Barry Humphries, age 89, passed away. Dame Edna was one of the longest running drag characters of the 20th century.

RIP

Dave was there at her/his passing.

I just heard. I am so sad. One time I saw him was so side splitting my ribs were sore at the end and I am not kidding. It hurt to laugh. I saw him four times as Dame Edna and every time a gift, but that one time he was so "ON" it was too much to bear. I have have never heard such laughter in my life as that night.

Someone said he had a gift and was a gift. That is the way I feel. Now I must go buy some gladiolas.

A lovely, surprisingly erudite man who was one of the funniest people around. In addition to Edna Everage, he also had a character call Sir Les Patterson, supposedly the Australian Cultural Attaché, who was the epitome of vulgarity and sloth. When asked once why Australians were so successful at sports for such a small country, he replied that it was "due to the lack of intellectual distractions". He will be sorely missed.

Brother Of Jerry Wrote:
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> Dame Edna
> was one of the longest running drag characters of
> the 20th century.

And the world didn't end. Hmmmmmm

(Translation: The globe kept on spinning despite Dame Edna's existence).

I loved her for her lilac hair alone (my all-time favourite blossom).


Here are a few comments from a local article about Barry Humphries, the comedian who created Edna:

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese paid tribute to the celebrated comedian.

“For 89 years, Barry Humphries entertained us through a galaxy of personas, from Dame Edna to Sandy Stone,” Albanese tweeted, referring to the elderly Stone, one of Humphries most enduring characters. “But the brightest star in that galaxy was always Barry. A great wit, satirist, writer and an absolute one-of-kind, he was both gifted and a gift.”

British comedian Ricky Gervais tweeted: “Farewell, Barry Humphries, you comedy genius.”

Piers Morgan, British television personality, also paid tribute. “One of the funniest people I’ve ever met,” Morgan tweeted.

“A wondrously intelligent, entertaining, daring, provocative, mischievous comedy Genius,” Morgan added.

Married four times, he is survived by his wife Lizzie Spender and four children.


https://globalnews.ca/news/9644049/barry-humphries-dame-edna-death/

Not familiar with dame edna but all drag queens will be reported to DeSatan.

Dave the Atheist Wrote:
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> Not familiar with dame edna but all drag queens
> will be reported to DeSatan.

What? Even I know Dame Edna and I'm sheltered within my own little universe.

Whoops. Did I say DeSatan ? I meant DeSantis.
Sorry.

I preferred his Les Patterson (Australian "cultural attaché") to Dame Edna character. Humphreys had a number of characters but these two took over.

I think "drag queen" is a misleading label here. Dame Edna Everage started off life as a very AVERAGE (hence the name) Australian housewife. She became more outrageous later on. He was a very talented and gifted writer and most of his characters were as much about poking fun at suburban Australia as anything else. Later Dame Edna was someone who was promoted above her station, as was Sir Les, partly a tip of the hat to Gough Whitlam hiring nobodies to promote the arts.

As far as I know, Barry Humphreys wasn't gay, let alone trans. As soon as the show was over, the dress came off.

Barry MacKenzie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As far as I know, Barry Humphreys wasn't gay, let
> alone trans. As soon as the show was over, the
> dress came off.

https://www.lgbtqandall.com/what-is-a-drag-queen/

What Is A Drag Queen?

"A drag queen is typically a male who dresses as a female to perform. Drag queens perform in exaggerated women’s clothing, presume female characters and representation. Though most drag queens are gay men and queer men, some are transgender and cisgender women."

What Is a Drag King?

"While drag queens dress in exaggerated female clothes, drag kings dress in exaggerated male clothes to presume male characters and presentation. Most drag kings are women."


---

So, the performers are not necessarily gay or trans.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2023 06:50PM by Nightingale.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-47943745

One of the world's top comedy festivals will no longer use comedian Barry Humphries' name for its chief prize, after he was accused of transphobia.

The Melbourne International Comedy Festival said its prestigious Barry Award for best show would be renamed.

Humphries, best known for his character Dame Edna Everage, has repeatedly drawn anger for his comments on transgender people - and later defended himself.

His remarks had "definitely played a part" in the change, the festival said.

Humphries, 85, has not responded to the festival's decision.

Last year, he drew criticism for describing being transgender as "a fashion".

In another controversy, he claimed to have been speaking in character when he referred to gender-reassignment surgery as "self-mutilation" in a 2016 interview with The Telegraph. He also described Caitlyn Jenner as a "publicity-seeking rat-bag".

Being a trans woman and a publicity-seeking ratbag are not mutually exclusive.

I can support Caitlyn in her transition, and find her an abhorrent human being all at the same time!

The most I have ever laughed was in his shows as he made us Aussies laugh at ourselves. We vowed never to miss one of his performances. A huge intellect. I have a couple of volumes of his poetry. I have been mourning since the news broke. The conversation and reminiscences of him are everywhere and there is massive condemnations of the Melbourne Comedy Festival- which he founded -for refusing to honour him and return his name to their award.

In an interview with The Times in 2004, Mr. Humphries was unrepentant.

“The people I offended were minorities with no sense of humor, I fear,” he said. “When you have to explain the nature of satire to somebody, you’re fighting a losing battle.”

I watched Dame Edna with such a wide diversity of people and he had us all laughing at ourselves, how ridiculous we can be, and made us remember no one is above anything. Minorities, upper crusters and all.

One favorite line is "Don't judge Australia by the Australians." Which makes Australians laugh. How great is that?

I used to treasure the gladiolas when I got one.

“Barry Humphries, the Australian-born actor and comic who for almost seven decades brought that divine doyenne of divadom, Dame Edna Everage, to delirious, dotty, disdainful Dadaist life, died on Saturday in Sydney.”

Margalit further defined Dame Edna as “a stiletto-heeled, stiletto-tongued persona who might well have been the spawn of a ménage à quatre involving Oscar Wilde, Salvador Dalí, Auntie Mame and Miss Piggy.”

-- Margalit Fox, NYTimes

". . . a stiletto-heeled, stiletto-tongued persona who
> might well have been the spawn of a ménage à
> quatre involving Oscar Wilde, Salvador Dalí,
> Auntie Mame and Miss Piggy.”

Sounds like Jordan.

I posted on this right after it happened. I posted using the throwaway name "Spooky Possums"
My comment was "Dame Edna was a work of genius."

Yet for some reason my post was deleted.

Probably "spooky" spooked someone spookable, with its inherent racism...


OR... you were felt to be in violation of insufficient frame of reference:

"If you want to be technically correct, you should use the word opossum when referring to the animals in the Americas, and use the word possum when referring to the animals in Australia and nearby islands."

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHZN_enUS941US941&sxsrf=APwXEdcf6cfvA6TVD2gjRDas6G-GVdduBA:1682722875845&q=possum+v+opossum&nirf=possum+vs+opossum&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi5pJSa183-AhVtAzQIHZNmCeQQ8BYoAXoECAgQAg&biw=1920&bih=969&dpr=1

And yet, using SEARCH brings it right up. Try that before whining next time.

whining

hardly necessary, but whatever