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Sir Les Patterson
Sir Leslie Colin Patterson is a fictional character created and portrayed by Australian comedian Barry Humphries. Patterson is obese, lecherous and offensive. His typical stage costume includes a tangle of hair, makeup suggesting an alcoholic's rosacea, grotesque teeth, a loud tie, a shirt covered with food stains, and padded pants that indicate an enormous penis.
By Humphries' own account, the character of Patterson first appeared in a one-man show that he performed at the St. George leagues club in Sydney in January 1974. Appearing in the guise of the boorish, loud-mouthed and uncultured Patterson, Humphries claimed to be that club's own entertainments officer as he introduced the next act, Dame Edna Everage. As Humphries recalled, "I understood later that many members of the audience thought Les was genuinely a club official, which says a lot for his charm and sincerity". Later that same year, the character (by now identified as Australia's cultural attaché to the Far East) was revived in a two-week cabaret appearance that Humphries performed at the Mandarin Hotel in Hong Kong. In Humphries' words, "The English merchant bankers and commodity brokers and Australian accountants there all recognised Les as someone they knew in the Australian diplomatic corps, and took him to their hearts." Patterson went on to play an even larger role in Humphries' next one-man show in London, Housewife, Superstar! (1976), delivering a lengthy monologue that was included on the original cast album.
Humphries (who gave up alcohol in the 1970s) said in 2016 that "in Les I can release my alcoholism". He found that of all his characters Sir Les caused the most offence Down Under, as Australians are "deeply conventional" and "like being bossed around".
For more than 30 years, the character of Sir Les Patterson was a regular feature in Barry Humphries' solo theatrical appearances in Australia and the United Kingdom, during which he performed a monologue and frequently burst into song. Some of Patterson's specific monologues (as documented in the theatre programmes for Humphries' various shows) included the following:
During the Australian tour of Remember You're Out! (1999), it was stated that Patterson would not appear for fear of offending Humphries' more genteel fans; the character nevertheless made an appearance (as a scripted but seemingly unexpected gate crashing) during the show's second act.
In an effort to specifically satisfy fans of Les Patterson's earthy humour, Humphries performed two one-man shows entirely in Patterson's guise: one in London, entitled Les Patterson Rampant in Whitehall (June–July 1996) and another in New York, entitled Les Patterson Unzipped (Zipper Theater, 2 May 2005). The London performance was recorded and has since been released both as an audio tape and a video tape, under the title Live and Rampant: Les Patterson has a Stand-Up.
On television, Patterson presented a documentary about the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong, entitled Sir Les and the Great Chinese Takeaway (1997). He has appeared as a special guest on the following:
Barry Humphries was interviewed in Patterson's guise on numerous TV talk shows, including Parkinson (1982), Clive James, Clive Anderson's All Talk (1995), The Panel (2003) and Rove Live (2005).
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Sir Les Patterson
Sir Leslie Colin Patterson is a fictional character created and portrayed by Australian comedian Barry Humphries. Patterson is obese, lecherous and offensive. His typical stage costume includes a tangle of hair, makeup suggesting an alcoholic's rosacea, grotesque teeth, a loud tie, a shirt covered with food stains, and padded pants that indicate an enormous penis.
By Humphries' own account, the character of Patterson first appeared in a one-man show that he performed at the St. George leagues club in Sydney in January 1974. Appearing in the guise of the boorish, loud-mouthed and uncultured Patterson, Humphries claimed to be that club's own entertainments officer as he introduced the next act, Dame Edna Everage. As Humphries recalled, "I understood later that many members of the audience thought Les was genuinely a club official, which says a lot for his charm and sincerity". Later that same year, the character (by now identified as Australia's cultural attaché to the Far East) was revived in a two-week cabaret appearance that Humphries performed at the Mandarin Hotel in Hong Kong. In Humphries' words, "The English merchant bankers and commodity brokers and Australian accountants there all recognised Les as someone they knew in the Australian diplomatic corps, and took him to their hearts." Patterson went on to play an even larger role in Humphries' next one-man show in London, Housewife, Superstar! (1976), delivering a lengthy monologue that was included on the original cast album.
Humphries (who gave up alcohol in the 1970s) said in 2016 that "in Les I can release my alcoholism". He found that of all his characters Sir Les caused the most offence Down Under, as Australians are "deeply conventional" and "like being bossed around".
For more than 30 years, the character of Sir Les Patterson was a regular feature in Barry Humphries' solo theatrical appearances in Australia and the United Kingdom, during which he performed a monologue and frequently burst into song. Some of Patterson's specific monologues (as documented in the theatre programmes for Humphries' various shows) included the following:
During the Australian tour of Remember You're Out! (1999), it was stated that Patterson would not appear for fear of offending Humphries' more genteel fans; the character nevertheless made an appearance (as a scripted but seemingly unexpected gate crashing) during the show's second act.
In an effort to specifically satisfy fans of Les Patterson's earthy humour, Humphries performed two one-man shows entirely in Patterson's guise: one in London, entitled Les Patterson Rampant in Whitehall (June–July 1996) and another in New York, entitled Les Patterson Unzipped (Zipper Theater, 2 May 2005). The London performance was recorded and has since been released both as an audio tape and a video tape, under the title Live and Rampant: Les Patterson has a Stand-Up.
On television, Patterson presented a documentary about the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong, entitled Sir Les and the Great Chinese Takeaway (1997). He has appeared as a special guest on the following:
Barry Humphries was interviewed in Patterson's guise on numerous TV talk shows, including Parkinson (1982), Clive James, Clive Anderson's All Talk (1995), The Panel (2003) and Rove Live (2005).