Working For The Grater Good

The Age

Saturday October 11, 2008

Catherine Deveny

Those fifth graders are so smart, cute and loveable. And so is the show's host.

AM I SMARTER THAN A fifth grader? I'm not even smarter than a cheese grater. Which is what my kids call Rove's quiz show that manages to put every lawyer, teacher or PhD student on it back in their box. But in a good way. It makes you almost glad they're idiots.

Most quiz-show contestants are just in it for the thrill of being right. "I am the king of all questions and one day I shall rule the world with my photographic memory, my encyclopedic knowledge and my ability to introduce you to a new world of pain via my pathological obsession with the digestive systems of slugs."

Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? is warm, funny and full of heart. When someone wins, everyone wins. It's a smart-arse-free zone. I know. On television. Hard to believe. Same television that brings us, well, pretty much everything else on television.

The fifth graders are so smart, funny, cheeky and sweet I want to hate them. But I can't because they're adorable. These 11-year-olds shine as they graciously show they know four equilateral triangles comprise the net of a tetrahedron, the country of Andorra is located between France and Spain and that 2008 is the International Year of the Potato.

There was a middle-aged woman on the other night, so excited, all tuckshop arms, bridesmaid's back and camel toe. Rove treated her like a princess, an equal and his mum. He got the best out of her by embracing her, taking the piss and making her feel funny, fabulous and fast. Which she was. If he bumped into her in 20 years' time, not only would he remember her name but he'd remember her kids' names as well.

How do I know? I wrote for Rove for five years and had been bumping into him around the stand-up traps a good few years before then. I remember thinking, "Geez he's a lovely guy. I wonder where he'll end up? I hope he has a trade to fall back on."

I'd love to tell you, and I'm sure you'd love to hear, that he's a demanding, narcissistic arsehole who beats his writers, sleazes onto production assistants and Googles himself naked 20 times a day. But he doesn't (OK, I'm not 100% sure about the naked Googling). I've never heard anyone in the industry say a bad word about Rove. Which is extraordinary in our media biosphere that thrives on gossip, backstabbing and schadenfreude.

The show is great because Rove genuinely likes people. Not just good-looking or famous people, just people. And because of that he gets the best out of everyone who appears on the show.

You have to look closely to see how good Rove is at what he does because he makes it appear so easy. It's not easy. It's bloody hard. Most other hosts on Australian television run with the motto "Will Work For A Large Sum of Money and Attention From the Make-up Girls". Rove would do what he does for free. Because he loves it. And it shows.

Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? Channel Ten, Thursday, 7.30pm.

© 2008 The Age

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