Sam Pang is the most popular man on TV. Now what?

The last time I clapped eyes on Sam Pang in the flesh was in the media room backstage at the Logies, just minutes after he’d been anointed the most popular person on Australian television.

“How are you?” he says today as we settle in to talk about the return, for a third season, of his variety show Sam Pang Tonight. “Last time we spoke you were front row, and one of the first people I saw post-Gold Logie.”

Well, you know, Sam, it’s important to share these moments with the people you love ...

“I did point that out,” he says, laughing. “You walk offstage, you’re taken to this room, and you’re like, ‘this is who I’m celebrating with?’ It’s a very special moment.”

Don’t be fooled by the trademark sarcasm: it really was a special moment for Pang. As he said on stage and again backstage that night in August, he grew up watching TV and the Logies, but never dreaming that a kid who looked like him (which is to say, of Chinese descent) might one day be part of the industry, let alone walk away with its top prize.

The whole experience was “crazy and weird and surreal” he says. When his name was called out, he was surprised – “it could just as easily have been anyone else” – but at least winning made the decision not to drink on the night feel worthwhile.

“That would have been a big sacrifice to make: to keep yourself mildly tidy on the off-chance [you win], and then not have to say anything,” he says.

Pang didn’t drink in the three years he hosted the Logies either. But any time he’d been there as a guest, he says, “I absolutely gave it a genuine crack – I’d make friends with the waiter: ‘Help me out here, it’s a long night.’”

And what about when he woke up on the Monday morning with the gold statuette on the bedside table? Did it feel as if the world had suddenly shifted on its axis?

“I don’t think it’s changed anything workwise,” he says. “On the Sunday I was at the Logies, on the Wednesday I did The Front Bar, and the following Monday I did Have You Been Paying Attention? With the hosting, it was always like a poisoned chalice; [you fear] you’re never going to work again. [With this] I was thinking, unless this is a genuine disaster, I think The Front Bar will have me back. I think HYBPA will have me back. I felt comforted by that.”

One of the more curious aspects of Pang winning the Gold Logie is that it’s not entirely clear which network should claim the bragging rights. Is it Seven, for The Front Bar? Ten, for HYBPA and Sam Pang Tonight? Or the ABC for Ground Up, the scripted comedy about the AFL’s efforts to launch a team in Tasmania?

‘I’m very aware of doing too much … But I always defend myself with, “Yeah, OK, well which show do you want me to get rid of?” ’

Sam Pang

“I’m definitely no network star,” Pang concedes. He just got lucky by being part of teams on a couple of shows in The Front Bar and HYBPA that started small and eventually found their way to longevity and a decent-sized audience (it should be noted that he’s also been on SBS and Fox Sports; only Nine has not yet claimed a piece of Pang).

“I feel very lucky not to be part of that old system of network stars, or signed to one network. I feel very lucky that I kind of missed all that,” he says.

As in its first two seasons, in early and late 2025, there are only eight episodes of Sam Pang Tonight. That’s both strategic and necessary, given his other commitments.

“I’m very aware of doing too much, and I know already there’s a bit of, ‘Hey, you’re on a lot of shows,’” he says. “I always defend myself with, ‘Yeah, OK, well which one do you want me to get rid of?’

“The other thing is, they are seasonal. There’s crossover, but I’m only on TV twice a week. Some people are on TV five days a week. And Ground Up was very separate.”

Ten might have been open to a longer run of the variety show, “but I think this is just what it is at the moment”, Pang says. The idea of doing a full-time late-night show could not be further from his mind.

“I never thought about this show as like an American tonight show, 11 o’clock every night, five nights a week. I never understood that model – I didn’t know who was even watching television at 11 o’clock at night. It’s mind-blowing to me.”

At any rate, that model is under threat in the US right now, both economically (as live audiences dwindle, so does the ad revenue) and politically (thanks to Trump’s ongoing war against anyone in the media who dares to criticise him). In Australia, it’s been extinct since the five-nights-a-week juggernaut Tonight Live With Steve Vizard ended in late 1993.

Pang’s iteration of the format has more in common with Rove McManus’ one-night-a-week shows Rove and Rove Live, which ran in 1999 (a single season on Nine) and from 2000 to 2009 on Ten. But even there, there are differences. For a start, there’s less reliance on big-name international guests. It’s a necessary adjustment given that Hollywood junkets have become rarer than hen’s teeth since COVID.

“If you’re in New York or in LA, on the off-chance that no one is publicising something, all the big stars live there so you can just ask a favour, say, ‘Can you pop down the street?’” Pang says.

Here, while guests are definitely still part of the mix, you have to approach the format a little differently. “It feels more like a variety show: this is my hour, I’ve got this awesome team, and this is what we’ve got for you. That’s a nice structure.”

Ten is promising the new season will be “stacked with Monday monologues, uninhibited celebrity interviews, sketches and the anything-could-happen energy of Wheel Of Segments”, just like before. There will be guest announcers roped in from the world of comedy too, a role filled in the past by the likes of Shaun Micallef, Celia Pacquola, Tony Martin and Denise Scott.

It’s an impressive roll call, and as with Ed Kavalee’s star-studded crime caper, Cop This, also made for Ten, it points to a sense of fraternity among local comedians.

“I definitely feel part of a community,” Pang says. “I never thought I’d get to be a part of it, but I feel it. You hear stories about comedians, especially stand-ups, being very competitive and angry and bitter and cynical. I do not feel that at all. There’s a lot more support than people may think. It’s definitely a community, and I feel very lucky to be a part of it.”

As for the show itself, Pang says lessons have been learnt from seasons one and two. “The DNA of the show is the same, but things have changed,” he says, highlighting a need for more bodies, more ideas. “It feels like we can just colour it in more, with more silliness and fun.”

He also feels he’s growing as an interviewer: “I’ve learned to take my time a bit more and try to explore, not just get through these bits.”

The second batch of eight episodes was better than the first batch, he says, and hopefully the third batch will be better again. “You only find out what you don’t know by doing it. We’ve learned lessons, and hopefully that translates on screen.

“I’m definitely going to have a lot of fun,” he adds. “And I hope everyone comes along for the ride.”

Sam Pang Tonight is on Ten from Monday, October 19, at 8.40pm.

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