Jon Gadsby, writer and comedian, Died at 62

  Writers

Jonathan Ernest “Jon” Gadsby was born on November 1, 1953, and died on December 12, 2015 from cancer.

He was a New Zealand television comedian and writer, most well-known for his role in the comedy series McPhail and Gadsby co-starring alongside David McPhail.

Jonathan was born in Derbyshire, England and went to school in Invercargill when his family moved to New Zealand.

He studied law at the University of Otago, he worked at Radio Dunedin.

Jonathan entered television with David McPhail in the comedy A Week of It, before the pair went on to the successful and long-running political satire McPhail and Gadsby.

Jonathan Gadsby appeared in numerous television programmes, several films, and wrote more than 20 books, mainly for children.

He wrote for The New Zealand Herald, Metro and The Listener, and performed corporate speaking.

Jonathan was the former editor of Christchurch magazine Avenues.

In 2008, Jonathan received a conviction for drink-driving, after being stopped at a checkpoint in December 2006.

In 2011, Jonathan was convicted of his fourth drink-driving charge, having been stopped with a breath alcohol reading 2.5 times in excess of the legal limit.

Jonathan passed away on December 12, 2015 after a battle with cancer.