Comedian and Bake Off presenter Cal Wilson has died aged 53.
The New Zealander who made Australia home died on Wednesday in a Sydney hospital, surrounded by family and friends.
Who was Cal Wilson?
Cal Wilson was a New Zealander stand-up comedian, author, radio and television presenter who was based in Australia.
Cal Wilson was born on October 5, 1970
After attending high school in Christchurch, New Zealand, Wilson completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Canterbury.
Comedy career
Cal Wilson co-founded the Court Jesters improv group in 1990 and was part of the New Zealand team that won the World Theatresports title in Los Angeles in 1994.
Wilson then moved to stand-up comedy full-time and in 1997 was the inaugural winner (with Ewen Gilmour) of New Zealand’s most prestigious comedy award, the Billy T.
She also regularly appeared on TV3’s Pulp Comedy.[6] From 2003, she began living in Melbourne.
In 2001, Wilson won the “Best Newcomer” award at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
She appeared to critical acclaim at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2004.
Her 2006 show, Up There, Cal Wilson, sold out at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
Television career
Cal Wilson appeared on the Australian comedy shows SkitHOUSE, Rove Live, Thank God You’re Here, Good News Week, Spicks and Specks, The Project, Celebrity Name Game, Show Me the Movie!, Would I Lie to You? Australia, Have You Been Paying Attention? and Hughesy, We Have a Problem and the New Zealand TV show 7 days.
In 2002, she helped write the screenplay for the New Zealand sitcom Willy Nilly.
In 2007, she was part of the ensemble cast of the Australian sketch comedy TV show The Wedge.
In 2008, Wilson appeared in the eighth series of the Australian version of Dancing with the Stars. Paired with series 7 winner Craig Monley, she was the third eliminated contestant.
In 2010, she became host of the program Sleuth 101 and also took part in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Great Debate.
In 2012, she appeared as a guest on the UK comedy quiz show QI (J series) (Episodes 3 – Journeys, and 6 – Joints) and in 2013 was captain of “Team Cal” on the Australian light entertainment television series Slide Show.
In 2018, Wilson voiced Petal and Thorn in the children’s TV series Kitty Is Not a Cat.
In 2019, she recorded a Netflix Original Comedy Special titled Comedians of the World representing New Zealand. In 2019, she toured a stand-up show, Gifted Underachiever.
In 2022, Wilson participated in the eighth season of the Australian version of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!.
In August 2022, it was revealed that Wilson would host the seventh season of The Great Australian Bake Off alongside Natalie Tran and new judges Darren Purchese and Rachel Khoo.
In mid-2023, Wilson featured in SBS TV’s Who The Bloody Hell Are You? (Season 1, Episode 2).
Radio
In 2007, Cal Wilson co-hosted, with Akmal Saleh, the drive time radio show The Akmal Show with Cal Wilson (later called The Wrong Way Home with Akmal, Cal and Ed), which aired on Nova FM in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.
Prior to that role, she was a regular guest on the Triple M program Get This.
In 2009, Wilson co-hosted Mornings on Nova 100 (Melbourne) with Dylan Lewis. She resigned from Nova 100 in November 2009.
Cal Wilson cause of death
Cal Wilson died following a short illness on 11 October 2023 at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Camperdown, Sydney. She was 53.
Fellow comedians and performers paid tribute on her Instagram page.
Actor and comedian Rebel Wilson said she was “amazingly talented and amazingly kind”.
“I was very very lucky to work with Cal on multiple projects especially over the last few years where she wrote brilliant material for me,” she wrote.
NZ actor Rhys Darby described her as “an amazing talent”.
“Such a quick brain and so much style and taste. This hurts hard,” he wrote.
Comedian, writer and media personality Mikey Robins posted on social media that Wilson was ‘one of the funniest, loveliest people to have ever graced the comedy stage”.
“Cal Wilson was very special. My heart goes out to those who held her close,” he wrote.
Wilson is survived by her husband Chris and son Digby.
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