Before 2016, there was this thing called comedy.
Then the woke killed it and we weren’t allowed to laugh without written permission from the NZ Feminist Comedy Collective.
But before 2016, we were allowed to have a sense of humour and could laugh and one of those who made us laugh the hardest was the magnificent Barry Humphries.
His two cult counter egos were Sir Les Patterson and Dame Edna. As the Australian Cultural Attache, Sir Les Patterson was gloriously vile and lecherous. He managed to spike the Australian Culture in a way few could. As Dame Edna, he took the psyche of the Australian house wife and put it on display for the planet to laugh at.
The shit trolling he gave NZ in the form of his widowed NZ companion was so righteous and funny.
He was an artist and satirist of the highest quality, obviously now of course a heteronormative white cis male who dresses up in Womens clothing without even transitioning is a patriarchy privilege hate crime, but before 2016 he was hilarious and were allowed to laugh.
Rest in peace Barry, we didn’t deserve your wit.
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Never heard of them. As one of the poors of NZ we got shortland street and the simpsons on free to air tv, Australian comedy wasn’t accessible.
Where was the cave you were living in? I, and all my friends were well aware, and fully appreciated Barry Humphries years before I left to push my barrow in the real world… Seriously, how narrow does ones experience, and tastes have to be before one hasn’t heard of one of the most popular comedians in this, and many other parts of the world… And before you spill your milo, I started my city experience moving from Dargaville, to Patamahoe, to Otara in the 60’s.. We got food, clothing, and (for me) educational material in the form of as many books as I could read from charities.. And it was on “free to air” (on a nearly clapped out B&W) that we all got to see, and laugh at Dame Edna…
Your “poor me” shtick would have been more usefully applied to your usual audience… not one that has real world experience..
I always believed Sir Les Patterson( Australian Ambassador to the Court of Saint James) was based on a real Australian diplomat ( or, at least, I hoped it was).
Have to admire a man who dressed up as a woman. His house wife act was so real and funny, he must have been a House husband at some stage.
First time we saw his show in Perth in 1979 my darling laughed so hard and so much he couldn’t walk out of the the theater when it was over . We were able to carry him being young and strong. It was the precision of the missile gladiolas directed at the audience as a finale by Edna that was the most dangerous part of the evening’s performance. Hardly the vicious and brilliant take downs of everyone’s pretenses irrespective of class. Oh and his characters were frequently on the telly in NZ .He also toured here paid for my mum to see him perform in Dunedin
c’mon you ‘phobes’ he was a drag queen telling stories possibly to a family audience containing children…grooming by tv if you ask me…..see just how stupid that sounds……..
a comedy genius but do try to get your ducks in a row drag haters
… and yes sir les cultural ambassador to the court of st james was his finest moments
What about the children. It used to be that questionable content was not shown on tv till after 8.30 pm but don’t know how or who has some standard and can judge these days.
(Just looking through the menu for the pictures today, most have sex or violence or bad language or all three. Oh for the Sound of Music. Only the Nazis lurking in the background there.)
So Long – so sweet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy9_lfjQopU
Was never a fan until I saw him live by chance in the mid 90s. Quite possibly the funniest night I’ve spent in my life.
He only flew into NZ that afternoon but was over everything going on in NZ politics, culture and current affairs.
Someone in the audience thought it a good idea to bring their children, he subtlely suggested that this was not a place to bring kids with a equal measure of mocking and derision.
Simply, a comic genius.
Humour banned by the Greens.
They’re so precious.
Dame Edna came into my life in 1987 with a program on tv called the Dame Edna Experience and what an experience it was.
I remember her interviewing Jane Seymour and saying how beautiful and long Janes hair was and then commented… its beautiful and I remember when I first grew hair I could sit on. There was a pause before the audience got the double innuendo and Seymour could not believe what she had heard. It was magnificent.
And Marge Alsop Ednas long suffering bridesmaid from New Zealand who just depressed everyone with a upside down smile who Edna claimed was a celebrity in NZ which gives you a rough idea of what the people over there are like.
It was brilliant comedy and so wonderfully delivered by an incredibly intelligent and talented man who was also a esteemed landscape painter and poet with a magnificent mastery of words.
One of the best treasures to ever come out of Australia and there will never be another. Irreplaceable.
I was able to see Barry Humphries when he came to Auckland on his farewell tour some years back and he didn’t disappoint.
The fun and the humour will live on despite the puritanical reformation of the 2020’s. And when people finally come to their senses and not take themselves so seriously Dame Edna and Les Patterson will be waiting to entertain and teach the wonderful gift of laughter to those who discover their sense of humour.
Go well Mr Humphries your light will always shine no matter how dark things become.
I’d forgotten about Marge Alsop – she was a star shining dimly and who knows what Barry meant about NZ and Oz when he said she was a star here. Implying perhaps that Oz knew so little about us that they wouldn’t have a clue perhaps which is close to the truth. No wonder that John Clarke did so well over there, he was so bright he and Brian Dawe and Gina. I think that Kath and Kim tv made a short oneoff last year too, were they domiciled in Moonee Ponds or Sylvania Waters? Sounds about our level of comedy.
Not a did at Humphries, but John Clarke was funnier
” but John Clarke was funnier ”
One of our very own Kiwi treasures.
yes clarke another kiwi who had to fleee to oz to get away from closed minded kiwi rednecks
One suggestion about his shift to Oz was that he had reached saturation point in NZ and was set to be type-cast in a black singlet. Over there he had plenty of fodder from the various Oz state and federal pollies. Didn’t he do well with his slight smile under the serious address of the point of order.
do the NZ greens run the melbourne comedy festival bob the last?
They may well do gagarin.
not the question bob the last and your evasion speaks volumes
No evasion intended gagarin.
If you don’t find Mr Barry Humpries very funny then you might be someone who would enjoy a barrage of words from Climate Town.
Climate Town
YouTube
https://www.youtube.com › climatetown
Rollie Williams and a ragtag team of climate communicators, creatives and comedians are here to examine climate change in a way that doesn’t make you …
Barry Humphries doesn’t ask you to take him seriously, even force you, but in the end he very smartly does manage to wake you up and take the p..s. Climate Town – is big on recycling and doing things a better way. It may result in you finding it.
RIP Great Aussie.
If only Les and Edna had been asked “What is a woman?”
They would have answered,whereas the Chipster couldn’t.
and he would have told you his honest opinion as he did to have his name removed from the melbourne comedy award….he wouldn’t have been a dick or made it a political issue joseph
Excuse me but he was very political in a humorous manner.
link to a clip please bob the last…
He played the part of a political figure?
he ragged bob hawke but I can’t remember any left/right politics from him….just skewering the pompous
and if you think ‘sir lez’ is a political figure rather than a piss take of the okkker oz….you are wrong
A comic genius
My absolutely favourite comedian. So clever and so funny and quite a decent journalist too. Did anyone know that Marge Alsop’s husband died on honeymoon in Rotorua by falling into a mud pool?! So eVen if death, Barry leaves us with a smile on our faces.