Biography

He is also one of Australia's most respected comedians. Known affectionately throughout Asia as "The Laugh Guru", Jonathan pioneered the Asian stand-up comedy scene, establishing Southeast Asia's first stand-up comedy club, The Crackhouse, in Kuala Lumpur. He is the founder of Comedy Club Asia, producing and performing shows in India, Singapore, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam. Due to his multilingual talents and pan-Asian appeal, Atherton was commissioned to write and perform the first full length comedy special for Asian media platform, Iflix. He is a regular headliner for Royal Caribbean Cruise Line and Holland America Line.
- IMDb mini biography by: Jonathan Atherton

His voice is well recognized in Australia being a regular voice-over for radio and television commercials and a host of corporate videos. Indeed in the Brisbane Art Directors Awards in 1997 four out of the ten winning radio commercials feature his voice.

Known for his linguist talents: fluent in German, Indonesian, Malay, Thai, Lugandan and Swahili, and some Japanese, Lao, Hindi as well as several other African and Asian dialects.

He studies linguistics, anthropology and religion at the University of Queensland, Australia.

He made his first trip at the age of two when he traveled with his father, a foreign correspondent.

He lived in Central Africa for two years teaching English and working as safari guide in Uganda. He was initiated into Uganda's largest tribe the Baganda. In Asia, he lived in Thailand for two years and taught English in Japan for six months.