Timothy Ross

Timothy Ross, nicknamed Rosso, is an Australian comedian, radio host, writer, and television presenter. He began his career performing stand-up comedy with Merrick Watts as part of the duo Merrick and Rosso. He is known as the presenter of the ABC Television shows Streets of Your Town and Designing a Legacy, which reflect his personal enthusiasm for design and architecture.

Ross grew up in Mount Eliza, Victoria, with his parents and two brothers. He studied drama and music at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and then attended La Trobe University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts majoring in history, theatre and drama. He first teamed up with Merrick Watts for a one-off comedy show in 1996, and the pair went on to tour Australia and appear at many comedy festivals together, co-authoring Merrick and Rosso, The Book and its second volume. They began at Triple J in 1998 with a weekly guest spot, became full-time presenters, and in 2001 moved to the new commercial station Nova 96.9 for the breakfast shift.

On television, Merrick and Rosso hosted Planet Merrick and Rosso on The Comedy Channel, Merrick and Rosso Unplanned on the Nine Network, and The B Team on Network Ten. In 2016, Ross presented Streets of Your Town, a two-part documentary about Australian modernist architecture, which was the most watched arts program on the ABC that year, and in 2021 he presented Designing A Legacy. His interest in architecture has led to speaking engagements at venues including the Museum of Sydney and the London Design Museum, and he has written on architecture for publications such as The Saturday Paper and The Guardian.