Douglas John Mulray (1 December 1951 – 30 March 2023) was an Australian comedian, radio, and television presenter. Nicknamed Uncle Doug, he grew up in Dee Why on Sydney's Northern Beaches. Mulray was well-known for his bawdy humor and charismatic larrikinism, with his style of free quips, parodies, and "unbridled naughtiness".[1]
Radio career
Mulray started his early years as a salesman traveling in Europe before his father, a lawyer, suggested a career in broadcasting.[3] Mulray began his radio career at 2AD in Armidale in September 1975, after taking a broadcasting course at the Digamae (Rod Muir's) Radio School.[4] After 6 months he moved to Central Coast station 2GO in Gosford.[5] During the mid-1970s he worked on 3AWMelbourne with a program called "Mulray & The Man".[3]
In the late 1970s, he started a permanent job in Sydney with the newly formed Australian Broadcasting Corporation's alternative rock station 2JJ, in what would evolve in Triple J, where he built up a sizeable following. In 1982 he was poached by a new station, Triple M.[6] Mulray served as breakfast host, which lifted the ratings share from 2.6 percent to a staggering 18 percent. He was known for his fictional characters, including Madam Zenda, who made outlandish comedic predictions about the future; Jack Africa, a man permanently paranoid who was convinced that chooks were out to get him; the Prime Mincer, a parody of the then Australian PMBob Hawke; and Gloria, who was based on rival broadcaster Alan Jones.[7] During Mulray's tenure, he brought into the program fellow presenters, writers, and producers, one notable person being Andrew Denton, who worked on the show as head writer. Denton considered Mulray as a mentor, and he later stated that Mulray "single-handedly [put] FM radio on the map... the first ever to take a commercial radio station to number 1 against the dominant AM radio."[7]
After a break from Triple M, Mulray worked for a brief time in the PM drive-time slot on 2SM with Peter FitzSimons before moving to Sydney radio station 2WS, eventually leaving the station in July 1999. He never regained the ratings he enjoyed at his former station Triple M.[3] In 2014, industry analyst Radio Today rated his breakfast show as the third-best Australian metro FM breakfast show of all time.[8]
Television career
In 1992, he hosted the infamous Australia's Funniest Home Videos's spin-off Australia's Naughtiest Home Videos; however, just halfway though one episode (which itself claimed to be "one off special" as in off as "off-colour"),[9] it was pulled from broadcast by Nine Network by owner Kerry Packer after 34 minutes, who infamously called the station to "get that shit off the air!".[10] Mulray was fired and banned for life from the Nine Network as a result. The program's timeslot was replaced by re-runs of American sitcom Cheers.[7]
Mulray, however, would later return to Nine in 2002 to be a part of the special "Brian Henderson Toasted and Roasted" (even adding a subtle joke about his ban while Packer was in the audience), and also as judge on the 2005 series StarStruck. On Full Frontal, this was parodied with a skit of Mulray hosting a lottery draw, making sexual remarks as the balls drop.[3]
In August 2008, Australia's Naughtiest Home Videos was re-aired on the Nine Network. Mulray reportedly refused requests from Nine management to reappear as the host. One commentator wrote that "it may be that Mulray, a very smart man, knew he would have been open to a few cruel comparisons between the relatively youthful Mulray of 1992 and the solitary Mulray of 2008. The years have not been particularly kind."[13]
Mulray was married to Lizzie Muir. He died from liver cancer in Sydney on 30 March 2023, at age 71.[1][14] Tributes were given by radio and media personalities such as Andrew Denton, Peter Switzer, and Ben Fordham.[1][2]
Discography
Studio albums
List of albums, with selected details and chart positions
What a Rude Album, 2 Rude and "You Are Soul": Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 211. ISBN0-646-11917-6.
Nice Legs Shame About the Fez: "Discography Doug Mulray". australian-charts.com. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
"Werewolf": Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 196.
