Vale Barry Humphies. Genius.

Saw the great man twice. His gig at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre ranks as one of my great showbiz experiences. The timing, the bitchiness, the rampant wallowing in the spotlight. Stagecraft - tick. Costume - tick. Laughs - tick. Musical number - tick. He was inspiration in high heels.

Dame Edna remains a huge influence on my style to this day on stage as an emcee and off. (Judith Lucy’s style too BTW.)

Imagine creating a comic character today and still playing that character to sold out theatres around the globe in 2089. That’s what Humphries did with Edna. The New York Times posited that Humphries as Edna is the longest running character performed by a person in history.

Dame Edna, though in some ways so odd, was simply part of the cultural landscape as our bizarre native fauna is a part of our natural landscape.

My parents loved her, I loved her and so did millions more. How does such a character become so popular with such a broad swathe of people? It’s a kind of magic.

Humphries did everything - stageshows, talkshows, Royal Command performances, commercials, press conferences from a bubble bath - even singing at the 2005 AFL Grand Final. This was a LIFE LIVED.

Humphries’ autobiography book More Please is a worthwhile read for fans or other theatrical types wanting inspiration.

It’s a contemporary cliche that when a celebrity dies someone says on social media: “They were the one that taught me that it was OK to be weird.” In Humphries case, that’s not far wrong. If not weird, then theatrical, flamboyant, cutting and subversive. And the importance of doing it on your terms.

I was a fan of strange attention-seeking teen acts - pretending to be a foreign exchange student, filling up and abandoning shopping carts in supermarkets, shooting fake TV interviews. Humphries’ hijinks were infinetly superior. He was an artist.

Ignore his whining critics. This is a fine retort to the precious bores out there.

Vale Barry Humphries - what a gift you were. More genius please?