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# Kiwi As
- URL: https://goodoil.news/kiwi-as-2/
- Published: 2019-08-11T04:30:24.000Z
- Updated: 2019-08-10T05:15:20.000Z
- Author: WH
- Tags: Blog, NZ, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-17 03:49

If ever there was an entertainer who summed up the ‘Kiwi As’ quality, it has to have been Billy T James. Taken from us way too soon, we wonder what he would have made of the current politically correct anti-humour situation that pervades society.

28 years’ ago this week, the much-loved entertainer was just 43 when he died of heart failure.

> Born William Taitoko, the multi-talented musician toured the world with the Maori Volcanics Showband in the 1970s. He adopted the stage name Billy T. James because Australians could not pronounce his surname correctly.  
>  
> James came to prominence in the television variety show Radio times, but is best remembered for the Billy T James show, six series of which were screened by TVNZ between 1981 and 1986\. On the show, the gifted impressionist portrayed a variety of characters in recurring sketches such as ‘Te News’, a parody of the Maori news show Te karere. He lampooned both Maori and Pakeha quirks with affection and a trademark giggle. Later series of the show were co-written with Peter Rowley and featured more diverse material.  
>  
> In 1985 James played the Tainuia Kid in an eccentric film adaptation of Ronald Hugh Morrieson’s novel, Came a hot Friday,  
>  
> James suffered a major heart attack in 1988 and died three years later. The annual Billy T Award honours up-and-coming New Zealand comedians.  
>  
> [NZHistory](https://nzhistory.govt.nz/page/death-billy-t-james?ref=goodoil.news)