KEY POINTS:
Something you may not know about Leigh Hart: he's a control freak. Not that that's a bad thing, but rather it is a trait that may be unexpected in a man who regularly runs around town in nothing but speedos, a policeman's shirt, and a fake moustache big
enough to sweep the kitchen floor with.
Or a man who plays the lead MD role in the continuing skit Naan Doctors: a fake, over-dramatic soap opera about a fully-functioning medical clinic operating in the middle of a busy Indian restaurant.
The list could go on, but you get the picture. Hart, also known as That Guy since he rose to local fame as the roving reporter for television show Sports Cafe, just doesn't strike one as the organised, focused and goal-oriented type.
But meet him on a work day in his Ponsonby offices, and Hart is all business. Moon TV, or the Moon Television Network (MTN) as it shall heretofore be called, does actually have offices now, as compared to the tiny apartment the crew were squeezed into in days gone by; in fact, it commandeers three whole rooms in a converted villa, one of which is occupied by Hart and cameraman/editor Brent Spillane staring at screens as they edit episodes of the fifth season of Moon TV.
There have been other changes aside from the name: the show has gone from a budget of slightly less than $1000 per episode to around $35,000 a week - which is still a bargain, but means there are more fake wigs to go around these days. Hell, the crew and cast - and an office manager - even get paid on a regular basis now.
Moon TV has grown up, you could say. And being 37 years old now, with two children - 2-and-a-half year-old Sam and 7-month old Sophia - Hart is a grown-up in many ways too, including setting himself a regular working day and week. In other adult-like behaviour, he also writes a weekly offbeat column for the Herald on Sunday, and is a regular MC at events. Don't worry though, the Mt Eden resident's humour is still lagging a little in the maturity stakes: "clever immature," he calls it.
If Moon TV has grown up, it is also growing out: hence the addition of "Network" to the title. MTN is a satirical take, Hart explains, on television networks that spend masses of time and money on promoting themselves. Billboards, ads between programmes, "coming up next" teasers, and logos are all part of the image-machine of a large telly beast, and Hart decided it might be fun to make one.
"It's very self-indulgent, which I think networks are. I mean, who needs a huge billboard in town saying "News at six o'clock"?" he asks, referring to a current inner-city advertisement for a certain channel's flagship bulletin. "Everyone knows it's on at six o'clock, and how much does that cost? To me that's just waste, and pathetic, and we don't even get promos to say the [MTN] show is coming on at 10.30pm."
Bald-headed Hart, who fills the chair he sits in with his solid frame, says he is making a conscious effort to avoid "whingeing": the Greymouth-born man has been outspoken about the time slot Moon TV has been given in the past. Originally on at 11pm, it has now shifted to 10.30pm, but is still in the "insomniac hour".
Hart admits to having "issues" with his show's late time slot, believing many people miss out on it because it is too late. TVNZ, which helps fund the show (with NZ On Air), says Moon Television Network's fits naturally into TV2's "comedy hour" and that it will benefit from a "great" lead-in audience from The Terminator series.
But Hart is pleased that he still gets a chance to tell his jokes to the country - or at least to those who are still awake. "It's not all about the money - you just want people to see it. If you do a painting, or you're a musician, it's got to come out of the garage and see what people think."
Thus, the revamped MTN takes every opportunity to squeeze a laugh from the audience, and runs the entire gamut of television shows you might see in a day on any one channel: small clips of a breakfast current affairs show, a weather update, reality television (Speedo Cops), soap opera (Naan Doctors), and a consumer watch programme all make up half and hour of MTN television.
MTN is also the name of the company's website that will launch simultaneously, and will include much of the Moon TV content for viewers to download and watch in their own time and space.
One thing the show won't be expanding though is its writing team - Hart is the scribe for all the skits. Currently, he collaborates regularly on the acting with friend and former Wild Turkey bandmate Matt Johnson and actor Jason Hoyt, but that's enough for now.
"It has to be a small team, because it can only get worse the more people that are in the chain," he states.
It's the same philosophy Hart applies to his choice of extra work: he has starred in several television ads, and appeared on celeb reality show Shock Treatment and on The Great New Zealand Spelling Bee. However, he has turned down other shows because he doesn't particularly like to relinquish control of what he does.
But he is happy to take the criticism along with the praise, and says he will keep making comedy as long as he is given the funds and means to do so. "I suppose I'm a control freak, but you want to do your own stuff and be in charge of it, for good or bad."
- HERALD ON SUNDAY
