Sam Pang takes aim as the host of the 63rd TV WEEK Logie Awards

As the biggest night in Australian television draws near, change is in the air. For the first time since 1995, Channel Seven will broadcast the TV WEEK Logie Awards from Sydney – and with it, usher in a few surprises.

After 12 years without a host, comedian and Have You Been Paying Attention? panellist Sam Pang will emcee the glittering event.

“I’ve told a few people in the industry and their response was, ‘Oh, so Tom [Gleisner] and Ed [Kavalee] couldn’t do it, then?” Sam, 49, jokes of his HYBPA? colleagues. “No, people have been incredibly supportive and it’s a true honour to be asked to be host.

“To be honest, I haven’t been to that many Logies, but it’s a night of celebration for an industry I love. It’s great to play a bigger part in it.”

The task of reviving the hosting role naturally comes with some pressure, but Sam views it differently: he’s simply “ready to have some fun”.

“I think there’d be more pressure if someone had hosted it [in 2022], because then I’d be compared to them,” he says. “Shane [Bourne] hosted way back in 2011, so it’s a long time ago now.

“The idea is that the host adds to the night and is a friendly face to guide the viewers through the show. There will be the normal amount of pressure, and it’ll be a big week leading up to it, but I’m looking forward to it.”

A highlight of any awards show is the opening monologue, where the host can poke fun at the audience and the industry itself. Sam, who often roasts celebrities on HYBPA? and sports program The Front Bar, says he hasn’t been given any restrictions as to who he can go after or what he can say.

“For now,” he says with a laugh. “I think the [Sunrise] Cash Cow is the only one off-limits – I think he’s sacred. Everyone else is in play.”

An early candidate might be Fisk actress and friend Kitty Flanagan, who won Most Popular Actress in 2022. Kitty was on tour and unable to attend the ceremony, so asked Sam to accept it on her behalf in the unlikely event of her winning. When she did win, an unenthused Sam treated the audience to a hilarious acceptance speech.

“Whether Kitty comes this year or not, she’ll be getting a mention,” he says. “To a normal person, the idea that she wouldn’t roll up for two years in a row would seem poor manners and astonishing, but for her, it’s par for the course. Knowing Kitty, she’ll probably win again – and I’ll have to accept it.”

As the host, Sam will join names such as Graham Kennedy, Bert Newton, Daryl Somers, Eddie McGuire and Andrew Denton – all of whom he watched when he was younger.

“I remember watching the Logies and thinking, ‘What a cool job,'” he says, adding that many of them were also his comedy heroes. “I’m lucky enough to be working with a lot of the people I watched and admired on TV. It’s quite surreal, really.”

On the list of names that includes the likes of Tony Martin, Mick Molloy, Jane Kennedy and Wendy Harmer – to name just a few (“I don’t want to leave out anyone,” he says), is Tom Gleisner, whom he regularly roasts on HYBPA?

“I have a wonderful respect for the role he’s played – and for, you know, the almost dead,” he jokes. “I’ve been fortunate to work alongside him and become friends. The same goes for Ed.”

Sam says people often misinterpret their sharp ribbing, but “we couldn’t say half the things we do if we weren’t friends. We complement each other well and have known each other a long time. I’ll canvass their opinions and others’ ahead of the Logies, because I’m surrounded by very funny people”.

With comedy kings to draw on and his own ready wit, Sam might just be the toast of the town come July 30. But until the big night, life at home remains pretty normal.

“That’s a good point: I should probably tell my family about the gig, shouldn’t I?” he says with a laugh.