Dame Edna and The Man Beneath the Legend

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when this interview opportunity came across my desk. The truth is, in fact, that I was just short of frightened. After doing much research, my fear level grew exponentially.

One never knows with whom one will be speaking when interviewing Dame Edna Everage, today's gifted woman of the world: The housewife, the investigative journalist, social anthropologist, talk show host, swami, children's book illustrator, spin doctor or the razor-sharp tongued, ever-observant and oh-so-snarky icon.

What can a mere human expect when you are about to interview such a "Megastar?" The gifted, sequined, purple-tufted and coiffed, woman of the ages, whose "Possums" flock (hmm, do possums flock?), to attend her performances across the globe. A decades-old creation of Mr. Barry Humphries, who as it turned out and delightfully so I might add, to be the interviewee who showed up for this happy writer.

Please enjoy... I know I certainly did.

I am so curious about if there was a specific moment, when you birthed Dame Edna?

Edna really appeared on stage as a rather shy, dowdy creature for the first time and I happen to remember the exact date, because I recently checked. It was the 13th of December, in 1955. Which would make her very nearly a 60-year-old comic creation. I don't believe, and I say this in all modesty, that there is an old comic, quite as old as that!

That's amazing and is really such a big part of what makes Dame Edna so fascinating to me, her longevity - among other things.

Every time I did her character, I would think, "I won't be doing this again." Edna was a sort of a marionette that I would put away in a box and close the lid. Then, the next time I would do a show, I would open that lid and she would be there looking back at me, this time with rhinestone glasses and wearing purple! Each time, she would become that much more confidant. Somehow, I lost my personal connection with the character and in a spooky way, to use her favorite epithet, Edna changed into this sort of dragon (laughs).

It's fascinating how evolved Dame Edna is as a character and really, as a person.

I know it is (laughs), and that I am able to speak quite comfortably in the third person is curious and rather frightening. I remember doing a character in a play with Guy Pearce, the Australian actor and a friend of mine said, "You know you should do more of that, because you ought to show people that you are a good actor." To which I replied, "But what about Dame Edna?" He said, "Well that's not acting, I mean, she's a real person!"

I have invented someone that has a reality, a separate reality and will never get me an award for acting (laughs), it's amusing that is... and isn't it sort of mysterious?

To me, the mark of a truly great actor is that you lose the person when the character comes on stage.

The actor truly does disappear. Most performers that I know, and the great ones too, like to have a glimpse of themselves and to really demonstrate their own virtuosity. I suppose there is another theatrical genre that is called drag, when you know, you see this guy being Liza or Marlene Dietrich or Barbra Streisand, or even Lady Gaga; you enjoy the performance because you know that it's a man. The pleasure comes from that awareness, I think.

Whereas Edna is a different thing all together... someone once asked Edna,"Are you a drag artist, Edna?" And her reply was, "No darling, I would never dress up as a man! (Laughs) What kind of a home do you think I would have come from to do a sick thing like that?"

Your upcoming tour schedule looks like it's going to be an intense one.

It is, I've just been looking at the dates and wondering why the hell I said "yes" to all of them! (Laughs) I complain as I lie on my bed here in Sydney, talking to you about the prospect of an arduous tour and when I'm doing it, the task becomes very different. It's like taking a plunge into water that seems a little cold at first, but in the end, you adjust. Also, I love American audiences because they are so responsive.

We sure wish you were coming to San Diego, I feel like we're missing out!

You are! (Laughs) I actually did a show in San Diego a few years ago. I like the city very much and enjoyed being there. Though, I don't think I would have ever done a show in America if Joan Rivers hadn't encouraged me to do so. She is an old friend, or was. Much lamented by us all.

It really was such an unfathomable loss, and much more so, because of the way it happened.

It was a silly one, wasn't it really?

It was truly sad on so many levels; she had become such a huge part of the fabric in the American comedy landscape.

Yes, of course and such a big following elsewhere. For all of her outrageousness and relentlessness, she was finally respectable, wasn't she? She adored knowing members of The Royal Family (laughs).