Series Description

The Dame Edna's Hollywood TV show was a 60 minute comedy/variety series on NBC where Barry Humphries in the persona of Dame Edna chatted and performed with well known celebrities from her Bel-Air mansion.

Dame Edna's Hollywood Cast

Barry Humphries .... Dame Edna Everage
Emily Perry .... Madge Allsop

Dame Edna's Hollywood Trivia:

Some of the highlights of Dame Edna's Hollywood included singing "I Got You Babe" with Cher ("Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour") and an amazing comic banter with comedy legend Robin Williams ("Mork and Mindy").

Much of the comedy was slapstick with, for example, Larry Hagman ("Dallas" and "I Dream of Jeannie") being dropped into the swimming pool through a trap door and Chevy Chase ("Saturday Night Live") being flung out of a window by a rigged couch.

Barry Humphries has created a complicated character in Dame Edna. She spoofs that person we all detest who believes that they are above the rest of us due to their fame or social standing. Edna has described her talk shows as "an intimate conversation between two friends, one of whom is a lot more interesting than the other" and let there be no doubt that she considers herself to be the one most interesting!

Ironically, Dame Edna consistently treats famous people as if they are nobody special and she treats regular people like they are famous!

While Humphries has consistently stated that Dame Edna is simply a character that he plays, Edna herself emphatically denies that she is fictional. She says that Humphries is simply her manager and that they are two seperate individuals. While this is an interesting approach it may also be what allows Humphries to totally immerse himself in the character.

The effort to seperate Humphries and Edna into two seperate individuals is so complete that Dame Edna actually wrote her autobiography titled, "My Gorgeous Life" and Macmillan Publishers Ltd. credited Dame Edna as the author rather than Humphries! Even more unbelievable is that they listed the book as non-fiction!

For our non British fans, the title "Dame" is the female version of "Sir". Both titles are conferred onto commoners by the ruling Royal (currently Queen Elizabeth) for excelling in their field or for making some substantial contribution to British society. Dame Edna's title is fictional and Barry Humphries has not as of 2010 been knighted either but the Queen did bestow the title of "Commander of the Order of the British Empire" on Humphries in 2007. That title is just one level below a Knighthood and still extremely prestigious.

Guest Stars

1. Cher, Mel Gibson, Doc Severinsen, Jack Palance, Bea Arthur, Larry Hagman (11/30/1991)
2. Robin Williams, Kim Basinger, Ringo Starr, Chevy Chase, George Hamilton, Rue McClanahan, Burgess Meredith, Dr. Joyce Brothers (5/9/1992)
3. Burt Reynolds, Sean Young, Barry Manilow, Cesar Romero, Robin Leach (1/2/1993)