moment,” says Rees.

“I spoke to him briefly, and he said, ‘This is one of the most requested songs I get when I do my live shows!’”

Rees says comedy was something he always wanted to do since finishing school — kids’ TV was a step along the way.

“I fell into the kids’ TV thing, so to sort of come full circle to a point where now people don’t even know what Giggle and Hoot is when they see me — they see my content online first — that is something that’s been a bit different for a few years now.”

Now he’s able to go from posting comedy reels online to hosting big concerts like OzHarvest — this year he was even on the 2024 King’s Birthday Honours list, appointed a Medal of the Order of Australia “for service to the arts as an entertainer, and to the community”.

His head is still spinning: “It’s so crazy — and a bit of a thrill,” he admits.

“The beauty of it is, that someone, and I don’t know who, nominated me, it’s gone to a bunch of panels — and then been green-lit by the Governor General!

“I am very humbled — and now, obviously, wherever I go, there has to be a red carpet and a horse-drawn carriage!”

OzHarvest Unite to Feed Australia Live screens at 7.30pm on Tuesday on Seven and 7plus.