It was left to Russell Crowe, the Academy Award-winning actor and John Laws’ good mate and neighbour, to bring a touch of irreverence to the traditional state funeral held in the broadcaster’s honour on Wednesday.
In the rarefied atmosphere of Sydney’s St Andrews Cathedral, Crowe traversed Laws’ unmistakable talent and loyalty, but also his political views and his role in the 1999 cash-for-comment scandal.
Crowe also revealed Laws gave his son a bottle of bourbon at his first birthday party.
“The card read: ‘To Charlie from John’,” Crowe said. “I opened it. It was a bottle of Wild Turkey. Now that was pretty much when the afternoon tea ended and the celebration truly began.”
Known as “the Golden Tonsils” for his mellifluous baritone and seven decade-long career, Laws died on 9 November, aged 90.
Laws’ famous golden microphone was placed on his coffin during Wednesday’s service.
In his eulogy, Paul Warren said his friend of 55 years was more than just an extraordinary broadcaster: “He could do just about anything. He wrote songs, he sang them, he made albums, he appeared in films, and he even popped up on Skippy.”
“He could sell anything from Valvoline to Toyotas – beyond that, he was a poet, a passionate music promoter, proving time and time again that there was very little he couldn’t do and do extremely well,” Warren said
“At his peak, he had over 2 million listeners, and he won 92 radio surveys in a row … He interviewed 16 prime ministers and numerous premiers.”
One of those prime ministers, John Howard, was among more than 800 mourners, along with former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, the New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, and the state governor, Margaret Beazley.
Trucking billionaire Lindsay Fox, broadcasters Ben Fordham and Richard Wilkins, and Olympian Dawn Fraser were among the mourners, which included many of Laws’ elderly listeners.
In his sermon, the Reverend Michael Jensen said he encouraged Laws to read the bible after the death of his wife, Caroline, in 2020. “Over lunch I gave John a Bible and suggested that he read again the Gospel of John,” Jensen said. “I mentioned Johnny Cash had recorded it and that he might listen.”
Despite his immense wealth and his love of the good things in life, Laws retained the common touch, Jensen said.
“It’s a long way from Woolloomooloo to Walgett. But John spoke Walgett fluently.”
Crowe, who was Laws’ neighbour at Woolloomooloo for 23 years, said the two men rarely agreed on anything but it was no barrier to friendship.
“We were quite often on opposite sides of any issue,” Crowe said.
“However, we did agree that we liked each other’s company and our different perspectives never stopped us from making each other laugh. He had an eye for composition and beauty, a nose for a good story and the heart of a lion.”
Like singer John Williamson, who performed True Blue, Crowe revealed Laws had asked him a very long time ago to be part of his funeral.
The actor teased that he was going to pretend he was making the remarks “off the top of his head”.
“It’ll take a bit of acting. Let’s see how I go. It’s kind of like cash for comment, but less obvious.”
He addressed the seeming contradiction of a man who presented “invective laden opinion” on the radio, but was also the kindest of men who would end his show with the words “be kind to each other”.
To Crowe, it was all part of the performance of the great showman, who called himself an entertainer and not a journalist.
“Poetically, he would finish every debate with the same tagline, same mantra to let you know his true priorities as a person,” Crowe said. “The performance for today was at a close. The show was done. Be kind to each other.”
“My good friend was a very kind man.”
