Dame Edna: Live and Intimate in her First Last Tour November 22, 2008
Last night, I moblogged from the frontlines about a protest that was occurring in SF, but it looks like my moblog entry is floating somewhere around cyberspace. I wonder when it’ll appear on my blog.
Anyways, last night I had the pleasure of seeing Dame Edna’s new show currently in previews in San Francisco called “Dame Edna: Live and Intimate in her First Last Tour”. Acted by the brilliant Barry Humphries as the Dame, I knew I had to see this show after catching her on Broadway in her Tony nominated show, “Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance”, one of the funniest nights I’d ever spent in a theater. Satire is a delicate art, but Dame Edna fearlessly brings it on in full force. A self proclaimed megastar wrapped in a transparent disregard for the lowliness of others compared to her fabulous self, she’s lovable in her delusion and confidence. Audiences adore her for it, and we all secretly wish we could say things with such direct honesty as she does. With her brand of cheeky insulting humor that crosses far over the line, it’s always delivered so genteely and always “meant in the nicest of ways”. The show soars in the best of moments in her unscripted intimate conversations with people in the audience (and even to an outsider on the phone). As with her previous Broadway show, this show is another chance to see her in all her glory – nothing new perhaps, but she never gets old and the laughs are just as fresh.
Since the show was only on its second night in previews there are a few kinks to be worked out, including the pacing of the show and the running gag with Dame Edna’s unruly jail-uniformed daughter, Valmai (acted by Erin-Kate Whitcomb), that is sometimes squirm-in-your-seat uncomforable, with Dame Edna and her pianist, Andrew Ross, coming off a bit prison guard-ish against her unpredictable behavior to make sure the show runs smoothly. I love to see Dame Edna with her perfect self image with blind spots to her own shortcomings, but here she humanly but not-in-a- Dame-Edna sort of way admits her shortcomings as a mother and occasionally come off as a bit mean to her disappointing daughter. My personal recommendation is to see this show after previews, although even if no changes are made to this show, it is totally worth going to see this show just to see the Dame herself in all her fabulosity. The show also ended in a poignant moment where Barry Humphries himself makes an appearance to take a final bow, that had me briefly panicking that perhaps this really is Dame Edna’s last tour. I REALLY hope not.
My favorite Dame Edna moment of the night outside the theater occurred on our Bart ride home. I was holding a Dame Edna gladiola, and outside through the window, I saw another guy holding a gladiola. We both shared a “trembling gladiola” moment. 
It’s this moment of connection that I’m sure Dame Edna would approve of, as her love and charm continues to get shared to audiences all over the world.
Wouldn’t it be great to have Dame Edna host the Academy Awards? That would be something – seeing her gently tease all the big celebrities.
Another note – if you don’t want to be singled out and made fun of (or made to kiss a stranger), avoid the first 10 rows like the plague.
Some Dame Edna quotes:
- “Never be afraid to laugh at yourself; after all, you could be missing out on the joke of the century.”
- “My show is like an intimate conversation between two friends, one of whom is a lot more interesting than the other.”
- To Sigourney Weaver: “Actresses of a certain age start to find their parts starting to dry up.”
- To a pretty young girl: “You are every father’s nightmare, and every uncle’s dream.”
Other links:
- SF Chronicle’s article on her show
- A review of her Broadway show in the NY Times: “Insult Alert: Duck if you can, possums”
- Dame Edna’s Mac makeup collection! You know you’re legendary if you’ve inspired a Mac collection, with a nail polish called “Varicose Violet” and a “Coral Polyp” lipstick. Watch for marketing alerts with Dame Edna’s brand of humor – it’s going to be fun to see what comes out.
Dame Edna: Live and Intimate in her First Last Tour continues at the Post Street Theater until January 4.
I find standup comics, which is what Dame Edna is, disturbing, which is what they’re meant to be. Saw her show tonight and left at intermission not because it wasn’t fabulous but because insult humor isn’t even remotely my style. Actually, that’s a lie, it’s very much my style but it’s not something I believe in cultivating.
Her first two victims-from-the-audience this evening were a poignant pair, a recent widow and a gay man who owned a bakery called “Lovely Loaves” in Livermore with his “husband” who was in the audience. The two were married onstage by Damn Edna and then, after not being able to get hold of any of the gay dude’s relatives, they called the widow’s daughter in New York at midnight. She hung up on them the first time around, but they called again, and ended up with an exquisite live moment. It was poignant and sad in ways that were not intended. I’m not going to be writing about it except for here.
Hey Mike, you speak vaguely but I’m guessing that it’s the post-Prop 8 world that I think that you’re referring to. The protest that I saw on my way to Dame Edna was a Prop 8 protest, one of the loudest I’d ever seen. Here’s to hoping very very soon… The guy they called up from the audience when I saw it was also a gay man whose HUSBAND was in the audience.
I’ve always hated insult comics after one made an inappropriate racist comment to me once, but I’ve never minded Dame Edna and found her to be smart in her satire. And so so (wrongly or rightly) funny.
Happy Thanksgiving, Mike.
I hope you have a good one.