Tom Gleeson: ‘I might be deluded but I feel people know I’m coming from a good place’

Tom Gleeson in Melbourne: ‘There are people still, to this day, who hate Hard Quiz because the host is so obnoxious. It’s like, you do know I’m doing it on purpose?’ Photograph: Charlie Kinross/The Guardian

As we walk down the top end of Collins Street, past the Rolex store on one side and Gucci boutique on the other, approaching the theatre bearing massive photos of his face, Tom Gleeson is describing how out of touch he is.

“A mate of mine once said to me, ‘Everyone thinks you’re really relatable because you come from the country or whatever but you’re not relatable at all. You never had a real job. You’ve worked in the arts your whole life. You’ve never really had to set your alarm for a job. This idea that you’re somehow this regular Australian guy is just so not true.’”