“Sam Pang Tonight” returns this for a new season, with the added bonus of the host and comedian now carrying a Gold Logie under his belt. But if you ask Sam Pang, that doesn’t change anything.
As the Melbourne personality gears up for the return of the third season of his talk show tonight, he enters rare territory. As well as “Sam Pang Tonight,” he also currently features on fellow Network 10 show, “Have You Been Paying Attention?” and the Seven Network’s “The Front Bar.”
Throw in the Gold Logie, and there seems to be little that Pang is yet to accomplish on Australian television. In a new interview with Variety Australia ahead of the Season Three premiere, Pang admits that there has never been a plan to get to this point, or even an aspiration. But as he’s learned along the way, despite the changing landscape, Australia still has an appetitive for talk show TV.
Check out our full chat with Pang below.
Variety Australia: Thanks for taking the time, Sam! And I guess, a belated congratulations on the Gold Logie. How does it feel coming into Season Three with that under your belt now?
Sam Pang: I feel slightly, what’s the word? Not unrelated, but I think we’d been getting ready for Season Three before, so [win or lose] the Logies, we were very excited to be doing Season Three. I think maybe one of the advantages of winning the Gold Logie is that there’ll be some fun to be had with the Gold Logie in that first episode, you know?
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But in terms of prep or any pressure or something like that, it’s just the same amount. I was trying to do the best I can regardless of the winning or losing.
You obviously hosted the Logies a few times due to popular demand, but now winning the big award, do you feel like the weird sellout or are you still keen to have fun and take the piss?
I know stylistically I did a lot of jokes and had fun, but the Logies are a celebration of Australian television and the industry, of which I have a great affection for and I’m very, very lucky to be a part of.
I’m on a wonderful show. I’m very lucky to be on wonderful shows that are on Australian television. So yeah, I didn’t expect to be nominated or win a Gold Logie, but I was very happy to host it and celebrate the industry in the way that I did.
The tagline of “Sam Pang Tonight” is “Australia’s best and only Tonight Show.” It feels like, for the longest time in Australia, really since “Rove,” Australia has called for a new talk show, but then it felt like that time passed, and people argued the model is outdated. We’ve seen what happened to Stephen Colbert in the US. This show proves there is still an appetite for that style of TV. Did you have any expectations going into Season One of “Sam Pang Tonight”?
That’s a good point you make about the landscape, and whether it’s, you know, “Rove” or [Steve Vizard], or the current climate of American tonight shows. But it’s funny, I never felt I was either competing or being compared to those shows. The American tonight shows – they’re on every night, for 40 weeks of the year. I’m lucky enough to have this one show on once a week for eight weeks. I suppose there are things within the show that are very familiar. But I also think it’s just an hour with me and the team that I’ve got, and this is what we think is funny. This is what we thought was funny for the last week. So yeah, it’s almost a different conversation.
Those American tonight shows are a different beast. When I finish a show, I’ve got a week to think about it. They just finish a show and they’re into the next one. So yeah, it’s interesting. I’m just trying to have a fun hour of television for the next eight weeks.
Would you ever consider doing more than one episode a week?
I doubt it. I can’t imagine doing it. You never say never to anything, but.. I’m very lucky. Between [“Have You Been Paying Attention?” and “The Front Bar”], I’m already on shows that are on once a week, and I love being on those shows. I’m trying to work out what the best way is to grow this show and do this show, and what’s best for this show versus balancing the rest of my working year.
So at the moment, Channel 10 have been great. We did Season One, it was eight eps, and then we did [Season Two] at the end of last year. We would have done more at the start of the year, but I couldn’t do it because of “Front Bar.” So I’ll just take them when I can. I’m more than happy to do these eight, and then we’ll just see if there’s an appetite for more.
Was a talk show the ultimate goal for you when you were coming up in TV and radio?
No, I didn’t have a goal. I know some people are great planners, and they visualise and they manifest, and “this is my five-year plan.” I just started in community radio. When you’re down at a community radio station, you just imagine being on air. Once you get on air, you imagine having your own show or doing it. And so it’s very incremental, and no grand plans.
“Paying Attention” is a Working Dog show, and “Front Bar” is Mick [Molloy] and his brother and [director] Adrian Brown. That’s their show. And I was just lucky enough to be asked to be on them. So now that I’ve been on them, I think I represent myself well on them, and I’ve had fun doing them.
I had that exact experience starting at community radio, and being on air was the ultimate goal.
You just can’t believe it! What did you do at community radio?
I was at university and was told to get extra marks, community radio would be a good idea, and then my friend and I started a show there at, like, 11pm on Mondays.
Yeah, that’s how it is! That’s how it starts. I think the whole grand plan, “I want to have my own show” – what does that mean, you know?
Now three seasons in, do you feel you’ve mastered the art of the interview? Asking engaging questions while still fulfilling the role of a comic and host?
No, I don’t think I’ve mastered anything! But the chats on the show are, like – Rosie O’Donnell and Russell Crowe – there’s always a subtle difference between interviewing and then having a chat, and then keeping an eye on trying to be entertaining, or what is the interview you need at this moment. I think the more I do it, the better I’ll get.
It’s funny, we talk about Seasons One and Two; there are only eight [episodes in each]. So, like, when I come back for Season Three, it’s show 17. It’s a very young show. So I’m learning. The whole team and I are learning all the time. But I was happy with the improvements from Season One to Season Two, and hopefully Season Three continues.
Going back to the belief that some may have about the talk show model being outdated, what do you think is the future of this format?
I think there will always be an appetite for people having a chat, and if they’re [likeable], do you know what I mean? Whether it’s that American format that you talk about, or whether it’s Graham Norton sitting down with two or three people on the couch, I think there’ll be an appetite.
It’s hard to predict where it’ll be. But at the moment, this show is on Channel 10 at 8.30pm on a Monday, and so I’m happy for that. I think if you watch the show, then you’ll see that it’s packed with comedy. This is what we think’s funny, and then hopefully you do too. Whether people are comparing it to other shows or whatever, I don’t know, that’s kind of up to them. But I think if you sit down and watch it, hopefully you think it’s an enjoyable hour.
“Sam Pang Tonight” Season Three premieres tonight at 8.40pm on Network 10.