1
00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:03,520
Speaker 1: Sits him with her with Kate Ritchie podcast, you'll see

2
00:00:03,640 --> 00:00:07,560
Speaker 1: all news services Today we celebrate the life of Barry Humphreys.

3
00:00:07,640 --> 00:00:11,200
Speaker 1: Front page of the paper. What a beautiful doment beverage.

4
00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:16,640
Speaker 1: Hello possums. I've got two stories that I want to tell,

5
00:00:17,040 --> 00:00:18,880
Speaker 1: all right, I just love this. He went to a

6
00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:21,680
Speaker 1: school in Melbourne called Melbourne Grammar and he would get

7
00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:25,040
Speaker 1: at the train into work each morning. And as they say,

8
00:00:25,120 --> 00:00:27,280
Speaker 1: there'll never be another Barry Humphries, and he used to

9
00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:30,480
Speaker 1: do things from a young age, from a very young age,

10
00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:34,160
Speaker 1: comedy for comedy's sake. So he would get the train

11
00:00:34,479 --> 00:00:37,120
Speaker 1: into school and he would get on at the stop

12
00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:39,600
Speaker 1: at his stop, and he would have organized all of

13
00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:41,479
Speaker 1: this and he would just sit down and there's other

14
00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:43,839
Speaker 1: commuters on the train that are going in to do

15
00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:47,960
Speaker 1: their daily work. The next stop someone would hop on

16
00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:50,440
Speaker 1: one of his mates and just hand him a bowl.

17
00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:52,920
Speaker 1: So everyone would see this kid sitting on the seat

18
00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:56,320
Speaker 1: just holding a bowl. And the next stop someone would

19
00:00:56,360 --> 00:01:00,200
Speaker 1: get on his motes and phillip full of cereal. So

20
00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:02,160
Speaker 1: the commuters are just looking at this kid, thinking what

21
00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:05,000
Speaker 1: is going on here. The next stop comes around Richmond station,

22
00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:07,759
Speaker 1: his mate gets on and fills it full of milk,

23
00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:10,959
Speaker 1: and he's still just sitting there, doesn't move until the

24
00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:11,520
Speaker 1: next time.

25
00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:14,839
Speaker 2: Someone ends him with spoon and he eats his breakfast

26
00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:18,080
Speaker 2: on the train while the other persons is a lot

27
00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:20,840
Speaker 2: of effort, but for the sake of a laugh, he

28
00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:22,679
Speaker 2: was prepared to go to that length.

29
00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:25,680
Speaker 1: Just a great story. Interesting to hear too, that he'd

30
00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:29,240
Speaker 1: got a phone call from King Charles as he was

31
00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:34,119
Speaker 1: in his final days in hospital. Family and friends had

32
00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:36,640
Speaker 1: gathered around. I know one of his great mates in particular,

33
00:01:36,680 --> 00:01:40,480
Speaker 1: spend all day by his bedside talking about great times.

34
00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:43,160
Speaker 1: Imagine Charles ranging and he picked up the phone with

35
00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:43,800
Speaker 1: a new phone.

36
00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:46,319
Speaker 2: Who is oh new phone?

37
00:01:46,319 --> 00:01:50,680
Speaker 1: Who is high possums? Wouldn't be amazing. I'd love to

38
00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:51,680
Speaker 1: know what happened in that phone.

39
00:01:51,960 --> 00:01:54,200
Speaker 2: Charles is barrier, so it's just my mate is having

40
00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:54,520
Speaker 2: a minute.

41
00:01:55,160 --> 00:01:58,120
Speaker 1: A few people around. Obviously. The story was that he

42
00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:01,320
Speaker 1: had a hip operation. He came out of hospital after

43
00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:05,000
Speaker 1: the hip operation hip replacement, I think, and then he

44
00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:08,480
Speaker 1: went back in with some complications which led to the

45
00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:11,400
Speaker 1: final moments. The story I want to tell this morning.

46
00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:16,400
Speaker 1: I think I was told this story by Merrick Watts.

47
00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:20,800
Speaker 1: But this story about Barry Humphries is just one of

48
00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:23,480
Speaker 1: the greats because we knew that he went out of

49
00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:27,680
Speaker 1: his way to create very funny moments, not only on stage,

50
00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:30,640
Speaker 1: but in his private life. He just loved it. He

51
00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:33,680
Speaker 1: loved people, he was interested in people, He was fascinated

52
00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:37,800
Speaker 1: by human behavior, and this story relates to one of

53
00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:41,120
Speaker 1: those moments. So the story goes that it was during

54
00:02:41,160 --> 00:02:45,079
Speaker 1: the sixties and Barry was all very theatrical back then.

55
00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:48,320
Speaker 1: You know, he had a hat and he wolled, sunglasses,

56
00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:50,720
Speaker 1: long hair, long coat and all of this sort of stuff.

57
00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:53,000
Speaker 1: And he went to see his mate Jim, who lived

58
00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:56,000
Speaker 1: in Eltham. Now Eltham is about forty five minutes out

59
00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:58,800
Speaker 1: of Melbourne, and back then it was a really rough time.

60
00:02:58,840 --> 00:03:02,240
Speaker 1: Now it's a leafy suburb, but back then everybody there

61
00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:05,200
Speaker 1: worked on the railway, so it was high viz and

62
00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:08,320
Speaker 1: Greece and all the ugly stuff of a man who's

63
00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:12,360
Speaker 1: done hard work. So anyway him, he says to Jim,

64
00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:14,880
Speaker 1: why don't we go to the pub. As they're walking

65
00:03:14,919 --> 00:03:19,280
Speaker 1: along the street, they walk into this bar and Jim says, oh, Jesus, Barry,

66
00:03:19,639 --> 00:03:22,160
Speaker 1: have a look around in here. These are all hard men.

67
00:03:22,160 --> 00:03:26,080
Speaker 1: And you're wearing sunglasses, a hat, long hair, and a coat.

68
00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:28,919
Speaker 1: I'm not sure this is the pub for us. So

69
00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:31,240
Speaker 1: Barry says, it'll be fine. It'll be fine, Jim, don't

70
00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:33,240
Speaker 1: worry about it. Let's just sit at the bar. So

71
00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:35,400
Speaker 1: they're sitting at the bar and Jim goes, okay, we're

72
00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:37,960
Speaker 1: having one drink. One drink, that's it, and then we're

73
00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:39,880
Speaker 1: out of here. Because these guys have probably been on

74
00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:42,280
Speaker 1: the booze or lavo. So they have one beer and

75
00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:45,240
Speaker 1: Jim goes, okay, terrific. Because those blokes are looking over here,

76
00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:47,880
Speaker 1: I think we should go. Barry Humphries turns to the

77
00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:50,720
Speaker 1: bar and says, two more beers place. So the barman

78
00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:53,640
Speaker 1: brings the beers over. Jim goes, what are you doing, mate,

79
00:03:53,680 --> 00:03:55,600
Speaker 1: We're going to get in all sorts of trouble here.

80
00:03:56,440 --> 00:03:58,320
Speaker 1: And they're drinking their beers, and all of a sudden,

81
00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:00,560
Speaker 1: there just blokes over there that are looking start arcing

82
00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:02,440
Speaker 1: up with the yelling out a couple of things, and

83
00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:05,840
Speaker 1: Jim goes, let's go. Barry says, no, we sit here

84
00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:07,600
Speaker 1: and enjoy our beer. We're gonna have a beer, can't.

85
00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:10,120
Speaker 1: We haven't seen you for ages Jim. So they finish

86
00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:12,560
Speaker 1: the beer. Jim grabs Barry by the arm and says,

87
00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:15,040
Speaker 1: we're getting out of here. Barry turns to the barman

88
00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:17,479
Speaker 1: and says, two more beers, please. Jim goes, what the

89
00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:20,440
Speaker 1: hell I'm about to leave here myself, and he goes,

90
00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:23,120
Speaker 1: don't worry about a thing. Don't worry about a thing.

91
00:04:23,480 --> 00:04:25,520
Speaker 1: The beers arrive and they're sitting there. All of a sudden,

92
00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:28,440
Speaker 1: Jim looks over and these blokes grease on the face,

93
00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:31,200
Speaker 1: grease on the hands, ten foot tall and as strong

94
00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:35,760
Speaker 1: as anything, walk or walking over. Barry's sitting there facing

95
00:04:35,800 --> 00:04:38,800
Speaker 1: the bar. Jim says, Barry, get up, we're running out

96
00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:40,640
Speaker 1: of here now. These guys are going to kill us.

97
00:04:41,279 --> 00:04:44,760
Speaker 1: Barry Humphrey sits there sipping on his beer. All of

98
00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:47,599
Speaker 1: a sudden, one of them taps walks up behind Barry

99
00:04:47,640 --> 00:04:51,720
Speaker 1: Humphrey taps him on the shoulder, and Jim's just almost

100
00:04:51,839 --> 00:04:55,400
Speaker 1: crying at the bar taps him on the shoulder and says,

101
00:04:55,960 --> 00:04:58,400
Speaker 1: are you some kind of effing freak?

102
00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:00,200
Speaker 2: Mary?

103
00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:06,120
Speaker 1: Humphrees turns around, pretends to be blind. Jim help me

104
00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:08,520
Speaker 1: with his sunglasses on his hat, help me out here.

105
00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:11,400
Speaker 1: What's happened? Is everyone okay? He's got his hands all

106
00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:14,720
Speaker 1: over this bloke's face all over his body. Jim, Jim,

107
00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:19,240
Speaker 1: please say something these men Okay, what's happened? You must help, Jim,

108
00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:23,200
Speaker 1: tell me what you can see? The blokers called him

109
00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:26,360
Speaker 1: an effing freak, goes into a meltdown. Oh, I'm so

110
00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:29,839
Speaker 1: so sorry. I am so so sorry. Can I buy

111
00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:33,560
Speaker 1: you guys a couple of beers? Can I? Jim? What's happened? Now?

112
00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:36,080
Speaker 1: They must be lovely people. They're offering as beers? Now, Jim,

113
00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:39,760
Speaker 1: who is this? So then he plays out his whole

114
00:05:39,839 --> 00:05:41,880
Speaker 1: act of where's the beer? Could you show me where?

115
00:05:41,880 --> 00:05:44,400
Speaker 1: They just popping in my hand? And they drink beers

116
00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:47,960
Speaker 1: with this guy who keeps bumping right. It then gets

117
00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:50,040
Speaker 1: to the point where they've that enough to drink. They

118
00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:53,560
Speaker 1: get to the door. Barry Humphreeze is waving where are

119
00:05:53,560 --> 00:05:56,640
Speaker 1: they doing? Which direction? Where are they? Takes off his

120
00:05:56,720 --> 00:06:00,640
Speaker 1: sunglasses and tells them to get eft, runs out of

121
00:06:00,720 --> 00:06:04,279
Speaker 1: the door. Vity and Whipper with Kate Ritchie is a

122
00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:07,440
Speaker 1: Nova podcast. For more great comedy shows like this, head

123
00:06:07,480 --> 00:06:09,000
Speaker 1: to novapodcast dot com.

124
00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:09,559
Speaker 2: Jod Au