‘I had no idea’: The ABC quiz show asking the questions you may not want the answers to

As the 2006 film Night at the Museum movies taught us, funny things can happen in museums after dark. That’s certainly the case at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in Hobart, where ABC comedy panel show Tonight at the Museum is filmed – at night – in front of a live audience. The exhibits don’t spring to life under a spell cast by Egyptian artefact, but there are plenty of laughs as comedian and lifelong museum lover Alex Lee oversees guessing games and treasure hunts.

“There is something special about being in a museum at nighttime”, says Lee, who is making her solo hosting debut. “It feels like you’re creeping around and being naughty, and it is spooky with all the dinosaur skeletons and old artworks. We wanted to have that sense of fun and childlike wonder and curiosity.”

Created by producer Josh Martin (Going Places with Ernie Dingo) and TV cook Adam Liaw, with writing by Lee, the format mixes history with humour. The guest line-up across eight episodes includes Geraldine Hickey, Steph Tisdell, Nazeem Hussain, Peter Helliar and Briggs. First up are Tegan Higginbotham, Zoe Coombs Marr, Brett Blake, and, the season’s sole overseas import, Britain’s Alan Davies.

“It was surreal to have someone like Alan there, who’s done 300 or something episodes of QI, and is so experienced,” says Lee. “When you see him settling in and learning something with everyone else, it’s wonderful.”

The first expert to appear is Dr Tiana Pirtle, who specialises in vaginas.

“I couldn’t believe we were using terms like ‘vaginal shield’ in our first episode,” says Lee. “I had no idea that these amazing animals have these dynamic and hardworking vaginas.”

Having sat on many a comedy panel (Would I Lie to You?, Claire Hooper’s House of Games, Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont Spelling Bee), Lee believes comedians make excellent quiz contestants.

“Comedians are always on the lookout for something in the world to see differently, and they’re always open to useless titbits of information, so their general knowledge is very impressive.”

She knows the discomfort of when things go wrong – not, she stresses – on any of the aforementioned formats.

“Sometimes it can feel forced,” she says. “You can tell when the fun is genuine or not. You can’t fake that. With some of the imported formats, you can tell whether they’ve been put together with love, or with cynicism, and when you’re just doing wacky stuff for the sake of being wacky. That’s what’s so nice about working on an original concept.”

Each guest presents a treasure of their own, to be exhibited in the museum should they win. As host, Lee misses out, but says her treasure would be a “box full of horrors”.

“I have this beautiful box carved by my grandfather full of treasures which I’ve kept since I was a child,” she says. “It’s full of things that a child thought were precious, and in hindsight, are hideous. I’ve got feathers from my first pet chicken, and a plaster mould for my retainer, some weird medals that I won, and cool rocks that I’ve found. It’s my own little personal museum, but really it should be in some sort of germ-proof container.”

With children of her own, aged seven and two, Lee remains a regular museum visitor. “It’s such a nice thing to do with kids. It’s also a really wonderful place to ignore your children, because they’re learning something and they’re pretty much safe and you can go on your phone for a bit.”

Her “emotional” attachment to museums runs deep.

“Museums are guardians of our collective memory,” she says. “And it’s not just about the past … Everyone’s got their own version of the truth, and it’s comforting to know that there are these institutions that are very studiously approaching this idea of, ‘What do we need to keep from today that is going to be significant tomorrow?’”

Tonight At The Museum premieres at 8pm on Wednesday, March 4, on the ABC.

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