16 minutes | Monday, 24 April 2023
Nobody knew how to make the great and powerful with big egos get in line during a TV interview than Dame Edna. Her chat shows became the ones all the big ego celebs wanted to be on… only to be ridiculed and cut down to size be the Dame who in end could have passed for an elder member of the aristocracy.
The Dame is one of the most ensuring cultural figures of the last few decades and was played by the Australian comic and actor Barry Humphries. Despite being the Dame being an LGBTQ+ icon to many, Humphries was famously anti woke and was labelled by some people as anti trans.
So how did one of the biggest gender non confirming entertainment acts of all time end up being played by a straight man with conservative political leanings?
Graeme Smith takes a personal look at the cultural impact of Dame Edna on young queer people growing up in the 80's and 90's and how that contrasted with the politics of the man himself.