Michael McColl-Jones
OAM (12 August 1937 − 11 March 2024) was an Australian television comedy writer.
He is best remembered for his association with television personalities such as
Graham Kennedy
Graham Cyril Kennedy Order of Australia, AO (15 February 1934 – 25 May 2005) was an Australian entertainer, comedian and variety performer, radio and television host as well as a personality and actor of theatre, television and film.
He wa ...
,
Don Lane
Morton Donald Isaacson (born November 13, 1933 – October 22, 2009), known professionally as Don Lane, was an American talk show host and singer active mostly in Australia, best known for his television career in Australia, especially for host ...
and
Bert Newton
Albert Watson Newton (23 July 1938 – 30 October 2021) was an Australian media personality. He was a Logie Hall of Fame inductee, quadruple Gold Logie–winning entertainer, and radio, theatre and television personality and compère.
Ne ...
.
Early and personal life
McColl-Jones attended
Xavier College
Xavier College is a Roman Catholic, day and boarding school predominantly for boys, founded in 1872 by the Society of Jesus, with its main campus located in Kew, an eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Classes started in 1878.
The ...
in Melbourne where he excelled at tennis.
[ He attended the school at the same time as Philip Brady.][
McColl-Jones left school in 1956 and joined ]Myer
Myer (stylised MYER) is an Australian mid-range to upscale department store. It trades in all Australian states and one of Australia's two self-governing territories. Myer retails a broad range of products across women's, men's, and child ...
as a salesman. When television started in Melbourne, McColl-Jones began submitting jokes to ''In Melbourne Tonight'' which were regularly used by Graham Kennedy.[ Despite McColl-Jones' contributions, an offer of permanent work wasn't made until 1963 when GTV-9's general manager Colin Bednall offered him permanent work.][
His father Hector died in 1963 at the age of 57 from a form of ]leukemia
Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...
.[
]
Career
Throughout his career, McColl-Jones wrote for ''In Melbourne Tonight
''In Melbourne Tonight'', also known as ''IMT'', was a highly popular nightly Logie award-winning Australian variety show, variety television show produced at GTV-9 Melbourne from 6 May 1957 to 1970.
Overview
Graham Kennedy was the show's mai ...
'', ''The Graham Kennedy Show
''The Graham Kennedy Show'' was an Australian variety and comedy tonight show which debuted on 19 September 1972 on the Nine Network.
On 23 December 1969, host Graham Kennedy quit as host of '' In Melbourne Tonight'' (IMT) due to exhaustion an ...
'', ''The Don Lane Show
''The Don Lane Show'' was an Australian television talk show which aired twice a week on the Nine Network from 1975 to 1983.
The show was created by Don Lane who co-hosted it with Bert Newton.
Channel Nine was reluctant to cast Bert Newton, w ...
'', ''The Bert Newton Show
''The Bert Newton Show'' was an Australian television series which aired from 1959 to 1960. Aired at 6:30PM Saturdays on Melbourne station GTV-9, it was aimed at teenagers and featured acts lip-syncing their songs.
It competed with the popular A ...
'', ''The Ernie Sigley Show
Ernest William Sigley (2 September 1938 – 15 August 2021) was an Australian Gold Logie award winning television host, comedian, variety performer, radio presenter and singer. Known as a pioneer of radio and television in Australian, he was of ...
'', '' The Peter Couchman Show'', '' Blankety Blanks'', ''Hey Hey It's Saturday
''Hey Hey It's Saturday'' is a long-running variety television program on Australian television. It initially ran for 28 years on the Nine Network from 9 October 1971 to 20 November 1999, with a recess in 1978. Its host throughout its entire ...
'' and ''Tonight Live with Steve Vizard
''Tonight Live with Steve Vizard'' was a nightly Australian comedy chat show broadcast on Seven Network in Australia, featuring live musical performances.
Synopsis
''Tonight Live'' was an hourlong studio-based programme broadcast nationally fi ...
''.[ He also wrote for ]Joan Rivers
Joan Alexandra Molinsky (June 8, 1933 – September 4, 2014), known professionally as Joan Rivers, was an American comedienne, actress, producer, writer and television host. She was noted for her blunt, often controversial comedic persona that w ...
and a number of Royal Command Performances.[
When ''In Melbourne Tonight'' was revived in 1996, McColl-Jones again wrote jokes for the show, this time hosted by Frankie J. Holden.][
]
Books
McColl-Jones wrote a number of books throughout his career including ''My Funny Friends'' in 1979, ''And now, here's...'' in 1999 and ''Graham Kennedy Treasures: Friends remember the King'' in 2008.
Honours
In the 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours
The 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth II to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by c ...
, McColl-Jones received a Medal of the Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of then ...
in recognition of his service to the performing arts as a comedy writer for television.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:McColl Jones, Mike
Australian television personalities
1937 births
2024 deaths
Australian comedy writers
Place of birth missing
Place of death missing
Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia