As Guy Mont Spelling Bee returns to our screens, host Guy Montgomery spells out his take on the state of the world.
It’s not everyday that a comedy spelling bee conducted on Zoom during the Covid-19 pandemic becomes a trans-Tasman television phenomenon. But as Guy Mont Spelling Bee returns to our screens in Aotearoa, off the back of critically-acclaimed seasons across the ditch and host Guy Montgomery taking home a Logie for most popular new talent, it’s worth spelling out the tremendous s-u-c-c-e-s-s of this homegrown gameshow.
Packing the traditional spelling bee format with increasingly absurd rounds which, as Montgomery described himself, “create more unbearably and unnecessarily circuitous routes towards the spelling of words,” Spelling Bee has the potential to travel much wider than down under. “The dream is that someone sees it and might want to do something with it in the United Kingdom,” he told our My Life in TV series. “I’ve done my bit, I don’t know what happens next.”
What we can tell you for sure is that the new season is packed with New Zealand comedy stars from across generations, including Johanna Cosgrove, Oscar Kightley, Jason Gunn, Lana Walters and Lynda Topp, all helped out by long-suffering assistant Sanjay Patel. Bravely selecting words from the coward’s cup to the bucket of bravery, the panel of comedians face off every week to see who will continue on to take home the title of Guy Mont Spelling Bee’s Guy Mont-Champion.
While we wait to see who will prosper and who will be left wearing the dunce hat, we asked host Guy Montgomery to share his grips with the modern world, from people who don’t listen to the perils of instant communication.
What bothers you most about the world right now?
The slow erosion of a shared reality between everyone isn’t great. It seems we are all at the mercy of our algorithms and unfortunately the people in charge of the settings for the algorithms have no social conditioning because they never learned how to make a friend.
What sort of people do you avoid?
People who don’t ask questions! No-one is so interesting they don’t need to ask questions about the people and world around them. It drives me crazy. NOT ALL AMERICAN PEOPLE but a lot of American people don’t know how to ask questions and I suppose from the right distance that can be pretty crack up but it is also an insane way to live.
What makes you want to get up in the morning?
My baby! There is a baby in our house and every morning I am very excited to catch up with her.
How do you hold onto hope in these crazy times?
My immediate community! It’s got to be. The people who I am lucky enough to surround myself with are far more influential on the day-to-day quality of my life than the aforementioned sociopaths with the keys to the internet.
What is the single best quality a human can have?
Quick to laugh.
What’s over-rated?
Feeling beholden to text / email / message back right away. You are allowed time to yourself!
What’s under-rated?
An openness to being wrong. Conversations are less robust when everyone feels as though they have to hold the right opinion. Being wrong is all good!
If you could have a do-over, what would you change?
Always a risk to meddle with the timeline but I think I would have tried to broaden my horizons and somehow force a stronger sense of identity on myself through my teenage years into my early 20s. I wasn’t making a lot of decisions that I felt especially sturdy in, so much as travelling the path of least resistance and in the slipstream of whatever my friends were doing. Don’t get me wrong, I love my friends! But I don’t love pretending to enjoy drinking warm beer in a tent at Rhythm & Vines.
What brings you joy?
Thinking of a new joke while walking to a gig and then trying it at the gig and the audience laughing and thinking to myself, “I was right… that was funny.”
What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?
Surround yourself with people more talented than you and be generous with your creativity. If you’ve thought of one good idea, you can think of another one. Shout out Tim Batt, Joseph Moore, everyone in Snort! I stand on your shoulders!
What advice do you wish you’d never followed?
I think I’ve always held advice lightly, there is no specific piece of advice I can think of that I regret following. Shout out Guy Montgomery!
Tell us about a controversial opinion you hold.
Phone calls are better than text. Clearer communication, more efficient and the sound of a person on the other end of the line – what’s not to love? Shout out Alexander Graham Bell (not for all his insane opinions about deaf people though).
When you’re feeling low, what helps?
Saying I’m feeling low out loud and going for a run has consistently proven to be the most effective and immediate means of addressing this. Also seeing a friend face-to-face. These are very simple techniques for I am a very simple man.
In what ways is public-facing Guy Montgomery different to private Guy Montgomery?
I think the gap isn’t too big. One of the big differences is I ask for a lot less spelling in my private life. This is probably a better question for Chelsie because the feeling in my body is I’m being Guy Montgomery the whole time.
Give us some life advice.
Make more phone calls! Podcasts have really had the run of the place lately but cold calling a good friend is where the magic is! I will absolutely rinse my contacts list when I’ve got a mountain of mindless tasks in front of me and they are some of the best days of my life.
Guy Mont Spelling Bee returns from Thursday on Three and ThreeNow
