Sir Les Patterson Has a Stand-Up: Live and Rampant

Barry Humphries slips into the stained teeth, loud tie, and prosthetic gut of Sir Les Patterson to host what he bills as a “sex education video for troubled adults and dysfunctional drinkers”. Backed by a troupe of dancers known as the Lesettes, Australia’s lecherous cultural attaché holds court on topics entirely unsuited for diplomacy. He doles out advice on Bangkok massage parlors, explains the proper way to inspect the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and details a trip to “Tuna Town”.

Filmed at London’s Whitehall Theatre and released on VHS in 1996, the performance arrived just as character comedy was seeing a resurgence at the Edinburgh Fringe. Humphries leans fully into Patterson’s physicality and unearned confidence. He claims personal credit for securing the Sydney 2000 Olympics and performs musical numbers about his fitness regime and getting colonic irrigation with Princess Diana. Critics at the time directed younger comedians to the Whitehall to see how high-level character work was actually executed, noting the sheer scale of the grotesque persona.