John McKellar | |
|---|---|
| Born | John Alan McKellar 13 August 1930 Orange, New South Wales, Australia |
| Died | 6 September 2010 (aged 80) Sacred Heart Hospice, Darlinghurst, Australia |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Alma mater | Sydney Teachers College |
| Period | 1953–2006 |
| Genre | Comedy revue, musical theatre |
| Subject | Social satire |
| Notable works | A Cup of Tea, a Bex and a Good Lie Down |
John Alan McKellar (13 August 1930 – 6 September 2010) was an Australian writer, primarily of comedy revues or musical theatre. His most critically acclaimed and popularly attended work was A Cup of Tea, a Bex and a Good Lie Down which premiered at Sydney's Phillip Street Theatre on 18 September 1965 and ran for more than 250 performances. He was the resident writer at that theatre in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1970s he provided the slogan, "The drink you have when you're not having a drink" to advertise Claytons non-alcoholic beverages. Most of his humour involved social satire where typical self-mockery was developed into an art form. Some of his works provided vernacular phrases used in Australian English including "is Australia really necessary", "A Cup of Tea, a Bex and a Good Lie Down", and "But I wouldn't want to live there".