1
00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:04,200
Speaker 1: So the weekend a comedy, great pastaway, and that's Barry Humphries.

2
00:00:04,280 --> 00:00:07,520
Speaker 1: I thought this morning somebody would have explained just about

3
00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:11,200
Speaker 1: the huge, huge legend that Barry wasn't the life he

4
00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:14,319
Speaker 1: leaved is Steve Weissar. So Steve's on the line now,

5
00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:15,360
Speaker 1: Good morning Steve.

6
00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:19,480
Speaker 2: Good morning Christian. And what an appropriate, what an appropriate

7
00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:22,239
Speaker 2: anecdote that someone should have a possum in the shower.

8
00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:26,320
Speaker 1: There's something Barry about though.

9
00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:29,160
Speaker 2: There's so Barry Humphreys a possum in the show. I

10
00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:31,400
Speaker 2: thought it's an expression that the mid that would have.

11
00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:34,440
Speaker 1: It feels like the euphemism as well.

12
00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:37,160
Speaker 2: Steve to me, I've got a problem in the show

13
00:00:37,440 --> 00:00:38,159
Speaker 2: for lucky you.

14
00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:44,920
Speaker 1: So Steve tell us about the huge impact then or

15
00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:46,040
Speaker 1: the great Barry Humphries.

16
00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:49,840
Speaker 2: I mean it's way to start. I mean we wake

17
00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:52,159
Speaker 2: up today in a less funny world. He was a

18
00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:54,920
Speaker 2: man who he was born in the thirties, so he

19
00:00:54,960 --> 00:00:56,960
Speaker 2: was an old man. He was nearly ninety years old,

20
00:00:57,160 --> 00:01:00,760
Speaker 2: but even as a student he was creating him at school.

21
00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:05,960
Speaker 2: At university he became a dataist, an artist whose entire

22
00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:09,440
Speaker 2: career was focused on disrupting things. He organized an art

23
00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:13,160
Speaker 2: exhibition at Uni of data r Art, and he got

24
00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:16,600
Speaker 2: some old boots together and filled them with custard and

25
00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:23,679
Speaker 2: called his exhibition Puss in Boots. His entire life was

26
00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:26,880
Speaker 2: focused on disrupting people of those we all know those

27
00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:29,680
Speaker 2: stunts that he did, I mean those stunts as a student,

28
00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:32,800
Speaker 2: where he were on his way on an early morning

29
00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:35,920
Speaker 2: train to work, he had people bring in he got

30
00:01:35,959 --> 00:01:38,600
Speaker 2: on the first stop, and at every stop thereafter he'd

31
00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:41,400
Speaker 2: organized people to bring on a different course of breakfast.

32
00:01:41,720 --> 00:01:44,840
Speaker 2: So he was sitting on a crowded break train going

33
00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:47,800
Speaker 2: into work with all these people hanging on, and at

34
00:01:47,840 --> 00:01:51,280
Speaker 2: every station someone the first bring on the Coco pops,

35
00:01:51,520 --> 00:01:53,800
Speaker 2: and at the next station they brought on some bacon

36
00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:55,720
Speaker 2: and eggs, and the next one they brought in a

37
00:01:55,760 --> 00:01:59,320
Speaker 2: cup of tea, and nothing was said. They got on

38
00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:03,200
Speaker 2: and took off the preceding trade with Another one he

39
00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:07,960
Speaker 2: did in town was he got a sick bag and

40
00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:12,080
Speaker 2: he filled it with vegetable canned vegetables, put it on

41
00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:16,720
Speaker 2: the footpath just before peak hour, and then dressed up

42
00:02:16,919 --> 00:02:20,720
Speaker 2: wearing virtually beggar's clothes and proceeded to eat it all

43
00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:24,919
Speaker 2: up with a spoon and people peak our commutes were

44
00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:27,440
Speaker 2: gathered around his disbelief and this horror of the thing.

45
00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:30,560
Speaker 2: I mean another time in London, and for no reason

46
00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:33,840
Speaker 2: he did this. He got on a train and pretended

47
00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:36,320
Speaker 2: he was blind and he was reading a p Andola role,

48
00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:40,720
Speaker 2: you know those perforated roles, and someone started beating him

49
00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:42,600
Speaker 2: and said get out of the road to stupid old

50
00:02:42,639 --> 00:02:46,359
Speaker 2: blind man. For no reason, he thought that was performance.

51
00:02:46,520 --> 00:02:49,040
Speaker 2: H I mean, he was doing this before he got

52
00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:52,000
Speaker 2: onto a stage, and then he got onto a stage,

53
00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:56,600
Speaker 2: and for seventy years he created these characters. Dame Edna,

54
00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:00,959
Speaker 2: who charted the course of from a suban Mooney Pond's

55
00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:04,480
Speaker 2: housewife to becoming a superstar. I mean, she was the

56
00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:08,480
Speaker 2: original blogger. She was a celebrity with no good reason

57
00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:13,120
Speaker 2: before there were before there were bloggers. And maybe that

58
00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:16,400
Speaker 2: was what he was commenting on Les Pets Patterson astral

59
00:03:16,440 --> 00:03:21,839
Speaker 2: as cultural attache. You know, just this slobbering, speeding, gufforing

60
00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:27,440
Speaker 2: buffoon who was hilariously funny. And then you know there

61
00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:30,320
Speaker 2: was just a plethora of other characters. But you know,

62
00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:33,000
Speaker 2: at his heart made he was I think he was

63
00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:36,200
Speaker 2: a collector, and he collected, not only did collect books

64
00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:39,560
Speaker 2: and things. He collected characters, but he also was responsible

65
00:03:39,640 --> 00:03:43,000
Speaker 2: over seventy years for collecting great phrases. I mean, he

66
00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:46,760
Speaker 2: was a bloke who, through his character Barry McKenzie, collected

67
00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:50,000
Speaker 2: all those phrases and brought them into the into common

68
00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:54,640
Speaker 2: Pilance's phrase like you know, up at Sparrow's fat and

69
00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:58,720
Speaker 2: up she'd creeked in a barbed white canoe without a paddle,

70
00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:02,640
Speaker 2: and she goes off like an alarm clock. Or you

71
00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:06,240
Speaker 2: know he's got Buckley's or not with his bulls roar,

72
00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:09,480
Speaker 2: or flashes a rat with a gold tooth, or flat

73
00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:12,960
Speaker 2: out like a lizard drinking or more full in a

74
00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:16,640
Speaker 2: Catholic school. I mean, these were all the phrases that

75
00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:19,039
Speaker 2: he just heard in pubs and on the street, and

76
00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:22,520
Speaker 2: he incorporated them into his act, and he was a giant.

77
00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:24,800
Speaker 2: I mean, the best way of thinking about it is,

78
00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:28,039
Speaker 2: we've just had the comedy festival in Melbourne Christian and

79
00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:30,800
Speaker 2: you know, we're the best comedians in the world and

80
00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:32,880
Speaker 2: some might do a set of twenty minutes and the

81
00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:36,280
Speaker 2: best might do a set of an hour. Barry Humphreys,

82
00:04:37,000 --> 00:04:39,760
Speaker 2: even as a seventy year old man, was doing a

83
00:04:39,839 --> 00:04:45,039
Speaker 2: three hour show himself alone on stage all of his characters.

84
00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:48,840
Speaker 2: He did dozens of those shows on three continents, A

85
00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:52,360
Speaker 2: Star in the US, a Star in the UK, Star

86
00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:56,680
Speaker 2: in Australia, dozens of hundreds of TV specials, his own

87
00:04:56,760 --> 00:05:00,040
Speaker 2: shows with the greatest stars in the world. But he

88
00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:04,920
Speaker 2: he would fulfill an available space all by himself. And

89
00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:06,880
Speaker 2: you know anyone who stood on a stage in fro

90
00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:08,960
Speaker 2: and you know you do it every day, but you

91
00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:11,480
Speaker 2: know the ad breaks. He would stand on a stage

92
00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:16,000
Speaker 2: by himself for three hours flat and entertained people. And

93
00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:18,800
Speaker 2: it's not like singing songs where people can tune in

94
00:05:18,839 --> 00:05:21,120
Speaker 2: on out or listen to that song and not the next.

95
00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:23,919
Speaker 2: When you're doing comedy, you have to have people's attention

96
00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:28,200
Speaker 2: every second. He would get a laugh for five laughs

97
00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:32,560
Speaker 2: a minute, non stop for three hours. It's an unheard

98
00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:36,760
Speaker 2: of feet And he did that in the sixties, the seventies,

99
00:05:36,839 --> 00:05:40,920
Speaker 2: the eighties, the nineties. That he was even touring a

100
00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:44,039
Speaker 2: one man show his own life all through the UK

101
00:05:44,160 --> 00:05:47,359
Speaker 2: and Australia last year right up to the moment of

102
00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:51,560
Speaker 2: his demise. So you know, what a talent and you

103
00:05:51,600 --> 00:05:54,359
Speaker 2: know he's going to be sarely missed. He wasn't just

104
00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:57,800
Speaker 2: a great performer, he was a great writer. He was

105
00:05:57,839 --> 00:06:01,520
Speaker 2: a great social observer and I think you know these

106
00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:04,040
Speaker 2: are these are unique. It was kind of like a

107
00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:07,599
Speaker 2: Mark Dwain of Australia or an Oscar Wild of Australia.

108
00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:10,680
Speaker 2: You know, a penetrating wit and a one off.

109
00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:13,880
Speaker 1: What high praise as well, Steve, you've done, You've done

110
00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:16,600
Speaker 1: the great man justice. You're right, a colossal talent and

111
00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:19,880
Speaker 1: like you Steve, and I'm sure many people listening right

112
00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:23,719
Speaker 1: now disappeared down a very pleasurable wormhole yesterday watching there's

113
00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:26,680
Speaker 1: so many clips you're right, from the sixties and seventies

114
00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:30,960
Speaker 1: with Parkinson, Joan Rivers and he's holding court. They were

115
00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:34,400
Speaker 1: all his timing and his use of words and phrasing

116
00:06:34,480 --> 00:06:37,560
Speaker 1: and look to cameras and to the audience is yeah

117
00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:39,400
Speaker 1: or real one off there You never get another one

118
00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:39,920
Speaker 1: like Barry.

119
00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:43,640
Speaker 2: No, he's a one off mate. And you know if

120
00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:45,080
Speaker 2: you say what are we going to miss? We're going

121
00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:47,280
Speaker 2: to miss a laughter. I mean it is a rare

122
00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:49,720
Speaker 2: thing to be able to make a stranger laugh. It's

123
00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:52,240
Speaker 2: a unique gallup and he could take a room full

124
00:06:52,279 --> 00:06:55,800
Speaker 2: of strangers, an auditorium full of strangers and make them

125
00:06:55,839 --> 00:06:58,760
Speaker 2: laugh and in the best way doing this one thing

126
00:06:58,839 --> 00:07:02,720
Speaker 2: that is a very rare gift self recognition. He would

127
00:07:02,839 --> 00:07:05,600
Speaker 2: turn the mirror on themselves and very few people can

128
00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:08,560
Speaker 2: get a lot doing that. He was a genius. He's

129
00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:10,720
Speaker 2: a genius or one of a one of a kind,

130
00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:12,560
Speaker 2: and he's going to be mismade. Ah.

131
00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:14,920
Speaker 1: You did him justice there, Steve. Thanks for talking to

132
00:07:15,000 --> 00:07:16,640
Speaker 1: us this morning. I'll catch up with you asume, mate,

133
00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:17,720
Speaker 1: but thank you Steve for doing that.

134
00:07:18,160 --> 00:07:19,520
Speaker 2: Thanks Christing any time, mate,