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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Amanda Meade

Australian entertainer Doug Mulray dies aged 71

Doug Mulray
Doug Mulray’s family said he passed away on Thursday after a long illness. He is survived by wife Lizzie and three children. Photograph: Sergio Dioniso/AAP

Veteran Australian entertainer and radio identity, Doug Mulray, has died aged 71.

While the Sydney radio star made his name by dominating the commercial airwaves in the 1980s with his creativity and stunts, his TV show Australia’s Naughtiest Home Videos was famously pulled off air by Channel Nine owner Kerry Packer after just 34 minutes.

In 1992 Packer called his own TV station and said “Get that shit off the air” after he saw clips of animals fornicating and a boy pulling the testicles of a kangaroo, accompanied by Mulray’s commentary. It was replaced by an episode of Cheers and it would be another 10 years before Mulray appeared on Nine again.

Mulray’s family said he passed away on Thursday after a long illness. He is survived by wife Lizzie and three children.

“He died peacefully yesterday, with his longtime partner Lizzie and business partner Hamish Cameron by his side,” the statement said.

“From the formative years of Triple M, and FM radio … his show’s ratings share grew from 2.6% to over 18%, thrusting Triple M into #1status.

“Doug Mulray was a very private man and since his retirement deliberately kept out of the limelight for the past 20 years.”

When Mulray, who was from Sydney’s northern beaches, was inducted into the Commercial Radio Australia Hall of Fame in 2019 he quipped “it was about time”.

“A recognition of 15 years of partying really, imagine getting an award for having a good time, remarkable really,” he said.

He got his start in radio in the 1970s working for a regional station in Armidale before moving on to ABC’s Double J.

He was picked up by Triple M in 1982, eventually signing off in 1992.

Comedians Adam Hills and Andrew Denton credited Mulray for inspiring their humour, and in Denton’s case for giving him a start in radio when he hired him as a writer.

Denton paid tribute to the comedy legend who was affectionately known as “Uncle Doug”, describing him as the “true original”: “if the world is a glass of water – he is a Berocca”.

“It was an incendiary, fantastic cartwheel of a working relationship,” Denton told Sarah Macdonald on ABC Radio Sydney.

“It was really unpredictable, hilariously funny – on and off air.”

“To paraphrase Douglas Adams – he loved rules. He loved the whistling noise as they went by.”

Triple M host Mick Molloy said many in the industry owed him a debt for paving the way.

“It is a terrible morning,” Molloy said. “A huge gaping hole has been left in the landscape of FM radio, particularly in Sydney where Doug Mulray ruled since 1982.

“He was the man, he was a legendary radio performer. For anyone in comedy, particularly going into radio, he was considered the biggest star in the firmament.”

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