Vince Sorrenti: Far from mocking us, Barry Humphries elevated Australians
Like them or not, Dame Edna, Sir Les and Sandy Stone showed us and the world who we really were. And now, an enormous figure in our cultural history is gone, writes Aussie comic Vince Sorrenti.
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The joke was lost on most people but the name said it all. Edna Everage, or Mrs
Norm Everage (Normal Average) showed us who we really were.
A character from suburban Moonee Ponds who showed us and the world who we really
were.
Great comedy speaks the truth. Of course we didn’t want to admit it but Dame
Edna, Les Patterson, Sandy Stone and people just like them once roamed the
earth.
They were next door, at work, and in our families. In fact some of those
dinosaurs haven’t met their meteor yet! We laughed because it was real.
By laughing we admit we understand it and are above it. It betters us.
Humphries use of characters gave him the space to speak openly.
Dame Edna can admonish a member of the royal family, call a Prime Minister a buffoon, and cut down a celebrity with razor lines.
Sir Les could be crude, filthy, sexist, and obnoxious.
The real Barry Humphries, even in those less sensitive days might not have got away with it.
Life imitates art and as the educated art historian Barry would understand.
For people of my generation, especially those of us whose parents were not Aussies,
Humphrey’s humour was a cultural tutorial. I regarded the Bazza McKenzie
movies of the mid 70s as educational! We would fall about laughing at the
swagger and language of the characters. I still use some of the phrases and
euphemisms today in candid conversation – point Percy at the porcelain,
technicolour yawn, one eyed trouser snake, stick your head up a dead bear’s bum
and so may others.
To many foreigners, the British in particular, Barry’s characters were the
definition of Australians.
It made sense that a shabbily dressed drooling alcoholic Les Patterson would be our Cultural Attache.
When the Monty Python crew were writing the famous Bruce skit about Australia it was Humphries they turned to for a name (It was nearly the “Kevin” skit!).
The clarity of distance often brings things into greater focus, and I’m sure Barry
took advantage of that in his characterisations of his home country.
Far from mocking us, Barry elevated Australians.
Like many talents of his generation he travelled to the U.K. in the 1960s and showed that we are no different to the very best.
Along with the likes of Clive James, Germaine Greer, and many others he
rose to the top of society and intelligentsia, with enormous class and wit.
Most importantly, he was an Australian taking the piss out of Australia, as it should be.
An enormous figure in our cultural history is gone.
My respect for Barry is heightened by his devotion to live performance.
The power and persuasion of a person on a stage is formidable.
We learn who we are from song, from history, from struggle, but mostly as far as I am concerned from stories – funny stories, told to us by people who are standing in front of us.
I was lucky enough to catch one of his thrown gladiolas once. Thank you, Barry Humphries.
Originally published as Vince Sorrenti: Far from mocking us, Barry Humphries elevated Australians
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