Features

The launch of U late on 1 April sent a flurry of joy to insomniacs who have been deprived of late-night entertainment ever since That Guy vanished off our screens. Critic reporter Bella Macdonald caught up with U late presenters Guy Montgomery (Left) and Tim Lambourne (Right) to ask them about the show, themselves, and how they got involved in showbiz.

What is U late about?

G: It’s a late-night talk show that’s aware of its restrictions. We are going to play to our strengths, we’ve got a great interactive element. We’re looking to fill the void that’s been left by Eating Media Lunch, Moon TV, Back of the Y etc, so pretty much going to try and make a late-night show for the current crop of high school and university students that’s worth staying up and watching. We don’t really have any competition. Our biggest competitor is bed.

What should viewers be looking forward to?

G: Our news segment of the night is called “Today’s Genitals” and its just a way to discuss the news, stripped back down to nuts and bolts with some genitals on screen. And it has to be daily news stories. So people have to send us a photo of themselves with their genitals out and a laptop, or a newspaper if they’re old school. But we don’t want you to hold up the newspaper with a story about 70 casualties in Afghanistan, because I feel like maybe your penis might detract from the fact it’s serious. But if John Key does anything, please send it in. Anything with John Key, we would like a photo of it with your penis or vagina in it. Or Gerry Brownlee.

T: We also have a segment called “Flat of the Week.” We’ll Skype in live to a flat each week, ideally one of those well known, disgusting ones. Sort of get to know the flatmates, what their living situation is, whether they’ve put everything on hire purchase and they’re living the dream or there’s six to a room eating Maggi noodles with cold water. Maggi is the pits, if you’re not on Mi Goreng you’re a sucker. And then at the end of the month we’ll have done four flats and we’ll decide which flat is the flat of the month.

How and when can U late be viewed?

G: U late will be on-air Monday to Friday from 10.30pm-midnight on the U channel, which is on Freeview and Sky.

How did you get into comedy/TV presenting?

T: My sister’s girlfriend was a camerawoman for TV3 and she was like, “bro there’s this real mean job going called ‘cue,’ where you sit in the 3 News studio and turn this little wheel which controls the speed of the words that the news presenters read to the nation.” So in my first semester at university, I was casually leaving class to go and just stare at Mike McRoberts and Hilary Barry, mostly Hillary Barry.

G: I bumped into Guy Williams outside the Vic Uni library one night and told him that I recognised him from TV, and told him I had always wanted to give it a crack. And he was like, “well you just got to get out there and do it.” And I never did until I ran into him again in Auckland a year later.

Do you think your breakthrough into the industry happened by coincidence?

T: To an extent, you make your own luck if you’re working and you hang around long enough. As Woody Allen said, “success is just turning up.” You can’t really expect to be given a story on Nightline if you haven’t been working for free for six months, showing that you’re keen and you’re not a moron. Make yourself known and people respect it. And the other thing is that people inherently want to help people – if you tell them what your goals are and what you want to achieve, they will go out of their way to help you because they’re nice.

How did you two meet?

G: In first year, I came up to check out AUT and caught up with a now mutual friend. Most of the boys weren’t convinced about me, but Tim and I got on, and he stalked me on my Myspace and we both had the same background pictures. Which was mental.

T: The boys were pretty bro-ey back then. Like pretty jock-ey. And Guy was fucking fruity. I was big. Real big. I came in big, came in hot. And we got on pretty well.

How would you describe each other?

G: Tim has a good metabolism. Can eat but doesn’t put on the weight.

T: Guy has a good metabolism too, but he does work for his body.

Did you see yourselves having your own TV show at this stage in your lives?

G: It’s the dream job, pretty much we’re making it. If I was 14 at high school and someone asked me what I wanted to be doing in 10 years, if someone said you could be hosting a late-night talk show with one of your best friends I would have said “that sounds cool, pretty much close to ideal mate. How do you find me?”

T: Three years ago in the news room I was pretty miserable and I was driving somewhere with my girlfriend at the time, having a whinge and a moan and she was like “well what do you want to do?” and I said I just want to make television with Guy. But we weren’t very serious and didn’t quite know anything then. And then a few years later it comes to fruition and I’m making television.

What has been the highlight of your media career?

T: It was presenting a news story when my dad and sister were there, I was 20 and working on the news desk and I got asked to do a news story live while they were in the studio. It was pretty loose actually. I am a terrible son, I always ask for money, I always forget to get a warrant of fitness so it was good to show that I was actually doing something.

G: Tim and I used to have a show on George FM, called Monty and the Face. One night he was away and I played the Derek and Clive clip, “This Bloke Came Up to Me,” without receiving one single complaint. [Critic advises readers to YouTube the clip, ideally in the presence of young children or the easily offended.]

And lowlight?

T: When I had to report for 3 News and I was sitting outside a house with the cameraman. There had been a murder/suicide in Pakuranga on a Sunday morning on 23 December, it was a domestic violence story and it was so bad. And I was thinking, “This is the pits! Why would I want to tell the country about this?”


G: I was working at the Canterbury A&P Show one year, promoting Popsicles. I was the only one who could fit the outfit of the female Popsicle band member, Sporty. We had to do a song and dance for the kids and hand out Popsicles. But I had to wear sheer tights and all the famers would yell out to me “nice legs.”

Do you find it easy to become emotionally attached to news stories?

T: No, it’s incredible how easy it is to not become emotionally attached, you’re so caught up in the competition doing the stories, getting it on air and making it better than your competitors, even in the news room, you just become a robot.

You both seem like pretty confident people, what is something you have done that you have actually been embarrassed by?

T: Matt Gibb took me to Fashion Week castings as we were covering Fashion Week and I was interviewing models. Then he said, “I think what we need for this story to work is for you to walk down the runway.” In front of all of New Zealand’s top designers, just trying to do their job, trying to find the look for their fucking brand. And he made me walk down there as if I thought I was a model in front of all of these people and it was just so terribly embarrassing, not one callback either. I suppose my cheekbones could be a little higher.

How does being a comedian affect your love life? Good or bad?

G: It hasn’t, there are just as many trains coming into the station as there were, which given New Zealand’s history of public transport isn’t as good as it could be.

Are you planning any trips down to Dunedin?

T: We haven’t booked anything but ‘cause we don’t have a social life we will be yearning for it a bit more. Bugger it, why don’t we just say yes. Hold us to it, put it in print. We’re coming. Make me accountable for it. We could do a live “Today’s Genitals.”