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Dame Edna Everage
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=== 1950sβ1999 === Humphries played the character at comedy clubs, satirising the atmosphere of 1950s Melbourne suburbia. An interview with "Mrs Everage" was one of the programmes screened on [[HSV-7]]'s first day of programming in 1956. Another revue called Rock'n'Reel followed in 1958 at the New Theatre in Melbourne. She appeared in a televised revue shown on New Year's Eve, 1958, ''[[Wild Life and Christmas Belles]]''. The character's overseas debut, now as Edna Everage, was in the early 1960s at comedian [[Peter Cook]]'s nightclub, [[The Establishment (club)|The Establishment]], in London's West End, where she received a poor review from [[Bamber Gascoigne]], then the drama critic for ''[[The Spectator]]''. Barry Humphries cites Cook as being instrumental in launching Edna's UK career. While her first appearances at the Establishment Club were a flop, the mousy Edna being too quiet to please that raucous crowd, a 2016 interviewer William Cook saw the early failure as a blessing, so that Humphries spent the sixties as a jobbing actor rather than as a pampered star.<ref name="William Cook pp15-18"/> In 1972, the character appeared as [[Barry McKenzie]]'s "Aunt Edna" in the film, ''[[The Adventures of Barry McKenzie]]''. In the sequel ''[[Barry McKenzie Holds His Own]]'', the Australian Prime Minister [[Gough Whitlam]] cameos at the close of the film to confer upon Edna the title of [[Dame (title)|Dame]], henceforth to be known as "Dame Edna". Following the lukewarm reception to Edna's early appearances in Humphries' 1969 stageshow ''Just a Show'' and the BBC television series ''The Barry Humphries Scandals'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/barryhumphries/ |title=Barry Humphries |access-date=2011-07-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110410090505/http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/barryhumphries/ |archive-date=10 April 2011 }}</ref> a growing awareness and appreciation among British audiences for Edna emerged and Humphries devised a stage show titled ''Edna Everage Housewife Superstar'' which was successfully presented in London's [[West End theatre|West End]] in the mid-1970s. The show featured monologues, songs and what was becoming an Edna trademark β interaction with the theatre audience. In April 1976, Edna made an appearance in ''A Poke in the Eye (with a Sharp Stick)'' β the first of what became [[Amnesty International]]'s [[The Secret Policeman's Balls|Secret Policeman's Ball]] series of benefit shows. Edna performed a song for the show and was featured in the film of the show. She also appeared in the 1981 Amnesty show ''[[The Secret Policeman's Other Ball]]''. Edna made a cameo appearance in the 1978 film ''[[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (film)|Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]]''. In 1979 she was the subject of a [[BBC]] ''[[Arena (UK TV series)|Arena]]'' [[mockumentary]]: ''La Dame aux Gladiolas''. Humphries debuted the character off-Broadway in New York City in the late 1970s, but the show received such a poor review from ''[[The New York Times]]'' that Humphries later joked that he thought, "Well, I'll go back to Broadway but I'll wait till the critic's dead β and I had to wait 25 years. I had to wait a quarter of a century for that critic to die".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/tv/enoughrope/transcripts/s864967.htm |title=ENOUGH ROPE with Andrew Denton β episode 11: Barry Humphries (26/05/2003) |publisher=ABC |date=26 May 2003 |access-date=21 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121208074112/http://www.abc.net.au/tv/enoughrope/transcripts/s864967.htm |archive-date=8 December 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Dame Edna's success grew in the UK throughout the 1980s and early 1990s with semi-regular stage and television shows. Her first TV specials were in 1978β1979 on BBC, but she became popular with broadcaster [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] after her initial performance on ''An Audience With ... Dame Edna Everage'' in 1980, in front of an audience of invited celebrities. She went on to perform two more ''[[An Audience With...]]'' specials (in 1984 and 1988), the only performer ever to make three shows in the series. In 1987, Edna starred alongside Humphries's vulgar alter-ego [[Les Patterson]] in the comedy feature ''[[Les Patterson Saves the World]]''. In the same year ''[[The Dame Edna Experience]]'', ostensibly a talk show which she described as "really a monologue interrupted by total strangers" aired, featuring high-profile "celebrity guests" such as [[Sean Connery]], [[Mel Gibson]], [[Joan Rivers]], and [[Germaine Greer]] (an old friend of Humphries'), as well as Madge, her silent, sour-faced "bridesmaid and travelling companion". In 1989, the show was back for a second season, this time taking place in her "luxury penthouse suite" where her guests stayed and, in the case of [[Douglas Fairbanks, Jr]], did her grocery shopping. Subsequently, these shows were aired in the U.S. on PBS, broadening her audience and enlarging her fame. ''[[Dame Edna's Neighbourhood Watch]]'' a reality/game show hybrid, aired in 1992, and saw her and Madge having a look at her "by invitation only, ladies audience" member's houses, and evaluating their housekeeping skills. U.S. television specials followed, as did an unsuccessful series which aired only one episode. She appeared as a guest of [[Phil Donahue]] on his talk show on 17 February 1993. In 1997, she appeared in another television talk show ''Dr Dame Edna Kisses It Better''. Edna continued her Australian stage and television appearances including a record five appearances as guest presenter at the [[TV Week Logie Awards]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.logies2008.blogspot.com|title=TV Week Logie Awards 2008|author=Aussie TV Fan|work=logies2008.blogspot.com|access-date=11 February 2015}}</ref> and a role as a co-narrator (along with Humphries and Les Patterson) of the [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC]]'s Australian social history series ''Barry Humphries Flashbacks'' in 1999.
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