Handling Edna: The Unauthorised Biography by Barry Humphries

This book is about Dame Edna Everage and is written by Barry Humphries from the viewpoint of Edna's agent. As it is focused on Dame Edna there are gaps from Barry's life although he has written two other autobiographies such as "More, Please: An Autobiography" (which he says only mentions him playing Edna in his shows because of the pressure he was put under at the to,e by his publishers to write the story in that way to maximise sales) if you want to fill those gaps.

As for Dame Edna's life all the peripheral characters such as the invalid husband Norm, the housemaid Madge and the sons and daughters make an appearance. It is amazing how many times the author mentions the similarities between his mother and Dame Edna. It's as if Dame Edna could have been a character creation based on his mother?

There is also an appendix with a few different bits and pieces of Dame Edna's material as a sort of DVD extra section.

All in all this was an informative read about a comedy icon even if it is a work of fiction (or not as the case may be).


(This book is listed on Amazon here.)