THE image of Dame Edna Everage is impossible to ignore: purple hair, garish glasses and a glittering frock. Few who were entertained by the Barry Humphries creation could fail to evoke an image of Moonee Ponds' most famous resident, even years later.
That was the genius behind Humphries' characters, beyond his keen wit; they were facets of the Australian psyche writ large. Exaggerated as the oafish and lecherous Sir Les Patterson may have been, the kernel of truth at his core resonated enough to keep the character relevant to audiences even as the decades ticked past.
The loss of Humphries is an enormous one for Australian culture generally and comedy specifically. Biographer Anne Pender described him in 2010 as "the most significant theatrical figure of our time ... the most significant comedian to emerge since Charlie Chaplin".
Despite trading in the depths of our cultural cringe to an extent few others were perceptive or talented enough to manage, Humphries was a talent truly recognised on the world stage. Comedians spread across generations paid tribute over the weekend after news that the Australian had died after hip surgery, with talents as diverse as Eric Idle and Jimmy Carr offering unreserved praise. They left little doubt that this was a man who not only had the respect of his peers, but who inspired many of them.
Many of us have known Humphries only as an established icon, yet it is worth considering that Dame Edna's earliest incarnation first appeared in 1955 at Melbourne University's Union Theatre. Given the weekend's rally in Newcastle in support of a drag queen reading children a story, the avant-garde nature of such a performance to mainstream audiences almost 70 years ago is worth considering.
A founding patron of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, the event's organisers paid tribute to Humphries despite renaming its top prize - originally named in his honour in 2000 - following comments perceived as transphobic in 2019.
"Having started his career in Melbourne, Barry's early support, along with Peter Cook, helped kick off and raise the profile of the festival nationally and internationally," the festival said in a statement.
A state funeral would be a fitting farewell to a man whose talent brimmed beyond his own persona, and will almost certainly extend far beyond his own lifetime.
