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Seven years after stepping away from regular television, former Enough Rope<\/a> host Andrew Denton is contentedly settled into the second act of his life. Acknowledging the high points of his career, the 66-year-old broadcaster says he doesn\u2019t miss his former life<\/a>. \u201cNot in the slightest,\u201d Denton says.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course, there were beautiful moments and exciting moments when something really flew or worked, but all the nervous energy of it, I didn\u2019t like. I was happy to go. I\u2019d done everything I wanted to do. I also had a sense, and I do believe this strongly, that people should get off the stage and let someone else on.\u201d<\/p>\n But television has a strange way of finding its way back to your door, and on Sunday night, Denton was inducted into the TV Week Logie Hall of Fame. It\u2019s an unexpected honour, but not an insignificant one. Since its inception in 1984, there have been just 41 inductees<\/a>, including television pioneers Hector Crawford and Reg Grundy, actor Ruth Cracknell and journalists Laurie Oakes and Kerry O\u2019Brien.<\/p>\n Related Article When the organisers of the awards contacted Denton to advise him of the honour, Denton assumed they wanted him to present an award during Sunday night\u2019s telecast. As he called them back, he confesses he was framing the words to politely decline.<\/p>\n \u201cI had my reasons for not going all worked out,\u201d Denton says. \u201cPerhaps ungraciously, my first response was \u2018oh, no\u2019. Because as you would remember, I\u2019ve had a very bountiful harvest of shit-canning the Logies down the years. But then it was explained it was a jury of peers, and I liked the thought that the late Sam Neill<\/a> was addressing that jury of peers.<\/p>\n \u201cI remembered whenever I\u2019ve seen people [who have received the honour], like Magda Szubanski<\/a> and John Clarke<\/a>, I always think, \u2018well, I\u2019m really glad they\u2019ve been recognised\u2019. So I came around to the feeling it would be churlish to say no. I\u2019m happy to take a bow, and I\u2019m happy to share a couple of things and acknowledge a few people.\u201d<\/p>\n Denton\u2019s media career<\/a> is almost unrivalled. He began at Triple M in Sydney, moved to the ABC, where he presented Blah Blah Blah (1988), The Money or the Gun (1989-90) and Live and Sweaty (1991-1995), and to Seven, where he hosted Denton (1994\u201395). From 2003 to 2008, he hosted Enough Rope with Andrew Denton, and he was executive producer of the ABC\u2019s The Election Chaser and CNNNN.<\/p>\n Related Article It\u2019s an unsurprising life, perhaps, when you consider his father, Kit Denton, was a broadcaster, a writer and an author. Andrew Denton, the son of a storyteller, naturally became a storyteller himself. \u201cDad was a brilliant communicator and writer,\u201d Denton says. \u201cWordplay and exploring ideas and being able to contest the point of view, that was all part of our life. That was the water in which we swam.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t intend to have a career in the media. Whoever sits down and plans that? Probably some do, but I didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n \u201cI was confident in my ability to express myself and probably overly forceful in my confidence with some of my ideas, but that\u2019s what young people do. Dad was also very encouraging of me as an interviewer; he thought that was my strength more than comedy.\u201d<\/p>\n When Denton came to television from radio, he was a transformational presence. Not just in his ability to upend the medium and find fresh takes on established ideas, but also because he brought fearlessness to the form, and he balanced it with integrity and humanity. He took no prisoners, but he never lost an innate sense of kindness.<\/p>\n The ABC, where his skills were fostered, was an extraordinary toy box for emerging talent at the time. \u201cIt was a magnificent space I stepped into,\u201d Denton says. \u201cI was really lucky to be surrounded by people who had real intellectual curiosity, but were playful.\u201d<\/p>\n Denton\u2019s legacy in television is perhaps that he preserved and platformed the art of conversation. Enough Rope was an ambitious idea that contradicted the trend to shorter programming, simpler soundbites and less in-depth detail. It was a reaction to losing \u201cthe stuff we really talk about. I didn\u2019t matter who was on, I pretty much asked the same question of everyone, which is, \u2018life\u2019s tough, how are you going?\u2019. I\u2019m very proud of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Article![\"Andrew](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/98935668c847704ae7f6ee1be42098eda89e7676.jpeg\")
Andrew Denton stepped back from his TV career seven years ago. \u201cI do believe this strongly, that people should get off the stage and let someone else on,\u201d he says.Steven Siewert<\/p>\n![\"Deborah](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2ab8a6bdb7c0302ea7333bd845d264ed4dbe21d6.jpeg\")
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Andrew Denton burst onto Australian TV screens in 1988 with Blah Blah Blah, pitched as a new kind of tonight show keeping young Australians in touch.Australian Broadcasting Corporation<\/p>\n![\"Robert](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/944873e83d1f2db696dc21df8306711e3c98c20b.jpeg\")
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Andrew Denton interviews Michael Parkinson on his interview series, Enough Rope.<\/p>\n![\"Our](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/f526c4cebf9c24e93b0a3f09a893d8cf7d1ff185.jpeg\")
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![\"Jennifer](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ff617889d06b52a335a4cbaa94383fdd9a00ee02.jpeg\")
Jennifer Byrne and Andrew Denton in 2019. Courtesy of Andrew Denton<\/p>\n