Former M&C Saatchi UK CEO and Lean Mean Fighting Machine founder Tom Bazeley is returning to Hoot Comedy, a company he helped to found in 2012, as CEO. Bazeley sold his interest in Hoot when digital agency Lean Mean was sold to M&C in 2014.
Hoot Comedy’s other founders are Perrier Award-winning comedian James Rawlings, BAFTA-nominated
screenwriter Ben Bond and RTS-nominated producer Ben Thompson. The company splits its time between creating content and advertising for brands and agencies and creating original content for broadcast, film and syndication.
In 2016 Hoot launched feature film division Bad Owl Films whose first feature The Hungry was shot last year as a co-production with Film London. The company is working on projects with Creative
England, the BFI and BBC Films.
Bazeley (second left with Hoot founders) says: “After a couple of years running M&C Saatchi, I could do with a bit of a laugh. Hoot’s natural inclination is to avoid over-thinking things. Put simply, our hunch is that we buy from people we like, and humour is the easiest and fastest way to get there. It’s a simple sell to agency folk, marketing directors and makes coming to work in the morning very enjoyable.”
Co-founder James Rawlings says: “In truth, Tom isn’t that funny but he’s really good at other things; wake-boarding, accents, wearing brightly colour clothing and running businesses. These were all criteria for our new hire.”
