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 ''SportsCafe'' was a New Zealand sports TV show. The show's original run was hosted by Lana Coc-Kroft, Marc Ellis, Leigh Hart, Graeme Hill, Ric Salizzo and reporter Eva Evguenieva. In 2001 Leigh Hart was added to the cast under his persona of ' ...

'' and his own show, ''

Moon TV ''Moon TV'' is a New Zealand comedy television series. It is produced by Leigh Hart. In 2006 the show received NZD$176,324 in funding from NZ on Air for six half-hour episodes, to screen on TV2.Greymouth. He lived overseas with his family for ten years, including four years in Peru. 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 The University of Canterbury ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was ...

. After working on the

Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. ...

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. Returning to Christchurch, Hart enrolled in film and television school, where he began a satirical newspaper titled ''The Moon.''

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''. In 1996, producer Marc Ellis recruited him for a vacant guest spot on a 1996 episode of ''

'', in which he appeared as an "international snail trainer." He was subsequently offered a weekly role as a sports interviewer and took on the nickname of "That Guy". From 2002 to 2010, Hart produced and starred in ''

Moon TV ''Moon TV'' is a New Zealand comedy television series. It is produced by Leigh Hart. In 2006 the show received NZD$176,324 in funding from NZ on Air for six half-hour episodes, to screen on TV2. The show parodied different television shows, and featured interviews with New Zealand celebrities. It was nominated for Best Comedy Programme at the

2005 New Zealand Screen Awards The inaugural New Zealand Screen Awards were held on Wednesday 27 July 2005 at SkyCity Theatre in Auckland, New Zealand. Following the demise of the GOFTA awards, the Screen Directors Guild of New Zealand founded the New Zealand Screen Awards to ...

and the

2007 Air New Zealand Screen Awards The 2007 Air New Zealand Screen Awards were held on Wednesday 1 August 2007 at SkyCity Theatre in Auckland, New Zealand. It was to be the final stand-alone NZ Screen Awards, as in 2008 the awards merged with the Qantas Television Awards and beca ...

. A spin-off show presented by Hart, Jason Hoyte and

Jeremy Wells Jeremy Wells (born 7 June 1977) is a New Zealand media personality who hosts the Radio Hauraki breakfast show with Matt Heath, '' Seven Sharp'' alongside Hilary Barry, and the NZ version of '' Taskmaster''. Career Wells first appeared on tel ...

, ''Late Night Big Breakfast'', ran from 2014 to 2016, and was revived for an additional season in 2020. In 2010, Hart presented ''Leigh Hart's Mysterious Planet'', which he described as an "epic TV disaster extravaganza". It was a mockumentary series in which he travelled the world attempting to solve the world's greatest mysteries including

Bigfoot Bigfoot, also commonly referred to as Sasquatch, is a purported ape-like creature said to inhabit the forest of North America. Many dubious articles have been offered in attempts to prove the existence of Bigfoot, including anecdotal claims o ...

, the Loch Ness monster, UFOs, the

Bermuda Triangle The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is an urban legend focused on a loosely defined region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean where a number of aircraft and ships are said to have disappeared under mysterio ...

, lost Inca Gold, the pyramids and

Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connectin ...

. 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. 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 ince I'm public enemy number one." In 2012 he presented ''Olympico'', a three episode series with

and Jason Hoyte which lampooned the London Olympics. In 2013 he presented an episode of the documentary show ''Descent from Disaster'', in which he looked back at the

Strongman Mine The Strongman Mine was an underground coal mine north of Greymouth on the West Coast of New Zealand from 1938 to 2003. On 19 January 1967 a gas explosion in the mine killed 19 miners. In 1994 the original mine was replaced by the Strongman 2 mi ...

disaster in 1967 which shook New Zealand, particularly the West Coast, and interviews his friends and family who were directly affected. In 2017 he and collaborator Jason Hoyte co-hosted ''Screaming Reels'', an unscripted fishing comedy show. It was mistakenly screened by the Seven Network in Australia as a documentary series. On Radio Hauraki Hart and Hoyte hosted a drive-time show called ''Daily Bhuja'', from 2015 to 2019. Hart also wrote a column for the '' Herald on Sunday'' from 2007 to 2011, and worked for the television show ''

Fair Go ''Fair Go'' is a New Zealand consumer affairs television programme hosted by Pippa Wetzell and Hadyn Jones. First aired in 1977, it is New Zealand's second longest-running local programme (after '' Country Calendar''). It is also highest-rate ...

''. In 2020, Hart appeared on the first season of the New Zealand series of '' Taskmaster''. 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".

Wakachangi beer

In July 2013, Leigh released his own brand of beer, Wakachangi, brewed by Harringtons Brewery. It was initially marketed to students having big parties around the country (notably in Dunedin) and sold in 2-litre bottles. Wakachangi was released nationwide at all Liquorlands in 330ml bottles in October 2013. 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.

Appearances

Television series

* ''

'' (screened 1996–2006 and 2008, starred 2001–2006 and 2008) * ''

The Great New Zealand Spelling Bee The Great New Zealand Spelling Bee was a New Zealand television series in which well known New Zealanders competed against each other in a Spelling Bee A spelling bee is a competition in which contestants are asked to spell a broad selection ...

'' (2006) * ''Shock Treatment'' (2006), with April Bruce (one episode) * ''

Pulp Sport ''Pulp Sport'' was a New Zealand television show that mixed sport with various styles of comedy. The hosts Jamie Linehan and Ben Boyce acted under their respective pseudonyms Bill and Ben, performing a half-hour of various sports based skits. T ...

'' (2007) * ''That Guy's World Cup'' (2007) on TVNZ OnDemand * ''Leigh Hart's Mysterious Planet'' (2010) * ''Rugby Mundo'' (2011): a 12 episode comedic

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Af ...

show. * ''Olympico'' (2012) on Comedy Central NZ * ''Descent from Disaster'' (2013) (one episode) * ''7 Days'' (2013–present) * ''Late Night Big Breakfast'' (2014–2016) with Jason Hoyte and Jeremy Wells, on TV One (Season 1) and '' WatchMe'' (Season 2). * ''The DNA Detectives'' (2015) on TV One (one episode) * '' Rude Tube'' (2016) episode "Feasts of Fury", where his short "Fastest chef in the world 1" was ranked 16. * ''Terry Teo'' (2016) on

TV2 Channel 2 or TV 2 may refer to: Television networks, channels and stations *Channel 2 (Iran), operated by Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting *Channel 2 (Israel), a commercial television station *, entertainment and music television in Latvia * ...

(one episode) as "Tom Hagar" * ''Hamsterman from Amsterdam'' (2016) on '' WatchMe'', a spinoff of the ''Moon TV'' character. * ''Screaming Reels'' (2017) * '' Taskmaster'' (2020) * ''Jono and Ben at Ten''.

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

* ''You Move You Die'' (2007) as a police officer. * ''Gary of the Pacific'' (2017) as a pilot. * ''Scott's World of Cheese''

ANZ ANZ may refer to: People * Anz (musician), a British DJ and electronic musician Banks * ANZ (bank), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, the fourth-largest bank in Australia ** ANZ Bank New Zealand, the largest bank in New Zealand ** ...

Bonus Bonds Bonus Bonds was a New Zealand unit trust founded in 1970 with a reward scheme based on cash prizes. The New Zealand government launched Bonus Bonds under the Unit Trusts Act 1960 through the Post Office Savings Bank with the goal of encouragin ...

(screened 2006–present) * Hellers Bacon (screened 2006–present) * No 8 Rugby Internet Campaign * National Mini Storage (2014–2018)

References

External links

Moon TV
— The official ''Moon TV'' website.

by the ''

New Zealand Listener The ''New Zealand Listener'' is a weekly New Zealand magazine that covers the political, cultural and literary life of New Zealand by featuring a variety of topics, including current events, politics, social issues, health, technology, arts, f ...

'' (2003)
Wakachangi
- The official Wakachangi website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hart, Leigh 1970 births Living people New Zealand comedians New Zealand radio presenters People educated at Christ's College, Christchurch People from Greymouth Radio Hauraki