Comedian Guy Montgomery: ‘It’s more fun not to concentrate on myself all the time’

Guy Montgomery says being a comedian is his favourite thing in the world. Photo / Supplied

Starting this week, Guy Montgomery will be putting his fellow comedians’ spelling abilities to the test in front of a studio audience in his new show, Guy Montgomery’s Guy-Mont Spelling Bee. In the meantime, he spills the beans on what makes him laugh, life hacks and living the dream.

To keep fit and healthy, well, this is a question on the lips of every New Zealander. How does Guy Montgomery maintain his iconic hourglass figure? Well, four days a week, I head down to a CrossFit gym and explain to the fellas who are flipping one of those big tyres end-over-end that if they just put it on its side and let it roll, the whole thing will be so much easier. They don’t take too kindly to this and inevitably chase me for anywhere between seven to 10km.

To keep mentally and emotionally healthy, I talk about my feelings with my friends, and I see a therapist. I would recommend both or either of these completely radical concepts to any New Zealand man reading this.

The best advice I’ve ever been given about life is ask questions and listen to the answers. I do not know much about anything, but everyone else knows a lot about something. Some of the best conversations I’ve had are listening to someone who is very passionate about something. They become very excited while talking about it. Even the most boring thing in the world is exciting to someone, and that rocks.

If I wasn’t a comedian, I would be absolutely devastated. Why am I not a comedian anymore!? This is my favourite thing in the world.

The values I live by are impeccable.

I’d like fewer of my friends to give me unrelenting s*** for getting eliminated from Celebrity Treasure Island immediately.

As I get older, I realise you never feel old. Your body just becomes incrementally less cooperative.

My favourite memory is when I was a boy, I used to love trying to make any family member or friend laugh hard enough at the dinner table so they couldn’t swallow their mouthful of food, ideally to the point of standing up and having to regurgitate into a napkin.

The person who has had the biggest impact on my life is my stepdaughter, Olive. She taught me it is more fun not to concentrate on myself the whole time.

I’ve suffered from awful imposter syndrome in the past until I killed the real Guy Montgomery and it completely went away.

Guy Montgomery's new show Guy Montgomery's Guy-Mont Spelling Bee premieres Thursday, February 16, at 7.30pm on Three and ThreeNow. Photo / Supplied

When the going gets tough, I tell myself that before long enough, the tough will get going, and after that, both the going and the tough will have left me alone and I can return to the task at hand.

My work ethic consists of bursts of productivity among long, sustained periods of self-admonishment.

The things that make me happiest are having a laugh with my friends. This is the deepest laugh possible, and nothing feels better.

On Sundays, you’ll find me… In truth, you probably won’t find me. Every Sunday I work on my hiding, and I am becoming very, very good.

My best life hack is to stay alive for as long as possible. The trick? Well, it is remarkably simple. Every day I make a special point of drinking some water, eating some food, and getting some sleep.

Guy Montgomery’s Guy-Mont Spelling Bee premieres Thursday, February 16, at 7.30pm on Three and ThreeNow.