Richard Osman interview for Child Genius

4 July 2016

The king of the quiz discusses his new role on Channel 4’s returning hit series, looking for the country’s smartest kids.

For those who haven’t seen it, can you explain the concept of Child Genius?

It’s essentially a competition to find Britain’s brightest child. Lots of kids qualify, and they come down to London, and we put them through a series of rounds – maths, English, general knowledge, stuff like that – until we crown our winner. It’s all incredibly friendly and funny, and there’s a lovely sense of camaraderie.

 

What’s your role on the show?

I’m the master inquisitor, really, so I’m the one who’s asking all the questions. Obviously I’m well used to asking questions, but this is the first time I’m really desperate for every single person to get every single question right. I know all of the kids, we hang out, and they’re such lovely kids, all of them, and you’re willing every single one of them to get every single question right. No-one can, because the questions are so difficult. Usually in a quiz show I say to the audience “Don’t shout out the answers” but on this one I didn’t have to, because they wouldn’t know! So I’m the question master, and the other part of my job is making sure that it’s not too scary. You’ve got to take it seriously, but we have a laugh with each other. We always have a chat before the rounds.

 

Do you treat them differently, in the way you ask the questions, and the atmosphere you set, because they’re children?

Yeah, I think definitely in the atmosphere you set. You have to treat them differently. What they’ve achieved by qualifying for this thing is incredible. That’s the real win, getting through to the final 16. That’s an achievement. So the show is supposed to be a celebration of what they’ve achieved. Of course I don’t want to make any mistakes or mess anything up, but more than that I want to make sure that they know that whatever happens is fine. Yeah, there’s a slightly different atmosphere to what I’d have if it was adults competing.

 

What do you make of the level of intelligence on display?

These kids are deeply impressive, I have to say. They’re not kids who have been trained or schooled or tutored or pushed. They’re kids who like learning stuff. I recognise that – I was one of them. I just liked learning stuff, it interested me. And you can see these kids are engaged with the world. They want to know stuff. They want to tell you what they can do. I loved seeing them really be able to go through their gears – punching the air when they got questions right, being annoyed when they got stuff wrong, seeing all the time that they were making their brains work. This was clearly something they enjoyed doing.

 

How would you have done on the show as a kid?

I genuinely don’t think I’d have got through to this last 16. I was alright, but there’s a really good skillset here – they can do maths and English and general knowledge. I would have been knocked out before it got to the last 16, and if I had made it through to the final 16, I would have lasted about five minutes, I have to say. What I do know is I would have had an absolute ball. They all come up to London and have such a laugh. I would have adored doing it all aged 11 or 12.

 

How would you do now, going head-to-head with these kids?

I was just wondering exactly that. If it was literally me, at this moment, 45-year-old me, as one of those 16, I think I’d have come around 11th. Hey, maybe I’m doing myself a disservice, maybe I’d have snuck into the top 10.

 

You mentioned you hung out a bit with the kids and the families. Was that enjoyable?

Yeah, it was great. They were such a gang. My God, they did not shut up for the entire time we were there. They were so noisy, and occasionally you’d have to act a bit like a primary school teacher to keep them quiet. They were so noisy, so cheeky and so funny, and we had such a laugh. I really, really enjoyed it. But my God they made a lot of noise.

 

You say these kids have a thirst for knowledge. But do you ever think the parents are too ambitious, driving their kids too hard?

My view on pushy parents has always been the same – it’s completely counterproductive. You can only push them in a direction they want to be pushed in. Tiger Woods’ dad pushed Tiger Woods, but Tiger Woods wanted to play golf. Some of these parents, I’m, certain, are giving them extra homework and things. But they’re only doing that to the kids who want to learn stuff. Any kid who didn’t want to be doing that would not have made the final 16. Your kid does not get cleverer if you push them in a direction they don’t want to be pushed in.

 

Would you ever put your kids in for this?

My kids are too old for this show now, they’re 17 and 15, but had they been younger and had wanted to do this, of course I would have supported them. But if they hadn’t wanted to, it just wouldn’t occur to me. If they’d wanted to do it, I’m sure I would have then sat with them and said “Right, we’re going to train for this,” but only as far as they wanted to. It felt to me like these were real kids enjoying showing what they could do.

 

In past series there has been lots of footage of the kids at home with their families. Will that continue to be the case in this series?

Yeah, absolutely. That’s what I love about this series more than anything – the storytelling. A lot of these kids are extraordinary – just like kids who are amazing at football or the violin or swimming – some of these kids come from extraordinary backgrounds. Some of them are driven because of things in their backgrounds. You’re able to tell those stories very nicely in this show. You can often start off watching and think that the parents seem really pushy, and then as you watch a bit more you begin to realise that’s not the dynamic going on here at all. That’s what I’ve always loved about this series – it completely confounds your expectations. There’s always more to the stories than you first think, and the families are always more than the sums of their parts.

 

Do you think life is more difficult for these kids because of their levels of intelligence?

I certainly think that when I was that age, you do slightly hide away if you are interested in facts and learning and stuff like that. I think this show is nice, that there will be some kids watching this thinking “Oh, okay, it’s alright for me to like slightly different things from other people. It’s okay that I’m clever.” I think that, especially at 10, 11, 12, this is where some kids can shut down, and just stop being the kid in class with their hand up. I think that’s a shame, and one of the messages of this show is that it’s okay to be one of the kids with your hand up at the front of the class. It’s okay to be interested in some esoteric knowledge that other people at your school aren’t interested in.

 

What do you think about the nature of genius? How much is inspiration, and how much perspiration?

I think you’ve got to have some processing power in your brain, and then you’ve got to be interested in something. No-one ever learned anything they weren’t interested in. It just doesn’t stick. You’ve got to have that power in your brain, and then you’ve got to want to do it. If you’re born with footballing ability, you’ve then got to want to play, and you’ve got to want to work, and you’ve got to want to win, and if you’ve got all of those things you go off and become a professional footballer. If you are born bright, and then you have an enquiring nature, and are delighted by learning stuff, that’s where genius comes from, because every day you’re working, because you want to. So yes, it is 99 per cent perspiration, but that perspiration comes from being interested.

 

Presumably the kids sometimes get upset doing something like this. How do you cope with that?

Well, the parents are always in the room, at all times. It’s not like a normal TV show where we have to keep filming, keep filming, keep filming. The second there’s any issue or upset, we break for half an hour, just the normal stuff you’d do in any environment when there’s children around. You see a lot of upset on adult shows, and people hold it in. Kids don’t hold it in, because they don’t have those mechanisms. But we’d stop instantly, get the parents down, chat away, and ten minutes later, they’re bouncing around with a smile on their face, because they’re kids.

 

It’s clear you’ve been a fan of the show for a while. Was the experience of being part of it everything you hoped it would be?

It was more than I hoped it would be. I’m a huge fan of the show, so I just wanted to be part of it to see what happened. I wanted to get involved. But meeting those kids and getting to know them and having a laugh with them and seeing some of them really come out of their shells. It was brilliant. That’s so important. You could see some of these kids grow a foot taller, because they felt they were in the right environment and amongst their people. I loved that. I found it very moving, if I’m honest.

 

Child Genius begins on Tuesday 12th July at 8pm on Channel 4.