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Even in death, Barry Humphries stirs the possums

The comedian was not ‘properly appreciated by Australia’ and was disrespected by the Melbourne event after his remarks about trans people, says friend Miriam Margolyes.

Barry Humphries with actors Rula Lenska and Miriam Margolyes. Picture: Hampstead Theatre
Barry Humphries with actors Rula Lenska and Miriam Margolyes. Picture: Hampstead Theatre

Barry Humphries was “very hurt and saddened” after being “cancelled” by the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, says longtime friend actor Miriam Margolyes.

The beloved Australian actor and comic, who delighted audiences for nearly seven decades as the bespectacled diva Dame Edna Everage, died on Saturday in Sydney at the age of 89.

Humphries was a crucial figure in the founding of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and even lent his name to the festival‘s coveted Barry Award for best show from 2000 to 2019.

However, in 2019, the festival renamed the award after Humphries’ controversial comments about transgender people, which organisers denounced as “not helpful.” Humphries referred to being transgender as “a fashion” and described gender-affirmation surgery as “self-mutilation.”

As a result of these comments, a group of comedians, including previous Barry award winners Hannah Gadsby and Zoe Coombs Marr, petitioned for the award to be renamed.

Hannah Gadsby. Picture: Alan Moyle
Hannah Gadsby. Picture: Alan Moyle
Zoe Coombs Marr.
Zoe Coombs Marr.

Humphries’ longtime friend, Miriam Margolyes, a British-Australian actor best known for her role in Harry Potter and who has known him since she was 17, expressed her belief on ABC TV that Humphries was not “properly appreciated by Australia” and was not treated respectfully by the festival, whom she accused of “cancelling him rather late in life.”

She added that she believed Humphries was “very hurt and saddened by what happened after the Melbourne festival.”

Humphries responded to the stripping of his name from the awards in 2019.

“Comedians aren’t always terribly nice,” Humphries said, after describing calls for transphobia to be treated as a form of assault as “terrible ratbaggery”.

Dame Edna Everage had Princess Diana in stitches at the London Palladium in 1987.
Dame Edna Everage had Princess Diana in stitches at the London Palladium in 1987.

“We don’t have to be nice, do we. We’re not obliged to be nice, we’re generally pretty unsavoury.”

Despite acknowledging his acerbic and often “nasty” demeanour, Margolyes called him a “genius” and said she was “heartbroken” by his passing.

“He was acerbic, and he was often quite nasty, but he was a genius, and you have to accept it,” Margolyes said.
“He’d had more talent in his little finger than they did in their whole bodies, all of them.”

Margolyes said she was “heartbroken” by the loss of her friend, and admired his unwavering commitment to his belief, even if she disagreed with him politically.

“It’s quite difficult to talk because I loved him and I admired him. He stood for all the things that I admire,” she said.

Barry Humphries: ‘We’re not obliged to be nice, we’re generally pretty unsavoury.’ Picture: Claudio Raschella
Barry Humphries: ‘We’re not obliged to be nice, we’re generally pretty unsavoury.’ Picture: Claudio Raschella

“But we sharply disagreed politically. And it’s joyous to me that it’s possible to do that and still love somebody.”

News of Humphries’ passing broke just hours after the festival announced the winner of its Most Outstanding Show award, which was until 2019 known as The Barry. Festival director Susan Provan acknowledged Humphries’ enormous contribution to Australian comedy at a media call the following morning.

When asked if his legacy had been tarnished by the controversies around his views in recent years, Provan responded that “nothing can ever detract from his great contribution as an artist. He was remarkable. That will always be with us.”
The Victorian government is talking to Humphries’ family about the best ways to honour the comedy legend’s legacy.

A range of options are being discussed, including a state funeral.
“The primary mover of these things is the family because it’s their gift effectively to decide in conversation with government,” Creative Industries Minister Steve Dimopoulos told reporters on Sunday.

Geordie Gray
Geordie GrayEntertainment reporter

Geordie Gray is an entertainment reporter based in Sydney. She writes about film, television, music and pop culture. Previously, she was News Editor at The Brag Media and wrote features for Rolling Stone. She did not go to university.

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/life/humphries-was-very-hurt-by-melbourne-comedy-festival-cancellation/news-story/09bf97d007e5000b3ca8c401a2c9e83b