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Guy Montgomery

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Guy Montgomery
Montgomery in 2016
Born (1988-09-29) 29 September 1988 (age 36)
Wellington, New Zealand
Alma materVictoria University of Wellington
Occupations
  • Comedian
  • podcaster
Known forThe Worst Idea of All Time
Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee
AwardsBilly T Award (2014)
Fred Award (2023)
Comedy career
Medium
  • Podcasts
  • television
  • improv
  • stand-up
Years active2011–present
Genres
  • Observational

Guy Montgomery is a comedian from New Zealand. He is known for his panel game show Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee, which he began as a web series before becoming a TV series, for +HR=E in New Zealand, and later, adapted to a slightly higher budget Australian version for the ABC. He won the Fred Award in 2023.

Early life and career

[edit]

Montgomery was born in Wellington, New Zealand. At a young age, Montgomery's family moved to Sydney and back to Wellington before settling in Christchurch.[1][2] He has an older and younger sister.[2] Montgomery studied at Victoria University of Wellington, from which he graduated with a bachelor of arts in theatre, film, and media.[2] He briefly considered becoming a teacher or working in advertising.[3]

To begin his career in comedy, Montgomery moved to Canada in 2010 — first Montreal, and then Toronto, which had more open mic nights.[3][4][2] He explained in an interview, "Every comedian starts off shit. I wanted to make sure I wasn't shit in front of my friends."[5] Reflecting on the time in 2024, he said that "it was such an incredible year, and I do think it's probably made me".[3] Montgomery returned to New Zealand in part to co-host U Late.[4] He later moved to New York City.[6]

Podcasts

[edit]

The Worst Idea of All Time was started in 2014 by Montgomery and Tim Batt.[7][8] The podcast follows them as they report upon the viewing experience of re-watching the same movie each week for a year.[9] The first season was focused on the Adam Sandler movie Grown Ups 2;[10] the second on Sex and the City 2; the third season on We Are Your Friends; and the fourth on the first Sex and the City film.[11][12][13] After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the duo did an "emergency season" in which they watched the film Home Alone 3 every three days until their local New Zealand lockdown orders were lifted.[14][15] The fifth season began in 2020, with Batt and Montgomery reviewing the French–American Emmanuelle series of softcore pornography films.[13][better source needed] The sixth season features the Fast and Furious franchise.[2]

They also record Friendzone, dedicated to answering fan mail.[1]

Montgomery and Batt are also co-hosts of 'Til Death Do Us Blart, a once-yearly, "eternal" Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 review podcast that will air every American Thanksgiving. After each of the five hosts dies, they will be replaced by a new host.

Stand-up and live shows

[edit]

Montgomery's 2014 show Presents a Succinct and Concise Summary of How He Feels About Certain Things won the Billy T Award.[16]

Montgomery and Rose Matafeo co-headlined a show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2015.[12]

He performed Guy Montcomedy in 2015 in Auckland, and then in 2016 at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.[17][18] This was followed by Guy Montgomery Christmas! at the 2016 NZICF.[19]

At the 2017 NZ International Comedy Festival, Montgomery was nominated for the Fred Award for Let's All Get in a Room Together.[20]

His show Guy Montgomery Doesn't Check His Phone For An Hour played at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2018, which explored his move to New York.[5][21] He and others from the MICF toured India for a month that year.[22] He presented I'm Friends With These People! in New York in early 2019, featuring Rachel Sennott, Pat Regan, Rachel Pegram, Cam Spence, and Joe Pera.[23]

In 2019, Montgomery presented his sixth solo show, I Was Part Of The Problem Before We Were Talking About It, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival;[24] he described it as "about personal growth and reconciling who I am today with all the iterations of myself I've been throughout the years".[12][25]

He presented Guy Montgomery By Name, Guy Montgomery By Nature at the NZICF in 2021, and later took the show around New Zealand.[26]

His show My Brain is Blowing Me Crazy premiered in 2023 and won the Fred Award at the New Zealand International Comedy Festival. In May 2024, Montgomery will go on tour with a new show, 50,000,000 Guy Fans Can't be Wrong.[27][2]

Montgomery is also a member of the improv group Snort.[12]

Television and film

[edit]

Montgomery's first appearance on TV was on the TVNZ U channel, where from 2011 he was a fill-in host on U Live and later hosted the "interactive" 2013 show U late alongside Tim Lambourne.[28][29][30] He wanted the show, which aired on weeknights on TVNZ U, to "fill the void that's been left by Eating Media Lunch, Moon TV, [and] Back of the Y".[31] He and Lambourne had previously worked together at George FM on the show Monty and the Face.

From U late, where he first met his podcast partner Tim Batt,[32] Montgomery moved into writing for several different comedy shows in New Zealand, such as Jono and Ben at 10.[citation needed] Montgomery was also a writer and presenter of Fail Army.[33][2] He appeared on Cadbury Dream Factory in 2014.

Montgomery co-wrote (with producer and director Ryan Heron[34]) and starred in the short film Return, which won Best Screenplay at the 2015 Show Me Shorts film festival.[35] Return later screened at the 2015 Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival.[36]

In 2017, Montgomery and Tim Batt recorded a pilot episode of a The Worst Idea of All Time TV series for YouTube Red, in which they spent five days in a New York City sewer watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. The show was never ordered to series.

Montgomery appeared on the 2020 May the 4th fundraiser episode of The George Lucas Talk Show, titled The George Lucas Talk Show All Day Star Wars Movie Watch Along. He was also co-host of Survive the 80s.[37]

In 2021, Montgomery took part in series two of Taskmaster NZ[38] and he appeared on the panel show Patriot Brains.

Montgomery was a contestant on the 2022 series of the New Zealand reality television show Celebrity Treasure Island, and was the first player to be eliminated.[39][40] His chosen charity had been Auckland City Mission.[40] He has also appeared frequently on panel and game shows such as 7 Days, Best Bits, Have You Been Paying Attention?, and Thank God You're Here.

In 2023, Montgomery's television show Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee premiered in New Zealand.[2] An Australian version was aired by the ABC in August 2024.[41][8]

Awards

[edit]

In 2014, Montgomery won the Billy T Award for his show Presents a Succinct and Concise Summary of How He Feels About Certain Things.[16]

He won the Fred Award in 2023 for his show My Brain is Blowing Me Crazy.[2][42] The show also won "Best of the Fest" at the 2023 Sydney Comedy Festival.[43]

Personal life

[edit]

Montgomery's partner is actress Chelsie Preston Crayford.[2]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Bricken, Rob. "Your New Favorite Podcast Is About Two New Zealanders Watching Porn". Mel Magazine. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Beckett, Tyson (27 April 2024). "Comedian Guy Montgomery is making being a funny guy serious business". The Post.
  3. ^ a b c Burrows, Matt (17 March 2024). "Real Life: How a year in Canada turned Guy Montgomery into NZ's funniest comedian". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  4. ^ a b Tan, Rosabel (10 June 2014). "Guy Montgomery on The Most Fun Thing He Can Do". The Pantograph Punch.
  5. ^ a b Neal, Ferg (11 April 2018). "Interview: Guy Montgomery". UMSU. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  6. ^ "Finding My LOL-mate". The Pantograph Punch. 26 April 2017. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  7. ^ Horan, Paul; Philip, Matthews (2019). Funny As: The Story of New Zealand Comedy. Auckland: Auckland University Press. ISBN 9781776710447.
  8. ^ a b "Guy Montgomery has reached a new level". Beat. 22 April 2024. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  9. ^ Ropati, Ashley (22 October 2015). "Not the worst idea Guy Montgomery's ever had". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  10. ^ Duralde, Alonso (17 February 2015). "'Worst Idea of All Time': Two Comics Watch Same Bad Adam Sandler Movie Every Week for a Year (Video)". The Wrap. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  11. ^ Sills, Ethan (22 February 2017). "New Zealand's biggest little podcasting empire". NZ Herald.
  12. ^ a b c d O'Donoghue, Natalie (11 July 2019). "EDINBURGH 2019: Guy Montgomery Q&A". Broadway World. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  13. ^ a b "Worst Idea Of All Time Podcast on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  14. ^ The Worst Idea of All Time [@TWIOATpod] (26 April 2020). "As the world experiences life at home, our minds are cast back to the year 1997 - when a young Chicago boy named Alex Pruitt also found himself Home Alone (3) #TWIOAT Emergency Season Launches for patrons tomorrow and everyone else the next day https://t.co/61EtltqSSo https://t.co/8fVMVmzfbO" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 4 May 2020. Retrieved 14 June 2021 – via Twitter.
  15. ^ The Worst Idea of All Time [@TWIOATpod] (26 May 2020). "Episode 9 out right now on Patreon and soon on the free feed and THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN (together). Truly a beautiful thing to hear. https://t.co/H3lPMlJEa4" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 26 May 2020. Retrieved 14 June 2021 – via Twitter.
  16. ^ a b "Interview – 2014 Billy T Nominees". Keeping Up With NZ. 19 March 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
  17. ^ Cahill, Mikey (8 April 2016). "Guy Montgomery in Guy Montcomedy ★★★½". Herald Sun.
  18. ^ Stephenson, Sam (20 April 2015). "Guy Montgomery - Guy Montcomedy". Concrete Playground.
  19. ^ Salter, Caitlin (19 April 2016). "Wellington comic having a laugh". Stuff. Guy Montgomery: Guy Montgomery Christmas!, Apr 26 till 30.
  20. ^ "2017 NZ International Comedy Festival". Eventfinda. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  21. ^ "Guy Montgomery Doesn't Check His Phone For An Hour (NZ)". Archived from the original on 21 March 2018.
  22. ^ Ford, Emily (13 November 2018). "Laugh out loud with Guy Montgomery". Deccan Herald.
  23. ^ "I'm Friends With These People! with Guy Montgomery". Do NYC. 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  24. ^ Inniss, Tom (20 July 2019). "Interview with Guy Montgomery". Voice. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  25. ^ "Edinburgh Interview: Guy Montgomery on I Was Part Of The Problem Before We Were Talking About It at Assembly". Theatre Weekly. 13 July 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  26. ^ "Coming Up - Theatre" (PDF). The Gisborne Herald. 7 October 2021. p. 24.
  27. ^ "Guy Montgomery heads back on the road with new tour". NewstalkZB. 9 January 2024.
  28. ^ Ahmed, Sim (26 March 2013). "TVNZ U turns two, adds interactive late night show". Stop Press. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  29. ^ Cardy, Tom (26 August 2013). "Better U Late than U never". Stuff. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  30. ^ APNZ (30 July 2013). "Financial problems behind axing of youth TV channel". Otago Daily Times.
  31. ^ Macdonald, Bella (8 April 2013). "U Late" (PDF). Critic (6): 18–19.
  32. ^ Arthur, Kenneth (26 February 2015). "The Worst Idea Of All Time: Watching Grown Ups 2 every week for a year". AV Club. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  33. ^ Greive, Duncan (19 June 2015). "Fail Army: How Did a Proudly Stupid YouTube Ripoff Become a Smash Hit?". The Spinoff. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  34. ^ "Annual Report 2014-2015" (PDF). New Zealand Film Commission. p. 79.
  35. ^ "Return". New Zealand Film Commission. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  36. ^ "Clermont-Ferrand 2015, la sélection internationale" (in French). Format Court. 17 December 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
  37. ^ Yates, Siena (2 June 2020). "Surviving TVNZ's retro reality series, Survive the 80s". NZ Herald. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  38. ^ "Taskmaster NZ to return with new line up of comedians". Stuff.co.nz. 29 May 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
  39. ^ Rohan, Lillie (6 September 2022). "Celebrity Treasure Island ep two: Dame Susan Devoy's secret feud revealed". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  40. ^ a b Rohan, Lillie (7 September 2022). "Celebrity Treasure Island ep 3: Lynette Forday called out for 'cheating'". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  41. ^ "Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont Spelling Bee premieres this August on ABC". ABC. 17 July 2024. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
  42. ^ Sills, Ethan (28 May 2023). "Abby Howells and Guy Montgomery win top prizes at the New Zealand International Comedy Festival". NZ Herald.
  43. ^ "Sydney Comedy Festival 2023 Award Winners". Sydney Comedy Festival. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
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