Samuel Johnson has won the 2017 Gold Logie for the Best Personality on Australian Television.
Johnson was honoured for his portrayal of music legend Ian 'Molly' Meldrum in the two-part miniseries Molly. Meldrum was on-stage to award Johnson with a characteristic gold cowboy hat.
"I was a very spirited, confused kid with a colourful background... but I found my home here in the arts," Johnson said in accepting the prestigious gong.
Meldrum then stole the microphone and spoke for several minutes, at times becoming difficult to understand. The entertainer has been suffering health problems after falling from a roof in 2011.
Read more: Molly Meldrum steals the stage during Samuel Johnson’s Gold Logie acceptance speech
Earlier in the evening Johnson was awarded the public-voted Best Actor award, and used his speech to pay tribute to his sister Connie, who has recently stopped treatment for breast cancer.
After describing how his terminally ill sister was "going out blazing" with an attempt to break the world record for the longest line of coins, he urged "any family watching affected by cancer or not to join us in our quest to keep our families safe from the terrors of cancer".
“Love your sister.org or Love Your Sister on Facebook. I love you, Connie, I love you,” he said.
Last year Johnson was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to cancer research support organisations, and to the performing arts.
He had previously broken the world record for the longest unicycle journey, travelling 15,955km to raise funds for breast cancer research.
The Secret Life of Us star has retired from acting to focus on fundraising.
The industry-voted award for Most Outstanding Actor went to Henry Nixon for his role as Fergus McFadden in The Kettering Incident while Most Outstanding Actress was won by Anna Torv for her portrayal of Harriet Dunkley in Secret City.
Jessica Marais and Waleed Aly took out the coveted public-vote gongs for Best Actress and Presenter respectively.
In photos: Logies red carpet arrivals
Television veteran Kerri-Anne Kennerley was inducted into the Logie Hall of Fame, recognising her 50 years in television.
In a career that began when she was just 13, and that saw her front Good Morning Australia, Midday with Kerri-Anne, Mornings with Kerri-Anne, and Celebrity Apprentice, Kennerley has never won a Logie until now.
In her speech, Kennerley paid tribute to the industry, her colleagues, the audience, and finally her husband, who was paralysed after injuring his neck in a fall at Coffs Harbour last year.
In his opening speech, host Dave Hughes roasted Karl Stefanovic and Gold logie nominee Grant Denyer before using the Family Feud star's first name to trigger a joke about Olympian Grant Hackett.
"He's a great Australian, but he’s been a bit whingey," he said.
A mention of Gold logie nominee Jessica Marais quickly became a segue into a swipe at Channel Seven boss Tim Worner over his affair scandal.
"She is up for two shows. She is up for Channel Nine’s Love Child and Channel Seven’s The Wrong Girl. Oh, Channel Ten, sorry. No, sorry. Channel Ten, sorry. Channel Seven were working on a pilot of The Wrong Girl, that was starring their CEO Tim Worner, and ... That was more a reality show," he said.
"He picked the wrong girl to mess with. It was going really well, but they thought it was too expensive and they tried to cancel it. I’ve never worked on Channel Seven and I probably never will!"
Amber Harrison, the former Seven staffer at the centre of the scandal has since tweeted, saying "I'll own that".
https://twitter.com/_Amber_Harrison/status/856084248800903168
Comic duo Hamish Blake and Andy Lee also got the chance to poke fun at a few stars under the guise of a Married At First Sight experiment. Their "science" accurately matched Waleed Aly with wife Susan Carland, but put Blake's wife Zoe Foster Blake with The Living Room and Bondi Vet star Dr Chris Brown. It also matched Nine's entertainment editor Richard Wilkins with... himself.
Scroll down for the full list of this year’s nominees:
TV WEEK GOLD LOGIE – Best Personality On Australian TV
Grant Denyer (All Star Family Feud, Family Feud, The Great Australian Spelling Bee)
Jessica Marais (Love Child, The Wrong Girl)
Peter Helliar (The Project)
Rodger Corser (Doctor Doctor, The Doctor Blake Mysteries)
* WINNER * Samuel Johnson (Molly)
Waleed Aly (The Project)
BEST ACTOR
Rodger Corser (Doctor Doctor, The Doctor Blake Mysteries)
Craig McLachlan (Deep Water, The Doctor Blake Mysteries, The Wrong Girl)
Erik Thomson (800 Words)
Richard Roxburgh (Rake)
* WINNER * Samuel Johnson (Molly)
BEST ACTRESS
Asher Keddie (Offspring)
Deborah Mailman (Cleverman, Jack Irish, Offspring, Wolf Creek)
* WINNER * Jessica Marais (Love Child, The Wrong Girl)
Jessica Mauboy (The Secret Daughter)
Marta Dusseldorp (A Place To Call Home, Jack Irish, Janet King)
BEST PRESENTER
Amanda Keller (The Living Room)
Carrie Bickmore (The Project)
Grant Denyer (All Star Family Feud, Family Feud, The Great Australian Spelling Bee)
Sarah Harris (Shark Tank, Studio 10)
* WINNER * Waleed Aly (The Project)
BEST NEW TALENT
Hayley Magnus (The Wrong Girl)
Penny McNamee (Home And Away)
* WINNER * Rob Collins (Cleverman, The Wrong Girl)
Shalom Brune-Franklin (Doctor Doctor)
Tiarnie Coupland (Love Child)
BEST DRAMA PROGRAM
800 Words
Doctor Doctor
Home And Away
* WINNER * Molly
Offspring
Wentworth
BEST ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAM
Anh’s Brush With Fame
Family Feud
* WINNER * Have You Been Paying Attention?
The Voice Australia
Upper Middle Bogan
BEST NEWS PANEL OR CURRENT AFFAIRS PROGRAM
Four Corners
Studio 10
Sunrise
* WINNER * The Project
TODAY
BEST REALITY PROGRAM
Australian Survivor
I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!
MasterChef Australia
My Kitchen Rules
* WINNER * The Block
BEST SPORTS PROGRAM
In Rio Today
Monday Night With Matty Johns
The AFL Footy Show (Nine Network)
* WINNER * The NRL Footy Show (Nine Network)
Wide World Of Sports (Nine Network)
BEST LIFESTYLE PROGRAM
Better Homes And Gardens
Gardening Australia
Luke Warm Sex
Selling Houses Australia
* WINNER * The Living Room
BEST FACTUAL PROGRAM
Australian Story
Bondi Rescue
Bondi Vet
* WINNER * Gogglebox Australia
Todd Sampson's Body Hack
MOST OUTSTANDING DRAMA SERIES
* WINNER * A Place To Call Home
Cleverman
Rake
The Code
Wentworth
MOST OUTSTANDING MINISERIES OR TELEMOVIE
Barracuda
Deep Water
Molly
Secret City
* WINNER *The Kettering Incident
MOST OUTSTANDING ACTOR
* WINNER * Henry Nixon (Fergus McFadden, The Kettering Incident)
Noah Taylor (Nick Manning, Deep Water)
Richard Roxburgh (Cleaver Greene, Rake)
Rodger Corser (Hugh Knight, Doctor Doctor)
Samuel Johnson (Ian "Molly" Meldrum, Molly)
MOST OUTSTANDING ACTRESS
* WINNER * Anna Torv (Harriet Dunkley, Secret City)
Danielle Cormack (Bea Smith, Wentworth)
Elizabeth Debicki (Anna Macy, The Kettering Incident)
Jessica Marais (Joan Millar, Love Child)
Marta Dusseldorp (Janet King, Janet King)
Yael Stone (Tori Lustigman, Deep Water)
MOST OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTOR
Ben Oxenbould (Chris Toohey, Deep Water)
* WINNER * Damon Herriman (Kim Gordon, Secret City)
Matt Nable (Coach Frank Torma, Barracuda)
Rick Donald (Woody, 800 Words)
Ryan Johnson (Matt Knight, Doctor Doctor)
MOST OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING ACTRESS
* WINNER * Debra Lawrance (Mum, Please Like Me)
Deborah Mailman (Bernadette, Wolf Creek)
Jenni Baird (Regina Bligh, A Place To Call Home)
Nicole da Silva (Franky Doyle, Wentworth)
Victoria Haralabidou (Stephanie Kelly, Barracuda)
MOST OUTSTANDING SPORTS COVERAGE
* WINNER * Rio 2016 Olympic Games (Channel Seven)
2016 NRL Grand Final (Wide World Of Sports, Nine Network)
2016 Supercars Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 (Network Ten)
2016 AFL Grand Final (Channel Seven)
Cricket: KFC Big Bash League (Network Ten)
GRAHAM KENNEDY AWARD FOR MOST OUTSTANDING NEWCOMER
* WINNER * Elias Anton (Danny Kelly, Barracuda)
Geraldine Hakewill (Chelsea Babbage, Wanted)
Hunter Page-Lochard (Koen West, Cleverman)
Rob Collins (Waruu West, Cleverman)
Tilda Cobham-Hervey (Eliza Grayson, The Kettering Incident)
MOST OUTSTANDING ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAM
Anh’s Brush With Fame
Gruen
* WINNER * Have You Been Paying Attention?
The Voice Australia
The Weekly With Charlie Pickering
MOST OUTSTANDING CHILDREN'S PROGRAM
* WINNER * "Little Lunch: The Nightmare Before Graduation" (ABC ME)
"Beat Bugs" (Channel Seven)
"Bottersnikes & Gumbles" (Channel Seven)
"Nowhere Boys: Two Moons Rising" (ABC ME)
"Tomorrow When The War Began" (ABC ME)
MOST OUTSTANDING COMEDY PROGRAM
"Black Comedy" (ABC)
* WINNER * "Please Like Me" (ABC)
"Rosehaven" (ABC)
"Shaun Micallef's Mad As Hell" (ABC)
"Upper Middle Bogan" (ABC)
MOST OUTSTANDING NEWS COVERAGE
"Bankstown Hospital" (Nine News, Nine Network)
"Federal Election 2016" (Seven News, Channel Seven)
"Inside Syria" (SBS World News, SBS)
"S.A. Waste Dump" (NITV News, NITV)
* WINNER * "Sky News Election Coverage 2016" (Sky News, Sky News/Foxtel)
MOST OUTSTANDING PUBLIC AFFAIRS REPORT
"Anita Cobby: You Thought You Knew It All..." (Seven News Investigates, Channel Seven)
* WINNER * "Australia's Shame" (Four Corners, ABC)
"George Pell Investigation" (7.30, ABC)
"Good Cop, Bad Cop" (60 Minutes, Nine Network)
"Money For Nothing" (Four Corners, ABC)
* WINNER * Conviction (ABC)
Deep Water: The Real Story (SBS)
Gogglebox Australia (Foxtel – LifeStyle/Network Ten)
Keeping Australia Alive (ABC)
Todd Sampson’s Body Hack (Network Ten)