John Barry Humphries était un comédien, satiriste et artiste australien, surtout connu pour ses alter ego sur scène et à la télévision, Dame Edna Everage et Sir Les Patterson. Son œuvre se caractérise par une satire cinglante et un humour dadaïste, à travers lesquels il commentait les phénomènes sociaux et culturels. En plus d'écrire et de jouer, il s'est également consacré à la peinture et au théâtre, démontrant ainsi sa polyvalence.
Barry Humphries has deliberately furnished his biographers with half-truths and fiction, but now he has written his own account of his life. He tells of his schooldays, his Australian adolescence, his indiscretions, his renunciations and his appetites.
Doran, Amanda-Jane, Punchlines - 150 years of humorous writing in Punch. London, HarperCollins, 1991. 26cm. XII, 371 pages. Original hardcover with dustjacket in protective mylar. Excellent, close to new condition with only minor signs of external wear. Includes work by authors / comedians such as: John Bentjemen / Mary Dunn / Graham Greene / Melvyn bragg / Stevie Smith / William Boyd / Robert Graves / etc.
Barry Humphries's first novel. Mrs Petty is a famous housewife with a successful TV show. She is also Derek Pettyfer - fiftyish, cultured, set in his ways. His arrival at any party, however sophisticated, always provokes a discreet little frisson amongst the guests. But Derek is also lonely.