Barry Humphries -- the man I knew

The sad death of Barry Humphries.

I knew Barry a bit in the 1970s when I was providing showbiz articles and radio interviews for Australian outlets. It would be a terrible conceit to claim him as a friend but I did interview him several times -- once in a toilet which was the only quiet spot we would find in a theatre -- and he would sometimes chat to me on the phone to try out sayings for The Adventures of Barry McKenzie, his comic strip in Private Eye magazine. There was the famous "technicolour yawn" for drunken vomiting, then I remember for some reason him asking me what I thought of "Go stick your head up a dead bear's bum". I can't remember if that was used in the strip.

On more than one occasion, when Barry was busy, he answered the phone with Edna Everage's voice, claiming to be his secretary and promising that "Mr Humphries will phone you back as soon as he is free" which he always did. On reflection it is amazing that he gave me his private telephone number. Most celebrities I interviewed had to be contact through their agent or publicist.

CLICK HERE to listen to a mostly-serious radio interview that I did with him for Australia's Macquarie Network in 1970 as he was becoming well known in the United Kingdom.

And these are articles I did for TV Week (Australia). For (legitimate) reasons too complicated to explain here, my TV Week articles were published under the name "Bruce Conway".

On what would have been Barry Humphries' 90th birthday (February 17 2024), BBC Radio 4 broadcast a tribute to the comedian. It was my privilege to be asked to contribute to this program at the beginning and during it. CLICK HERE to listen to it.

TV: changing social attitudes

My wife and I have just finished watching a re-run on BBC4 of the wonderful comedy series Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads. It was a laugh-out-loud series in which the humour had worn extremely well, despite it being first broadcast 40 years ago. But there were occasions -- particularly in the final episode -- when we were taken aback by comments that would not get past script editors today. Example: would a comedy be produced in this age in which homosexuals were routinely referred to as "poofs"? Most unlikely. And would there be scenes in which it was made to appear normal for young men to drink several pints of beer and a couple of whisky "shorts" -- then go out and drive away from the pub in a car? I doubt it.

Still, with those reservations, I thank the BBC for giving viewers another chance to watch and enjoy this fine series.It was high-class, finely-tuned comedy.