Leigh Hart (born 20 July 1970) is a New Zealand comedian, radio announcer and

performance artist Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

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 ...

'' and his own show, '' Moon TV''.

Early life and education

Hart was born in

Greymouth Greymouth () (Māori language, Māori: ''Māwhera'') is the largest town in the West Coast, New Zealand, West Coast List of regions in New Zealand, region in the South Island of New Zealand, and the seat of the Grey District Council. The populat ...

. He lived overseas with his family for ten years, including four years in

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. His family returned to New Zealand when he was eleven. He attended Christ's College in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

before spending a year at the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury (UC; ; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1873 as Canterbur ...

. After working on the

Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (), sometimes referred to by the Portmanteau, portmanteau Chunnel, is a undersea railway tunnel, opened in 1994, that connects Folkestone (Kent, England) with Coquelles (Pas-de-Calais, France) beneath the English Channel at ...

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 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 ...

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'', a late night comedy show. 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 bec ...

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

Jeremy Wells Jeremy Wells (born 19 January 1977) is a New Zealand Broadcast media, media personality who hosts the Radio Hauraki breakfast show with Manaia Stewart, ''Seven Sharp'' alongside Hilary Barry, and ''Taskmaster New Zealand''. Career Wells fir ...

, ''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 large, hairy Mythic humanoids, mythical creature said to inhabit forests in North America, particularly in the Pacific Northwest.Example definitions include: *"A large, hairy, manlike ...

, the

Loch Ness monster The Loch Ness Monster (), known affectionately as Nessie, is a mythical creature in Scottish folklore that is said to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is often described as large, long-necked, and with one or more humps protrud ...

, UFOs, the

Bermuda Triangle The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is a loosely defined region in the North Atlantic Ocean, roughly bounded by Florida, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. Since the mid-20th century, it has been the focus of an urban legend sug ...

, lost Inca Gold, the pyramids and

Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric Megalith, megalithic structure 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, to ...

. Prior to the show airing, Hart wrote a humorous piece for the ''

New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation in New Zealand ...

'' 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 London Olympics or London Games may refer to: * 1908 Summer Olympics, Games of the IV Olympiad * 1944 Summer Olympics, Games of the XIII Olympiad, cancelled due to World War II * 1948 Summer Olympics, Games of the XIV Olympiad * 2012 Summer Olympi ...

. 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. In 2017 he and collaborator Jason Hoyte co-hosted ''Screaming Reels'', an unscripted fishing comedy show. It was mistakenly screened by the

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

in Australia as a documentary series. On

Radio Hauraki Radio Hauraki is a New Zealand rock music station that started in 1966. It was the first private commercial radio station of the modern broadcasting era in New Zealand and operated illegally until 1970 to break the monopoly held by the state- ...

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. First aired in 1977, it was New Zealand's second longest-running local programme (after '' Country Calendar''). It was also one of its highest-rated p ...

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

The Spinoff ''The Spinoff'' is a New Zealand online magazine and news website that was founded in 2014. It is known for current affairs coverage, political and social analysis, and cultural commentary. It earns money through commercial sponsorship and su ...

'' 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 Harrington's Breweries. 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) * '' Moon TV'' (2002–2010) * '' The Great New Zealand Spelling Bee'' (2006) * ''Shock Treatment'' (2006), with April Bruce (one episode) * ''

Pulp Sport ''Pulp Sport'' is a New Zealand television show that mixes 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. ...

'' (2007) * ''That Guy's World Cup'' (2007) on

TVNZ OnDemand TVNZ+ (), formerly known as TVNZ OnDemand, is an over-the-top New Zealand television and video on demand streaming service offered by TVNZ. It offers a variety of free content, such as news updates and programmes seen on TVNZ channels. TVNZ+ o ...

* ''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 World Rugby, International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japa ...

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 ''Rude Tube'' is a British television programme broadcast on Channel 4 and its sister channel E4. Most of the programme's episodes have been presented by British comedian Alex Zane, who launched the show's pilot episode in February 2008. Comedi ...

'' (2016) episode "Feasts of Fury", where his short "Fastest chef in the world 1" was ranked 16. * ''Terry Teo'' (2016) on TV2 (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

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 encouraging ...

(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 male comedians New Zealand radio presenters People educated at Christ's College, Christchurch People from Greymouth Radio Hauraki University of Canterbury alumni New Zealand expatriates in Peru 20th-century New Zealand comedians 21st-century New Zealand comedians