Adam Spencer

Adam Barrington Spencer is an Australian comedian, media personality and former radio presenter. He first came to fame when he won his round of the comedic talent search Raw Comedy in 1996. Soon thereafter, he began working at Triple J, on mid-dawn and drive shifts before hosting the Triple J Breakfast Show with Wil Anderson. He later hosted Breakfast on 702 ABC Sydney.
He is a patron of science-related events and programs, including the University of Sydney's Sleek Geeks Science Prize. He collaborated with Karl Kruszelnicki for the long-running Sleek Geek Week tour. He hosts events and panels, writes mathematical recreation books, and performs his own comedy at events around the country.
He is a supporter of the Australian rules football team, the Sydney Swans, and was declared their number one ticket holder for the 2016 season.

Early life

Born on 29 January 1969, in Sydney, Spencer grew up in the Hunters Hill/Gladesville area.
A few hours after birth, he had a seizure, and doctors found blood between his brain and scalp. Twice in the first two days of his life, a priest was called to give the last rites. Between the ages of three until about 11, Spencer underwent a series of operations by eye surgeon Fred Hollows. The deadening of the eyelid muscle led to permanent ptosis and noticeable facial asymmetry. He later received a transplant from a donor in an operation, allowing him to "open" that eye.
His father Larry, died from prostate cancer in 2004. He has a brother and a sister.
Spencer attended Boronia Park Public School, where his favourite teacher, Ms Russell, encouraged his love of mathematics when he was in second grade, in 1976. In 1981 he won a scholarship to attend St Aloysius' College in Sydney, and was a vice-captain of the College and Captain of the Australian Schools Debating Team. He graduated with a score of 200 out of 200 in four-unit maths.
His earliest job was selling newspapers, and during university worked as a dishwasher at a pancake restaurant. He was a member of Scouts Australia.
Spencer was the first in his family to attend university, and originally enrolled to study arts-law. This included economics and philosophy, but he dropped out of those, taking up maths to "round it out", but eventually changed to a maths major. He graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Science with first class honours in pure mathematics in 1991, residing at St Paul's College during his time there. While at university, he was one of the world's top-ranked debaters, reaching the final round of the World Universities Debating Championship three times and winning World's Best Individual Speaker. He won the Australasian debating championship twice. He was President of the University of Sydney Union.

Career

He was secretly entered into the Triple J Raw Comedy Championship in 1996 by a former girlfriend, and won the NSW championship.

Television

Spencer has been a host of ABC science shows Quantum, FAQ and Sleek Geeks. He was a regular guest on the O'Loghlin variety comedy show since its first episode in June 1999.
In October 2001, he hosted the Visions for a Nation Federation Forum. This focused on the views of leading Australians about the challenges facing Australia in the 21st century. It later screened on the ABC.
In August 2002, he made a guest appearance on Cheez TV, playing a burglar with an aversion to old Wham! songs.

Years	Title	Screening	Summary	-
1998–2001	Quantum	ABC TV		-
1998-2001	FAQ	ABC TV	As host, Spencer posed themed frequently asked questions to a panel of scientists.	-
2003	The Hit & Run	The Comedy Channel	Spencer hosted the 8 episode-series, in which he would create challenges for other comedians. The comedians were placed at an unexpected venue outside their comfort zone, and then had less than a day to create new stand-up routines based on the experience.	-
2005	Joker Poker	Channel Ten	Spencer hosted Australia's first free-to-air poker TV show.	-
2008 and 2010	Sleek Geeks	ABC TV		-
2009	Good News Week	Channel Ten		-
2009–2011	Netball's Festival of Stars	Channel Ten	Played in three celebrity netball matches, representing Team NBCF.	-
2018–present	Summer Drum	ABC TV	Spencer hosts the 'Summer' series of the ABC's nightly news panel show, The Drum. The program is broadcast every year throughout January.

Radio

Spencer was spotted by radio station Triple J's senior broadcaster, Helen Razer, at the 1996 Raw Comedy Finals, when he provided a live impromptu weather segment involving mathematical equations. This approach to presenting maths via the weather has been noted by other mathematicians.
He was invited to do occasional work at Triple J, and then hosted segments during the midnight-to-dawn shifts. He did guest spots entitled "Bloking up" on Razer and Judith Lucy's Ladies Lounge afternoon show. When Lucy left Triple J for Melbourne's FOX-FM, he joined as co-host of the Departure Lounge. Helen Razer left in 1998. In 1999, Spencer was later promoted to solo hosting of the breakfast show for approximately 18 months.
Wil Anderson joined Triple J in April 1999, beginning their co-hosting of the breakfast show. The highest-number of mathematical references made by Spencer on an episode the show was 32 instances on 7 March 2001. In 2002, Anderson and Spencer created a fictional metal band, Salmon Hater, with a single 6.66 - One Hundredth of the Number of the Beast. It was rated as number 26 in Triple J's Hottest 100.
Both Anderson and Spencer chose to retire from the breakfast show in 2004. They hosted a comedic tribute show, The Last Time, which toured around Australia and focused on their six years in co-hosting the show. The tribute show's title was a mocking take on John Farnham's farewell tour, which was not actually his last tour.
On 20 February 2006, he began presenting Breakfast on 702 ABC Sydney, replacing Angela Catterns. His hosting was described as having transformed ABC 702 into a "...science and maths, women's sports and soft rock loving place to be..." On 6 December 2013, Spencer hosted his last breakfast radio program for ABC 702, concluding 14 years of radio broadcasting at the age of 44. His farewell live show included Alex Lloyd performing a rewritten version of his song Amazing. For his final radio survey, Spencer was ranked second in the breakfast slot. He was replaced on ABC 702 by fellow Triple J alumni, Robbie Buck.
Spencer hosted the Smile High Club radio show programme on Qantas Airlines radio channel, Q, circa 2010.

Presentations and hosting

Spencer has hosted science-related events and held guest spots at a wide range of festivals and conferences, and has been described as "the Eddie McGuire of edgy cultural events."
Spencer was interviewed about issues affecting teens, for George Negus' New Dimensions' special screenings during Youth Week in 2003.
He went through Channel 7's Wheel of Fortune's formal audition process in April 2004. He then played on the show in June 2004. He became a carry-over champion and won a telescope.
For several years, Spencer has hosted both the Eureka awards and the Prime Minister's Prizes for Science award ceremonies. The Eureka awards have included a sponsored namesake award: the online Adam Spencer/University of Sydney Eureka Schools Prize for Lateral Thinking. The namesake award was issued in 2003 and 2004.
Spencer has presented televised coverage of Tropfest for a number of years, including 2006 and 2013.
He interviewed Breaking Bad scriptwriter Vince Gilligan during the Sydney Writers' Festival in 2014.

Year	Hosting and speaking roles
2002	He MCd the Air Guitar Championships at the Hobart Summer Festival in 2002.
2003	Spencer spoke at the Planning Institute of Australia's national congress on "Leading with diversity" in 2003, presented on the "Comedy of Maths" at the FPA annual convention in October 2003, was a guest speaker at the 15th annual Innovative Technology Schools Conference in 2003.
2004	Fronted a Sydney concert for World Environment Day in 2004.
2005	He MCd the Spirit of Youth Awards in 2005, and was guest speaker at the 2005 Country Public Libraries Association conference. Spencer and Dr Karl Kruszelnicki co-hosted "Class of a Million", a concurrent interactive science lesson for one million students, using Access Grid technology. It was held during the Australian Science Festival in August 2005.
2006	Hosted a forum on "Green is the New Black" for the City of Sydney in 2006, and hosted Travel Weeklys 2006 trivia night, Travel Pursuit.
2008	Hosted the 14th annual AIMIA Awards ceremony.
2009	Presented at The Big Skills Conference Sydney 2009.
2010	Hosted the 2010 Shonkies for Choice.
2011	Hosted the Publishers Australia Awards.
2014	Chaired a panel on "Smashing silos, building bridges..." at the Sydney Cancer Conference 2014, and facilitated sessions for the Engineers Australian Convention 2014.
2015	Facilitated a panel about algae for biofuels at the 5th Congress of the International Society for Applied Phycology, and hosted the 2015 Construction Skills Queensland Excellence Awards.
2017	Spencer was part of the Byron Bay Writers festival in August 2017, with events: A conversation with Lex Hirst, chairing the panel on Science, Philosophy and Ideas, and a panel member of Night of the Nerds. He hosted the Sneaks showcase at the Adobe Symposium, opened the 2017 Grain Growers' annual Innovation Generation conference, and was a keynote speaker at the Australia Pharmacy Professional Conference and Trade Exhibition.