Pio Terei

Pio Keith Terei MNZM (born 1958) is a Māori actor, singer and comedian on New Zealand television.

Early career

Early in his working life he sold light commercial trucks for 14 years. He came to notice in 1995 when he headlined his own TV3 show Pete and Pio with fellow comedian Peter Rowley. After the success of Pete and Pio, Terei led his own show called Pio!, featuring similar skits to his previous programme. It ran from 1997 to 1999 and it was during this period that he hosted the Coca Cola Christmas in the Park in front of thousands of people. When Pio! was cancelled in 1999, Terei moved to the opposition TVNZ network.

In 2000, Terei led a TVNZ programme entitled The Life and Times of Te Tutu, a comedy following the daily life of an 1800s Māori chief. Under his own Pipi Productions company, The Life and Times of Te Tutu played weekly until cancelled in 2001, when Terei ceased work under Pipi Productions.

Terei was not a headline act or primetime actor in the early years of the new century. Though his name was well known in New Zealand (especially in the Māori community), it seemed his work was never broadcast on TVNZ.