Comedy festival backflips on tepid Humphries tribute
Organisers of the Melbourne Comedy Festival have been called out as ‘gutless cowards’ after they backflipped on a tepid acknowledgment of Barry Humphries.
Organisers of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival have been called out as “gutless cowards” after they backflipped on a tepid acknowledgment of comedy legend Barry Humphries.
Festival organisers on Monday night issued a statement saying they would plan a “fitting tribute” to Humphries, after declaring there would be no official tribute, and having earlier dropped his name from the Barry award.
Humphries, one of the world’s greatest comedians, died at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney on Saturday at age 89.
His death coincided with the final weekend of the comedy festival, the event he helped launch in 1987. The festival noted his passing with a brief statement on its website.
Festival director Susan Provan on Monday refused to restore Humphries’ name to the Barry award – given to the best comedy show at the festival – and downplayed Humphries’ involvement with the festival.
The news of Barry Humphries’ passing in the last 24 hours of the ’23 Fest was momentous. From today we re-group and start to plan a fitting tribute to his comic genius and leading role in creating a global platform for Australian comedy. pic.twitter.com/2j34MdHRm7
— Melbourne International Comedy Festival (@micomfestival) April 24, 2023
She pointed out that Humphries was not a founder of the festival, which had been established by John Pinder and others, and that the Barry award was never actually named after him.
She told Nine newspapers the Barry award had become synonymous with Barry Humphries, but it was “more about ‘Barry’ being a funny and iconic Australian comedy name”.
Ms Provan said the festival could “celebrate someone’s artistic genius while not liking some of their views. And that is what happened with Barry”.
In a later statement on Monday, the festival appeared to backflip on its previous position, indicating a more substantial recognition of Humphries’ contribution would be coming.
“The news of Barry Humphries’ passing in the last 24 hours of the ’23 Fest was momentous,” the statement said. “From today we regroup and start to plan a fitting tribute to his comic genius and leading role in creating a global platform for Australian comedy”.
The reversal was called out on social media. Sky News Australia host Piers Morgan said: “You gutless cowards cancelled him for standing up for women’s rights. You don’t get to un-cancel now he’s dead.”
You gutless cowards cancelled him for standing up for women’s rights. You don’t get to un-cancel now he’s dead. https://t.co/tn62yOhD5e
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) April 24, 2023
Humphries’s comments about trans people undergoing surgery led to a campaign to have his name removed from the Barry award, which was changed in 2019.
His friend, actor Miriam Margolyes, told the ABC that Humphries was “very hurt and saddened by what happened after the Melbourne festival” in 2019 when the festival renamed the award after Humphries’ controversial comments about transgender people, which organisers denounced as “not helpful”. Humphries referred to transgender identity as a “fashion” and described gender-affirmation surgery as “self-mutilation”.
After those comments, a group of comedians, including previous Barry award winners Hannah Gadsby and Zoe Coombs Marr, petitioned for the award to be renamed.
Margolyes, a British-Australian actor best known for her role in Harry Potter and who has known him since she was 17, told the ABC on Monday that Humphries was not “properly appreciated by Australia” and was not treated respectfully by the festival, which she accused of “cancelling him rather late in life”.
A former winner of the Barry award, comedian and broadcaster Sammy J, was on the comedy festival board when it voted to rename the award.
He said the board had to made a choice between “hurting the feelings of an established legend” and recognising that younger comedians, including trans comedians, had a different point of view.
“Barry Humphries hasn’t been cancelled,” Sammy J wrote in an opinion piece for Nine newspapers. “He’s been on the front pages of newspapers around the world, rightly lauded for his life and career. That contribution included paving the way for comedians to speak up and rally against things with fire and passion, just like he did when he was young. It’s a legacy to be proud of.”
