SPINNING YARNS Hamish Blake and Andy Lee celebrate the art of telling a tale with their TV series True Story.
The comedy duo celebrate the art of telling a tale with their new TV series ‘True Story’
Hamish Blake (left) and Andy Lee are convinced that every Australian has a cracking story, something they learnt fielding thousands of calls on their drive-time Hit Network radio show. Now Blake, 35, and Lee, 36, tell WHO’S Cynthia Wang about saluting these everyday raconteurs on their new TV series, True Story with Hamish & Andy. Did your radio-show callers inspire this project? Hamish: It’s always about the people. You get more surprises out of the public than you do any celebrities. The fact that someone can share a part of their lives and we can share it back is what excites us. Andy: This show is as much about when people hear a story and converse and question it than it is about the telling. What stories do you tell about each other? Hamish: Well, the funny thing we’ve realised is all the stories I’d tell about Andy are unsuitable for a 7.30 time slot. Andy: I mean, we probably do have more collected stories than we do separate ones now after hanging out for 15 years. Hamish: Like, for a lot of people on holiday, if they come back with a story like we have in Gap Year, that would be a day that went wrong. But for us, if we came back with a story where we nearly died, that was a day that went right! Which actors would play you in re-enactments of the stories of your lives? Hamish: We’d have to get Jason Biggs for Andy, I would think. Andy: I was going to say James Franco, but ... Hamish: Well, sure, for stunts, if you can’t see your face. [ Laughs] And for Hamish ... Andy: He’s the guy you always play that no-one knows. Hamish: What? Oh yeah, I’ve forgotten about me now. You can basically look for someone who’s fairly handsome and has Harrison Ford’s eyes. A “young Harrison Ford” would be my request for the casting. So what makes for an ideal true story? Andy: Something funny, true and with a start, middle and end. Hamish: It’s the ones that we wanted to keep telling our friends after we heard them for the first time. That’s a pretty good indicator that it’s a great story.
“True Story with Hamish & Andy” premieres Mon., June 5, 7.30 PM; Nine.