Corporate MC & event host

For the best part of two decades, Dave Eastgate has been Australia’s most experienced television audience warm-up artist. He’s kept live studio crowds hyped for shows including Big Brother, The Voice, X Factor, Australia’s Got Talent, Australian Idol, and even The Price Is Right with Larry Emdur. He’s about to start his fifth season on Australian Idol. That’s often up to twelve-hour days with no script and no second take, and a crowd who need to be as alive at ten at night as they were at ten in the morning. He’s even warmed up crowds of thousands on the steps of the Sydney Opera House, for Idol finales and Channel 10’s Australia Day celebrations.

In 2026 he hosted Fanland at The Star Brisbane for the NRL’s Magic Round: four days of live entertainment, player interviews, special guests and thousands of footy fans. Other highlights include hosting the Jim Beam Island event in Fiji, headlined by the Hoodoo Gurus and Jimmy Barnes, MC’ing the 50th Anniversary Sunbury Festival with Ross Wilson, Joe Camilleri and Richard Clapton, and co-hosting the Casting Guild of Australia Awards with Danielle Cormack, star of Wentworth, to a room full of people who decide who gets cast for what in this country. No pressure.

Based on the Gold Coast, Dave works as a corporate MC, event host and corporate comedian across Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast, Queensland and the rest of Australia. He gets a detailed brief well in advance and tailors his material to the room, the brand and the audience, so the only surprises on the night are good ones.

Dave is terrible at pickleball, has a phobia of spreadsheets and can’t parallel park if someone’s watching. The only thing he’s completely confident in? Working a crowd.