HYBPA: “We’re there for the comedy. But it is a quiz.”

TV may be chockful of successful quiz shows right now, but there is one favourite ready to return.

Yes, even after 13 years, Tom Gleisner still sees Have You Been Paying Attention? as a quiz, and all 5 panelists as contestants.

“An executive producer at Channel Nine called David Lyle (The Golden Years of Television) once said to us -because I think at that point we were tossing around half an idea for a TV quiz- ‘If you’re going to do a quiz show, you’ve got to make the questions and the scores matter’. And we think he’s right,” Gleisner explains.

“So even though it takes 10 goes, I will wait till I get a correct answer. I don’t just distribute points randomly. You’ll never hear me use the phrase, ‘You can all have 10 points!’

“Curiously, there are some viewers who take a great deal of interest in who wins the episode? Now, they’re hardly playing for a huge cash prize. It’s not The Floor….of course, we’re there for the comedy. But it is a quiz.”

It’s a format that is the envy of rival networks, and one that has attracted some international interest, albeit not yet setting MIPCOM sales on fire.

“We’ve had all of two! New Zealand, which sadly has seen all television stripped back. And Cyprus did a version, which translated rather casually as Pay Attention! with an exclamation mark. So that was fun,” he continues.

“The United States keep expressing interest and getting very excited. But as anyone who’s dealt with the Americans will tell you, it’s a lot of meetings, and ‘This is the best thing we’ve ever seen in our life’, and then radio silence for six months. So we’re not naive to think that anything is going to happen quickly. But, who knows?”

Once again the Working Dog team are set to introduce some new faces to the panel. It has, no doubt, made stars of comedians like Sam Pang, Guy Montgomery and Aaron Chen -all of whom have gone on to other TV successes.

“I’m delighted that coming in with a relatively low profile and a few appearances on Have You Been, is enough to give them a bit of a boost… Guy went and did that amazing Spelling Bee show on the ABC. That’s probably the hardest thing we have at the moment -getting people into the studio, because so many of our contestants are very successful touring stand-ups.

“Someone like Urzila Carlson, who’s just wonderful and always makes time for us, is rarely in the same hemisphere! So to kind of get her for the five minutes that she’s floating through Australia is a bit of a logistical effort,” says Gleisner.

“We made a commitment, informally, years ago with Have You Been that we would resist the temptation just to have the same people every week, as comfortable and as fun as that is. So we really will continue this year trying to introduce new faces.

“We saw a bunch of people at the recent Melbourne International Comedy Festival. So they’ll be making appearances as we go, including a couple of internationals. We’re just sorting out a few visa issues, because we love having people from foreign locales on the show.”

Not on the roster so far is Marty Sheargold, who apologised for radio comments around women’s sport, considered misogynistic and offensive.

“Marty actually reached out to Michael Hirsh shortly after the incident and asked that his name be taken off,” Gleisner reveals.

“I believe he did that with both, Have You Been and The Front Bar as a semi-regular on that. So in a sense, Marty made the decision for us. He said he would not be comfortable doing Have You Been so we obviously respect that wish from him.”

Is he out for the full season or the immediate future?

“I don’t think it had a time placed on it. Obviously, we’re thinking about the 2025, series, and at Marty’s initiative we’ve removed his name from the whiteboard.”

With a steady stream of comedians knocking on the door to appear, the show is set to lure viewers back to screens for 10. Gleisner is convinced the annual break is good for the show.

“It would have been tempting to run the show all year, but the break, I hope, makes the audiences’ appetite keener, and it certainly makes mine. I’m really looking forward to Monday. It’s always a great feeling to be back for another season.”

Have You Been Paying Attention? returns 8:40pm Monday on 10.