James ReesOAM (born 15 July 1987) is an Australian comedian and former children's entertainer best known for playing the role of Jimmy Giggle on ABC Kids' flagship program Giggle and Hoot from 2009 to 2020.[1][2][3][4][5]
Rees married his long-term partner Tori in 2013 and they have three sons named Lenny, Mack and Vinny.[6] After Rees finished up with Giggle and Hoot, they moved from the Central Coast, New South Wales to the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria.[7]
Career
Rees was the host of the Australian ABC children's program Giggle and Hoot from 2009 to 2020. In the program, Jimmy Giggle (James Rees) is shown to enjoy mending objects, although he relies on a "problematic magic button" that never works. He is portrayed as having a brilliant talent in creating new things out of regular items. He also plays several musical instruments in the program, including the ukulele, double bass, baritone saxophone, piano and guitar. It was reported that Rees beat 5,000 other actors to win the role, and moved to the Central Coast from his home town in Victoria for the role.[8]
In November 2019, Rees announced that he had decided to end his stint with Giggle and Hoot. He was quoted as saying that he had decided to move on to a different phase of his life. The show's "gruelling schedule", involving shooting for 47 weeks a year, had made it difficult for his growing family of three young children.[5]
In 2020 he started releasing short humorous videos on TikTok and YouTube, covering topics such as parenting, packaging and the COVID-19 pandemic.[18][19] His most well-known videos are those in a series called "Meanwhile in Australia", where he plays the role of each state and territory negotiating lockdowns, borders and vaccinations.[20][21] As of August 2021, the series had gained over 8 million followers on social media and 10 million fans on TikTok.[20]