Richard Scarry tried in 1968. Now Guy Montgomery is having a go at working out what people do all day.
What Do People Do All Day? is the new solo hour from Guy Montgomery, and it tours the country in 2027 with 13 Melbourne shows at the front of the queue.
The New Zealand comedian is digging into the stretch between waking up and going to sleep, which he says he still can’t account for despite a lifetime of practice. His own days are only half the brief. Montgomery has also noticed that hundreds, maybe thousands, of other people are having days of their own, so expect those to get a look in.
Guy Montgomery: What Do People Do All Day?
- Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne: 6 April
- Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne: 7 April
- Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne: 8 April
- Hamer Hall, Melbourne: 8 April
- Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne: 9 April
- Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne: 10 April
- Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne: 11 April
- Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne: 13 April
- Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne: 14 April
- Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne: 15 April
- Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne: 16 April
- Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne: 17 April
- Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne: 18 April
- HOTA, Gold Coast: 7 May
- QPAC Concert Hall, Brisbane: 4 June
- QPAC Concert Hall, Brisbane: 5 June
- Anita’s Theatre, Thirroul: 11 June
- Anita’s Theatre, Thirroul: 12 June
- Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Adelaide: 16 July
- Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Adelaide: 17 July
- Costa Hall, Geelong: 18 July
- Astor Theatre, Perth: 22 July
- Astor Theatre, Perth: 23 July
- Astor Theatre, Perth: 24 July
- Civic Theatre, Newcastle: 6 August
- Civic Theatre, Newcastle: 7 August
- Llewellyn Hall, Canberra: 13 August
- Llewellyn Hall, Canberra: 14 August
- Odeon Theatre, Hobart: 26 August
- State Theatre, Sydney: 27 August
- State Theatre, Sydney: 28 August
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
Melbourne gets the biggest slice, all of it inside the 2027 Melbourne International Comedy Festival. He’s booked 12 nights at the Athenaeum Theatre on Collins Street between 6 and 18 April, plus a one-off at Hamer Hall on 8 April, which puts him at two Melbourne venues on the same date. Costa Hall in Geelong follows on 18 July. General tickets go on sale on 5 November at 12pm local time, while a Live Nation presale opens at 11am on 4 November and closes at 11am on 5 November, or earlier if the allocation runs out. Presale sign-up is through Live Nation.
Plenty of Australian viewers know him through Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont-Spelling Bee, which has run for three series on ABC TV. The format has also sold out live rooms in Australia, New Zealand and London. He’s a regular on Have You Been Paying Attention? and Thank God You’re Here, and has collected multiple comedy and TV awards on both sides of the Tasman since 2014.
The comedy festival is familiar ground. Montgomery has appeared at the annual MICF Oxfam Gala and hosted the festival’s Opening Night Comedy Allstars Supershow, and Beat reviewed his back-to-back sold-out nights at Melbourne Town Hall in 2024. His last tour, I’ve Noticed So Many Things, It’d Be Unfair To Keep Them To Myself, also played the Athenaeum.
Further afield, he’s had sold-out runs in New York and Los Angeles, at the Edinburgh Fringe and at the Just For Laughs festivals in Montreal, Toronto and Sydney. He’s also taken his podcast The Worst Idea of All Time on the road across Australia, the US and the UK. This time round, the tour hits every state and territory capital bar Darwin before wrapping at Sydney’s State Theatre on 28 August.
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