Do we like Wil Anderson?
Our score: 8 out of 10. He has backed LGBTQ+ rights from the stage, helped raise money after bushfires, and was never charged over his one brush with police.
Wil Anderson grew up on a dairy farm in Gippsland and came to comedy by the long road. He started doing stand-up in the 1990s, then landed triple j breakfast radio in 2000 alongside Adam Spencer. These days he's best known as the host of ABC's Gruen, with a stack of podcasts and shows on the side.
The nearest thing to a proper scandal was in June 2017, when he was arrested at Wagga Wagga airport after police were called about a disruptive passenger on a Qantas flight. He was held for several hours, was not charged, and still made his gig that night. He said the whole thing was a misunderstanding, while Qantas said he had been disruptive and refused to follow crew instructions. He later turned it into comedy.
A year on, B&T reported unnamed audience members at a Gruen taping alleged he threw a hissy fit and stormed off. Anderson said he'd just told a quiet crowd to laugh and engage, and the ABC said nothing unusual happened. That's a grumpy night at the office, not a pattern.
On the harm test, there's nothing to find. We turned up no campaigning against anyone's rights, no conspiracy rabbit holes and no dodgy co-stars. Back in 2010 he told the Star Observer he'd talked about gay rights in loads of shows and would host a rally against homophobia, joking he'd stop banging on about it once marriage equality arrived.
The good stuff is the kind comics do when something goes wrong. He was listed on the bill for the January 2020 Stand Up For Bushfire Relief gala at Melbourne's Palais Theatre, with all proceeds going to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal. We couldn't find totals, and the sources only confirm the line-up, so we'll call that willing rather than proven.
Nothing new on him lately that we could pin down. The latest dated pieces we could read are about his improvised Whatchu Talkin' Bout Wil? show, which wrapped up its run in late 2024. The record on the big political issues is also thin, so this is a yes on what we found, not a deep dive on every opinion he's ever had.