Would any part of him want to be Les? I do rather admire him, though. I have the lights up, and can see the old ladies on the front row. And they love it, as they used to love Max Miller. Humphries is a clever man. Within one sentence he can segue from the ironic to the heartfelt and back again. On such occasions, his conversation can be hard to unpick. At other times, he talks with a simple, if scabrous, warmth. I mention that the Australian actor Geoffrey Rush said he thought Dame Edna should have a full celebrity breakdown.
You know something is coming — and this is when I see Edna in Humphries. You know. Have the rules of behaviour changed? He drinks for me, too. Humphries says he adores women. I really do like women. Women know more. Women know more about life … they bring it into the world … they are much more honest … they cook.
Or your readers. The older Humphries gets, the more outrageous he becomes. In recent years, his comments have caused controversy. In , he defended the University of Sydney professor Barry Spurr after the academic was suspended for sending allegedly racist emails. The new puritanism is alive, well and powerful. It is a comment that can be read in many ways. What did he mean? And I would not wish to offend [Julian] Fellowes, who has created a wonderful thing.
I think Americans like it because it describes a society so unlike American life that it is intriguing to them. Does it bother him if people say it is a racist comment? You just say what you think. I was being provocative. Humphries splits his time between Melbourne and London, and regards both as home.
And I like the Melbourne of my memories. How does he feel about Brexit? There is a lot to be said for a European solidarity that includes Britain. He returns to the new puritanism, and the relevance of his Weimar Cabaret, which he first performed two years ago. It only lasted a few years. And the musical side of it was suppressed almost immediately by the Nazis.
A lot of the composers were Jewish. Some of them fled to Hollywood. The Nazis called it Entartete Musik, degenerate music. Humphries fears political correctness may lead us into a new era of censorship — or self-censorship. Indeed, he believes Edna was an early victim of political correctness.
Is this a good idea? That is why, he says, he is determined to bring Sir Les back to Britain for one last hurrah. He guffaws. Does anything frighten Humphries? Yes, he says: death. Now there is no irony or grandstanding.
The thing is, he says, after the desperation of the alcohol years, he started to love life. Humphries has to leave. He is having lunch with his friend, the chef Rick Stein. As we get up, I ask where he got his dress sense from.
There he was, striding across the joists of suburban villas in their construction and talking to the plumbers, always in a suit and a tie. And he always took his hat off in lifts for ladies. And I still do that. Almost as a tribute to my father. When ladies get in a lift, I take my hat off.
Nobody ever does it any more. As we enter the lift, he tells me how lucky he has been and how much he is looking forward to the future — particularly reviving Sir Les. Humphries discreetly raises his hat. She is a friend and confidante of the Queen.
Dame Edna has four adult children: two daughters, Valmai currently assisting Dame Edna on her new programme for ITV 1 ; The Dame Edna Treatment and Lois, and two sons, Bruce and Kenneth, whom she describes in a caricature of gay men, though she shows no awareness of their homosexuality. Dame Edna's mother is incarcerated in a "maximum-security twilight home for the bewildered".
Valmai is the only family member as of yet to be seen. Besides these family members, her elderly "bridesmaid" Madge Allsop played by Emily Perry , a New Zealander from Palmerston North , is often present during Dame Edna's appearances and television shows, but never speaks a word, though she is often the butt of Dame Edna's jokes.
Dame Edna is revered for her insights into her homeland. When asked why Australians are so good at sport she commented "Good food and diet; open air life; juicy steaks; sunshine - and the total absence of any kind of intellectual distraction. Dame Edna Place is opposite Royal Arcade and The Causeway, between the major roads, Elizabeth Street and Swanston Street; it was, until its renaming, a service alley for adjoining buildings.
Dame Edna was not at the renaming ceremony, but was represented by 10 look-alike Dames. The Edna Everage character first appeared in a Melbourne comedy revue in At this time she was "Mrs Norm Everage".
An interview with Mrs Everage was one of the programmes screened on HSV-7's first day of programming in Her overseas debut, now as Edna Everage, was in the early s at comedian Peter Cook 's nightclub, The Establishment , in London's West End, where she received a poor review from Bamber Gascoigne , then the drama critic for The Spectator.
Edna makes a brief cameo appearance in the film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Dame Edna became notable in the UK throughout the s and early s for her semi-regular television shows. Dame Edna Everage in She was later given her own gameshows and variety shows such as The Dame Edna Experience in and Dame Edna's Neighbourhood Watch in , in which she and her sour-faced "bridesmaid" Madge had a look at people's houses.
In and , Dame Edna appeared on Broadway. These were ostensibly not "performances", but rather "appearances", with Dame Edna giving monologues and interacting with audience members. During and , Dame Edna appeared in the fifth season of the television show Ally McBeal playing the guest role of Claire Otoms, a client of the show's law firm who later became a secretary at the same firm. The character shared Dame Edna's voice and style and was explicitly listed in the opening credits as being played by Dame Edna Everage although Barry Humphries received a credit in the closing credits.
Claire Otoms is an anagram of "A Sitcom Role". During her act she sang a song containing her thoughts on Melbourne and Australia in general. On the 23rd of September, , during an interview on Parkinson , she revealed that she will be returning to ITV in with a new chat show, The Dame Edna Treatment.
The show began on Saturday 17 March , with the set-up being that Edna runs a health spa where various famous guests come for treatment. In , Vanity Fair magazine invited Dame Edna to write a satirical advice column; a piece published in the February issue created a storm of controversy when Dame Edna, in a reply to a reader who asked if she should learn Spanish , wrote:. Forget Spanish. There's nothing in that language worth reading except Don Quixote , and a quick listen to the CD of Man of La Mancha will take care of that Who speaks it that you are really desperate to talk to?
The help? Your leaf blower? The satirical intent—poking fun at the haughty attitudes of wealthy Americans who hire low-waged Hispanic domestic workers—evidently went over the heads of some readers.
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