The Hundred with Andy Lee
After its debut last year, The Hundred with Andy Lee is back on Tuesday, February 8, on Channel 9 and 9Now as Andy Lee will be joined by 100 more everyday Aussies and a few celebrities to find out what Australia is thinking.
Mediaweek caught up with Lee to find out what viewers can expect from the show, and how he went playing Guess Whom at the Australian Open.
Lee is coming off a busy 2021 that saw him host several TV shows as well as one of the most popular podcasts in the country, and work at the tennis. Lee said that he worked more last year to keep himself sane during the lockdown.
This new work led to an interesting new challenge for Lee, working away from his production company Radio Karate.
“It was the first time I’ve worked with different production companies, which is definitely an adjustment for me having worked with Radio Karate for a long time. Working and collaborating with other production companies was the biggest change.”
The Hundred features a group of 100 Aussies handpicked to represent the demographic makeup of Australia, who are polled live via Zoom to give the show the stories behind the stats, while three comedy panellists find out which one knows Australia best. Lee said that it was the small topics that might have resonated the most.
“Relatable questions of everyday habits are the ones that people seem to resonate with the most and get passionate about. Like do you check the toilet before you flush? Those types of things actually inspired a new segment this season called ‘I can’t be the only one’, where we have our panellists that have their own little idiosyncrasy see if they’re the only ones that do it. The show is not really divisive, it’s actually more inclusive. You find someone that’s doing something as idiotic as you and it makes you feel a bit better about yourself.”
The show will see Lee joined by a host of comedians and celebrity guests including Sophie Monk, Hamish Blake, Tom Gleeson, Tommy Little, Nazeem Hussain, Abbie Chatfield, Anne Edmonds, Senator Jacqui Lambie, Mike Goldstein, and more. When asked about the casting Lee said that was one of the biggest lessons from the pandemic.
“We were happy to be trying any kind of combos to be honest, because we were in the middle of Sydney lockdown. We had about three-quarters of our original guests cancelled because of Covid. Suddenly, we were like, okay, we’ve got to use people in Sydney, and it made us look in different directions and use different people. We thought it was misfortune at the time, but it was actually great because it forced us to try some people that perhaps we wouldn’t have necessarily and we realised that there’s a great place for them on the show.”
When asked what will change the most between seasons one and two, Lee said not as much as you would think, with most changes coming during production.
“You actually make the most breaks between episode one and two, same with Gap Year for Hame (Hamish Blake) and I. I think a show grows most within that first three or four episodes, not between seasons. Between seasons you can make them look better, you can concentrate more on the look and feel. Because there are things that are set before you start a season and are hard to adjust on the fly. But adjusting gameplay and working out exactly what sticks can be changed between the first four episodes.”
Andy Lee and the Australian Open
It’s only early February but Lee is already done and dusted on one of his signature projects, Guess Whom, which has become a staple in Nine’s Australian Open coverage.
Lee said he had another good year, which was made easier by the eagerness of the players to feature on the segment.
“The players had all seen it and all wanted to come on. A lot of them prepared their own little questions. It made for a more fun and exciting season. Obviously, some of the bigger names didn’t come but it was a great opportunity to meet some of the emerging stars. And I just love asking them questions about their colleagues. Even if they’re trying to be polite with their words, their body language and their facial expressions normally give them away anyway!”