By Ali Ikram
Nearly 20 years after his death, Billy T James remains arguably the country's best loved Kiwi joker.
A new biography looks at the comedy, and the controversy of the great New Zealander's life.
It is a national treasure, the laughter of Billy T.
“That wasn't his natural laugh, Lynn thinks he picked it up from Charlie Te Ahu and they were in the Maori Volcanics together and roomed together a lot,” says Mr Elliot.
It is just one of the revelations in Mr Elliot's new book The Life and Times of Billy T James.
Billy T was eulogised as the comedian who taught us to laugh at ourselves.
In his lifetime he was dogged by accusations that his depiction of Maori was racist.
To the comedian his jokes were not stereotypes but people he had met on the road.
Billy T was the nation's 14th recipient of a heart transplant, but died at just 42.
His body was controversially taken so he could be afforded a tangi.
But according to the book those who knew him said he didn't want one and eschewed bi-culturalism.
“He saw it as multicultural and no one was better than anyone else,” says Mr Elliot.
“This is where we all are and where we all live and there's nothing we can do about it we've just got to get on with and a preferably enjoy ourselves.”
Mr Elliot thinks if he had have lived long enough; Billy T would have found plenty to laugh about in the New Zealand of 2009.
3 News
source: newshub archive
