Have You Been Paying Attention? host Tom Gleisner’s new role in Queen’s Birthday honour

HE is known for his quick-witted humour as part of Working Dog but Tom Gleisner is showing he has a serious side thanks to his special new title.

HE is known for his quick-witted humour on Have You Been Paying Attention? and as part of Working Dog, the production powerhouse behind Frontline and The Castle.

But there’s a more serious side to Tom Gleisner, who has today been named an Officer of the order of Australia.

The Melbourne-based TV host, writer and producer is the chairman of Challenge, the cancer charity, and a patron of Learning For Life, which provides services and support for children with autism (as of last year, it had raised more than $1.55 million and delivered 36,000 hours of early intervention therapy).

Of the Queen’s Birthday honour, Mr Gleisner said: “I’m not used to this sort of attention — I’m very thrilled”.

Tom Gleisner shows he has a serious side to him too.

“I don’t think there are TV Week voting forms for this one, I think it might be more technical than that,” he joked.

“Never having done this before I don’t know quite what happens. Am I legally able to park in certain spaces?”

Gleisner was officially recognised on the 2018 honours list for his “distinguished service to the media and television industries as a writer, producer, actor and presenter, to children living with cancer, and as a supporter of young people with autism spectrum disorders”.

Mr Gleisner — who hosts Ten’s Logie-winning news quiz show Have You Been Paying Attention? — said he hoped he could use his AO honour to raise awareness for his charity endeavours.

“The best part of an award such as this is it allows me to highlight the work of those organisations,” Mr Gleisner told News Corp Australia.

“When you’re in the media, you get enough accolades anyway … I get to be on TV every week.

Sam Pang, Tom Gleisner and Ed Kavalee won the Logie Award for Most Outstanding Entertainment Program last year. Picture: Getty Images

“Both (charities) really do depend on the generosity and support of people out there. That is so important.”

Mr Gleisner — who studied law at the University of Melbourne and co-founded Working Dog Productions (Thank God You’re Here, Pictures of You, Utopia) — joked that he would not let his newly-announced AO honour go to his head.

“The show will be renamed Tom Gleisner’s Have You Been Paying Attention?, I think that’s only fitting,” he laughed.

“I’m bracing myself for the response from the team on Monday night.

“I’m sure they’ll be treating me with the respect that this honour would suggest. Hopefully I won’t let it go to my head.

“We’re into the new season and having a lot of fun, looking back at the week’s news. We come at it from a slightly more lighthearted angle.”

Perhaps best-known for his on-screen and behind-the-scenes role with production house Working Dog, Mr Gleisner has been busy on the new season of All Aussie Adventures, which is returning to Ten this year after more than a decade off air.

“We’re in the final stages of All Aussie Adventures. I think the last one (episode) was in black and white, put it that way,” Mr Gleisner said.

“We never say something is definitely finished, we always leave the door open to return to it.”