Hey Hey it’s Saturday star John Blackman dies, aged 76
Australian radio star John Blackman has died, aged 76. The Hey Hey It’s Saturday favourite, who in recent years battled cancer, is believed to have suffered a heart attack.
Victoria
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John Blackman, the voice of Hey Hey It’s Saturday and a great of Melbourne radio, has been remembered as an entertainment legend with a gift to make people laugh and an incredible fighting spirit.
Blackman, 76, died at his Melbourne home on Tuesday after a long battle with ill health with his wife Cecile and daughter Tiffany by his side.
Hey Hey It’s Saturday creator and host Daryl Somers, who knew Blackman for more than 50 years, described him as a dear friend who bravely fought devastating cancer while never losing his sense of humour.
“He rang me last Monday and we had the best talk,” an emotional Somers said.
“It is not always that God affords you the luxury of saying goodbye, although we did not even know we were saying goodbye when we spoke.
“I said, ‘I love you, mate. We are very fortunate we had so many years together being able to essentially have fun between ourselves (on Hey Hey) and it resonated out through the telly into so many houses around Australia and people enjoyed it.’
“John was such a link in the chain of Hey Hey. He had a huge library of funny lines in his head, but the gift was to be able to recall a line at any given time and drop them in.
“In the very early days (of the show) his mission in life was to try to break me up. There were times when I was just on the floor in the studio, just rolling, holding my sides because I could not stop laughing.
“It is such a shock, because he kept fighting for so long I thought he would continue on.
“He was such a dear friend. Having lost Ernie (Carroll who died in 2022), a few important links of that chain have gone now.”
Somers said Blackman’s grit, dignity and humour in facing his tremendous health battles was an inspiration to others facing similar adversity.
“He fought against this awful run of ill health with humour all the way and he was inspirational to so many people going through ill health,” Somers said.
“He would go through, have a major operation and he would get up and go out. He kept going.”
Somers and Blackman caught up in person in late May at the opening of Hey Hey It’s Saturday cartoonist, Andrew Fyfe’s, art exhibition.
He said Blackman was “one of the funniest men (he) knew”.
“Not only was he one of the funniest men I knew, but definitely by far – the bravest. An inspiration to us all in how to tackle adversity without losing humour,” he wrote.
So very sad to hear of my friend and colleague John Blackman's passing. Not only was he one of the funniest men I knew, but definitely by far - the bravest. An inspiration to us all in how to tackle adversity without losing humour. Deepest condolences to Cecile and Tiff xxx pic.twitter.com/QJYqa03oqG
— Andrew Fyfe (@Fyfetoons) June 5, 2024
Music guru Molly Meldrum, who hosted the Melodrama segment on Hey Hey, said he was in awe of Blackman’s talent.
“John – and my nemesis Dickie Knee – did drive me nuts during my Melodrama
segment, but that was only because John was way too clever and quick for me,” Meldrum said.
“In real life, I’m proud to say that John was one of my best mates.
“I was always in awe of his talent. Without John, Hey Hey would not have been
the show it was. Working with John was a joy, but never easy. He was one of the greatest ad-libbers in the history of Australian television, and I had no hope of matching his wit.
“John was a great family man, with a remarkable love of life.
“To use one of (his) many famous phrases, with a heavy heart, it’s ‘Hooroo from the Guru’.”
Livinia Nixon: ‘People feel a special affinity with someone as warm as him’
Former Hey Hey It’s Saturday co-host Livinia Nixon has described John Blackman as being like a “second dad.”
Blackman, a key member of the Hey Hey team, has passed away aged 76 after a long battle with cancer and associated health issues.
Nixon co-hosted Hey Hey alongside Daryl Somers from 1997 to 1999 and was part of Hey Hey’s return season in 2010 and the show’s reunion special in 2009.
With minimal TV experience behind her, landing the high profile role on Hey Hey was a huge step into the spotlight for Nixon.
“John was warm, kind, cheeky, protective, great fun and a lovely family man; he was beautiful,” Nixon said.
“When I started on Hey Hey I was the same age – still am – as his daughter and he took me under his wing and helped guide me a little bit.
“He would say ‘I could have said this in the guise of Dickie Knee, but I thought ‘no, that does not make my Vinnie look good’, I am not going to say that’.
“I always felt he looked after me. We would all have a laugh and get together after the show and have drinks in the boardroom and John and I would always gravitate towards each other and debrief on everything and talk about the upcoming week and Cecile (John’s wife) would join us.
“I have really beautiful memories of working with John and I felt like I learnt a lot from him, not just about how to be on a live TV show, but also about how to be warm and open and generous with people.
“I used to say to him ‘you know you are like a second dad to me, don’t you’.”
Hey Hey was a huge and enjoyable learning curve for Nixon, who presents the weather for Nine News in Melbourne.
“I did learn so much from everyone I worked with on that show because everyone was, and still is, so talented and so quick,” she said.
“But John was just the quickest of everyone. His ad libs were just so fast. He could just slice through something and come in with the funniest line.”
Despite his health battles, Nixon said Blackman never lost his sense of humour.
“He had a zest for life and that cheekiness,” she said.
“The last time I saw him he was having champagne through a straw and laughing and regaling us all with these great stories.
“He said to me ‘I should not be drinking alcohol, don’t tell my doctor’.
“It was so lovely to be around him.
“He was kind of like a magnet, people would be attracted to him because he was warm and funny.
“I think a lot of people have a special spot in their heart for Blackers, and for Hey Hey.
“He was the soundtrack of such an iconic show and he was in everyone’s living room for two hours every Saturday night, so people feel a special affinity with someone as warm as him.
“He will be very missed.”
Fellow radio host and former senator Derryn Hinch said he was “shocked and saddened” by his death.
“He handled his illnesses so bravely. We had some huge rows but he was the fastest ad lib man ever. Vale,” he wrote.
Blackman’s former Hey Hey co-star Marty Fields paid tribute to his friend, describing him as a “radio pioneer”.
“He was a master voice-over announcer, live act and incredible radio pioneer,” he wrote.
“His work at 3AW breakfast and, of course, as the wonderful booth announcer on Hey Hey was superb. A massive loss. Vale buddy.”
Farewell old mate. pic.twitter.com/qnH92lejA5
— Marty Fields (@Martyfields) June 5, 2024
Livinia Nixon, who also worked with Blackman on Hey Hey, said he was an extremely supportive figure in the industry.
“I’m just heartbroken for his wife and Tiffany, his daughter, and everyone that he looked after because even though he had so much on his plate in the last few years, healthwise, he was the backbone of that family,” she told the ABC.
“When he pounced he always pounced quickly and it was always very effective and always hilarious, he was the best at his job.”
Channel 9 newsreader Peter Hitchener wrote on social media: “The Hey Hey It’s Saturday star was adored by audiences and the crew for his incredible wit, and I have wonderful memories of working with John on radio. RIP.”
Former state MP and 3AW personality Heidi Victoria also wrote: “You work with lots of people over a lifetime, and then you meet and work with somebody who you just click with, and there was something about John.”
The Melbourne-based entertainer spoke about his battle with the deadly disease and having jaw replacement surgery earlier this year, saying you play “with the cards God deals you”.
Fans of Blackman, who had a strong presence on social media, flooded his Facebook page on Wednesday morning with tributes to the much-loved entertainer, giving well wishes to “Blackers” wife, Cecile.
He is survived by Cecile and his daughter, Tiffany.
The life of a legend
Blackman, 76, was born in 1947 and grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Syndal where he attended Syndal Technical Academy.
He left school at 16 and took on a series of jobs including as a customs clerk on the Victorian Railways, a sales representative for men’s perfume company Sir International, a cigarette salesman, and as a spruiker in Myer’s CBD Bargain Basement.
After completing a radio course run by 3AW, he landed a job at 2GN in Goulburn in 1969.
He moved to 2CA in Canberra in 1970 where he met his wife Cecile.
“We fell in love instantly,” Blackman said in an interview with the Sunday Herald Sun in January.
Blackman moved back to Melbourne from Canberra in 1971 to take up a role at 3AW, starting on Nightline with the Reverend Alex Kenworthy.
Cecile followed him south a few months later and they married in 1972. They soon welcomed their daughter, Tiffany.
In 1971 he also landed a job at Channel 9 as a booth announcer, where he met Somers and quickly blended into the Hey Hey family.
“Daryl knew I could do some voices and he found me quite amusing and I found him quite amusing,” Blackman said in that January interview.
“He sort of looked upon Hey Hey as radio with pictures and he started using me in his show. Daryl was aware that I was upstairs and that the on-air talent never ever spoke to the booth announcer, but Daryl and I, we railed against normalcy back then, so we had lots of fun, lots of back and forth, lots of in jokes.”
Blackman created the character Dickie Knee and was a key member of Hey Hey for 28 years, as well as being part of the return season in 2010 and the show’s reunion specials in 2009 and 2021.
Blackman’s radio career hit overdrive in 1981 when he joined Paul Barber in 3AW breakfast.
Barber left part-way through the year and Blackman was joined by Bruce Mansfield in the breakfast shift.
“It was a perfect marriage and we started rating number 1 in breakfast almost from day one and we did that for six years,” Blackman said.
Blackman’s health took a dangerous turn in September 2018 when he underwent a marathon 12 hour surgery at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne after a highly aggressive (Squamous Cell Carcinoma) cancer was discovered in his jaw.
His jaw was removed as part of the operation and his surgeons took bone from the fibula in his right leg to rebuild his jaw, fashioned new lips from his cheek tissue and took skin grafts from his upper inner right thigh to heal his lower face following the procedure.
Blackman faced another serious cancer battle in 2022, being diagnosed with brain cancer and undergoing a six hour cranioplasty operation.
Throughout his lengthy and debilitating health battles Blackman never lost his sense of humour and his love of radio, TV and news.
He put his strength down to the love and support of his wife, Cecile and his daughter, Tiffany.
In January, Blackman described his life as having been a grand adventure.
“Life deals you a rough hand sometimes and you have to play with the cards God deals you,” he said.
“You get a pair of twos, you do your best, you get a pair of 10s, you play with them, and occasionally you get a blackjack.
“I have just been very fortunate to get a blackjack a few times in my life.”
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