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
Christchurch, New Zealand
OccupationComedian, actor

Early life and family

Born in Christchurch on 11 April 1945, McPhail was educated at Cathedral Grammar School and Christchurch Boys' High School, and went on to study at the University of Canterbury. On 25 February 1967, he married Anne McLeod, and the couple had two children.[1]

Career

McPhail joined the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation as a journalist in 1967, and worked on both radio and television news stories.[1] Between 1968 and 1969, he was a reporter on the magazine show Town and Around.[1] From 1971, he worked as a television producer and actor, and produced light entertainment shows for three years, before winning fame in 1977 with A Week of It.[1] 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.

Honours and awards

In the 1992 New Year Honours, McPhail was awarded the Queen's Service Medal for public services.[2] 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.[3]

Credits (incomplete)

Television

Theatre

References
  1. Jackson, Desney, ed. (1979). Notable New Zealanders. Auckland: Paul Hamblyn. pp. 311–312. ISBN 086832020X.
  2. "No. 52768". The London Gazette (2nd supplement). 31 December 1991. p. 31.
  3. "New Year honours list 2008". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 31 December 2007. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  4. "The White Elephant". NZBS on Demand.
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