Barry Humphries

John Barry Humphries AO (b. 17 February 1934) is an Australian comedian, satirist and character actor best known for his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage, a Melbourne housewife, and Sir Les Patterson, Australia's foul-mouthed cultural attaché to Britain. Humphries is also a film producer and script writer, a star of London's West End musical theatre, an "award-winning" author and an accomplished landscape painter.

Dame Edna

Main article: Dame Edna Everage

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Edna Everage is undoubtedly one of the most famous and enduring Australian comic characters of all time,and one of the longest-lived comedic characerisations ever devised. Originally conceived in the late 1950s, Edna has long since transcended her modest origins as a satire of Australian suburbia to become one of the most successful, best-known and best loved comedy characters of all time. She has grown over the years to become, as journalist Caroline Overington puts it:

Related Topics:
Satire - Suburbia - Caroline Overington

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"... a perfect parody of a modern, vainglorious celebrity with a rampant ego and a strong aversion to the audience (whom celebrities pretend to love but actually, as Edna so boldly makes transparent, they actually loathe for their cheap shoes and suburban values). (The Sydney Morning Herald)

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Like her ever-present bunches of gladioli, one of the most popular and distinctive features of Edna's stage and TV appearances has been her extravagant wardrobe, with gaudy, custom-made gowns that satiricaly outdo the most outrageous creations of Hollywood showbiz designers such as Bob Mackie. Her costumes, most of which were created for her by Australian designer Bill Goodwin, routinely incorporate Aussie kitsch icons such as the flag, Australian native animals and flowers, the Sydney Opera House and the boxing kangaroo.

Related Topics:
Gladioli - Bob Mackie - Bill Goodwin - Kitsch - Sydney Opera House - Kangaroo

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As the character evolved, Edna's always unseen family became an integral part of the satire, particularly the travails of her invalid husband Norm, who suffered from an almost lifelong onslaught of an unspecified prostate ailment. Her daughter Valmai and her gay, window-dresser son Kenny also became intrinsic elements of the act, as did her long-suffering best friend and bridesmaid, Madge Allsop.

Related Topics:
Prostate - Madge Allsop

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Throughout Edna's career, Madge has been played by New Zealand-born actress Emily Perry, now aged in her 80s, who has the distinction of being the only other actor ever to appear on stage with Humphries in his stage shows, as well as making regular appearances in Dame Edna's TV programs.

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Dame Edna is also notable as one of the only satirical characters to make a successful transition from stage to TV without losing popularity in either genre, and her decades-long popularity shows no signs of waning. The talk show format provided a perfect outlet for Humphries' rapier wit and his legendary ability to ad-lib, and it enabled Edna to draw on a wide and appreciative pool of fans among fellow actors and comedians, with scores of top-rank stars lining up to be lampooned on her shows. As other Australian actors have begun to make a wider impression in international film and television, Edna has not hesitated to reveal that it was her mentorship which helped "kiddies" like "little Nicole Kidman" to achieve their early success.

Related Topics:
Talk show - Nicole Kidman

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