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The Hundred breaks jinx for Andy Lee

The studio was home to a failed TV show with pal Hamish Blake, but there's no turning back for Andy Lee's The Hundred as Season 4 premieres.

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Andy Lee admits to mixed feelings filming his fourth season of The Hundred with Andy Lee.

Not because he isn’t grateful to Nine for commissioning a new season, but because the Melbourne studios NEP in Coventry Street are just a little familiar to him.

“Our failed Hamish & Andy show on Channel Seven was in that studio. My very first show when I was 23. I’m even in the same dressing room,” he tells TV Tonight.

The comedy pair were added to the cast of 2004 sketch comedy The Big Bite, an early career show for the likes of Chris Lilley, Andrew O’Keefe, and Kate McCartney. Despite a name change to Hamish & Andy the show didn’t succeed beyond 6 episodes although Seven attempted to keep the young duo at first.

“They put us on a retainer, when channels could afford retainers back then. Hamish & I got paid not to go anywhere else, which was bizarre for a couple of uni students. They put some shows in front of us, but they weren’t quite right for us,” he recalls.

“The late great (Seven exec) Brad Lyons in a meeting said, ‘Guys, it’s time for us to shit or get off the can.’

“I’d never heard the term, but we said, ‘Fair enough, we’ll part ways!'”

The duo would later go on to great success at Network 10, Austereo radio and Nine.

While Blake has forged a solo career with shows like Lego Masters, Lee has since found success with The Hundred, an original format conceived during the pandemic -even if it sometimes feel like a giant Zoom session.

“Some people have post-traumatic stress after COVID, so I totally understand that. …but an opportunity to have 100 people in their homes on a big screen, in similar way we talk about Gogglebox, is incredibly exciting,” he says.

“We talked about getting people in, but people are more relaxed, more happy to share, and also you learn a lot more about people seeing them in their own environment. That’s one of the things I love about the show …instead of Wardrobe or Make-Up they’re happy to click a button and they’re in.”

While the first season was filmed in Sydney production moved to Melbourne for Season Two, during which Nine ordered a Third season. An international adaptation has followed in Greece with Spain on the way.

Now Season 4 premieres with Lee and comedy regular Mike Goldstein, and no shortage of questions to poll the everyday Australians who make up the Hundred.

“The amount of people who just walk up the street to chat to me and say, ‘Hey, do you wash your legs in the shower? Can you ask The Hundred?’

“Sophie Monk is also more of a regular this season, which is the other thing people say to me, more often than not. ‘We love Sophie on the show, when is she coming back?’

Guests this season include Hamish Blake, Luke McGregor. Tommy Little, Ross Noble, Kate Langbroek, Tom Cashman, while those to ‘Face the Hundred‘ include Pat Cash and Mick Fanning.

“And I’ll throw a MAFS star in there as soon as we find out who the biggest villain is,” Lee quips.

The Hundred With Andy Lee returns 9:05pm Tuesday on Nine.

Amended.

6 Responses

  2. For the life of me, I cannot fathom the appeal of either Hamish or Andy. Singularly or as a double act. They’re like crab grass – you can’t get rid of them. So not funny and on everything. I hear their names and zone out. The channel changes when they come on. They’re like a horse that’s been flogged to the bones.

  3. Mike – I think you speak for a large chunk of the FTA viewing public – you can see why Nine has pushed to get Sophie (+Sophie) to lift the overall show/ratings.

  4. Unfortunately I don’t get the appeal of him and this show

    I don’t find it funny
    I don’t find him funny
    Most of the guests are average

    I’ve tried many times, but doesn’t resonate

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