Graham Cyril Kennedy AO (15 February 1934 – 25 May 2005) was an Australian entertainer, comedian and variety performer, as well as a personality and star of radio, theatre, television and film.

In 1970, he worked at 3XY; from June to December 1975 he appeared on a 3LO drivetime program with Richard Combe; from September to November 1976 was on 3DB with Dennis Scanlan; in 1977 he returned to DB to cover the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II live from London.

In 1980, Kennedy became a 10% shareholder in Sydney radio station 2Day FM, and from 24 May 1981 he presented a computer-edited, three-hour Sunday morning program of music and comedy.

Viewing his performance on the monitors, GTV-9's general manager Colin Bednall and producer Norman Spencer "... turned to one another without exchanging a word and shook hands.

[20] IMT was devised as a copy of the American Tonight Show format, with the host presiding over sketches, introducing star artists and reading advertisements live.

Others bring to my notice the fact that I sometimes make grammatical errors in my speech; so, because of this, I try to watch my grammar – but at the same time I bear in mind that it's more profitable for me to be entertaining than to be perfect in my use of English.

Kennedy had a strong understanding of key technical elements of television and perfected his comic timing, and watched the lenses on the TV cameras, adjusting his performance depending on whether he was in a wide shot or a close up.

Kennedy had often disliked having writers on the program, was reluctant for them to be publicly acknowledged, and often ignored all their material, preferring to rely on Tivoli shtick and sketches remembered by veterans like Joff Ellen.

[39] By 1968 there was a regular roster of IMT guest hosts, including Bert Newton, Tim Evans, Bobby Limb, Don Lane, Kevin Sanders, and Michael Preston.

His final episode features newsreader Sir Eric Pearce placing on his head a crown made by the Channel Nine prop department in the style of that worn by Henry IV, symbolising Kennedy's reign as King of Australian television.

[41] In 2007, the crown (which a private collector had recognised at a junk store in Bowral NSW, and purchased for $5) was auctioned for more than $17,000 to a producer of the Seven Network's Sunrise program.

His comments were edited, and a voiceover recorded by the general manager was inserted saying that Kennedy had made a "cowardly attack on a Labor Minister who was unable to defend himself."

The show featured friends from his earlier days including Noeline Brown, Barry Creyton, Noel Ferrier, Ugly Dave Gray, Carol Raye and Stuart Wagstaff.

[55] Kennedy's writers, who worked from a production cottage at the corner of Scott Street and Artarmon Road included Jim Pike, Tim Evans, Larry Burns, and Ken Sterling.

Blundell records: They worked in the back room shooting out gags over typewriters and word processors, united in their hatred of the 'Little Guy', as they also called him.

He also remarked that Queen Elizabeth II "didn't have bad breasts ... for a woman of her age" and mocked 17 October 1989, San Francisco Loma Prieta earthquake with a re-creation on the set.

After a slightly heavy woman was caught for streaking at a cricket match, Graham explained on air that they would run the footage but had to cover certain offending parts of her body with black.

Believing that Martin had ambushed him by departing from a pre-agreed list of questions, Kennedy ensured that much of the interview was unusable for broadcast by peppering his responses with obscenities.

"[67] During the court case, Miller "painted a picture of his client of twenty years as a late-night drunk in the habit of sending demanding faxes while under the influence.

In 1991, Kennedy retired to a rural property at Canyonleigh, near Bowral in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, near his friends Tony Sattler and Noeline Brown, where his main companions were two Clydesdale horses named Dave and Sarah, and Henry, a Golden Retriever.

[69] On 14 June 2002 Kennedy was found unconscious at the foot of the stairs at his home, suffering a broken leg and skull with suspected brain damage.

According to Graeme Blundell's biography, Tony Sattler: [...]spent several days ringing Kerry Packer's office [...] Nursing was going to cost $3000 a week.

The low-key affair is expected to be at the Kenilworth Nursing Home at Bowral where Kennedy has lived since taking a nasty tumble a few years ago.

A newspaper report stated that Kennedy "passed on his best wishes but declined to be involved 'for no particular reason [...] other than he believes he has a limited memory of many of the facts of his life'.

In fact at 67, he had diabetes, some rheumatism, the odd creaky joint, a healthy capacity to whinge and the usual symptoms connected with smoking and drinking.

He was rushed to the local hospital where pneumonia in one lung was treated effectively and efficiently, a fracture near his hip was repaired and he was diagnosed with brain damage.

Stuart Wagstaff presented the funeral, which was attended by many of Kennedy's friends, colleagues and associates on the morning of 31 May 2005 at a small community theatre in the town of Mittagong.

Tony Sattler and his wife, actress Noeline Brown, Kennedy's closest friends, said they were mortified by the movie, saying that "The film was obsessed with his homosexuality.

Inspired by stage comedians such as Roy Rene, his style was bawdy, irreverent, iconoclastic, often smutty, sometimes deliberately camp, and laden with innuendo and double-entendre.

"[83] Journalist Megan Gressor described Kennedy's style as having "... mongrel roots – a hybrid of vaudeville, slapstick and endless suggestiveness, plus a subliminal subversiveness all his own.