Dame Edna Everage and the Rise of Western Civilization: Backstage With Barry Humphries - Hardcover

Lahr, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374134561 ISBN 13: 9780374134563

Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1992

Synopsis

A look at the work of Barry Humphries journeys backstage with him to watch the clown transform himself into Dame Edna Everage--the weird and wonderful housewife-superstar whose comedy act reigns supreme in England.

About this title

Reviews

Since 1969 Lahr has continued writing about show business with the sensitivity and informed views that marked his debut in Notes on a Cowardly Lion, his biography of his father, comic Bert Lahr. As theater critic for British Vogue , the author first recognized the talents of Australian Humphries, aka "Dame Edna," risen from suburban housewife to world star on stage and TV. The "lady" appears in hideously chic costumes before SRO audiences eager to be insulted and to hear her dirty jokes. Lahr also examines Humphries's other persona, Sir Les Patterson, the crude and priapic Australian cultural attache who features his big genitals in his performances. Observing Humphries close-up, Lahr explores the comic's history and finds the roots of his satiric genius in his outrage at the pervasive phoniness in society, which he targets with the strongest weapon: laughter. Sections of this excellent biography were published in the New Yorker .
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0374134561
• ISBN 13: 9780374134563
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 242