Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard - Flightless Bird: Game Shows

Episode Date: October 4, 2022

In this week’s Flightless Bird, David Farrier embraces the American institution of game shows. He sets out to understand how in this time of high-caliber TV, Celebrity Wheel of Fortune still manages to pull in four million ahead of shows like Dateline, Undercover Boss, and Masterchef. David joins fellow kiwi Rhys Darby as he’s invited on Celebrity Family Feud - thrilled at the idea of meeting comic, actor, author, and Emmy Award-winning talk-show host Steve Harvey. Quickly David is shocked to learn he is not only attending a taping but also going on Family Feud as part of Rhys’ Kiwi “family.” Squaring off against actor and comedian Jay Pharoah (and Jay’s actual, real family), how will Rhys Darby and David Farrier cope? Will they be crushed or come out triumphant? Who will be the best team at guessing what the average American would answer? The American team or the New Zealand imports? Be warned: This episode quite possibly makes David the most American he’s ever been. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I'm David Farrier, a New Zealander accidentally marooned in America, and I want to figure out what makes this country tick. Today, I mean tick a little more literally than usual, because I'm diving headfirst into the world of the American game show, and I guess for me, the most iconic game show I'm aware of is Jeopardy, debuting back on NBC in 1964. And now, here is the host of Jeopardy, Alex Trebek. As far as I can tell, the first ever American game show happened 26 years earlier, a radio quiz show called Information Please, which was sort of back to front because a panel of experts would be the ones playing,

answering questions submitted by members of the public. Over the years, game shows exploded. submitted by members of the public. Over the years, game shows exploded. Now we've got Family Feud, who wants to be a millionaire in Hollywood Squares. Everyone's grandma has their favorite one. There got to be so many game shows in America, America had to create the Game Show Network just for game shows.

And while other TV programs like NCIS and Young Sheldon get 10 million viewers a time, shows like Celebrity Wheel of Fortune still manage to pull in 4 million ahead of shows like Dateline, Undercover Boss, and MasterChef. They get double what The Simpsons get. So, get ready for that old-fashioned American tradition of plonking yourself down in front of the TV while you attempt to guess the correct answers about things that really don't matter. Because this is the Game Show episode. Flightless. Flightless.

Flightless bird touchdown in America. I'm a flightless bird touchdown in America. This is a fun one. It is a fun one. Game shows, the heart of America. It's what keeps the country ticking. It's definitely what unites people. Did you grow up with any game shows or did you skip that as a kid? I wasn't super into them them i do feel a little bit

bad that that shouldn't feel bad this one i know there's an elephant in the room the person with their own show he has had his own game show yeah and he's been a clue on jeopardy see that's big that's huge that's a life goal it was was a whole category, right? Armchair expert. Oh, that's amazing. Yeah. That's cool. I think so. You know in New Zealand you've made it when you're on Air New Zealand flying around the country. And if you make it onto the Air New Zealand quiz, you know that you're a big deal.

Have you made it on? No. Okay. It's good to still have some goals. Yeah, and that is my main goal is to get on the in-flight entertainment on air new zealand speaking of if you're on delta on certain flights you can listen to armchair expert that's really cool do you sometimes go on delta and just put it on no i've listened enough by the time it's gone on to delta i like the idea of in-flight entertainment being something you're in i was on a plane once and i had the experience of someone watching something that i was in which is just a very funny idea and i'm

sure like actors must have that all the time in such weird scenarios like imagine if you guys you're sitting next to someone that was watching you and a thing right no i mean sometimes when i fly with kristen and i'm looking at my movies i'm like like, oh, there she is. So many options to see her. Yeah. It's exciting. Game shows. Okay, game shows. So the only one that I did get into for a bit was Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

We had a lot of British game shows in New Zealand. We had this thing from Britain called Bruce Forsythe's Generation Game. Okay. Have you heard of this? No. Basically, Bruce was this really incredible british presenter and his main game show was the generation game and at the end of it they would bring out all these prizes on a conveyor belt just so many things so there'd be a dishwasher there'd be

five thousand dollars in cash there'd be a beautiful pen there'd be some lacy underwear oh my god and the contestants could take home anything they remembered. So all this stuff would come out. And then they'd have 10 seconds at the end to just scream as quickly as possible everything they'd seen. And so it was a memory game, which is my nightmare because I just sort of remember the last couple of things that come out. No, because you don't know what things look like. It's a disaster. Well, that's just faces.

It's not items. But my memory is also bad. But I thought that it was such a panicky end to the show because you've got people desperately trying to remember. You were Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Yeah, I found that one really engaging. And I do like Jeopardy. I wasn't obsessed because I don't know the answers to things. That's the danger that makes makes you feel stupid yes like when i'm watching and people are shouting out the answers and i'm like yeah i'm at rushmore i so you're not like a pub quiz person i want to be so bad i've gone to so many trivia nights oh yeah you call them pub quiz oh sorry yeah because bars are pubs where i come from so it's very confusing yeah because

when you were first telling me about the rehearsal you you were like, he's really into pub quiz. And I was like, what is that? What are you talking about? I do not understand the show. Trivia nights. Yes. So I've gone to many and I love it. It's so much fun.

But I don't know trivia. I'm really bad. And one time I left and I was like, I hate myself. I have to fix this and i gotta get books yeah you'd have to hone in on a certain category and become the expert in your friend group at that thing yeah that's the strategy with trivia night is you have friends for different groups yeah it'd be like monica you're the sports person what that's definitely not what i should remember football episode i'm aware dion warwick I'm aware. Dionne Warwick. I'm aware.

I could never forget. Okay, what should my category be? I think your category could be maybe shopping. Do they have that? No. Oh, man. I would be so good at that. There's TVs and movies, sports, medical science, pop culture.

You could maybe do pop culture. Politics, maybe. Okay. Geography sometimes. No, that's, I'm bad at that. It's a lot, though. Are you into anything, Rob? Are you good at a quiz? Music and sports are usually.

But most trivia, though, is pop music, which I do not know. Yeah, not your thing. I was looking to see if New Zealand had any original game shows, because all we do in New Zealand is lift every format elsewhere. Our reality TV, we have our own Bachelor, which is such a hard watch because we're all so shy and nervous. There was one season of The Bachelor where The Bachelor sort of refused to kiss anyone because he was too shy. So we have our own versions, but we did have, I believe this was an original New Zealand game show. And I just want to show you a little clip because it's just so good.

It was called Tuck's Wonder Dogs. And it's just a show. I can't. I can't watch this. It's just a show where people would put their dogs through different trials and tribulations. So I'm just going to play you guys about 20 seconds of it because it's really good okay oh i hate it oh my god rip off of underdog is there a show called underdog yeah oh no it's not an original wait but it's not a game. This is a game show? For dogs.

Tonight on Tax Wonder Dogs, King Rupert has a cavalier time on the boardwalk. Oh my God, he did a backflip. Yeah, so they're dogs sort of facing off against each other in different tasks. That's like a total ripoff of Underdog theme song. Oh, no, so it's not an original. No, no. The song. Underdog is not a game show. Oh, so Underdog is a cartoon.

Yeah. No, so Tux Wonder Dogs is a New Zealand original. It was a classic. These beautiful dogs would compete in different events, and they'd have to jump through hoops, and whoever did it best won the prize. Okay, when was this 70s 80s kind of a thing maybe some 90s as well okay it was around when i was a kid because obviously in new zealand dogs are so important because we have so many sheep and so sheep dogs become a thing because we're always having to herd sheep into pens

i see so dogs are like a big part of our culture. Okay. That makes sense. One of them did a backflip. That was impressive. I did enjoy that. We also had another show called Top Town, which was, it's not really a game show. It's more of a reality program. But towns would compete against each other to be like the best. So Hamilton would go against Auckland and they'd have different physical feats and sports they'd have to play.

Oh. And the one town would come out on top. Okay. Did you talk to people about game shows? go against Auckland and that have different physical feats and sports they'd have to play. And that one town would come out on top. Okay. Did you talk to people about game shows? Oh, I did. Yeah, I did canvas people. This is what other Americans loved. My uncontested favorite US game show is Jeopardy. It's unique in that you're provided the answer and have to respond with the question. Still requires great preparation. The show aspires to be equitable. We've seen a guy with blindness play. We have seen a supercomputer play. And I love that you can have the bona fide genius

to the armchair trivia expert to the person that is excited to get just one response correct a month to all enjoy it. It brings out a great competitive side with my wife. We will shake hands, wish each other luck, and in her words, try to annihilate each other in the game. These all kind of seem like American values too,

fitting for your show. I really like Family Feud, and we tried as a family to do it a couple of times. It's accessible because it's slightly an opinion, and you always know one answer and it seems like a fun team sport. My favorite game show is Jeopardy. It's something that makes me feel proud of America because it puts our brightest folks on display. My favorite U.S. game show has got to be Supermarket Sweep. It would be on PBS every day after school. I would rush home. I would get my afternoon snack, turn on Supermarket Sweep,

and just watch these people go crazy with their shopping carts. So my favorite game show is definitely Family Feud because the answers are, and Steve Harvey is a trip. The best U.S. game show, whose line is it anyway? It was great because all the questions were made up and the points didn't matter. That was the tagline. My favorite game show is The Price is Right. I watched it when I was little with my grandmother, and now I watch it at home with my daughter, who's the same age I was when I started watching the show.

Two words, Bob Barker. The Price is Right is the ultimate game show. If you didn't spend your sick days home from school growing up watching The Price is Right, you might not be American. Well, yikes. I spent my sick days watching Secret World of Alex Mack, Full House, Clarissa Explains It All. What's Secret Life of Alex Mack? Secret World of Alex Mack. She turned into a goo. Goo.

She melted, yeah. What? It's about somebody turning into goo. The technical term for it was morph. She morphed because a nuclear reactor exploded near her did she ever turn out of the goo or is she just goo for the whole show no no she could morph into goo and then become herself again oh i loved it so she could like go under a door or something exactly she would go under doors that's cool the main gift is going under doors He would sneak into places and fix problems.

So reality shows and game shows, they're like cousins. They are cousins. So it's hard to tell what's what. Could we say that Naked Attraction is a game show? Or Survivor? It's tricky. Yeah, reality shows. Survivor, I mean, it's... No, I think a game show has to be contestants testing knowledge.

It's questions and answers. And I think the joy of the game show is that you can play along at home. Yeah, that's true. You're watching Survivor. You can't really play along. You're just watching these people go through this stuff. You're right. Whereas a game show, you're at home.

It's interactive. And I feel like it harks back to this grand old time of people gathering around the TV before things were all out at the same time and you were like mainlining seasons all at once. So every Tuesday at this time, you'd sit down and this thing would happen. Yeah. And that feels really special. It does. I feel like the last big unifying game show was Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

The stakes were so high. Yeah. The prize money is really important as well. Without that, it's not as thrilling to watch. But look, I did a deep dive for this week's documentary into game show culture. It gets intense, Monica, as a warning. Oh, I'm so excited and I'm scared.

I find it sort of amusing the ratings for the big American game shows tend to be about 5 million viewers, which is roughly the size of the big American game shows tend to be about 5 million viewers, which is roughly the size of the entire population of New Zealand. Now I could talk about game shows all day long, but I figured the best way to learn about American game shows was to go to a taping. Welcome to Celebrity Family Feud everybody, I'm your man Steve Harvey. For this episode of Flightless Bird, I go deep undercover onto the set of an iconic

American game show called Celebrity Family Feud. I'll be tagging along with Rhys Darby, the New Zealand star of an HBO show called Our Flag Means Death. I know Rhys from back home in New Zealand. He's an outsider here like me, so I'm tagging along for the experience documenting what happens. Do you know much about Family Feud? How are you feeling about this? I'm blown away that we're doing it. And secondly, yeah, I haven't really seen it. I know it's an institution, but I've never been big on institutions. Right now, me and Rhys are on a very scorching Hollywood lot. I forgot sunscreen and I feel very sweaty. It also feels intimidating to think I'll soon be on the same set of Celebrity

Family Feud. Not only have the Kardashians and Shaquille O'Neal been on this show, it's hosted by the legend Steve Harvey and that moustache. To be honest, I'm a little worried about a New Zealander going on this giant American game show. We're a shy people who don't like too much attention and a game show is the opposite of that. Something I'm concerned about, as New Zealanders, maybe not you so much, but we're such a low-key people. This show is the opposite. It's like people are on cocaine the entire time. Just to censor that, they're not actually on cocaine. That was figurative. But, you know, people are so hyped.

Have figurative cocaine, please. Make sure it's figurative because the cops are on their way. People are so hyped up. Like, it's hectic. Can we reach the level of that enthusiasm or are we going to be like the Kiwi, low-key sort of people that we are? It's going to be hard not to be the latter. We're going to have to put a little bit more energy in than we normally would because we are laid-back people.

I'm less on the laid-back side of the laid-backs, but maybe that's why I've made it over here. Okay, so my plan has changed a bit from my original idea of going undercover on a game show. Rhys has actually added me to his team, so I'll be on Celebrity Family Feud. It's the opposite of undercover. I've known Rhys for years, back from when he first appeared on Flight of the Conchords as Brett and Jermaine's hapless manager, Murray. There's still no better show to capture the spirit of New Zealand. Are you picking on Brett again, Jermaine? No, I didn't pick on him. You're from New Zealand as well? Yeah, I know that. Murray, present. And I'm from New Zealand.

You're insulting me as well. But it wasn't even me that... You're hurting all of us when you bring down New Zealand, okay? From Concord's, Rhys ended up moving to Hollywood, appearing next to actors like Dwayne the Rock Johnson in Jumanji. Ruby Roundhouse, killer of men. Welcome to Jumanji. Killer of men? Now he's here on Family Feud, and Rhys has decided that I should be on his team, a member of his figurative Kiwi family. I'm worried, and Rhys has decided that I should be on his team, a member of his figurative Kiwi family. I'm worried, and I'm terrified. As for Rhys, his main problem seems to be

remembering the name of the charity he's going to be playing for, an environmental cause that has the most confusing name I've ever heard. Algalita Marine Research and Education. Now look, this is just a quick test. What charity are you playing for? Because it's a complicated one, and I can't remember at all. Yeah, thanks for that. It's a nautical research company that also does education, and it has a name similar to Allagash, which I know is a beer, but it's not that.

It rhymes with margarita. It rhymes with margarita. It rhymes with margarita. I want to say it's ala guita. No, no, that's a reptile. I turned to Sydney, who is Rhys' PR person. That's something I've learned happens when you get famous in America. You get a PR person. What was the process of us getting on the show?

Like, did they approach us? Did you approach them? What are we doing here? Yeah, we were approached lots of email threads. I'm on like 65 email threads. That's very too much. But this show is like an empire, right?

This is like a big deal. Oh, yeah, for sure. So Reese's team is me and him plus Samba from Reese's Pirate Show. And then there's our other Kiwi friend, Fleur, and Reese's son, Finn. I'm there's our other Kiwi friend Fleur and Reese's son Finn. I'm amazed that we each get our own trailer. Having your own trailer means you've made it.

I walk inside and look around. I discover mine comes with its own DVD player. I go into the toilet for a nervous wee and notice there's carpet on the toilet floor. Gross. Name something a business deal might be made over. Lunch. That was good. I'm a sound effects king. One of the most stressful things we've discovered is that none of us on the team have really watched Family Feud. We don't know how it works. With this in mind, Samba has pulled up a Family Feud

guide off the internet so we can practice. Besides a car, name something that you might not be able to fix when it breaks. A yacht. There's a highbrow. Nah. Besides a car, name something that you might not be able to fix when it breaks. A television. TV. That's good. So you have to just kind of think what the average person would say.

But here are all the answers. Washing machine, computer, heart, plumbing, fridge, toilet, bike. We decided the secret was not to overthink it. Like Tom Cruise and Top Gun, don't think, just do. Suddenly, someone comes into our trailer to find out who on our team will be playing something called Fast Money. The bonus round. One definitive thing of a game show is having a bonus round, but it wasn't always that

way. Before 1960, there were no bonus rounds. These days, it's just expected. It's decided Reese will play Fast Money. With that in mind, we head to hair and makeup to make sure we don't look too disgusting to go on TV in an hour's time. What's happening? I'm here to get my makeup and hair sorted. Okay. And I'm the same. Every trailer is a hive of activity. Jay Farrow and his family are on the other team, and his sister Shana is getting her makeup done next to me.

She's very friendly and very confident. It's weird getting your makeup done for TV. Thick, goopy layers of foundation are layered on, then you're engulfed in powder. I look at myself in the mirror and think I look like something out of Madame Tussauds. It also strikes me how many people need to come together to make a show like this. Renee is tasked with doing my hair. You're obviously involved in the hair side of the game. What are the main stresses or joys that you encounter

in your job here? Well, depending on who comes in, sometimes they like to do their own so they're camera ready. And we just want them to feel good about the way they look on camera, whether they do themselves or have us do it for them. I figure Renee has been to this rodeo before. Maybe she has some tips. Do you have any advice on how to win this game? Oh, remember, it's the most common answer. Whatever comes to the top of your mind is probably the best. What if I panic? What do I do then? If you panic and you say something stupid,

it's good TV and you'll end up on YouTube. Reese has just slipped into the room with us. Come in. He looks excited. Algalita Marine Research and Education. Nailed it. Finally. My hair's all done.

It looks just the same as when I came in. I wander around my teammates' trailers. I bump into Fleur. With so many New Zealand accents around, I could almost mistake this Hollywood lot for being back home. What's your technique going to be on the show? Listen and respond. I'm just going to panic and just blur stuff out as it comes to mind.

So scared. That's the truth. I thought I was through the nerves, but then things get real. A man called Brian approaches clutching something in his hands. It's the iconic ovalval Family Feud name tag. With its yellow halo, the name tag's blue center shines out at me. And in the middle, in capital letters, my name. David. Do I get to keep this after the show?

You get to keep this after the show. And was this custom printed for me as David Farrier, or is this just a generic David? We have like 600 Davids. This is the one that we chose. How many times have you pinned a name on a contestant on the show? 20,000. I marvel at how many families must have competed on Family Feud. I mean, there have been over 3,000 episodes since the show started on ABC back in 1976. Back then it was hosted by Richard Dawson, not to be confused with Richard Dawkins. These days, the production is a bit like a conveyor belt. Today, for example, they're recording our episode, then there are another five that Steve

Harvey will do straight after. It's getting close to our time now. I approach Samba Shoot, an actor and comedian who's also on Our Flag Means Death. Born in Mauritania in Northwest Africa, he's been in America a little longer than me. But like me, Samba's still battling to make sense of it all. How are you feeling about all of this? I'm super excited to embarrass myself in front of every American watching. I feel like we've got this weird advantage where we're all New Zealanders. So if it goes wrong, we can kind of just be like, we didn't know what was going on. We're New Zealanders. You don't quite have that excuse.

I hear a bit of an American accent. My excuse is going to be, I grew up in Ethiopia. I don't know any of this. I'm going to try and win because it's important for the alligator fund of education and research that Rhys has been talking about. I think we're going to do good. You know, we've got a good range of people here. Very international, very diverse. We've got youth.

We've got travel experience. We've got youth. We've got travel experience. We've got brains. We've got wackiness. I am a little bit concerned. I sat next to one of the other contestants from the other team, and they seemed, like, very confident and, like, assured. And that panicked me a little bit because, as New Zealanders, like, we're not that assured.

Are we going to be okay? You're going to be okay. People don't realize that New Zealanders are very shy and quiet people, but those make for the best predators. I wish that was true. But New Zealanders are very much like our namesake, the kiwi, is in the bird, not the fruit. Kiwi birds are shy and quiet and utterly useless. Everything eats kiwis. They can't fly and they can't defend themselves. They're the opposite of a predator. I mean, that's why this show is called Flightless Bird. I'm marooned here, utterly useless, flightless, barely able to fend for myself. I've seen some memes. I've seen how

people embarrass themselves. I know Steve Harvey because I've seen his stand-up comedy, but I do not know anything about this show. So he's a stand-up comic? Yeah. Does he still perform or does he just do this now? Apparently he's retired now. But he's been doing stand-up comedy since the 80s, 90s. There's a lot of pressure being black, ain't it? It's hard, man. It's a hard job. You can't get no relief nowhere. They say yachting is America's number one sport.

You don't never see none of us yachting, do you? Uh-uh. After that first big boat ride, uh-uh. We kind of lost our taste for salmon. There's a ton of Steve's old comedy on YouTube, but these days the 65-year-old lives and breathes TV shows. He has perfected the art of being the ultimate host. The Steve Harvey Morning Show, the Miss America competition, Judge Steve Harvey, and of course Family Feud, Celebrity Family Feud, and Family Feud Africa. He has no less than seven Daytime Emmy Awards.

More meme than man at this point, he founded a company called Steve Harvey Global and writes self-help books with titles like Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man. A production person indicates things are about to get real. Any last thoughts before we leave? This is it, man. I let things come to me in the spur of the moment. And I think I'll keep that up, especially on something like this, which I think is the aim of the game, really. Because if you overthink, you're not going to hit the jackpot.

And it's all about me getting that money for that. Yeah, what is the charity that we're playing for? Yeah, it's a great charity. So they collect all the plastics from the oceans, which is very important, and get rid of the microplastic. That sounds really good. I'd love to give some money to them. What is the company or the organisation that I should make my check out to? Readily available online to find the title of.

We don't like to go on about it because they're not an egotistical company. They keep to themselves. They've given themselves a difficult name. And the name, by the way, is Algalita Marine Research and Education. Like Eminem, my palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy. This is it.

The show's about to start. This is the single most American thing i've ever done or ever will do stay tuned for more flightless bird we'll be right back after a word from our sponsors flightless bird is brought to you by framebridge which makes it easier and more affordable than ever to frame your favorite things. I've just got five things back from Framebridge. What did you get? I got some art.

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Yes, it is. I just got a piece of art. It's a drawing of Femmelman's Bar in New York, which I love. And I was just on Framebridge figuring out what frame I want to put in. I also got a big pink pig framed in a big green frame. It looks really good. So just go to framebridge.com and upload your photo or they'll send you the packaging so you can just see in the actual piece into them straight away. I can't reiterate enough that the quality is so good and the price is so affordable and framing so expensive and this is the best way to do it prices start at 39 and all shipping is free plus listeners to flightless bird get 15 off their first order at framebridge.com where they use bird as the code get started today frame your

photos or send someone the perfect gift go to framebridge.com and use promo code bird to save an additional 15% off your first order. Just go to framebridge.com promo code bird framebridge.com promo code bird. Flightless bird is brought to you by Helix sleep. I've had my Helix mattress now which was delivered in the mail. I've had it for about six months and And? And I'm sleeping really well. Apart from a ghost that I have problems with, which is going to be another episode. I love this mattress. It's the best mattress I've had. I don't know if it's just because New Zealand mattresses are no good.

But this Helix one, I really love. It actually speaks to how good it is. The fact that you can go back to sleep. You wake up every day to this ghost at 3am. And then you're able to go back to sleep. Yeah. I'm going to explain it in the Halloween episode. When I nap, I now go to sleep as well. When I used to nap, I'd nap for 20 minutes. Now I'm in a deep sleep and I wake up about two hours later, which you witnessed when I came in here all dopey one day. It's because of that frigging bed.

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Helix is offering up to $200 off all mattress orders and two free pillows for our listeners at helixsleep.com. That's a good dramatic point to stop. Really dramatic. And just update. I want more. Go on, thanks. Rob actually sent me Steve Harvey's book in the mail. Act like a lady, think like a man.

Okay. But I do appreciate you sending it to me. A bit insulted you thought I needed it. But yeah, Steve Harvey, he is a legend. I knew him from memes in New Zealand. I'd never watched the show, but I knew about Family Feud. Just because of that face and that moustache and that beaming smile. It's all in the subtle looks and the moments.

And he makes that show come together. If there was no Steve Harvey, Family Feud would not work. I know. And seeing that face in front of me, that moust mustache and that big bald head, it was like heaven. I felt like I was in a meme and it was truly wonderful. He's an institution. I think it's very hard to be a game show host and do that well. You're nervous for these people, Dax would say.

You get very anxious, but you have to be on and you have to be supportive and yeah because of course they're full of nerves yeah and you and you have to chit chat and you have to be elevated but you can't be too over the top but you got to keep the energy high for everyone i mean it's like a lot and you're dealing with people that aren't used to being on tv a lot of the time like Like a family on family feud, you're working with amateurs essentially, right? So what can you do? You're giggling a lot right now. Something evil has occurred to you.

No, it's not evil. I just remembered my experience with a game show. Oh, okay. So we said Dax hosted a game show. He did. But also Dax and Kristen hosted a game show. He's involved in two game shows they hosted a game show that the Ellen team produced right it was called family game fight

it was super fun but I worked on that project and I helped with the scripts a little bit and the filming of that game show was chaos I'm interested to compare it to my experience, which I go into soon, but what is the filming like? I mean, there was a lot of moving parts to that and it was season one. They're finding themselves, right? Everyone's finding themselves. Yeah. Lots of different sets to have to move around. They got huge dumps of water poured on them over and over and over again. Like, ah, you know. I've seen clips of that on YouTube and it was full on. Just the logistics on a set of having a lot of water is also just another crazy thing.

Because that stuff probably has to be cleaned up and reset all the time, right? And so then you're running back upstairs to get into a new outfit for a new setup. You have to dry the hair. It was a lot for them. But it was also funny because I went into the control room. There's a teleprompter in these shows and things change based on what is happening in the moment. So it is panic in that room. So there's some poor person doing rewrites furiously typing things in trying to make the narrative all make sense yes and it's like okay 13 points okay we got to move forward

in the script because when they say 13 points i mean it was chaos what was the level of fun versus stress i mean game shows are fun right people are winning money and people are excited and yeah it's really fun to give money away like it's just a beautiful thing but um it was stressful so what you said about dumping water it reminded me of this new zealand kids show where they would dump goo on people oh my god which reminds me of your show your little person probably was part of that goo oh my gosh but they do that on nickelodeon right yes they do your slime they stole that for like a new zealand? Yes, they do. Slime. Yes, slime. They stole that for a New Zealand show as well.

Oh my gosh. Can they just do their own thing? No, it's really hard to come up with an original game show. It's really difficult to do. We steal everything. That is reminding me of kids game shows on Nick. What was that tribal one? Legends of the Hidden Temple and Guts.

And Guts. I loved those. I did too, yeah. What's Guts? That sounds very visceral. There was a mountain, like physical competition. Right. I remember there was one part where they climb in an ear.

Do you remember that? No, that was... Was that a different one? That was a different one. That was... What was that? It's a giant mountain. There's like a big ear you're crawling into oh you're right guts was they were in different colors on guts yeah and at the end they had to climb the mountain and they're like why guts because tough like you've got oh you've got guts right i was thinking

of some sort of medical show i'm involved in guts probably if i remember everything in nickelodeon i think of that era i had slime no there was another one where it was contestants. I know what you're talking about. Was it Double Dare? Double Dare. Yes, Double Dare. Oh, my God. And one of the challenges is they had to climb into this big ear.

And I think they had to like retrieve stuff out of the ear. Yeah, they had like flags they were getting. Yes. It was like an obstacle course, but gross. Why was it an ear to be gross? Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Yes. And I don't remember there being slime, but gross. Why was it an ear to be gross? Yeah. Yeah. Wow.

Yes. And I don't remember there being slime, but there might have been slime. And then Legends of the Hidden Temple was a big one. Man, Nickelodeon really pulled out some good game shows. I forgot about that. Yeah, it's cool. I like how game shows can be played by kids and adults as well. That's kind of nice.

It's very interactive. And essentially, the adults are doing the same thing as the kids. They're still getting dunked on with water. It's the same sort of shit. Maybe that's kind of nice it's very interactive and essentially like the adults are doing the same thing as the kids they're still getting dunked on with water it's the same sort of shit exactly maybe that's why we like it it's kind of like full of wonder i think of spelling bee as well those shows borderline between quiz and game show i don't know reality quiz game it's all the board is blur i do want to play one clip oh please real quick before we move on. This is the newlywed game. What would your husband say is his favorite condiment? Oh, I would say his pool table upstairs, definitely.

Annette? I don't know that word before I name it. I said karate school. Karate school is a really good answer. It's such a great answer. That's the thing that makes it magic is the unpredictable nature of what people under pressure will blur it out. There's so many good Family Feud ones. Oh, there's so many good moments.

Yeah. Including our one. Oh, there's so many good moments. Yeah. Including our one. We've all been let inside this big studio building, gone down a lift, twisted and turned along a hallway, and are finally in this big open room.

There are two rows of chairs, both facing each other. Our team sits in one and Jay Farrow's team on the other. So we're eyeballing each other. Because we're in America, everyone is on their phone, posting, live streaming, TikTok-ing. We're going against the Reese squad. Yeah! Yum in America, everyone is on their phone, posting, live streaming, TikToking. We're going against the Reese squad! Yeah! Y'all know what it is. It's the battle of noises today. That's all I'm gonna

say. You know what it is. Eventually, we're told to shut up, and one of the crew from Family Feud talks us through how this whole thing will work. This is a day you will never, ever forget. They're having so much fun. Mr Harvey is on fire.

And he's so excited about you guys being here. So, it moves like a train. So the idea is to get to 300 points. The first team to 300 points wins and goes to Fast Money. I thought getting instructions would be quite helpful, but they go on for so long and somehow manage to make everything even infinitely more confusing. We realize I still have absolutely no idea how this game show works.

I've never watched an episode all the way through. It's something about trying to guess the answers that someone else has already answered or why. I turned to Rhys. He also looks slightly panicked. It's nice to know it's not just me. The flu was the same. I totally blanked out. It's worse. It's constantly worse.

We then marched onto the set. The set's huge. It's the size of a small New Zealand town. It's bonkers. I've been on game show sets in New Zealand, and this makes them look like pokey backyard productions. There's a studio audience already there, and a hype man on stage getting them fired up. To be honest, trying to record an audio documentary while taking part

in a game show on American TV is kind of stressful. I'm so busy trying to capture all these moments, I haven't taken any of the instructions in. And remember how that producer earlier said, it moves like a train? It moves like a train. They weren't lying. Suddenly, without any real warning, Celebrity Family Feud just starts. It's time for Celebrity Family Feud. For the first five minutes, I thought it was a rehearsal.

Then I clocked, this is actually the real thing. This is what will end up on TV. It's like being strapped onto a roller coaster and there's no way to get off. Reese, how you doing, man? Good. Lovely to be here. Lovely to be here. Lovely to have you.

Like Dax always teasing my accent, it's good to see Steve Harvey ripping into Reese's. Anyway, let's meet everybody else. I have my team consisting of David Ferrier, Samba Shoot, Fleur Saville and Finn Darby. Have yourself a good time. Look, I don't know if good was the word I'd use, but it was certainly a time.

Give me Shana, give me David. I was second up against Shana, who I'd met in the makeup trailer earlier. It was time to answer some important questions involving American culture. Name something a man might put in his weak old underpants to make them smell better. Shana.

Air freshener. With her lightning fast buzzer reflexes, Shana gets 13 points for that. David. Deodorant. Deodorant. Deodorant was apparently a more popular answer, so I get 17 points. I'm becoming so American, I answered with a more American answer than an American. Look, I'm not going to recap the whole show.

We'd probably get sued by NBC. But let's just say the whole experience was very confusing for all of us. Rhys, passed away is a nice way of saying someone died. Name a not so nice way. I'd like to say cocked it. It cuts to Steve Harvey's face that's just doing that blank look he does so well.

No one understands cocked it, which is Kiwi slang for when someone dies. Rhys tries to explain. You know, as in, what happened to that guy?

Oh, he's carked it. He's carked it? He's carked it. Wait a minute. He's carked it. Well, because it's short for carcass. We all chip in, trying to make Steve Harvey understand the word. It's got an R in it. Carked.

Yeah, carked. Carked. Carked it. Carked it. Carked it. Carked it. Carked it. What the hell's going on? I guess while I've been struggling to make sense of America, this game show makes me realise that America is struggling to make sense of New Zealand too.

This game's going to hell right here. The game rolls on. And I remember that when you're on a rollercoaster, it's hard to know where on the roller coaster you are or how much you have left or how much has gone by. In between rounds, I check in with my teammates. How are we feeling about this? How are we doing? Well, the pressure's on, but I'm feeling quietly confident.

I mean, we're slightly ahead. A woman approaches us, telling us we're doing a great job. I assume she's on work experience. Maybe an intern. Your role is to give us feedback. What? What's your role in this? I'm the executive producer. As liberal as I like to think I am,

just like that, I'm reminded I'm a massive sexist. Turns out a woman can be an executive producer. Amazing. How did we do? Oh, are you kidding me? This thing's fantastic. It's going to be so much fun to edit. Timing couldn't have been better because you got it right, got it wrong,

but it didn't go over too much. So now I can edit and keep it all. In my short experience, Americans love giving positive feedback to your face, even if they secretly hate something. And I'm here for it. The end of the game arrives and it's all down to Reese. Have you all talked it over? We talked it over.

Okay. Darbylicious, your team wins the game. Flat out. You give it to me, your team wins the game. If it's not there, the Pharaoh fam will win the game. Oh, my God. Here we go. If you heard your bedroom door open while making love,

who would you hope not to see? My ex. For the win. My ex! Turns out, Rhys did really good. We just won Celebrity Family Feud. I have no doubt my contribution of uttering the word deodorant was a huge contributing factor. We just won the game. We won the game, David. I've got attention here now.

A win also means we get to play the fabled game show bonus round, Fast Money. And right from the start, Rhys is on fire. $25,000 for Algalita Marine Research and Education. Watching on from behind my podium, I feel Reese's entire career has led him to this point. It's like the answers have been implanted in his head like in a Nathan Fielder experiment. Name a celebrity who has rock in their name. Reese ends up getting 198 points, which is really high.

Then Samba did his round to seal the deal. which is really high. Then Samba did his round to seal the deal. And just like that, $25,000 for Reese's confusingly named charity. And a revelation, for only the second time in Family Feud history, someone had given all the number one answers. Reese gave all the number one answers. Zebra, Spouse, Dwayne The Rock, Temple in Spain, all number one answers. Somehow, Reese had managed to fully inhabit the mindset of an American. It was an incredible feat of acting, statistically making Reese more American than previous contestants, like the entire Kardashian family. And just like that, it's over. We're led back out into the harsh sunlight of the studio lot. I feel ill. Rhys feels good. It's hard for me to ever feel anything,

but in all honesty, as close to ecstatic as I've felt recently. And when he said that I was the second only person in history to get all of those right or whatever. Do you feel it was skill or chance or a combination of both? The one thing I'm good at is thinking very quickly on the top of my feet. The feet are very important. I position them in a certain way. I take everything like it just comes and then, you know, it's meant to happen because it's all part of the delusion I've created in my head.

Come back to me. created in my head. Come back to me. I'm proud in a way that the very few skills I have have been brought out today and shown to the world. And thanks to this experience, I've been shown the inner workings of a definitive

American institution, that of the game show. And even more importantly perhaps, Americans have been shown a new phrase for dying, Carked it. Had you heard of Carked It before? Never. First of all.

Oh, thank you. We won. I'm so proud of you. $25,000 to our charity. What's the name of it? To clean the oceans. The Algalida Marine and Research. And nothing else. it just ends at

research the name doesn't even make sense oh my god that was really exciting i was fully in i was anxious for you guys i'm impressed you said deodorant because i think i would have said arm and hammer baking soda is what they make but then then I would have lost. It's such a strange scenario because when I said that it's like a roller coaster, it honestly, it does just start and you realize you can't run away. It's just happening and it's on. And there wasn't really a warning. Steve Harvey just walked out on stage and it begins. And they gave us that half hour of instructions, very specific instructions, which none of us took in. But it's weird because once you begin, it's such a finely tuned machine.

You kind of know where to walk and what to do. Wow. So when they say come up to the podium, you know which direction to walk in. And it all just sort of happens like magic. Very naturally. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. This is so exciting.

Okay. Why do you feel ill? Oh, I was so nervous. It's all out. Very naturally. Yeah. Oh my gosh, this is so exciting. Okay, why do you feel ill? Oh, I was so nervous. It's all out of my control. It turned me into this deranged maniac, clapping the whole time. I'm grinning and I'm doing it and I'm thinking, why am I doing this? This isn't me at all. Wow. But something infects your brain on that set and you just turn into this kind of

very basic clapping monkey oh my god and did you have any more times up there other than deodorant what else tell us everything you gotta watch the show i honestly didn't want to get sued by nbc i did one other answer that really fell flat oh Oh my God. I panicked. Of course you didn't show us that. I kept that out. That's just for the show. I did another answer that was just really weird and off. Oh, it was that thing again of what would you put in your underwear? Oh, they ask it again? It's all a blur. And for some reason I just blurted out food because I thought some sort of nice smelling food you could use to override a bad smell. But I just looked like an idiot.

But it wasn't an idiot in a funny way. It was just kind of a puzzling, like, has he got a problem kind of issue. Right, because he put bananas in his pants. Yeah, exactly. And so it was a weird answer. Honestly, I didn't put it in the documentary because it was just so weird. It would have just fallen flat like it did on the show. Well, now that I've given you praise for your really good job.

Okay, there's another moment. Yes, I'm going to give you a big slap on the wrist, David Ferrier. I'm admitting to it. You are. So great job. Good for you for being honest and keeping that in. I was mortifying so this woman bounded over to us giving us random bits of feedback and just i don't know my brain instead of going you were

the executive producer running the show because i thought look in my defense i thought they'd be in like some office or the control room sure they were dancing around the floor the whole time interacting with everyone that's what they do i've learned this but i was so mortified okay and do you think you're gonna take that into your life and make better decisions i'm taking into my life and i am gonna not assume when a woman bounds up to me that she is an intern do you think if it was a male you would have still felt like it was an intern you might have i'm really worried i am questioning everything because i think if it was a male, you would have still felt like it was an intern? You might have. Look, I'm really worried.

I am questioning everything because I think if it was, I'd probably be like, oh, wow, you're the CEO of the company or something. That's my opinion. You own NBC. No, I'm joking. It wouldn't be that bad. Like you own NBC. No, it was a real insight into my default brain setting, and it was bad. No, but it's good to get checked because we all do this.

It's just mortifying to do it in front of her and in front of everyone else around me everyone caught it and every but at least you have kind of an excuse because it kind of sounds like you're doing it for the podcast like who are you totally yes state what your role is here yes yeah so that was not my greatest time also there was so much lead up to the moment you get this so early and you're just waiting and waiting and you're getting worried and you're getting figuring out what to wear and your makeup and all that stuff and then suddenly it's just happening and it's out of your control and then you're spat out onto the lot and being driven home oh my god wow wow wow well i loved this i'm definitely gonna go and watch you should watch our episode

yeah it's been to air. I got a bit of feedback from people, which was all pretty funny. And I forgot it was actually on that night. So all these texts came in and I was like, oh, the episode must have gone out. How was it watching yourself? Oh, I would never. I didn't watch it. No, I'll never watch it.

No, I can't watch it. Never. I could think of nothing worse. We're watching it together. I'll get so sweaty. I get so nervous. it's just watching yourself back is the hardest thing it's rough but it's funny for me to watch you watch yourself great this will be great so your game shows i think this makes me a bit more american i'm gonna give you three thousand points, thank you. Because you won the most iconic American game show. We won family feud.

I won family feud. Oh my God. It's actually all recent Samba that did all the hard work. I think you should put that on your Raya profile. Cause it's pretty hot to have one. One celebrity family feud. Family feud champion. Wow.

It's so good. It's a big deal. Yeah. Dating apps is going to. Wow, it's so good. It's a big deal. Yeah. Dating apps is going to be a future episode, by the way. Oh, shit. And I'm very excited to get into the culture of American dating apps. Oh, this is exciting. Easter egg.

How fun. I'm so glad you did this. What a delight. You're more American than me today. Yes. Just today.