Gretel Killeen is a best-selling author, award-winning comedy writer and host of award-winning TV. She  has worked in every sector of the media and arts industries and started her career after dropping out of law studies and accidentally performing comedy while reading a serious poem.

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Since then Gretel has sung as The Octopus on TV’s The Masked Singer, poisoned guests on Come Dine With Me, advocated for refugees and asylum seekers on Go Back to Where You Came From, appeared regularly as a social and political commentator on The Project and Sunrise and was the host of the smash hit Big Brother from 2001-2007.

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Gretel has written for many of the nation's major news publications, appeared on hundreds of TV and radio shows as a comic and commentator and, while a Good Will Ambassador for UNICEF, directed a documentary on AIDS orphans in Zambia, and CSA’s to broaden understanding of poverty in Bangladesh and unexploded ordinance in Laos. In 2022 Gretel wrote and directed a five part TV documentary series with an emphasis on optimising our final years. 

 

Gretel has entertained Australian troops around the world from Afghanistan to Iraq, Egypt, The Solomon Islands and East Timor, written as a travel writer in Antarctica, Turkey and Namibia, performed as an actor on stage and screen, performed as a stand-up comic in The Adelaide Fringe Festival, Perth Comedy Festival and Sydney Fringe Festival, and produced shows for clients ranging from local pubs to the NSW Government, and stages ranging from war zones to The Sydney Opera House.

 

Gretel has written/ filmed and been a spokesperson for humanitarian organisations both nationally and internationally for more than twenty years whether speaking as a staunch ally of the LGBTQI  community, co-directing a mini-doc for Vets Without Borders in India or traveling to Pakistan to write on the work of The Fred Hollows Foundation.

 

Gretel is a skilled communicator in all mediums. Her humour, intelligence and interviewing skills  make her much sought after in the corporate and media space.  As a media trainer and communications specialist she's worked with a range of clients from organisations focused on autism to individual supermodels and music stars. 

 

Gretel is currently working on a campaign to reduce the epidemic of loneliness, and completing her latest novel while continuing to perform live as a comic, guest speaker, host and MC.