The “proudly stupid” clip show Fail Army, hosted by Guy Montgomery and Joseph Moore, returns tonight on TV3 at 10pm. Guy Montgomery teases what punters can expect from the much-anticipated second season.
The first thing to know is that Fail Army arrives in New Zealand as a finished product. The show arrives mixed and graded, with a booming American voiceover making corny and occasionally unsavoury gags for every clip. Joseph and I then watch down the show, write the studio links and rewrite the voiceovers for the fails. We can’t change any of the segment titles, we can’t change any of the content within the segments.
If someone said to me “Guy, if you could make any television show in the world, what would it be?” my answer wouldn’t necessarily be Fail Army. I love hosting Fail Army but no-one would accuse it of being aspirational content. It is America’s Funniest Home Videos for the twenty first century, a vehicle for turning cheap and popular video content into a television show. I like watching people fall down as much as the next guy, but after seeing it for the hundredth time in a season, there are only so many ways you can say “I hope this man has a good trip… to the hospital.” before the shine rubs off the gag.
If you stopped and asked someone on the street, “What is Fail Army missing?” Nine out of ten people would say, “What is Fail Army?” The one other person would say, “A rotating cast of characters and a strong narrative throughline.” We are hoping to cater to that person’s request. In addition to people getting seriously injured, this ‘season’ of Fail Army features the unravelling of its hosts. Our personal lives bleed into the show and you will be witness to a marriage falling apart. I hope you enjoy it.
Fail Army returns to TV3 at 10pm tonight, click here to read Duncan Greive’s feature about the smash-hit clip show