Ferguson may have turned the tables but it takes courage to submit to three minutes of withering interrogation by Gleeson's disdainful alter ego. Many a politician has refused. Those who have braved the burn (Kevin Rudd, Bill Shorten, Barnaby Joyce) have only just emerged with their dignity intact. And yet, on Gleeson's spin-off show, Hard Quiz, renewed for a fourth season, ordinary folk are lining up to take a lashing.

"In Australian comedy, where everyone is self-deprecating and trying to win favour by going low status, there's something funny about someone doing the opposite. It's funny watching a grown man misbehave. A lot of people say, 'My teenage son or daughter loves what you do,' and I think that's because they're seeing someone who looks like their teacher doing exactly what they're not supposed to do."

Along with a Gogglebox spoof, "Gogglenews" – in which the couch-potato couplings observing the Liberal leadership spill include Nazeem Hussain and Luke McGregor, Kates McLennan and McCartney, and Denise Scott and John Lane – The Yearly will include a summary of the year in sport by Roy & H. G. And a mini-documentary goes behind the scenes of Gleeson's audacious showbiz stunt, the successful #denyerforgold campaign for Grant Denyer to win the Gold Logie, despite Ten having discontinued his show, Family Feud.

"People are going to be surprised at the effort I went to," says Gleeson. "People might have thought it was a spur-of-the-moment thing but they're going to see how the sausage was made."

Although heavily involved with the making of The Weekly when the show started in 2015, these days Gleeson calls himself a "consultant at best". He will continue to record Hard Chat in 2019 while on a national tour with his stand-up show, Joy.

"I really like working with Charlie and [writers] Chris Walker and Jo Long. Unlike some people who say they do this but they actually don't, these three really like getting people who are good at what they do and letting them do it. They know that when they're left alone they come up with good stuff. It's one of the happiest TV offices I've ever worked in. Also, when you've got an idea and you say, 'This is really bad. We shouldn't be doing this,' all those ideas tend to go to air."