If your Mondays have felt empty lately, never fear: Have You Been Paying Attention? is back! With Tom Gleisner on hosting duties and Ed Kavalee and Sam Pang as panellists, the show and its revolving roster of guests have been making the news funny for 11 years now.
Given its enduring success, it’s hard to believe that HYBPA? barely made it past season one.
“It didn’t have the smoothest of starts,” Tom, 61, tells TV WEEK. “To be honest, we came very close to being cancelled. That we almost lost it makes the show even more precious.”
Moving from a family-friendly Sunday evening timeslot and upping the show’s runtime from 30 minutes to an hour helped the hosts really let loose.
“Channel 10 were the ones who said ‘Hang on – it should be an hour’,” Ed, 44, recalls. “An hour lets people settle in, lets us muck around and tackle the silly stuff around the question. When we went to an hour, that’s when people really got into it.”
“I’m so glad Working Dog and Channel 10 kept believing in it, otherwise I would have had to go back to uni and finish my geology studies,” Sam, 50, chimes in.
Well, geology’s loss is TV’s gain, with the show now up to its 12th season. So should we expect a shake-up in format in 2024?
“I’m getting married to a stranger on the first night,” Ed says, deadpan. “Tom will be performing ninja manoeuvres – and Sam has a farmer he’s keen on.”
“If you’re doing [reality TV favourite] The Block or something, you have to put in these shock twists,” Tom explains. “But for us, the news changes every week. It’s not as if the show is going to get stale – there’s always something happening this week that’s never happened before.”
It helps that HYBPA? gives viewers a rotating cast of three guest panellists each week. There are recurring favourites such as Kitty Flanagan, Celia Pacquola and Mick Molloy, and newbies thrown into the mix too.
“Every week, there are three faces you might not have seen for a while, or ever,” Tom says. “So that’s enough to keep the show fresh.”
While it’s hard to play favourites with the guests who have dropped into the HYBPA? set over the years, some do stand out.
“I think the biggest thrill was to do a show with Harry Shearer,” Sam says of the US comedy legend, who was a guest panellist in 2016.
“He’s a big fan of the show and it was amazing to look to my right and see the man responsible for [voicing] so many The Simpsons characters sitting there behind a buzzer.”
“Whenever Tony Martin’s [the New Zealand-born comedian and writer]name is on the sheet, I’m pumped,” Ed adds. “Even though I see him a bit, he doesn’t own a mobile, so to get hold of him, you have to send him a telegram. At least I know he’ll be on set for hours.”
As for showing up every Sunday to film the show, the HYPBA? trio still have a blast 11 years on.
“It’s amazing – I get out of doing dinner and bath with the kids,” Ed jokes. “But also, and I know it’s daggy, it’s my social life!”
“We regard it as a bit of a party,” Tom agrees. “I think that resonates with viewers. We’re not pretending to be friends, or pretending to have a good time. It’s completely genuine.”
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