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Growing up near Bondi Beach in the 70s, Larry Emdur dreamt of becoming a garbage collector in the morning and then surfing into the afternoon.
The last thing he thought he would be doing was hosting two major TV shows.
But he features twice daily on the screens of Channel 7, presenting not only The Morning Show, alongside Kylie Gillies, but also hosting the popular quiz program The Chase Australia.
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“I feel very, very lucky that a high-school-dropout would-be garbo finds himself here doing these shows,” Emdur tells 7NEWS.com.au.
He says his childhood dream “was never this!”
Of his twin roles, Emdur says hosting The Chase is much more “intense” and a complete gear change.
“The Chase requires a lot more focus and I’m not a good reader, I’m not particularly bright,” he says self-deprecatingly.
“So (I need to) really keep watch on the big words and what’s coming up.”
When he took on the show in 2021, Emdur reflects that it was a “daunting” time, but has grown into something that has become “a joy”.
Having been the anchor of the game show for three years, some might think Emdur would be riffing off fun facts and dominating any pub trivia that he enters.
But he says “the sad part is I don’t know what’s happening”.
“I got kicked out of school very early for not being able to concentrate. I could possibly be the smartest person now in all of Channel 7 if I had have listened,” he laughs.
“What actually happens is, I get home and my wife goes, ‘Well, did you learn anything on the show today?’ and I’m like ‘Nup!’”
“Because what’s happening is the questions are coming so quickly, that I’m really focused on what’s coming up next.
“So once I get halfway through a question, I’m just in reading mode and I’m not concentrating — which is a real shame because if I concentrated 50 per cent of the time I’d be so bright.
“I wish I did.”
Regardless, Emdur’s friends often encourage him to join their teams at pub trivia.
“I’m like, ‘No it’s not happening’ because I walk into a pub trivia and everyone goes, ‘Oh we’re screwed here because The Chase host is here’,” he says.
“But then I sit down and just look at my schnitzel.”
In the vast world of TV, the host has consistently shown his love for lighter stories and keeping things positive, starting from his early days as a news reporter.
“I ended up doing the lightest stories at the end of the news because I didn’t like the tough stories, it was upsetting for me,” Emdur recalls.
“So I’ve landed in a pretty good place for me,” he says of his roles on The Morning Show and The Chase.
“I was never going to land on Spotlight, or serious news (shows).
“I was looking for those opportunities within TV, within what we do, to just find a lighter side of it.”
Emdur says his favourite TV moments happen when “the train runs off the track and we’re playing around”, as opposed to sticking to a show’s scripts.
“Like I’ve already said, reading’s not my friend so (the) autocue is not my friend,” he says.
What shines through everything is Emdur’s infectious bubbly energy, which he says comes from the “exciting” nature of TV.
“I walk into the studio every morning and go, ‘I have to be (switched) on here’, no matter what’s happening in my personal life or away from here,” he says.
“When you walk into that studio, you’re going to have to spark up, and that’s easy for me to do because it’s so exciting.
“After all these years, I still go into a TV studio and I’m like, ‘Wow, how does this work?’”
The Chase: Double Trouble
Of course, part of what makes any job wonderful is those you work alongside; on The Chase, Emdur credits the brilliant quiz masters he gets to work with.
“The Chasers are so great at what they do but there are also great, fun people (contestants). We see some great personalities come through,” he says.
“I get asked all the time, every day, whenever I’m out, ‘Who’s your favourite Chaser?’
“I get this all day, so people really are fascinated with the characters.”
Unlike viewers, who often have their clear preference of Chaser, Emdur says he can’t choose, likening such an exercise to “choosing a favourite child”.
Along with the stellar cast, the show is keeping things fresh with the introduction of the “Double Trouble” format, a world first for The Chase series.
Under the format, contestants will face off against two Chasers instead of one.
“I didn’t kind of understand it at first but once we played it out it’s super cool,” Emdur says.
“It’s a huge thrill for the contestants and it’s a world first.
“You can clearly see this is a format that will be picked up around the world.”
The Chase Australia: Double Trouble launches Monday 29 January on Channel 7 and 7plus.