With hundreds of awards nights, conferences and gala dinners under his belt, Jesse knows what your event needs and delivers beyond expectations every time. He’s now a household name thanks to TV shows 7 Days and Seven Sharp, and his diverse background in stand up comedy and corporate communications allow him to inject humour and warmth, without ever losing sight of the overall objectives of the event.
Jesse grew up in Hamilton and trained as a lawyer, before a surprise win in a first-timers’ stand up comedy competition led his career in a different path. He spent several years working as a comedian and breakfast radio DJ in Wellington before heading to London, where he worked in food and drink at a busy Covent Garden PR agency. He also took up writing, and when he returned to New Zealand turned his love of food into a job reviewing restaurants for Metro magazine and on his Auckland Food Blog. he’s currently the eating out editor for Viva magazine in the NZ Herald.
His stand up comedy background led him to a job as head writer and then regular panelist for hit TV3 show 7 Days. He was TV3’s go-to man for comedy writing for a couple of years, before TVNZ hired him as host of the new 7pm show Seven Sharp. Jesse left that show in April 2014, to become host of hit Thursday night comedy Best Bits. He’s also an occasional New Zealand correspondent for Australia’s “The Project".
Off screen, along with his work as an event MC and writer, Jesse helps brands “find the funny" in their TV ads, websites and communications with customers. He continues to write columns for NZ Herald Viva and New Idea, and lives in Grey Lynn with his wife Victoria and their two daughters Hazel and Daisy.
We were lucky to have Jesse hosting our awards dinner last Friday, which coincided with the official launch of Spark New Zealand. Jesse delivered on so many levels; style, humour, professionalism and unprofessionalism when it was called for! What impressed us most was Jesse’s ability to adapt and synchronise with the other speakers on stage quickly and effortlessly. It was clear he had taken the time to research and understand the brief, the audience, our business and the future we are trying to create for our customers. Our team love
— Event Manager, Spark
Jesse, you were without a doubt the right choice for the event. Feedback from both members and clients about you has been particularly outstanding. From my perspective, your proactive and creative suggestions leading up to and during the event were received gratefully. Please be assured that I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending you for any jobs in the future and will most certainly keep you top of mind for any of my own events should you be willing to take on another one.
— Event Manager, Auckland Convention Bureau
Jesse emceed the awards ceremony (lasting nearly 2 hours) to an audience of over 850 personnel from New Zealand’s media & advertising industry. We found Jesse to be extremely easy to work with. He followed our brief completely and was an entertaining and engaging MC and easily held the attention of our guests. We would certainly recommend him for similar engagements.
— Event Manager, Beacon Media Awards
Jesse’s flexibility to meet with the client ahead of time was invaluable to the evening, and made a big difference to their overall confidence level with the awards show and event flow on the night. Jesse was perfect – all the ad-libbing to lengthen it out a bit was right on target. We have had stellar feedback from our client this morning. I look forward to working with Jesse again!
— Event Manager, Orange Events
