Jonathan Brugh, also known as Jonny Brugh, is a New Zealand comedian, actor, and musician. He is best known for his work in ''

What We Do in the Shadows ''What We Do in the Shadows'' is a 2014 New Zealand mockumentary horror comedy film written and directed by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi and the first installment in the ''What We Do in the Shadows'' franchise. The film also stars Clemen ...

'' (2014). In the 1990s he was part of the comic duo Sugar and Spice.

Early life

Jonathan Brugh was born in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, New Zealand. His family moved to

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

in 1977, where he was schooled at Sacred Heart College. He met fellow comedians

Jason Hoyte Jason Hoyte is a New Zealand screen and voice actor and radio DJ. He has at least 25 television shows to his credit and is best known for his roles as Steve Mudgeway in ''Seven Periods with Mr Gormsby'' and Malcolm "Smudge" in ''Nothing Trivial' ...

and Brendhan Lovegrove during his time at the

Auckland Society of Arts Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

and then later completed a degree in design and photography at Auckland Institute of Arts.

Career

Film and television

In 1993 Brugh created comic duo Sugar and Spice with Jason Hoyte and performed comedy across

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologica ...

with

Te Radar Te Radar (born Andrew J. Lumsden) is a New Zealand comedian and television personality. Lumsden studied law at the University of Otago, but abandoned his original course of study and went through Theatre Studies at Allen Hall.''New Zealand on Scr ...

and Brendhan Lovegrove, who all became comedians together. Sugar and Spice were regular performers on long-running New Zealand live comic show ''Pulp Comedy'' (1996–2001). In 1996, they won a Chapman Tripp Theatre Award for Best Comic Performance, and in 1998, they won the

Billy T Award The Billy T Award is a New Zealand comedy award recognizing up-and-coming New Zealand comedians with outstanding potential. It has been presented annually since its inception in 1997 when Cal Wilson and Ewen Gilmour shared the award. The Billy T ...

(1998). Brugh is best known for his role as Deacon in ''

What We Do In The Shadows ''What We Do in the Shadows'' is a 2014 New Zealand mockumentary horror comedy film written and directed by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi and the first installment in the ''What We Do in the Shadows'' franchise. The film also stars Clemen ...

'' (2014), a film by

Taika Waititi Taika David Cohen (born 16 August 1975), known professionally as Taika Waititi ( ), is a New Zealand filmmaker, actor, and comedian. He is a recipient of an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Grammy Award, and has received two nominations at t ...

and

Jemaine Clement Jemaine Atea Mahana Clement (born 10 January 1974) is a New Zealand actor, comedian, musician and filmmaker. He has released several albums with Bret McKenzie as the musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords, and created a comedy series of the ...

. He has previously worked with Clement in the

mockumentary A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on c ...

''Ashley Thorndyke – A Work In Progress'' by

Duncan Sarkies Duncan Sarkies is a New Zealand screenwriter, playwright, novelist, stand-up comic and short story writer. Sarkies grew up in the South Island city of Dunedin and is the brother of Robert Sarkies a New Zealand film director who is also a scrip ...

. Brugh has starred in a number of television series including ''

The Jaquie Brown Diaries ''The Jaquie Brown Diaries'' is a satirical New Zealand sitcom in which real-life television personality Jaquie Brown plays a fictionalised, over-ambitious, status-obsessed version of herself. The series was created by Gerard Johnstone, Jaquie B ...

'' (2009), ABC's '' Soul Mates'' (2014), ''

800 Words ''800 Words'' (stylised as ''800 words'') is a comedy-drama television series, co-produced by South Pacific Pictures and Seven Productions for the Seven Network. Premise George Turner is a popular columnist for a top-selling Sydney newspaper, ...

'' (2017), and ''Watercooler'' (2018). His other film credits include ''What We Do In The Shadows: Interviews With Some Vampires'' (2005), the precursor to the hit cult feature released in 2014, ''Tangiwai'' (2011), ''How To Meet Girls From A Distance'' (2012), and ''Waru'' (2017). His latest feature film, '' Mega Time Squad'', was released in early 2019. He was as of 2016 a narrator in Duncan Sarkies' radio series ''

Uncle Bertie's Botanarium ''The Mysterious Secrets Of Uncle Bertie's Botanarium'' is a historical fiction podcast produced by South Coast Shenanigans and Stitcher and hosted by Jemaine Clement. Background The podcast was originally intended to be a film, which had a ...

'' alongside Jemaine Clement and musician

Lawrence Arabia Lawrence Arabia is the musical guise of New Zealand artist and composer James Milne. In 2006, Lawrence Arabia released his self-titled debut album and the debut album from his band The Reduction Agents, ''The Dance Reduction Agents''. Both al ...

. In 2022, he reunited with director

for a cameo appearance in '' Thor: Love and Thunder'' as the god, Rapu.

Music and theatre

Brugh plays

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, guitar and

xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Like the glockenspiel (which uses metal bars), the xylophone essentially consists of a set of tuned wooden keys arranged in the ...

. He is best known for his time in The Fagan Band (2012–2014). He has played bass for Phil Nicol Band and The jazz band during the

New Zealand International Comedy Festival {{Short description, Annual comedy festival in New Zealand The New Zealand International Comedy Festival is held simultaneously over three weeks during April/May in Auckland and Wellington. From its beginnings as a 2-day event, the Festival has n ...

. In February 2020, Brugh premiered a solo 60-minute theatre performance titled ''Deacon the Vampire Live: 188 Years of Bullshit''. The performance was a part of the annual Bread & Circus World Buskers Festival.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brugh, Jonathan Living people New Zealand male television actors New Zealand comedians Male actors from Wellington City Year of birth missing (living people)