Tim Batt

Tim Batt
Batt (left) in 2016
Born (1987-08-19) 19 August 1987 (age 37)
Christchurch, New Zealand
Known forComedy and podcasting
Notable workThe Worst Idea of All Time
TelevisionTVNZ Duke Banter
Websitetimbatt.co.nz

Tim Batt (born 19 August 1987[1]) is a New Zealand-based comedian and podcaster. He co-hosts The Worst Idea of All Time podcast with fellow NZ comedian Guy Montgomery and was nominated for a Billy T Award in 2014 and 2015.

Early life

Batt grew up in Christchurch, New Zealand and later spent time in Wellington, and then Auckland. Before comedy, he worked in radio and call centers.[2] Batt attended Cobham Intermediate School, and was a contemporary of acclaimed singer and UNICEF ambassador Hayley Westenra, the two appearing together in school productions.

Career

Batt's first appearance on TV was in 2014, on the TVNZ U show U LATE with future collaborator Guy Montgomery, where he appeared as a "pathetic but upbeat" public bathroom reviewer.[3] After the channel shut down, the two decided to start a small project together, which turned into the podcast The Worst Idea of All Time, a podcast where every season the duo rewatch and review the same film weekly for a year. Based on the success of the podcast, Batt launched a podcast network, Little Empire Network. The network features podcasts by fellow comedians such as Rose Matafeo and Nic Sampson.[3]

Batt hosted TVNZ Duke chat show Banter in 2017. In 2019, he hosted a chat/sketch show hybrid with cohost Luke Rowell called Space Couch.[4] In 2020, Montgomery and Batt were tapped to film a pilot for a TV show for YouTube Red. The pilot involved the two attempting to take a method approach to film reviewing by watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows while living in an abandoned subway station in New York City and eating nothing but pizza.[5] The show was not greenlit for a series.

From 2022, Tim Batt cohosted a comedy/conspiracy theory podcast for Radio New Zealand with R.M.S. Titanic enthusiast Carlo Richie about Titanic conspiracy theories, specifically the Olympic exchange theory. In 2024, they published a second season featuring a metanarrative involving the search for the mythical Canterbury Panther.[6]

References

  1. ^ @Tim_Batt (2 August 2023). "Oh, how nice. 19 Aug 87 bb" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. ^ Smithies, As told to Grant (8 April 2023). "Tim Batt on climate change, comedy, and watching Sex and the City every week for two years". Stuff. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  3. ^ a b "Kiwi comedian on why he's worried about Sex and the City". NZ Herald. 2 August 2023. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  4. ^ "Comedy review: Talk show twist a work-in-progress". NZ Herald. 2 August 2023. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  5. ^ "Watch an unaired pilot made by the guys behind The Worst Idea Of All Time podcast". The A.V. Club. 6 April 2020. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  6. ^ "Did Titanic Sink?". Spotify. 29 August 2022. Retrieved 22 October 2024.