David McPhail

David Alexander McPhail ONZM QSM (born 11 April 1945) is a New Zealand comedic actor and writer whose television career spans four decades. McPhail first won fame on sketch comedy show A Week of It, partly thanks to his impressions of New Zealand Prime Minister Robert Muldoon. He went on to appear in multiple series of sketch show McPhail and Gadsby, and hit comedy Letter to Blanchy. All three shows featured his longtime friend Jon Gadsby.

For New Zealand rugby league professional, see David McPhail (rugby league).

David McPhail

ONZM QSM
McPhail in 2011, rehearsing a play
Born
David Alexander McPhail

(1945-04-11) 11 April 1945
New Zealand
OccupationComedian, actor

Career

Christchurch-based McPhail had appeared on television as a reporter and occasional actor before winning fame in 1977 with A Week of It. One of the earliest New Zealand comedy shows, both to satirise politicians and win a wide audience, the series mixed sketches lampooning politics, sport, and television. A Week of It ran for three seasons.

McPhail went on to create and appear in at least seven series of skit show McPhail and Gadsby, co-starring his A Week of It colleague Jon Gadsby, and backwoods comedy Letter to Blanchy, which spawned a 2008 play.

McPhail starred in the two seasons of the series Seven Periods with Mr Gormsby. McPhail plays Gormsby, a dominating, old-fashioned school teacher who ruffles feathers when he begins teaching at a school in a low income area. McPhail went on to play eccentric superhero The Green Termite in The Amazing Extraordinary Friends.

His autobiography The Years Before My Death: Memories of a Comic Life was published by Longacre in 2010.

Awards

McPhail was awarded the Queen's Service Medal for public services in the 1992 New Year Honours.[1] In the 2008 New Year Honours, he was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to television and the theatre.[2]

Credits (incomplete)

Television
  • A Week of It (1977–1979)
  • McPhail and Gadsby (1980–1987, 1997–1998)
  • Issues (1991)
  • Letter to Blanchy (1996–1997)
  • Seven Periods with Mr Gormsby (2005–2006)
  • The Life & Times of Te Tutu (director)
  • Crumpy (director)
  • Then Comes Love by James Griffin (director)
  • Amazing Extraordinary Friends (2007–2010)
  • The White Elephant (2012)[3]

Theatre

References
  1. London Gazette (supplement), No. 52768, 30 December 1991. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
  2. "New Year Honours 2008". Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. 31 December 2007.
  3. "The White Elephant". NZBS on Demand.
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