The 1% Club, a game show hosted by Patton Oswalt, debuts on Prime Video May 23 and then on Fox June 3. The show is not so much about answering trivia questions, but about applying logic, reasoning skills and common sense, according to Prime Video.
The 1% Club “is a chance to test how your brain works through a series of questions that all have a right answer but can also lead to a series of entertaining wrong answers along the way,” said Fox.
Each episode begins with 100 contestants, and they are whittled down with each wrong answer. At the end, the remaining contestants aim to answer a question that only 1% of the country, based on a scientific survey, can get right.
Oswalt has never hosted a game show, and told B+C he never even thought about doing so. “It never crossed my mind in a million years,” he said.
The 1% Club has aired in the U.K. Oswalt was sent episodes of the show, and started to envision himself as host. “I loved the format, I loved the energy of it,” he said, “and how non-conventional it was, with the audience and contestants.”
The host mixes and mingles with the 100 contestants, and Oswalt saw potential there. “I thought, ‘This could be energizing for me,’” he said.
Oswalt played Spence in The King of Queens and was adult Adam and the narrator on The Goldbergs. He has also appeared in Parks and Recreation, A.P. Bio, Community and Veep, among many other series and films.
He said he prepares for hosting The 1% Club “by not preparing.”
“I feel like, if I watched other game shows, I’d pick up their pattern and their rhythm, and it would make me less spontaneous and less present when I’m talking to people,” said Oswalt. “I treat it as if I am going to a gathering with a bunch of people and I’m gonna be wandering around the room, meeting people and talking. And that’s exactly how I think about it.”
Asked about game show hosts he’s enjoyed over the years, Oswalt mentioned Richard Dawson and Steve Harvey on The Family Feud, and Drew Carey on The Price is Right. He also mentioned being on Hollywood Squares alongside Whoopi Goldberg. Tom Bergeron was the host, “but she was the fuel that kept it going,” said Oswalt. “It wasn’t, oh god, we’re on a game show. It was, we get to do this. Do you know how lucky we are to get to do a game show? That kind of enthusiasm is infectious and fun.”
Oswalt hopes to bring that same level of enthusiasm to The 1% Club.
He offers a tip on successful gameplay: “The harder questions, they will give away the answer in the question the way that it’s asked, if you listen very, very carefully,” Oswalt said. “Some people pick up on that and some people don’t.”
