BARRY HUMPHRIES 1934-2023

The man behind Edna Wise, warm and witty, Barry brought us the venomous and caustic, yet wonderful, Dame Edna Everage. Barry’s best friend Kathy Lette talks about his legacy and her own close friendship with the comic genius.

- Kathy Lette

The women of Australia are flying our Hills Hoists at half-mast. Why? Because we have lost our most formidable ally; an icon who spoke up for us for 70 years. We sympathised when her son, Kenny, came out as a “practising homo” ... as in homeopath. We empathised when her daughter Valmai’s supermarket shoplifting brought shame on the family: “I mean, couldn’t it have been Harrods?”. We’ve even shared a few conspiratorial chuckles about her husband Norm’s silicone chip prostate. “Norm’s prostate murmur turned into a rumbling so loud it woke the neighbours. They asked me if I could keep the noise down – I said there is a knob but I’m not touching that.”

Yes, I’m talking about our cherished and most beloved megastar, Dame Edna Everage, who died last week, her exact age unknown (she maintained she was approaching 60 but wouldn’t say from which direction).

In a trifecta of tragedy, we also lost her cultural attaché, vulgarian Sir Les Patterson, and their joint manager, the wise, warm and witty intellectual, Barry Humphries.

But it’s Edna we women will miss the most, because she was so firmly on our side.