Leigh Hart Explained

Leigh Hart
Birth Date:20 July 1970
Birth Place:Greymouth, New Zealand
Birth Name:Christopher Leigh Hart[1]
Pseudonym:That Guy
Active:2001–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. 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. The band suspended activities in 1994 after being briefly jailed in France for visa irregularities and then deported.[4] Returning to Christchurch, Hart enrolled in film and television school, where he began a satirical newspaper titled The Moon.[5]

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.[5] 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."[6] [5] He was subsequently offered a weekly role as a sports interviewer and took on the nickname of "That Guy".[5]

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.[5] It was nominated for Best Comedy Programme at the 2005 New Zealand Screen Awards and the 2007 Air New Zealand Screen Awards.[5] 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".[5] 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] 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.

Film

Advertisements

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Interview: Leigh Hart . 2012 . Staff writer . Getfrank.
  2. News: About Leigh Hart . TVNZ . https://web.archive.org/web/20210428114405/https://tvnz.co.nz/content/869632/3207286.html . 28 April 2021 . dead.
  3. News: Twelve Questions: Leigh Hart. New Zealand Herald. 9 January 2016.
  4. Hoare . Rose . 18 May 2008 . Way Back When . Sunday Star-Times Magazine . Sunday Magazine . 13 . PressReader.
  5. Web site: Leigh Hart Biography . NZ On Screen . 16 August 2021.
  6. News: White . 15 October 2004 . There's something about That Guy . Te Waha Nui . School of Communications Studies . Auckland University of Technology . 6 . 17 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070928035243/http://www.tewahanui.info/pdfs/6/twn06pg17.pdf . 28 September 2007 . dead . 1176-4740.
  7. Web site: Leigh Hart Screenography . NZ On Screen . 16 August 2021.
  8. Web site: Leigh Hart (That Guy) Sports Cafe . 2 January 2006 . Treacher . Aroha . The New Zealand Herald . https://archive.today/20130223043117/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/comedy/news/article.cfm?c_id=154&objectid=10362124 . 23 February 2013 . live.
  9. News: Croot . James . Late Night Big Breakfast: Proof Leigh Hart and Jason Hoyte are NZ's funniest duo . 16 August 2021 . Stuff.co.nz . 12 October 2020.
  10. News: That Guy's gone in search of Bigfoot . 18 February 2010 . Harvey . Sarah . Stuff.co.nz.
  11. News: That Guy: Let's hear it for the Maori sasquatch . 10 May 2009 . . 14 October 2011.
  12. Web site: Local man of mystery . 8 February 2010 . Taylor . Cliff . NZ Herald . NZME.
  13. Web site: Olympico Team Prior to Departure to London . 9 July 2012 . Cunlife . Regan J. . Throng . Throng Media.
  14. Web site: Descent from Disaster - Strongman Mine Disaster . NZ On Screen . 30 August 2021.
  15. News: Kerry . Harvey . Leigh Hart and Jason Hoyte 'talk rubbish' in new show Screaming Reels . 16 August 2021 . Stuff.co.nz . 12 April 2017.
  16. News: Aussie TV network accidentally plays NZ spoof fishing show Screaming Reels as documentary . 17 August 2021 . Newshub . 29 January 2018.
  17. News: Aussies mistake Kiwi fishing parody Screaming Reels for documentary series . 17 August 2021 . Stuff.co.nz . 29 January 2018.
  18. News: Henderson . Calum . Leigh Hart farewells Radio Hauraki . 16 August 2021 . Stuff.co.nz . 1 November 2019.
  19. News: Hart . Leigh . That Guy: Iconic column hit by cost-cuts . 17 August 2021 . Herald on Sunday . 15 April 2007.
  20. News: Hart . Leigh . That Guy: Apologies for others not picking up my mistakes . 17 August 2021 . Herald on Sunday . 15 August 2011.
  21. News: Harvey . Kerry . Fair Go fights for underdogs 40 years running . 30 August 2021 . Stuff.co.nz . 28 January 2018.
  22. News: Taskmaster NZ: Team revealed as shows release date nears . 17 August 2021 . New Zealand Herald . 27 September 2020.
  23. News: Sowman-Lund . Stewart . Taskmaster NZ proves we can do panel comedy as well as the Brits . 17 August 2021 . The Spinoff . 21 October 2020.
  24. Wakachangi Beer Launch . Raethel . Thomas . 21 July 2013 . Critic . Otago University Students' Association . 2013 . 16.
  25. Web site: Wakachangi Available Nationwide! . November 2013 . Staff writer . Wakachangi . Wakachangi Group Ltd. . 22 May 2018.
  26. Web site: That Guy's seriously talking up his beer . 2 October 2013 . Staff writer . NZ Herald . NZME.
  27. Web site: 'Quite nice beer'—UPDATED . 8 July 2013 . StopPress Team . StopPress . Tangible Media.
  28. Web site: Waste not, want not . 25 March 2005 . Wichtel . Diana . Noted . Bauer Media . Auckland, New Zealand.
  29. Web site: Tune in to me for World Cup . 18 August 2007 . Hart . Leigh . NZ Herald . NZME.
  30. Web site: Rugby Mundo's World Cup Finale . 2011 . Hart . Leigh . Stuff . Fairfax New Zealand Ltd..
  31. Web site: Late Night Big Breakfast: Season One Obituary . 18 September 2014 . Greive . Duncan . The Spinoff .
  32. Web site: TV Review: Late Night Big Breakfast, Like Mike . 2 February 2016 . Pegler . Pattie . Stuff . Stuff Limited.
  33. Web site: TV Review: The DNA Detectives . 26 November 2015 . Bowron . Jane . . Stuff Limited.
  34. Web site: Leigh Hart: The man making a mockery of TV . 31 March 2016 . Schulz . Chris . NZ Herald . NZME.
  35. Web site: Movie Review: Terry of the Pacific . 19 March 2017 . Casey . Alex . NZ Herald . NZME.
  36. Cone . Deborah Hill . November–December 2006 . New Boys on the Box . Idealog . 6 . 34–43 . 1179-3465.
  37. Web site: Leight Hart: On TV comedy and his distinctive voice . 26 April 2016 . Whiteside . Andrew . NZ On Screen.
  38. Web site: An ocelot in the fridge . 20 February 2015 . StopPress Team . StopPress .

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Leigh Hart".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.