Billy Birmingham

Billy Birmingham (born 1953) is an Australian humourist and sometime sports journalist, most noted for his parodies of Australian cricket commentary in recordings under The Twelfth Man name. He was the writer of the comedy hit Australiana which was made famous by performer Austen Tayshus. Birmingham is also a regular on the panel discussion show The Back Page, alongside host, Mike Gibson. Mike Gibson was sent up by Birmingham during the late 1980s on his Twelfth Man album Wired World of Sports.

Birmingham is famous for being able to find humour amid the hyperbole of world sport. Following Michael Clarke's debut innings of 151 against India, there was considerable praise for him - including comments that the young man was the new Donald Bradman and that he should captain Australia. Birmingham announced on The Back Page that he was going to nominate Clarke for Australian of the Year: "He's just that good."

During the Sydney 2000 Olympics, Birmingham also recorded a series of mock-commentaries on Olympic events as the "Wired World of Sports", featuring such characters as the American track-and-field representative "Chuck DeWobblee" ("chucked a wobbly" - meaning to throw a tantrum) and the Ukrainian pole-vaulter "Olga Bedjanodgonnagedova" ("bet you're not gonna get over"), while also releasing the single, "Bruce 2000", featuring an impersonation of famed commentator Bruce McAvaney during the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

Billy Birmingham launched a new website in October 2011, The12thMan, the websites features information about Billy Birmingham and his career as The 12th Man as well as a new range of products, including t-shirts, talking mugs, can coolers and bottle openers. Many of the products feature catch phrases.

Other people he has mimicked include:

• Richie Benaud
• Bill Lawry
• Tony Greig
• Mark Taylor
• Max Walker
• Ken Sutcliffe
• Ian Chappell
• Alan Jones
• Ian Maurice
• Ray Warren
• Paul Vautin
• Steve Roach
• Darrell Eastlake
• Former Australian Prime Minister John Howard
• Plus many other iconic people.

A skilled impersonator, Birmingham is also used on the show as a means of interviewing a sporting celebrity who is otherwise unavailable. His impression of Australian rugby union coach Eddie Jones following the decision to award a Super Rugby franchise to Perth was a prime example of this, even to the point that another panelist held Birmingham's left eyebrow in place in order to have him look like the man he was pretending to be. At one point, Birmingham even began an impression of Gibson, which he quickly ceased performing, upon deciding (tongue-in-cheek) that it might endanger his career. He also is well known for spontaneously impersonating Richie Benaud during discussions about cricket, having once said during a debate about Twenty20 cricket, "Why not twenty-two overs for the two sides?" (taking advantage of Benaud's characteristic pronunciation of the letters T and S). In the lead-up to the Melbourne Cup, Birmingham also frequently adopts the distinctive high-pitched voice of a jockey.

Birmingham is also known for his ability to cover up any ignorance he might have of players' names by creating new ones in keeping with the country in question. For example, a discussion about the New Zealand rugby league team collapsed into laughter when Birmingham praised, among others, the performance of "the centre, Waisiwerina Silitupe" ("Why's he wearing a silly toupee?").

Birmingham has also used his impersonation skills on advertisements for KFC, as he did during the summer of 2002/03.

He has also worked on Sydney radio station 2GB 873, along with fellow long-time The Back Page panelist, Mike Gibson and Andrew Moore.