A brand-new season of Would I Like To You? is upon us! Is it? Or was that a lie? We have serious trust issues here at The Water Cooler when this show is on air.
We sat down with Team Captain and hilarious comedian, Frank Woodley all about the new season and how to pick a liar.
Frankly, we didn’t believe a word he said.
Why do you think audiences love this show so much?
The brilliant thing about this show is there’s always four entertaining things happening simultaneously. One, someone is telling a cracker of a story. Two, a celebrity is revealing unexpected sides to themselves. Three, the panel is constantly firing in quips and jokes and hilarious observations. And finally, you desperately want to know if it’s true or not. I’ve been involved in many panel shows over the years and this is definitely the most crowd pleasing format I’ve experienced.
Have you developed trust issues since being on this show?
I certainly have had my confidence in my ability to tell if someone is lying shattered. I used to assume I had a pretty good gauge for dishonesty, but there’s been so many stories I thought were definitely true that were lies, and stories that were clearly, obviously lies, that turned out to be true, that now I have no idea. Someone could say to me “I raised money for charity by walking around Australia on my lips.” and I’d probably say, “How much did you make?”
Is there a difference between being a good actor and a good liar?
I guess an actor who’s improvising has to be a good liar, but if you’ve got a script, it’s much easier. That’s one of the great things about WILTY – the way it works is each of the players has told a selection of anecdotes to the producers in advance, but when you turn the card, if it’s a lie, you really have never seen that statement before, so you just have to let your imagination take over and hold on for dear life.
Have you picked up tips and tricks along the way to make you a better liar?
The main thing I’ve realised is how irresistible a lie is, if the person telling it has absolute commitment. I’ve even heard a theory that when we hear a story either true or false, we see it in our imagination, and then we do additional work to analyse its credibility. But it’s already in our head as something seen by our minds eye. We have truly witnessed it. As a result, I now have a collection of images of various celebrities engaging in outrageous events in my mind and I can’t even remember which ones were actually true.
Which celebrity guest did you underestimate this season?
Julie Goodwin. Such a lovely person. Friendly, kind, gifted chef. Sure. Fine. She’s also a Machiavellian mastermind who will shamelessly use that adorable nature against you.
