Leigh Hart

Leigh Hart
PseudonymThat Guy
Birth nameChristopher Leigh Hart[1]
Born (1970-07-20) July 20, 1970 (age 54)
Greymouth, New Zealand
Years active2001–present

Leigh Hart (born 20 July 1970) is a New Zealand comedian, radio announcer and performance artist who is also known as "That Guy". He has made various appearances on New Zealand television, including SportsCafe and his own show, Moon TV.

Early life and education

Hart was born in Greymouth. He lived overseas with his family for ten years, including four years in Peru.[2][3] His family returned to New Zealand when he was eleven.[4] He attended Christ's College in Christchurch before spending a year at the University of Canterbury. After working on the Channel Tunnel for two-and-a-half years in the early 1990s, he returned to Christchurch and then founded the rock band "Wild Turkey" with his brother Greg and friend Matt Johnson.[4] The band suspended activities in 1994 after being briefly jailed in France for visa irregularities and then deported.[5] Returning to Christchurch, Hart enrolled in film and television school, where he began a satirical newspaper titled The Moon.[6]

Career

In the mid-1990s, Hart moved to Auckland and began working in television production for Greenstone Pictures. He was a writer on early episodes of The Zoo.[6] In 1996, producer Marc Ellis recruited him for a vacant guest spot on a 1996 episode of SportsCafe, in which he appeared as an "international snail trainer."[4][6] He was subsequently offered a weekly role as a sports interviewer and took on the nickname of "That Guy".[6]

From 2002 to 2010, Hart produced and starred in Moon TV, a late night comedy show.[7][8] The show parodied different television shows, and featured interviews with New Zealand celebrities.[6] It was nominated for Best Comedy Programme at the 2005 New Zealand Screen Awards and the 2007 Air New Zealand Screen Awards.[6] A spin-off show presented by Hart, Jason Hoyte and Jeremy Wells, Late Night Big Breakfast, ran from 2014 to 2016,[7] and was revived for an additional season in 2020.[9]

In 2010, Hart presented Leigh Hart's Mysterious Planet, which he described as an "epic TV disaster extravaganza".[6] It was a mockumentary series in which he travelled the world attempting to solve the world's greatest mysteries including Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster, UFOs, the Bermuda Triangle, lost Inca Gold, the pyramids and Stonehenge.[10] Prior to the show airing, Hart wrote a humorous piece for the New Zealand Herald entitled "That Guy: Let's hear it for the Maori sasquatch", about his experiences attending a conference on Bigfoot.[11] Hart later said that he had experienced criticism from attendees after the column was published: "Because it's all online they went nuts. They've been tearing me to bits and abusing me [since]. I'm public enemy number one."[12]

In 2012 he presented Olympico, a three episode series with Jeremy Wells and Jason Hoyte which lampooned the London Olympics.[13] In 2013 he presented an episode of the documentary show Descent from Disaster, in which he looked back at the Strongman Mine disaster in 1967 which shook New Zealand, particularly the West Coast, and interviews his friends and family who were directly affected.[14] In 2017 he and collaborator Jason Hoyte co-hosted Screaming Reels, an unscripted fishing comedy show.[15] It was mistakenly screened by the Seven Network in Australia as a documentary series.[16][17]

On Radio Hauraki Hart and Hoyte hosted a drive-time show called Daily Bhuja, from 2015 to 2019.[18] Hart also wrote a column for the Herald on Sunday from 2007 to 2011,[19][20] and worked for the television show Fair Go.[21]

In 2020, Hart appeared on the first season of the New Zealand series of Taskmaster.[22] A review by The Spinoff said Hart was "the stand-out performer, largely because you can’t quite pin down what he’s thinking or what he’s going to do next".[23]

Wakachangi beer

In July 2013, Leigh released his own brand of beer, Wakachangi, brewed by Harrington's Breweries.[24] It was initially marketed to students having big parties around the country (notably in Dunedin) and sold in 2-litre bottles.[24] Wakachangi was released nationwide at all Liquorlands in 330ml bottles in October 2013.[25][26] Hart said the beer had "hardly a true word on the label"; it is said to be "a South Otago beer, with North Canterbury flavours, brewed by a West Coaster, with the ol' misty waters of the Waikato - est circa 1648", and winner of the Moon Breweries beer awards.[26][27]

Appearances

Television series

Live appearances

Hart is a regular speaker and M.C. at public events. In 2011 in Shanghai, he helped raise nearly half a million dollars for the Christchurch earthquake relief fund.[citation needed]

Film

Advertisements

References

  1. ^ Staff writer (2012). "Interview: Leigh Hart". Getfrank.
  2. ^ "About Leigh Hart". TVNZ. Archived from the original on 28 April 2021.
  3. ^ "Twelve Questions: Leigh Hart". New Zealand Herald. 9 January 2016.
  4. ^ a b c White, ed. (15 October 2004). "There's something about That Guy" (PDF). Te Waha Nui. No. 6. Auckland University of Technology: School of Communications Studies. p. 17. ISSN 1176-4740. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 September 2007.
  5. ^ Hoare, Rose (18 May 2008). "Way Back When". Sunday Magazine. Sunday Star-Times Magazine. p. 13 – via PressReader.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Leigh Hart Biography". NZ On Screen. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Leigh Hart Screenography". NZ On Screen. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  8. ^ Treacher, Aroha (2 January 2006). "Leigh Hart (That Guy) Sports Cafe". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 23 February 2013.
  9. ^ Croot, James (12 October 2020). "Late Night Big Breakfast: Proof Leigh Hart and Jason Hoyte are NZ's funniest duo". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  10. ^ Harvey, Sarah (18 February 2010). "That Guy's gone in search of Bigfoot". Stuff.co.nz.
  11. ^ "That Guy: Let's hear it for the Maori sasquatch". The New Zealand Herald. 10 May 2009. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  12. ^ Taylor, Cliff (8 February 2010). "Local man of mystery". NZ Herald. NZME.
  13. ^ a b Cunlife, Regan J. (9 July 2012). "Olympico Team Prior to Departure to London". Throng. Throng Media.
  14. ^ a b "Descent from Disaster - Strongman Mine Disaster". NZ On Screen. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  15. ^ Kerry, Harvey (12 April 2017). "Leigh Hart and Jason Hoyte 'talk rubbish' in new show Screaming Reels". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  16. ^ "Aussie TV network accidentally plays NZ spoof fishing show Screaming Reels as documentary". Newshub. 29 January 2018. Archived from the original on 3 February 2018. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  17. ^ "Aussies mistake Kiwi fishing parody Screaming Reels for documentary series". Stuff.co.nz. 29 January 2018. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  18. ^ Henderson, Calum (1 November 2019). "Leigh Hart farewells Radio Hauraki". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  19. ^ Hart, Leigh (15 April 2007). "That Guy: Iconic column hit by cost-cuts". Herald on Sunday. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  20. ^ Hart, Leigh (15 August 2011). "That Guy: Apologies for others not picking up my mistakes". Herald on Sunday. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  21. ^ Harvey, Kerry (28 January 2018). "Fair Go fights for underdogs 40 years running". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  22. ^ "Taskmaster NZ: Team revealed as shows release date nears". New Zealand Herald. 27 September 2020. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  23. ^ Sowman-Lund, Stewart (21 October 2020). "Taskmaster NZ proves we can do panel comedy as well as the Brits". The Spinoff. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  24. ^ a b Raethel, Thomas (21 July 2013). "Wakachangi Beer Launch". Critic. Vol. 2013, no. 16. Otago University Students' Association.
  25. ^ Staff writer (November 2013). "Wakachangi Available Nationwide!". Wakachangi. Wakachangi Group Ltd. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  26. ^ a b Staff writer (2 October 2013). "That Guy's seriously talking up his beer". NZ Herald. NZME.
  27. ^ StopPress Team (8 July 2013). "'Quite nice beer'—UPDATED". StopPress. Tangible Media.
  28. ^ a b Cone, Deborah Hill (November–December 2006). "New Boys on the Box". Idealog. No. 6. pp. 34–43. ISSN 1179-3465.
  29. ^ Wichtel, Diana (25 March 2005). "Waste not, want not". Noted. Auckland, New Zealand: Bauer Media.
  30. ^ Hart, Leigh (18 August 2007). "Tune in to me for World Cup". NZ Herald. NZME.
  31. ^ Hart, Leigh (2011). "Rugby Mundo's World Cup Finale". Stuff. Fairfax New Zealand Ltd.
  32. ^ Greive, Duncan (18 September 2014). "Late Night Big Breakfast: Season One Obituary". The Spinoff.
  33. ^ Pegler, Pattie (2 February 2016). "TV Review: Late Night Big Breakfast, Like Mike". Stuff. Stuff Limited.
  34. ^ Bowron, Jane (26 November 2015). "TV Review: The DNA Detectives". Stuff. Stuff Limited.
  35. ^ Schulz, Chris (31 March 2016). "Leigh Hart: The man making a mockery of TV". NZ Herald. NZME.
  36. ^ Casey, Alex (19 March 2017). "Movie Review: Terry of the Pacific". NZ Herald. NZME.
  37. ^ Whiteside, Andrew (26 April 2016). "Leight Hart: On TV comedy and his distinctive voice". NZ On Screen.
  38. ^ StopPress Team (20 February 2015). "An ocelot in the fridge". StopPress.