 | This biographical articleis writtenlike a résumé. Pleasehelp improve it by revising it to beneutral andencyclopedic.(October 2016) |
Paul Verhoeven | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1983-01-15)15 January 1983 (age 43) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupations | Television and radio presenter, comedian, writer |
| Spouse | Tegan Higginbotham |
Paul F. Verhoeven (born 15 January 1983) is an Australian television and radio presenter, writer, blogger and comedian. He is the host of the television programSteam Punks! on theABC Entertains channel.[1]
Verhoeven's father, John Verhoeven, was an officer in the New South Wales Police Force. Verhoeven grew up with his family on Sydney's northern beaches, before he moved to Melbourne after completing a Bachelor of Film Studies at theUniversity of New South Wales.[2]
Verhoeven is best known for his extensive work withTriple J as the host of the "Nerdy By Nature" segment onThe Breakfast Show withTom Ballard andAlex Dyson. The segment was formerly known as "Nerds of a Feather" and "Close Encounters of the Nerd Kind".
He presentedThe Mid-Dawn show for four years and was producer ofThe Graveyard Shift withDave Callan. Verhoeven has also presentedThe Breakfast Show,Weekend Arvos and Triple J'sWeekend Breakfast Show.
He is currently a regular fill-in presenter onABC Local Radio programs.
Verhoeven is the host and co-writer ofSteam Punks, a narrative game show onABC 3, produced by Beyond Entertainment. He has been a regular guest on Channel 10'sThe Project andStudio 3 on ABC 3. He has also appeared onGood Game. He makes regular appearances on the Melbourne community TV stationChannel 31. He was a presenter on two seasons ofSave Point, a gaming show onONE HD, which began its second season in 2012.[3]
Verhoeven co-hosted and wrote for thePlanet Nerd, ageek comedyRMITV program broadcast onChannel 31 Melbourne, which was nominated for Best Comedy Program at the 2008Antenna Awards. He wrote and presented an online television series entitledCuriageous, a comedic mythbusting series, for the Australian online news siteThe Vine.[4]
Verhoeven made his solo comedy debut in the showTell Me Lies at the 2014Melbourne Fringe Festival. He reprised it at the 2015Melbourne International Comedy Festival, whereThe Sydney Morning Herald awarded it four stars and called it "an engaging night of comedy, from a very enjoyable performer who left the audience wanting more".[5] He also performed in the 2014 Melbourne Fringe Festival production ofWatson: Who's Afraid of the Dark, which won a Fringe Award for best comedy that year.
Verhoeven is a long-running senior contributor toThe Vine. He is also writer and artist ofLessons for Children, a weekly syndicated web comic.[6] He has been a regular contributor forYen Magazine, a pop culture critic forJunkee, a game critic for MMGN and has written forFilmink magazine,Triple J Magazine andHorse and Hound.[citation needed] In March 2015, together with artist and comedianKris Straub, he created the ongoing gaming podcast28 Plays Later, which he co-hosts.[7]
Verhoeven has a YouTube channel with a focus on the BBC sci-fi dramaDoctor Who, giving opinions, reviews and speculation, as well as branching into discussion on other topics such as equality in video games and dog impressions. HisTEDx talk, entitled "Sexism in Gaming",[8] received attention in early 2014.
Verhoeven's true crime book,Loose Units, was released in 2018. The book includes tales from his father, John Verhoeven's, career experiences (including in the New South Wales Police Force) as well as other people's careers. A companioncrime podcast (2018–present) which includes conversations with his father. Another book,Electric Blue, was released in 2020.[9]
Verhoeven was one ofCleo magazine's Top 50 Bachelors of the Year for 2011 and was named the second runner up.[10] He marriedTegan Higginbotham in a civil ceremony in Paris in July 2019.[11]