SINGAPORE — Gurmit Singh is returning to Mediacorp to host his first variety show since ending his full-time television career in 2014.

The comedian will be the face of Mediacorp TV Channel 5’s new game show Don’t Forget To Remember, an hour-long family studio quiz show made up of a series of games based on observation, attention to detail and memory. This is also the first time Gurmit will be fronting a variety show since he last hosted Don’t Forget The Lyrics in 2008.

“It feels very familiar, like when you learn to cycle and you cycle again after ten years,” Gurmit told reporters today during interviews about his return to the small screen. “It’s a nice feeling. I didn’t leave angrily to begin with and the channels were very open. Once in a while, they would say, ‘we have this project for you, would you like to take it?’ If it doesn’t clash with my family projects, then I will look at it.”

Gurmit had previously announced that he would not be renewing his full-time contract with Mediacorp to catch up on time lost with his wife, teenage daughter and son, and his youngest daughter, who just turned three years old. Since then, the 51-year-old has been spending more time sending his children to school and taking them to the zoo, while juggling hosting and performance engagements.

“I look at my calendar and I put aside time for individual family members and holidays,” said Gurmit. “When the projects come in now, I don’t immediately say no. I check with my family before I say yes, so they have priority now. Last time, for 20 years, it was the other way around.”

The comedian also helps around the house with the cleaning and ironing, and estimates that he has since gone on seven or eight holidays with his family, including a father-and-son bonding trip to Bali in June last year.

“We did guy stuff, like order room service and eat all kinds of rubbish,” Gurmit said. “We were having so much fun at the theme park and my son turned around, and all of a sudden, he had this look — and I will remember this until the day I die — and he said, ‘this is nice, thanks’. My hair stood, I was almost in tears, and as a father, my chest swelled up … I did something right for once!”

For now, Gurmit plans on enjoying being back on television, even though he clarified that he has no intention to return to full-time work.

“It’s more for fun,” he said, adding that he was accepting a lower fee for hosting the show due to the show’s budget constraints. “If I were to put it crudely, (it’s) more of a marketing awareness thing, so people still know I am around.”

He continued: “But I know the executive producer, I know the crew, and the project sounds fun to me, so I made a little discount. Sometimes you do things not because of money, you do things because of friendship, because of goodwill, and other intangible stuff.”

Even though Gurmit is no longer making as much money as he did as a full-time artiste at Mediacorp, he says he prefers the “simple life” he and his family currently enjoy.

“I have come to realise now, at the end of the day, on my death bed, all my accolades and my awards and my achievements and films won’t be there with me, but my family will be there by my bedside,” he said. “If I don’t do right by them now, I won’t do right by them when I am dying.”

Don’t Forget To Remember will air every Monday at 7.30pm on Mediacorp TV Channel 5 from May 9.