He’s famous for being half of one of Australia’s greatest comedy duos, Hamish and Andy. But Andy Lee shows a different side to himself when he’s interviewed by the autistic journalism students of The Assembly.
The Assembly is now into its third season, which features the return of students from seasons one and two. Six new celebrities are facing the students’ questions, and host Leigh Sales says she really loves Andy’s episode.
“He connected with the students really nicely and I just love his whole vibe, actually,” Leigh tells TV WEEK. “He’s great.”
In the episode, Andy opens up about his professional relationship with fellow comedian Hamish Blake when answering a question from Chau.
“Certainly I had my own worries about, ‘Do I exist without Hamish?’ when we’re doing something so strong together, and I think the world of the way he performs,” he says. “If I’m without him, what am I? Am I good enough?”
Andy also answers honestly when Abbey asks him why it took “forever” to propose to his girlfriend Bec Harding. He says he knew Bec was “the one” for him pretty early, but it took a while for him to feel like it was the right time to get married.
In answer to a question from Mitch, Andy reveals what it was like when his mother was diagnosed with cerebral vasculitis in 1996 and given just two weeks to live. His mother survived, but when she finally got out of hospital and came home, she did something that made Andy angry.
“The stuff about his mum when he was a teenager was really affecting,” Leigh says.
A couple of the students, Evie and Anastasia, are interested in animation and voice acting, so they ask Andy questions about his children’s series Do Not Watch This Show. There’s a nice follow-up at the end of the episode, showing what happened one month later when Evie and Anastasia visited the studio where Andy’s series is made.
“He personally bent over backwards to get that to happen,” Leigh says. “They just would have loved that.”
You can watch The Assembly on ABC or ABC iview.
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