Peter Rowley was giving an after-dinner speech when he got the news that his mate, Billy T. James, was dead.
It was at Wellington Rugby's annual awards; he told the audience, news that reduced many of them to tears.
"There were a lot of hard, really hard, rugby players there. It wasn't just 'bugger' and get on with it, it was everyone crying and hugging each other. It was very moving and a testament to the effect he had."
William James TeWehi Taitoko was 42 when he died, his transplanted heart giving up just fewer than two years after the operation. Suddenly the gags, the infectious giggle, the outrageous characters were gone.
Twenty years have passed since the loss of a comedian and performer with a talent so exceptional that New Zealanders loved him in a way they have not loved anyone since.
The jokes this comedian and consummate entertainer told weren't subtle, nor were they new and on paper not that funny. But it was impossible not to laugh when Billy T. came on the telly in a black singlet, yellow towel draped around his neck, to deliver his Te News segment with lines like: "Well known entertainer Ray Woolf was invited to the birthday party of another well-known entertainer, Howard Morrison OBE.
Anyway, he was the only Pakeha there. Ray said they ended up playing pin the tail on the honky."
Funniest person who ever lived, according to one of his 154,994 Facebook fans. Ask round the comedy and entertainment circuit why no one has come close to equalling his fan base and the reasons are varied:attitudes have changed, James had less competition and was in the right place at the right time, TV opportunities have dried up, or the right talent isn't around.
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