IT'S BARRY, POSSUMS! Still entertaining at 88

Ain't nothing like a dame, but now the man behind Edna is ditching the disguises to laugh at himself

From the outrageous cheek of Dame Edna Everage to the perpetually drunk Sir Les Patterson, Barry Humphries knows how to get a laugh. Now, at the ripe age of 88, the comedian is trying something new going on stage as himself! This month the Aussie icon has hit the road with a one-man tour of the UK, called Barry Humphries: The Man Behind the Mask, in which he shares anecdotes and observations from his deliciously colourful life.

"I call the tour my 'tourette',” he grins, “because that's what I'll be doing on stage - saying whatever comes into my head. And there's no need to dress up!" Some fans might have to do a double take to recognise the man on stage as the same person who has made them roar with laughter for the past six decades and counting.

As his crass alter ego Sir Les Patterson, he got endless mileage from flaunting his food-stained ties and referring to his, er, member as "the frightener”. And as "housewife superstar” Dame Edna, he wowed the world with bedazzled horn-rimmed glasses, a purple wig, sparkly frock and ascerbic wit.

Beneath his many guises, however, Barry Humphries has been clocking up a wealth of hilarious true-life stories to share with his fans. Like the time in 1967 when he was enjoying an after-show drink in London and the barman said a woman “who says she's Princess Margaret” was on the phone asking for him.