King’s birthday honours list 2023 includes Barry Humphries

Barry Humphries has gotten another gong, and one can only wonder what Dame Edna Everage would have thought.

Her former manager has been recognized with the highest level of King’s Birthday honours, for ‘outstanding achievement and merit of the highest degree in service to Australia or to humanity at large’.

Sounds good, and comes with a really nice medal, for those who like that sort of thing.

Of course, it’s been exactly ten years since Dame Edna sat next to Charles and Camilla in their royal box during the 2013 Royal Variety performance before anyone found her a better seat.

The comedian was on a list of hundreds honored on the King’s birthday, including former politicians Jennifer Macklin and Colin Barnett, and acclaimed author Tim Winton.

Humphries, who played the iconic character Dame Edna Everage, passed away in April at the age of 89

Humphries died in April at the age of 89 after delighting and outraging the public for more than half a century, using satirical characters to say the unspeakable.

Among them were Sir Les Patterson, Australia’s cultural attaché to the Court of St. James, the melancholic and rambling Sandy Stone, and the shrieking Ocker in Pommyland, Barry McKenzie.

For his comedic endeavors, Humphries has been posthumously awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia.

While the AC is clearly better than an AO (which Humphries received in 1982), it’s a trifle compared to his appointment as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

British/Australian comedian Ben Elton is also receiving recognition, just as his musical We Will Rock You returns to London’s West End.

“I am very surprised but very honored to receive this award,” he told AAP.

Elton was a writer on the groundbreaking sitcoms The Young Ones and Blackadder among many other shows, and has written over a dozen novels.

Pioneering comedians Judith Lucy and Denise Scott have also been recognized for their services to the arts.

Humphries will be recognized with the highest level of King’s Birthday honours, for ‘outstanding achievement and merit of the highest degree in service to Australia or to humanity at large’ (photo, companion of the Australian Medal)

The pair have done several stand-up shows together and Lucy just wrapped up her starring role in Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days with the Melbourne Theater Company.

Soprano Marina Prior has been recognized for her achievements in musical theater – just as Mary Poppins, in which she plays not one but two parts, ends her run in Melbourne.

She learned about the honor via email and initially thought it was a hoax — except no one asked for her bank details.

“It was the last thing I expected… I am extremely grateful and feel very blessed,” she told AAP.

Prior, 59, has starred in Cats, Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera and West Side Story, to name a few, over her four-decade career.

“I am proud to represent the middle-aged to older woman. We are not invisible and we have stories to tell.”