Dame Edna

She never picks gay guys in the auidence to banter with. They always win.

I find it very entertaining.

She's gonna be in LA at the Ahmanson quite soon for her farewell tour. I am?uge fan of the Dame. (Didn't she used to be a Queen--as in Queen Edna?--LOL). Anyhow, I think Barry Humphries is a minor genius.

Who will replace this type of humor? The snarky bi-hipster comics of today would never want to look uncool.

I saw her at the late, lamented Shubert in LA years ago. I thought THAT was going to be her farewell tour at the time!

So hilarious! Love her shows!

[quote]I would think Dataloungers would idolize her,

True, especially since ALL Dataloungers think alike.

I amend my statement to "MANY Dataloungers would idolize her ..."

She's joan rivers with an accent.

Young Joan with Dame Edna

Appreciate and celebrate, yes.

Idolize, no.

No one here idolizes Joan Crawford or Margaret Thatcher. Why would we idolize a character based on some of their attributes, expressed through an Australian housewife?

Perhaps the OP needs to reassess her premises in order to understand her conclusions.

Perhaps R11 needs a good shit.

She must give a farewell to Broadway, she can't end it in DC

In America, she was a flash-in-the-pan who once had a short-lived talk-show. What happened with her after that, we have no idea. Her fans would have to provide YouTube links to anything else of note.

I remember the disapproving stares my dad gave me when I watched Dame Edna Experience as a teen. She was a great character. Haven't seen her in ages.

I adore Dame Edna, so witty, funny and always taking over where ever she is. Barry is very smart.

I think she's a funny character, not nearly as mean as old Joan.

Genius.

I have no idea why this man is thought to be funny. Nothing he says is witty at all.

[quote]I have no idea why this man is thought to be funny. Nothing he says is witty at all.

Exactly. He's just an annoying stupid prick in drag.

[quote]In America, she was a flash-in-the-pan who once had a short-lived talk-show. What happened with her after that, we have no idea. Her fans would have to provide YouTube links to anything else of note.

Well aside from successful stints on Broadway (one of which won her a Tony Award), she was a mainstay on late night talk shows for at least a decade, and toured her Broadway show around the US for years.

I love Dame Edna. Her show Neighborhood Watch is one of the funniest things on TV. Plus her interview with Lauren Bacall, with all the jokes, was one of the best celebrity interviews ever.

Neighborhood Watch:

Please post a link to the Lauren Bacall interview. I'm sure it has flavah!

R23 There was even better video on YT where Dame Edna was a guest with Richard Gere and Bacall, but it has been taken away. She was so funny.

Here's Dame Edna in the View talking about Madonna etc.

From an Australian point of view, Dame Edna has been doing her thing for a long time and it's become too repetitive. We've seen it all many, many times before. American and Brits only see her intermittently.

Also the Jenny Craig adverts didn't help. Yes, Edna was an ambassador for them for while. Lost weight, put it all back on. Usual outcome.

Barry Humphries is a genius. Most only know him for his Edna work. I'd recommend watching the documentary on his biography. Very, very intelligent and creative man.

That dull act is a favorite with the older members of the British Royal Family. British TV used to broadcast this dreadful event called the Royal Variety Performance each year, I think they've stopped now. And it would be held in a West End theatre, and all the blandest acts would turn up and bow and scrap to the royals in the Royal Box. A typical line up would include Dame Edna, Cliff Richard, some acrobats, a performing dog act, you get the picture.

Barry Humphreys did loads of them, Charles and the Queen love Edna, apparently.

R27, the Royal Variety Show still happens. This year William and Kate attended. A few West End shows performed, lots of comedians, Ellie Goulding, Bette Midler, and Demi Lovato.

This year was at the Palladium I think, but it's been in other parts of England before.

[quote] She never picks gay guys in the auidence to banter with. They always win.

The entire core focus of the Dame Edna character is to make fun of suburban, bourgeoisie pretentiousness.

I've seen her twice and she does brilliantly cutting commentary in those interactions. The people are so fucking stupid that they think it's a laugh, but the smart people in the audience get what's being said.

Christ, who the hell doesn't love Dame Edna. How sad for you. Netflix used have all the Dame Edna's Neighborhood DVD's and I rented them all. Watch some on YouTube, you won't be sorry. Saw her in two different Broadway shows to roars of laughter. The most amazing is Humphries would run and jump and do a two hour show and out of costume would become a doddering old man.

She/he was amazing in her prime, I saw two of her stage shows back in the 80s and 90s, she could go on for hours and have the audience in stitches. Its amazing she is still going.

I loved those celebrity chat shows she did, nobody pricked the pomposity of showbiz types like she did, and they queued up to appear - Jane Fonda turned away for wearing gym wear, Lauren Bacall and Richard Gere, Gloria Swanson not able to get a word in edgeways (Dame Edna said "I thought she was a silent star"!), Mel Gibson in a towel in the sauna as Edna came in looking for his lethal weapon, Charlton Heston in an apron serving drinks, Gina Lollobrigida realising Edna was coming on to her, etc. I must dig out those dvds and enjoy them all again.

her prime

Tom Jones and Lauren Bacall on the Dame Edna Experience Show 1989

full show

Dame Edna is a guiding spirit to Datalounge. She often boasts of her one priceless gift: the ability to laugh at the misfortunes of others.

Moreover her son Kenny is sometimes mentioned: he works as cabin crew, and has a series of flatmates.

Funnier even than Dame Edna is Sir Les Patterson, 'Australian cultural attache', a creation of transcendent confident vulgarity.

Barry Humphries is indeed a comic genius.

Helllooooo posssummmmmsss

Tiresome bitchy shtick. No thanks.

That's OK R35 we don't like to share, but bless you dear boy for coming and thinking we actually give a shit what you think.

I've seen her stage show twice and she was brilliant. Have seen most of her TV performances and also read her book. Hilarious! Barry is a genius.

A brilliant comic mind. As fun as the TV shows are, Dame Edna live was something else again. Yes, there was a structure to the evening, but it really was a 2-hour improv working off the audience.

As (R29) says. Edna makes fun of suburban, bourgeoisie pretentiousness.. Everything else she does is smoke and mirrors.

It is stunning the contrast between actor and performers. I have seen him and marveled at his energy and characters, and offstage...nada.

Have Edna and Hyacinth ever met? Has Kenny ever hooked up with Sheridan?

[quote]He's just an annoying stupid prick in drag.

You know what makes you a risible idiot? Not not getting Dame Edna, but having such a overwrought reaction to comedy you don't like.

You must be rather tiresome to know.

R40 A brilliant idea.

It's beyond terrifying to consider Edna meeting Hyacinth.

No nature documentary yet made about hunter and prey could come close to the gloating glint in Edna's icy black eyes as she toyed with plump Hyacinth, leading her on with borderline pleasantries; encouraged her to spill ever more genteel inanities - before finally, casually, making poor Hyacinth slump irrecoverably with one decisive, annihilating remark.

Sheridan is MARRIED, possums.

R43 -- it would be like Godzilla meeting Mothra!

Epic! Huge appeal!

They could make a fortune if the actors would agree to it!

Say one night only with worldwide broadcast rights in the new Hammersmith Apollo or the Royal Albert Hall. Or hell, the Sydney Opera House.

Epic, I say!

R44 Sheridan would have been ideal husband for my daughter Valmai.

[quote] Yes, there was a structure to the evening, but it really was a 2-hour improv working off the audience.

I've seen her twice and it was amazing in that way - very much unscripted save for general cues for a song here or there.

It's much deeper and more rich than what we saw on TV of Edna during the 80s and 90s (and I loved that, too, but....)

[quote]No one here idolizes Joan Crawford

Are you new here, hon?

Americans never got the real satirical value of transvestism. The Brits love their transvestites. Mrs. Brown's Boys is much loved in the UK, Ireland and most of the Commonwealth. Yet this show gets barely a mention here on DL.

I saw one show (R29-R47) where a woman told Dame Edna her house was painted "aqua". Edna got a full five minutes out of just that statement and then managed to loop back to it throughout the evening- never milking it for a cheap laugh- but referencing it and connecting it to other bits of tacky info she got out of the audience.

It really was a high wire act and she was a master. A comic magician.

The character should have gotten a movie. She was in the Kath and Kim film two years ago.

R4 is 700,000 years old.

R50 Here Edna talks to Olive.

Mrs Brown's Boys is fucking awful. Not fit to shine Edna's diamante pumps.

I love Dame Edna's "Audience With" shows, where she takes questions from an audience of celebrities.

Here she is, in one of those shows, describing a type of person she cannot stand.

Here's the Dame Edna with Lauren Bacall and Tom Jones. It's not that the interview with Lauren reveals anything great or is very long. It's just that Lauren seems to really enjoy Dame Edna and knows if she put on her facade Edna would rip it to shreds.

Not to say the Tom Jones bits weren't funny as hell. The song and dance routine at the end is funny as Hell too. Plus the unknown guy on the couch with Lauren really seems to add something to it. Believe it or not. I should say unknown to me. The audience is really loving the Tom Jones parts which really adds to it too.

And the way she calls Lauren "Betty". LOL

Here's the full Lauren Bacall episode if you want.

She must have the same hairstylist as Sylvia Fine (of "The Nanny," not Mrs. Danny Kaye) and Virginia Graham.

We thought the show in Atlantic City was very funny. I enjoy Dame Edna.However, I came away from it thinking that the act came across as a bit misogynistic. I can't remember exactly what made me feel that way. Just my opinion.

Seen her stage shows in NYC- some of the funniest stuff I have seen in my life- sustained hilarity over. Two hour show. Humphries is a genius and the content of the shows is beyond wit and social commentary in its scope.

When she has audience members onstage and starts calling random people off their cell phone. At first I thought 'this will never work' and was ready for a cringe-worthy experience. It was the most amazing and hilarious thing I've ever seen. She worked the conversation around. the show, the people onstage, the person on the phone....and the laughter from the audience never stopped.

I don't know who this is

R62, your comment adds so many layers and nuances to this discussion.

Damn, only a few cities on the US farewell.

He's doing another farewell tour? I thought he'd done that already. Is Dame Edna going to be the new Cher?

BTW, I would strongly encourage anyone unfamiliar with Edna to watch the documentary in the link provided below. He was a very good artist too, and Edna's male counter-part went well beyond non-PC but could do what most American comedians can't do, and that's not tilt over into cruel for its own sake. Most American comedians, particularly of the het variety, haven't quite figured that out yet.

Saw him many times in London. I was always afraid of being picked on. He can be very mean-spirited. Once, he rode up to the balcony in a cherry picker. Another time, he had a barbecue on stage. The Sir Les Patterson character is not-to-be-believed in terms of vulgarity: large dildo in his pants that he strokes while leering at audience members. Once it was a 10-year old girl who was the object of his attention.

In NYC, a couple walked out of the theatre rather than be made fun of on stage. Never saw that kind of reaction before. He never picks on gay men, always straight couples.

There was some interview with him in New York Magazine in the 80s where he said he's not a poofta even though some people thought he was. Think he abhors being thought of as gay.

I did like him on The View called Whoopi by her real name: Caryn

Barry Humphries/Dame Edna is fun for a TEENSY bit of time, but like ALL drag, the schtick wears thin QUICKLY!

R43 painted a picture. Says a lot about those two actors that your few sentences can conjure such a vivid scene.

Poor Dame Edna has been thrown out these days by the new puritanical left. She isn’t a TRA and even worse (gasp: as if!) she doesn’t hate Trump and is against Brexit after being for it.

Reminds me of the time she got fired from Vanity Fair for replying along the lines of “who is it you’re so desperate to speak to? The help? Your leaf blowers?” when asked by a reader if he should learn Spanish. The “Hispanic community” went after Edna, and Selma Hayek took out a full pay ad in the New York Times to announce she doesn’t understand satire. If only she was ridiculed for not taking a joke back then, maybe we wouldn’t be struggling with the PC crybabies today.

FUG!!!

She popped up in the Ab Fab movie too.

R49, I like Mrs Brown is the appropriate dose. Very old school comedy style with a lot of puns and physical humor. Very funny when the show peaks and worth riding out the more groan worthy jokes because of the performance of Mrs Brown.

Why was this bumped again after five years?

Specifically to annoy you R72? I enjoyed reading it actually and it prompted me to watch some of her shows on youtube.

DAME EDNA should be hosting the Oscars. Or the Golden Globes. Seriously.

R68 - I thought that whole nasty racist incident was what derailed her American caterer at the time? It was I’ll advised and stupid and can’t believe the editors at VF didn’t intervene before it went to print.

In Oz - there’s a comedian called Judith Lucy. I’ve seen her live several times - and seen Edna live at least half a dozen times over the years - and Lucy to me seems like the natural successor to Humphries.

She uses audience members in the same way - and is so smart and witty - and can be fabulously vicious! - but she’s mainly poking fun at herself as much as anyone or anything - god i love her! Will see if I can find a clip. Oh - and she is an actual biological female - we tend to forget after a while that Edna isn’t! We’ve been living with the Edna persona since the fifties after all - the character really transcends reality now....

Jude Lucy clip - she’s recently joined a popular show here in Oz - god I love her!

I'm glad someone bumped this--I haven't thought about Dame Edna in years! New Jersey/Philly PBS used to run a marathon of her shows for a couple New Year's Eve's a while back. We'd always have them on along with any festivities

I love Judith Lucy.

She's been around for decades and I'll gladly watch her on anything!

Her voice is so unique and easily identifiable.

But now back to Edna...........

I really enjoyed her, but she had her day. She's quite old now.

She’s not pretty enough for me.

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I've just always loved Edna.

Can't explain it. It's not the camp part of it, or the outfit. Unbelievable as a woman and yet.....I do indeed believe when she's performed.

It's the way Edna gets at our facades. Very sly and witty in some ways, not in others.

Legend

'I 'm afraid lesbianism always leaves a very funny taste in my mouth'.