Let the gonging begin!
It seems to have played a really big part in a lot of peoples lives.
And theyre a very particular thing.
Eddy Chen/ABC
And he thought it was the funniest thing hed ever seen.
So you dont want super-talented people in the conventional sense?
We want super-talented people in an unconventional sense.
Eddy Chen/ABC
For me, an amazing talent can be someone who just hums the national anthem brilliantly, you know?
There can be all kinds of things.
Very few of our acts could have a residency in Vegas.
Eddy Chen/ABC
What will they win?
There is a prize at the end of each show, and its the princely sum of $2,000.17.
It wont change your life necessarily, but its enough to make it worth your time.
Many people came on the show saying, If Im gonged, I dont mind.
If they think Im gong-worthy, thats a badge of honor in its own right.
Did a lot of time and effort go into creating your actual gong?
We looked all over to try and find the right kind of gong.
We wanted a proper, real gong.
We wanted one that genuinely did the job.
Ours is slightly grander.
Ours is a little bit flashier, but again, we tried to keep it human-sized, you know?
This isnt a Chinese state circus with loads of grandeur.
Our acts tend to be smaller, they tend to be more intimate.
Theyre much more human.
Whose idea was it to have Mike Myers play this character named Tommy Maitland, who will host?
I dont know where you got the information that Mike Myers is involved.
Tommy Maitland is a legend!
Hes basically a legend on British TV, right?
I dont know if youve ever seen people of a certain era of British TV.
Hes a song-and-dance man whose first appearance on TV was in 1939.
Are you all done with the production, and are all 10 episodes in the can?
Weve shot all 10 of them.
We had a right laugh doing it.
As Tommy would say, turn off your brain, turn on your TV, its all for funsies.
Its meant to be an antidote to the world we have at the moment.
You know, its a pretty tough time at the moment.
Turning on the news is hardly fun for most people in America, one way or another.
It is quite nice to just have some wild abandon and silliness to embrace.
So to embrace the humanity of America, you know, its a family show with naughty edges.
The Gong Showdebuts Thursday at 10 p.m.
