Barry Humphries, better known to some by the names of his alter-egos Sir Les Patterson, Dame Edna Everage, and Sandy Stone, among others, has been called “the greatest comic genius of our age”, and even “the most significant comedian to emerge since Charlie Chaplin” (Ann Pender). Others might call him a crude abomination____. Either way, nearly everyone who has heard of Barry Humphries has something to say about him. Australians, “Poms”, and Americans alike are enraged and captivated by his shocking and often offensive sense of humor, but for those who watch until the end of a Barry Humphries performance are routinely amazed by his innate ability to identify the idiosyncrasies of the people living in suburban Australia, then satirize them mercilessly,
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He would often play dress-up for hours at a time in his backyard, perhaps as a form of escape from the melancholy drollery that was suburban Melbourne in the 1940s. “I… found that entertaining people gave me a great feeling of release, making people laugh was a very good way of befriending them. People couldn’t hit you if they were laughing.” Barry reportedly said (ABC.NET). Many found his antics to be entertaining, but others, especially his family members, were deeply troubled by his behavior. His parents, one a moderately successful building contractor and the other a devout Puritan who sought to avoid “drawing attention to [her]self”, actively dismissed Humphries’ artistic and intellectual endeavors and often wondered aloud about what had happened to their once “nice” little boy (smh.com.au). One day, upon returning from Melbourne Grammar School, Humphries discovered that his mother had donated all of his books to the Salvation Army. Predictably, he was confused and outraged with her for doing so, but when confronted by her son, his mother just laughed. “But you’ve read them, Barry,” she said (The Guardian). To his parents’ bewilderment, however, Humphries responded to the trauma induced by his family’s creative oppression by becoming a voracious reader, a theatregoer, a proponent of the Dadaist movement, and, worst of all-- “artistic”. By …show more content…
Ex-diplomat Sir Les Patterson, for example, is known worldwide for being foul-mouthed, culturally obtuse and insatiably libidinous, despite the best efforts of _ to keep him in line. Martin Agrippa is an eccentric underground filmmaker and winner of the fictional Golden. Even his more family-friendly characters, such as Bruce, the animated leader of the “Fish-Friendly Sharks” from the Disney Pixar film “Finding Nemo” display a level of __ playful__, often contradicting themselves without sacrificing their authenticity for a moment . Portraying such a diverse array of richly expressive, almost autonomous characters with the amount of sincerity and finesse and life that Humphries displays in his performances takes an enormous amount of dedication and raw talent, both of which he has in
He would often play dress-up for hours at a time in his backyard, perhaps as a form of escape from the melancholy drollery that was suburban Melbourne in the 1940s. “I… found that entertaining people gave me a great feeling of release, making people laugh was a very good way of befriending them. People couldn’t hit you if they were laughing.” Barry reportedly said (ABC.NET). Many found his antics to be entertaining, but others, especially his family members, were deeply troubled by his behavior. His parents, one a moderately successful building contractor and the other a devout Puritan who sought to avoid “drawing attention to [her]self”, actively dismissed Humphries’ artistic and intellectual endeavors and often wondered aloud about what had happened to their once “nice” little boy (smh.com.au). One day, upon returning from Melbourne Grammar School, Humphries discovered that his mother had donated all of his books to the Salvation Army. Predictably, he was confused and outraged with her for doing so, but when confronted by her son, his mother just laughed. “But you’ve read them, Barry,” she said (The Guardian). To his parents’ bewilderment, however, Humphries responded to the trauma induced by his family’s creative oppression by becoming a voracious reader, a theatregoer, a proponent of the Dadaist movement, and, worst of all-- “artistic”. By …show more content…
Ex-diplomat Sir Les Patterson, for example, is known worldwide for being foul-mouthed, culturally obtuse and insatiably libidinous, despite the best efforts of _ to keep him in line. Martin Agrippa is an eccentric underground filmmaker and winner of the fictional Golden. Even his more family-friendly characters, such as Bruce, the animated leader of the “Fish-Friendly Sharks” from the Disney Pixar film “Finding Nemo” display a level of __ playful__, often contradicting themselves without sacrificing their authenticity for a moment . Portraying such a diverse array of richly expressive, almost autonomous characters with the amount of sincerity and finesse and life that Humphries displays in his performances takes an enormous amount of dedication and raw talent, both of which he has in