Latest news with #TomWalker
ABC News
16 hours ago
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Chit Chat: Comedian Tom Walker on dog nipples, clown training and being the new Bake Off host
Tom Walker is as surprised to find himself co-hosting The Great Australian Bake Off as you are. Long-time fans of the Sydney comedian would be more used to seeing him painted entirely Smurf blue on his Twitch stream or talking about male anatomy on stage than swanning around the Bake Off tent politely asking contestants about their crumb. But that's where Walker finds himself this season, next to fellow comedian and co-host Natalie Tran, trying to find the best home baker in the country. Trained in clowning at the prestigious École Philippe Gaulier in Paris (more on that later), Walker has been putting his eclectic mark on the Australian comedy scene for almost a decade. Since winning Best Newcomer with his debut show Beep Boop at the 2016 Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Walker has continued to pull off magnificent feats, from creating a mime-based show that doesn't suck (even Prime Video agrees) to parlaying the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns into a loyal Twitch audience. But his next transformation, into a cardie-clad baking fan, might just be his most surprising yet. I literally host a podcast called so I think I'm pretty clearly the freak that I am. If you just search any of my social media feeds for the term poop, you'll find out that I have many opinions on the topic. I was always trying to be up-front with that right from the start. Like in the audition, they ask you to come in with jokes, and one of the gags I came in with was: "All right, your 12 cupcakes must be identical and look delicious, like dog nipples." Afterwards, I walked out like: "I wouldn't have done that in front of the network but that's the creative people in there." I was then told it was the network people in there. When I told my parents that I'd gotten a text from my manager that said "Bake Off audition seemed like it went well. Everyone was pleasantly surprised." They laughed harder than I've ever seen them laugh before, and they've been to a lot of my shows, so that was disheartening. I think shocked and happy disbelief covers it. It's clearly a swing from them. They're putting faith in the format of the show and my ability to be warm and genuine. I had no say in the wardrobe! One of the most pathetic emails I've ever sent was to wardrobe where I was like, "Hey, just thinking: do you think I could wear some band shirts on the show?" They sent back a very quick email saying, "No, you can't wear a Jeff Rosenstock shirt on the show." I'm looking at it again and realising that it depicts Garfield smoking a joint, so that was probably for the best. I don't know. I don't think there is. Like, that's something that sometimes scares me about myself. I don't know where I would stop. I mean, in 2017 when I was nominated for the Barry Award [now the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Award] I got a tattoo that said "Barry winner" because I was nominated against Hannah Gadsby's Nanette and I thought it would be a funny bit of hubris. Then when they won, I got "winner" crossed out and replaced with "nominee". The thing I wouldn't want to do is inconvenience someone or cause harm to another. But in terms of harm to me, or like detriment to my personal life I don't think there's too far. I don't think of dignity. I'm happy to give it up. It was around for a solid week. I was tinged blue pretty much the whole time. Oh man, I think sometimes people optimistically hear the words clown training and think, "Oh, cool. This guy must be able to do a back flip." My clown training is like the type where an old man tells you to get up on stage and be funny. You do that and he says, "That wasn't funny. Next." Then he does that for the other 20 people in the room and you all go home miserable. So, I think the most valuable thing to come out of that is a complete lack of ego and also the knowledge that it's normal to fail. Oh, there is always something going on in my history that would get me called into the office if I had a regular job. One thing I do is I'll try and think of a type of person and see where that type of person hangs out, just finding artisanal cigarette forums or something. Or even better than that, like the subreddit r/soup is solid to me because it's just a bunch of miscellaneous soup fans hanging out. First, straight up, I think I would like to be impaled upon something and then in my last moments I've got to be coughing up blood. Or I've got a big forehead. Maybe there would be like a flash of steel across the screen and then my whole forehead slides off, roughly 60 per cent of my head just removed. That would be so cool. Hmm, this pause is not me trying to think of something. What I'm trying to do is whittle it down to just one thing. I was an embarrassingly big fan of this metal cello cover band, Apocalyptica. It was like the metal-head version of a rap song has been covered by a ukulele. It's so humiliating, I would put on, like, a Hall of the Mountain King Apocalyptica cover in the car with my friends. I think the one that immediately jumps out to me is there is an episode in the show. So, I'm giving away one item here. There is a pistachio shortbread technical bake and with the technical bakes the judges present like the ideal version of the bake for the contestants to recreate. But those judge-made examples, they're just like around. So, Demi [Lardner, comedian and Tom's wife] came to set the day of the pistachio shortbread. We walked past the kitchen like, "Oh, you don't mind …" It was so good. That's truly like a moment that I'll remember, me and Demi walking around like we're on mushrooms, just from pistachio shortbread flavour. It was crazy. The Great Australian Bake Off season eight is currently airing weekly on Foxtel and Binge.
News.com.au
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Comedian Tom Walker plans to honour the late Cal Wilson as he joins Great Australian Bake Off as new co-host
There's a new co-host in the mix on the new season of Great Australian Bake Off, but just don't expect him to whip up anything but laughs. 'I like to cook but I am pathetically scared of my oven,' comedian Tom Walker tells ahead of tonight's Season 8 premiere on Foxtel and BINGE. 'Bakers have all of my admiration for being brave enough to shut something away in the oven and just walk away, trusting that it'll keep up its end of the bargain and become all lovely and crunchy and browned. I can't do that. I'd crack under pressure.' While he loves 'to fry an egg', Walker is leaving the culinary creations to the 12 'incredible' amateur bakers selected this season, among them a pastor, hairdresser and nurse. 'I was so happy to see the diversity of people all brought together and bonding over baking – all different careers, ages, backgrounds, eagerly discussing their shared passion. All of them with different wonderful reveals too,' he says. 'There's 12 bakers and I'd watch 10 hours on each of them.' Stream Great Australian Bake Off Season 8 on Foxtel and BINGE, available on Hubbl. However, joining the long-running series has been bittersweet for Walker, who takes over the co-hosting gig two years after the sudden death of beloved comedian and co-host Cal Wilson, who at the time had just filmed the first four episodes of Season 7. The comic admits he was a little worried taking on the role, given Wilson left a massive void in the series when she passed away from a sudden illness in 2023. 'I worry about everything, but in this case taking over the role a friend had, when that friend is loved by all. Yeah, I think – I hope – that I'm different enough from Cal. It's clear I'm not trying to replace her. No one could,' he says. 'In the end all I can do is do a good enough job that she'd be happy to hear about it. I wish I could text her that I was doing the show. She'd get a kick out of it.' And Walker has fond memories of his fellow comedian too, remembering Wilson for her kindness and warmth, and how 'the brightest person in any room' helped him when he was an emerging comic on the circuit. He is now on a mission to honour her memory on the show. 'If there's a way to honour Cal on Bake Off, I think it boils down to: be warm, and truly care. Not just on camera, but off,' he says. 'Like all of us, Cal loved this job. It's important to me to genuinely care about the people on set, the bakers who are trusting us to present them in the brightest and best light and the talented crew who make the impossible happen.' 'More important to me is how to honour Cal in real life. She was an inspiration in how she magically seemed to have enough time for everyone, and enough space in that whirring fast magical mind of hers to keep everything about the people she cared about fixed and sparkling and detailed. Love you Cal.' The stand-up comic, who has won fans over in recent years thanks to his infectious charm on shows such as W hose Line Is It Anyway? Australia and Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee, will share hosting duties with existing host Natalie Tran. 'Natalie and I get on great! She rocks and I'm really happy to have made a friend. We've been texting and yapping and organising catch-ups,' Walker says. 'She was so helpful coming in to the weird world of watching people bake – we work great together and it's so fun to hang out and make each other laugh.' 'Oh, also, just in case she reads this, she insists that she 'throws parties', but if you press her on it you find out that the party is like 6 people from her family and her husband. That's not a party, it's a gathering, and I will continue to fight her on this.' Returning judges, British culinary icon Rachel Khoo and Aussie pastry king Darren Purchese, have also welcomed Walker into the famous baking shed with open arms. 'On set everyone's always laughing and Rachel and Darren are very patient with me when I ask something truly humiliating like, 'What's ganache for?'' he says.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Flash flooding closes Groveport golf course, strands patrons; more rain forecast Sunday
Late afternoon flash flooding left one car submerged and others stranded July 26 at the Groveport-owned The Links at Groveport golf course. Golf course director Tom Walker said early spring flooding typically closes the course for a day or two. But he worries that additional rain and the cresting of the Little Walnut Creek could worsen the problem. One vehicle ended up in a sand pit used to filter and contain contaminants. "I'm not sure how it got there," Walker said, speculating that flood waters lifted it from where it was parked. Water had risen halfway up the windshield. At least three other cars were left overnight into July 27, stranded and unable to start due to high rushing water. "They tried to vacate last night, but water rose above the tailpipes," he said, preventing ignition. A golf course message announcing the facility's closure due to flooding may continue into next week, depending on additional rainfall. Rain gauges at the course neared four inches, said Walker. As of 9 a.m. July 27, the National Weather Service lifted its flood warning for central Ohio. However, there is still a flood advisory for Fairfield County due to reported high water and road closures, meteorologist Toms Franks told The Dispatch. The July 27 forecast replays recent patterns: afternoon showers and thunderstorms likely, with rain showers likely after 4 p.m. The high will be around 90 degrees, with light breezes. The chance of rain is 80% with less than a tenth of an inch, except during thunderstorms. The rainfall total at John Glenn International Airport was 0.91 inches over 24 hours ending Sunday morning. But Groveport and pockets of Fairfield County had significantly more rain," said Franks, affirming that Groveport's multiple inches fell within an hour. "There can be a fairly fine line between nothing and significant rainfall," Franks said, with Groveport in the path of fronts that dropped storm after storm. Franks said the NWS works to be proactive with warnings, following incidents of flash flooding nationwide and a warming climate. "We'd rather have too much warning than not enough. Because the atmosphere is warmer, from the ground up it is able to hold more water vapor and there have been larger rainfall totals," Franks said. Walker now worries that additional rain could pool on the fairways and with high heat kill the turf grass, which last happened in 2017. "We lost all the fairways on the back nine," he said. Golfers played 36,000 rounds last year. A typical weekend day brings in up to 250 golfers. And the city-subsidized course doesn't want to closed too long. "We'll tackle it however we have to," Walker said. dnarciso@ This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: The Links at Groveport golf course closes due to flash flooding
Fox News
2 days ago
- Fox News
America's skies are wide open to national security threats, drone expert warns: 'We have no awareness'
As drone technology rapidly advances, industry experts are warning Congress about potential airspace lapses creating the next national security threat if left unregulated. In a U.S. House Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing held last week, drone industry experts testified about the looming threats to airspace safety posed by unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). "More than half of all near misses with commercial and general aviation are with drones," Tom Walker, CEO of DroneUp, told Fox News Digital. Walker leads the world's largest drone services network while working closely with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the Departments of Transportation (DOT), Defense (DOD) and Homeland Security (DHS) to implement changes on national airspace policy. While on Capitol Hill, Walker implored lawmakers to build a nationalized system that has the ability to identify each drone, pilot and mission throughout the country. "We don't have awareness of our airspace," Walker said. "We don't have a common operating picture. We can't look at a picture, and see all of the drones and manned aircraft and say, 'Here's who this is and here's what they're doing.'" Currently, the federal government does not have a centralized database that identifies a drone and its pilot in real-time, creating security lapses around critical infrastructure throughout the country and a lack of accountability surrounding rules and regulations of airspace. The implementation of Remote ID – a "digital license plate" for drones – was rolled out in an attempt to identify UAS systems, but can easily be overridden to conceal a pilot's identity, according to Walker. "The problem right now is everything is about policy," Walker said. "We have a policy that says you can't go above 400 feet. We have a policy that says you can't fly during Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFR). We have a policy that says you can't fly in restricted airspace. And those policies have been violated over a million times." Walker pointed to several high-profile incidents in recent months involving drones interfering with law enforcement efforts. Earlier this year, a California man pleaded guilty to federal charges after his drone struck a Canadian Super Scooper firefighting aircraft while authorities raced to battle the devastating Palisades Fire. As a result, the potentially lifesaving plane was grounded for approximately five days. Another instance that grounded a first responders' aircraft occurred after authorities announced a helicopter aiding in search efforts for victims of the Texas floods was struck by a drone. "The helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing, and a critical piece of response equipment is now out of service until further notice," the City of Kerrville said in a statement. While officials have insisted these instances were completely preventable, Walker points to a lack of a centralized system to identify and locate unlawful drones. "I would argue we have no awareness of the airspace whatsoever," Walker told Fox News Digital. "If you don't have awareness, you cannot have control of your airspace. And if you don't have control of your airspace, you can't defend your airspace – which means you have no sovereignty of your airspace." Although the vast majority of regulations have been implemented through policy changes, Walker believes officials are focusing their efforts on counter-UAS systems in a misguided attempt to regain control of the country's airspace. "I get a little discouraged when I hear that the first step we need is counter-UAS," Walker said. "You don't own and control your airspace just by having defensive postures. You have to own it, you have to control it, you have to manage it – and then you use those types of measures only when you lose the ability to control a particular risk scenario." Walker's solution would initially be rolled out in areas that are at a high risk for drone incursions in what he calls a "phased approach," with agencies having access on an as-needed basis. "Let's start with protecting critical infrastructure," Walker said, before pointing to the United States' recent airstrike on Iranian nuclear facilities. "Think about the recent operation where we launched the B-2 [bombers]," Walker told Fox News Digital. "All it would've taken is a kid with a [drone] flying over that airbase and they wouldn't have been able to launch." As government officials look to integrate drone policies during a time when technology is changing at a rapid rate, Walker encourages collaboration between UAS experts and authorities to aim for long-standing regulations that benefit Americans while stressing that the current guidelines do not adequately address airspace concerns. "What systems do we have in place that are tested, tabletop exercised and in place to prevent that today?" Walker said. "The answer is nothing." The airspace database would then include areas such as the southern border and prisons throughout the country, in an attempt to cut down on criminals' smuggling attempts. "If you look at the number of things that are being smuggled into prisons, it's not just drugs, cellphones and SIM cards," Walker said. "It's knives, guns and explosives. The problem is already a crisis, and it's already costing lives. And we, as a country, have done very little up to this point, other than policy." Steven Willoughby, DHS director of counter-UAS program management, testified in a Senate Judicial Committee hearing on Tuesday about cartels using drones to carry out illegal operations at the border, echoing Walker's sentiment. "U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents and officers have seized thousands of pounds of narcotics, including enough fentanyl, to kill tens of thousands of Americans across the globe," Willoughby said. "Drones have also been used increasingly to conduct kinetic attacks or warring cartel functions have attacked one another using drone delivered explosives, and it's only a matter of time before Americans or law enforcement are targeted in the border region." The FAA did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. The implementation of a nationwide, real-time database of UAS flights could ultimately allow drones to exist alongside manned aircraft, further cementing the United States' ability to protect both its domestic and international assets while aiding its citizens. "We should have both manned and unmanned aircraft working together harmoniously in a symbiotic environment and creating a force multiplier that allows us to save more lives," Walker said. " It allows us to protect our borders, and allows us to provide services to the general public at a level we've never comprehended."
Fox News
7 days ago
- Business
- Fox News
Drone expert highlights national security risks amid changing technology in Congressional testimony
DroneUp CEO Tom Walker speaks with Fox News Digital about his Congressional testimony calling for a nationalized database of drone pilots and flights amid changing technology, while warning the country's airspace regulations are unprepared.
