Obit: Barry Humphries (AKA Sir Les, Dame Edna)

Subject: BS: Obit: Sir Les, Dame Edna
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 22 Apr 23 - 07:55 AM

I loved Sir Les Patterson most of all. Outrageous, funny and the very definition of seedy. Barry was a cultured and erudite man in real life, but who wanted his real life!

G'night, possums!

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: Sir Les, Dame Edna
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 22 Apr 23 - 08:33 AM

Australian stage and screen icon Barry Humphries has died aged 89
In Dame Edna Everage, Barry Humphries created a character whose fame would outstrip his own

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: Sir Les, Dame Edna
From: gillymor
Date: 22 Apr 23 - 09:40 AM

Bummer, he/she was one of the funniest characters on this planet.

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: Barry Humphries: Sir Les, Dame Edna
From: Helen
Date: 22 Apr 23 - 01:11 PM

A look back at the colourful characters of Barry Humphries

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: Barry Humphries: Sir Les, Dame Edna
From: Donuel
Date: 22 Apr 23 - 01:22 PM

In Tennessee, his performance would get him 5 years in jail.

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: Barry Humphries: Sir Les, Dame Edna
From: fat B****rd
Date: 22 Apr 23 - 03:29 PM

What Steve said. RIP Dame Edna

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: Barry Humphries: Sir Les, Dame Edna
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 22 Apr 23 - 05:41 PM

Do you have to bring your politics into an obit thread Donuel?

Condolences to his family and loved ones. I'm sure Dame Edna would have a few good cutting comments:-)

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: Barry Humphries: Sir Les, Dame Edna
From: Helen
Date: 22 Apr 23 - 05:47 PM

No, I think Donuel is correct.

In Australia, there is a strong sense of the ridiculous in our humour. Dame Edna, Les Patterson, Bazza McKenzie et al all struck a strong, resonant chord with a lot of Aussies, but as usual there were some naysayers.

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: Barry Humphries: Sir Les, Dame Edna
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 22 Apr 23 - 05:51 PM

???

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: Barry Humphries: Sir Les, Dame Edna
From: Helen
Date: 22 Apr 23 - 05:57 PM

But the naysayers never had the upper hand. Unlike in some places with a strong sense of what social mores should be and how they should be controlled.

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: Barry Humphries: Sir Les, Dame Edna
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 22 Apr 23 - 05:59 PM

Please bear in mind that this is an obit thread.

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: Barry Humphries: Sir Les, Dame Edna
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 22 Apr 23 - 06:11 PM

Yeah, an obit thread about one of the funniest men who ever lived. I started it light-hearted but a couple of naysayers have already waded in! What a shame. Anyway, I hope we'll have lots of him/her on the telly in days to come. In the meantime, sod Tennessee and keep it cheerful! :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: Barry Humphries: Sir Les, Dame Edna
From: Helen
Date: 22 Apr 23 - 06:25 PM

Cheerful? A cheerful obituary? Cheerful because he has passed away?

Barry Humphries was never a lame, tame comedian. He was always living on the extreme edge of comedy, parody and satire. That type of comedy will always have detractors.

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: Barry Humphries: Sir Les, Dame Edna
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 22 Apr 23 - 07:03 PM

Comedy, parody and satire are bedfellows. He mixed 'em up brilliantly and did no harm. If you like your funny stuff cosy, there are plenty others to avoid if Barry got under your skin and was too edgy for you. That Was The Week That Was, Not The Nine o'Clock News, Little Britain, Frankie Boyle, Jimmy Carr, Joe Lycett, Sacha Baron Cohen, Stewart Lee...Even the sainted Big Yin! We can recognise and admire them for what they are but there's no law that sez we have to love 'em. In my list, some I love and some I dislike. So what! That's just me... but this guy has just died at a good age, and it's a damn good bet that he'd want us us to be cheery about him without any of that, fusty, mournful stuff. He wasn't the Queen, you know!

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: Barry Humphries: Sir Les, Dame Edna
From: Helen
Date: 23 Apr 23 - 02:14 AM

So querying the implied disrespect and the contradiction of terms in the concept of a "cheerful obituary" is not allowed?

I believe that Barry Humphries deserves respect, in life and after his passing.

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: Barry Humphries: Sir Les, Dame Edna
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Apr 23 - 04:46 AM

Not for a single second do I believe that Barry would have wanted a load of po-faced respect! The best way to remember him in this thread would be to keep it funny and have a good laugh. That what happens every time I'm hearing clips of him this morning! Just heard the Tom Jones/Parky one again. Bloody hilarious! He once said "I offend therefore I am." :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: Barry Humphries: Sir Les, Dame Edna
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 23 Apr 23 - 06:55 AM

> Not for a single second do I believe that Barry would have wanted a
> load of po-faced respect!

Hear, hear. I similarly wish to leave this world in the manner I would like to continue in the next: I have made it (I hope) adequately clear that I wish to have Oh God Our Help In Ages Past sung at my funeral, but only if it can be sung to the tune Cranbrook (usually reserved for On Ilkla Moor Bah t'At). As Lennon said at the end of Yellow Submarine: "There's only one way to leave this auditorium --- *singing*!"

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: Barry Humphries: Sir Les, Dame Edna
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Apr 23 - 10:03 AM

Some of the best reading can be found in a well-written obituary, giving you a chance to discover, or rediscover, a fascinating life lived. I've redirected attack posts in past obituary threads, choosing to keep those matters separate. This performer isn't being attacked, he's being held up as an icon in the process of noting the powerful stupidity of today's politics. I haven't seen the Sir Les performances that reportedly aim low, but I can imagine some choice advice from Dame Edna to the Tennessee legislators, should she find herself in town (and would have the moral high ground).

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: Barry Humphries: Sir Les, Dame Edna
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Apr 23 - 10:38 AM

In his case I think seeing clips of his performances is the best way of appreciating him alongside those well-written obituaries. Sure, Sir Les aimed low, but let's not forget that Barry portrayed Sir Les as a scruffy, blotchy, overweight, dissolute boozer. Clearly, we are not meant to take him seriously and we should recognise the unconscious self-deprecation. That's a side of his humour that the more po-faced often don't appreciate. He was illustrating egregious bad attitudes that were plain to see. We saw the same with Warren Mitchell in Till Death Us Do Part, in which the idiotic and bigoted Alf Garnett came out with all sorts of punches-pulled yet definite racist remarks, ably countered and ridiculed every time by his far more sensible family members. There was so much ignorant criticism of the show that it was laughable. If you couldn't see that the show was lampooning racism and showing it for the threadbare philosophy it is, well there was no helping you. Silly moos!

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: Barry Humphries: Sir Les, Dame Edna
From: Helen
Date: 23 Apr 23 - 05:09 PM

Barry Humphries, legend of stage and screen, blazed a trail in the entertainment industry

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: Barry Humphries: Sir Les, Dame Edna
From: Helen
Date: 12 May 23 - 03:52 PM

Barry Humphries to be farewelled in Sydney instead of home city Melbourne

Subject: RE: Obit: Barry Humphries (AKA Sir Les, Dame Edna)
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 17 May 23 - 05:26 AM

YOUTUBE Dame Edna's Funniest Moments - Greatest chat show guest of all timehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0Bjuy5V1Xo

Subject: RE: Obit: Barry Humphries (AKA Sir Les, Dame Edna)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 May 23 - 03:08 AM

Dates for Mr. Humphries are 17 February 1934 – 22 April 2023 - they won't fit in the thread title. His Wikipedia Article (click) is fascinating.

Subject: RE: Obit: Barry Humphries (AKA Sir Les, Dame Edna)
From: Helen
Date: 18 May 23 - 04:33 AM

That's probably apt, Joe. Barry Humphries didn't fit neatly into any category in life, either. LOL