Graham Kennedy was 71

Australia’s original king of comedy Graham Kennedy has died at the age of 71.

Though virtually unknown anywhere else, the comic was a broadcasting legend in his homeland.

After an early career in radio, he made his first appearance on Australia’s fledgling TV service in 1957, just a year after broadcasts began, as host of the variety show In Melbourne Tonight.

He fronted the show for 15 years, building a career out of risqué innuendo and subversive wit.  He would frequently mock sponsor’s products and reveal how much the station was getting paid to promote them.

But in 1975 he was banned from the air after making a crow call that sounded like "Faaaarrrrrkkk!" on a chat show, prompting an attack from the Minister for Media.

He was later accepted back to television, where he became host of the Australian version of Blankety Blank (actually called Blankety Blanks) – like its British hosts, forever mocking the cheapness of the show, and playing up the double entendres in many of the questions.

In the Eighties he hosted Coast To Coast, a late-night show that was the odd hybrid of part genuine news show, part variety show.

After a news report about the Queen’s visit to Hong Kong in 1989, he commented that for a woman her age she didn't have bad breasts; and the day after the 1989 San Francisco earthquake, he staged a mock quake it the studio – prompting plenty of outrage from the Press.

His last programme was Graham Kennedy's Funniest Home Videos which began in 1990, and he retired a year later.

A diabetic, heavy smoker and drinker, his health declined in his later years. In 2001 Kennedy, who remained single all his life, fell down stairs at his home, and suffered a broken leg and skull. He then moved into the nursing home where he died in the early hours of this morning

Published: 25 May 2005