While stage curtains fall to end the show and the audience is sent packing, the sudden death of Barry Humphries surely has an encore of echoing applause transcending up high amid a celestial choir of trumpeting angels. (Genius took us on comic journey, 23/4). Mocking his parent’s generation in embarrassingly acute detail with razor-sharp satire, it’s surprising that world audiences got the joke so well. A masterful genius at mimicry, timing and wit, the costumed tragics he resurrected to showcase his unique parody resonated with our distant relatives on occasion, highlighting the relevance of his message, which was almost too close for comfort. Sir Les Patterson and Dame Edna Everage undoubtedly live on in the lives of those comically pilloried from the suburbs of Melbourne, no longer to be reluctantly picked on. RIP Barry Humphries. Our lives were all touched and the Southern Cross has lost its brightest star. Alan Sexton, North Parramatta. 30Apr2023.