Goodnight Possums

[Oztalgian 3,278]

Last night saw the death of an unique entertainer that many will know by the names of his alter egos.

Barry Humphries 1934 - 2023. I was never a fan of Dame Edna Everage but Sir Les Patterson, Australian cultural attaché really cracked me up. The senile elder Australian Sandy Stone was funny too.

He also co-wrote the Adventures of Barry McKenzie with Barry Crocker starring as Bazza. I don't know how sales of Fosters took off in the UK after all that chundering and technicolour yawns after consuming gallons of Fosters Lager (Awful beer).

In his early days he was probably better known in the UK than he was in Australia. He played the undertaker in Lionel Bart's 1960s original theatre production of Oliver. He also voiced Bruce the Shark in Finding Nemo. He also played the role of The Great Goblin in The Hobbit.

Vale Barry Humphries, a vastly talented actor whose creations made Australians look inwardly at themselves and made us laugh doing it.

 

[Jill Sparrow 10,305]

He was, apparently, a close friend of Joan Bakewell who was once termed, 'the thinking man's crumpet' (!!)

 

She was speaking of him in a short video clip I saw yesterday and referred to what a brilliant mind he possessed. Dame Edna, as his alter ego, possibly didn't make this apparent. Must admit, I wouldn't have recognized Joan Bakewell these days. Suffering from a severe case of Anno Domini, just like the rest of us.

[Cliff Ton 10,464]

I always thought Dame Edna was a wonderful creation; making sharp, sarcastic remarks whilst pretending to be innocent and naive. The way she behaved on her TV programme seems like an early version of Alan Partridge.

 

But for some reason I never liked the Les Patterson character. Just didn't find it funny.

[MRS B 515]

My brother went to see Barry many years ago and he warned me that if I ever went do not sit in the front 4 rows as Les Patterson did a lot of spitting. I liked both Les and Edna.