The man acknowledged as a comic genius by his peers, Graham Kennedy, has died, aged 71, in Bowral, NSW.
Kennedy compered In Melbourne Tonight (IMT) on Channel 9. Later, he compered the Drive program on Melbourne’s 3LO, now known as 774, with Richard Combe.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Kennedy hosted a game show, Blankety Blanks, and a late-night news program.
Kennedy also had a keen interest in politics. In 1972, the Whitlam government had appointed a Minister for the Media, Senator Doug McClelland, father of the current ALP shadow minister for Defence and Homeland Security, Robert McClelland. In a rare expression of political opinion, Kennedy launched into McClelland on April 17, 1975, calling for McClelland to be sacked and the portfolio to be dropped.