Did You See That Guy’s Mockumentary?
Posted by: Loren Coleman on February 15th, 2010
Leigh “That Guy” Hart’s Mysterious Planet: The World’s Greatest Unsolved Mysteries – a mockumentary – was broadcast last week in New Zealand. Perhaps it was also seen in Australia and some parts (?) of the UK.
Cryptomundo would like to hear from others who have seen this complete program, with your unbiased reviews. You may send them in via the comments section or via the Cryptomundo contact form. Thank you.
I realize that Mr. Hart will not mind this additional appearance on Cryptomundo, just as we don’t mind his noting Cryptomundo’s spot-on reporting on his adventures. 🙂
Photo By Michael Neilson/The Daily Jeffersonian/May 4, 2009
Caption published by the Ohio newspaper: Area Bigfoot authority Don Keating is interviewed by Leigh Hart, host of Mysterious Planet, a New Zealand television series dealing with strange phenomenon. The interview was during the 21st annual Bigfoot Conference/Expo Saturday at Salt Fork Resort and Conference Center. Filming is videographer Brent Spillane. (Actually, of course, this is Hart pulling off his elaborate mockumentary filming; read more here: Kiwi adventures.)
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Completely unbiased here, I thought the first episode was absolutely hilarious. I didn’t find it mean-spirited, nor fitting of the title hoax. Just a good humoured, well made television programme. There’s room for things like Mysterious Planet AND Monsterquest.
Well done Leigh Hart.
I look forward to future episodes.
Although not a Kiwi, I did watch it, and was thoroughly entertained by how well laid out and funny it was.
Folks can say what they want about Leigh Hart, but the truth is, the man is a comedian. Comedians usually get their material from real life experiences, and it seems that the experience he got at the Ohio Conference gave him tons of fodder to use for his show.
From one gentleman proclaiming that “bigfoot has a large rectum” to “bigfoot is able to change colors to blend into it’s environment”, and one lady claiming “that UFOs watch over the bigfoot” only to have Leigh turn out the light on her and walk away, leaving her dumbfounded. He was given tons of fodder folks, and it was all made possible by Don Keating giving him total access to everything.
And before the Keatingites attack me for saying it, you have to give due credit to the person ultimately responsible for this, Don Keating. He was responsible for the Ohio Bigfoot Conference, he was responsible for putting this man on stage, and giving him a platform for his presentation, he should have shut it all down the minute it all became suspicious. Instead it seems he wanted the limelight, and others have paid for it again.
And then Don Keating sits there and says that he would not bet his life on the bigfoot actually existing. What the heck? A man spends over 20 years pursuing a bigfoot, claiming to have two sightings, claims recording a white bigfoot walking in a field, and he’s not about to bet his life that they exist? Then why is he in this field?
What needs to happen, is the bigfoot world should take this as a lesson, and learn from it. This show and websites like the Bigfootery Enquirer, Skeptical Enquirer and others are showing us the things we need to change. Instead of saying “we know”, instead, it should be “it’s a possibility”, to “I am an expert” instead, “We only have theories”.
No one knows anything about bigfoot, it’s all speculation. And until the bigfoot world begins cleaning things up, we will continue to be fodder for comedians and skeptics alike. JMHO
Unless we want to see more of this happen, the bigfoot world needs to clean up.
All I can say is there must be money to be made playing the fool. That guy must make a fortune.
I did get a chance to watch the show, even though I’m in the south western US, and I have to admit I got a good laugh out of it, but more at Leigh Hart than the subject matter. I already have waiting for my copy of the second episode; interested to see if the humor is the same as the first or not. I think these guys really make more fun of themselves than any of the topics they are supposedly investigating. Not sure I like how he went about making the show, but it was entertaining.