Kiwi Comedy Goes Online With WatchMe

A new video-on-demand platform will launch today, showcasing original Kiwi comedy, including Leigh Hart's cult comedy series Late Night Big Breakfast.

Commissioned by Matt Heath and Jeremy Wells, WatchMe will feature several short-form comedy series, available to view on demand, free of charge.

Each series is made up of between six to eight short-form episodes, specifically designed to cater for a digital audience.

"It's all about removing the padding," explains Heath. "When you make a commercial half hour for TV, it's 22 minutes cut roughly into three seven-minute bits, divided by ad breaks. We don't have ad breaks, so we are just making the seven-minute bits. If people want to watch 22 minutes they can watch three shows in a row."

WatchMe will also feature a video adaptation of Ben Uffindell's satirical website The Civilian, as well as a video version of Wells' popular radio segment Like Mike, in which he parodies Newstalk ZB broadcaster Mike Hosking.

Hart told the Herald he was excited about moving away from mainstream television, which he said never captured the full potential of Late Night Big Breakfast.
"You want a percentage of people to not get it," he said.

NZ Herald