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 comedy horror 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 Cleme ...

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

Early life

Jonathan Brugh was born in

Wellington Wellington 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 third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

, New Zealand. His family moved to

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

in 1977, where he was schooled at Sacred Heart College. He met fellow comedians Jason Hoyte and Brendhan Lovegrove during his time at the Auckland Society of Arts 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 subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...

with Te Radar 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 recognising 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 comedy horror 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 Cleme ...

'' (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. Known for quirky comedy films and expanding his career as a voice actor and producer on numerous projects, he ...

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 TV series t ...

. He has previously worked with Clement in the

mockumentary A mockumentary (a portmanteau of ''mock'' and ''documentary'') is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events, but presented as a Documentary film, documentary. Mockumentaries are often used to analyze or comment on current event ...

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

Duncan Sarkies Duncan Sarkies is a New Zealand screenwriter, playwright, stand-up comic, and novelist. He is best known for having co-written the script of ''Scarfies'' with his brother Robert Sarkies, who directed the film. Early life and education Duncan S ...

. 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'' (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'' 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 ...

. He is co-creator, with Jesse Griffin and Jackie van Beek, of the award-winning 2019 TV sitcom about teachers in a secondary school, called ''Educators''. He also stars in the show. In 2022, he reunited with director

for a cameo appearance in '' Thor: Love and Thunder'' as the god, Rapu. In 2024, he was cast as Lloyd Kneath for the Australian adaptation of ''

The Office ''The Office'' is the title of several mockumentary sitcoms based on a British series originally created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant as '' The Office'' in 2001. The original series also starred Gervais as manager and primary charac ...

''.

Music and theatre

Brugh plays

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

, guitar and

xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Each bar is an idiophone tuned to a pitch of a musical scale, whether pentatonic or heptatonic in the case of many African ...

. 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 The New Zealand International Comedy Festival (NZICF; sometimes the NZ Intl Comedy Fest) is a comedy festival in both Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand. The festival is run by the New Zealand Comedy Trust, and is held across three weeks duri ...

. 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 male comedians Male actors from Wellington City Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century New Zealand comedians 21st-century New Zealand comedians