Comedy stars from around the world have paid tribute to the late Barry Humphries, hailing him a “true great”.
Humphries, best known for his character Dame Edna Everage, died in hospital in Sydney on Saturday aged 89.
Rob Brydon, who was with Humphries three days before his death, said his friend was “as ever, making me laugh” and that his “talent shone until the very end”.
“RIP Barry Humphries. A true great who inspired me immeasurably,” the Gavin and Stacey star tweeted. “It was a delight to call him my friend. I’ve been in Australia and was with him only three days ago. He was, as ever, making me laugh. His talent shone until the very end.”
The Australian comedian Adam Hills, said it was appropriate that Barry Humphries “took his final bow on a Saturday night”.
“RIP Barry Humphries. One of the greatest comedians of our time,” he wrote. “He was nothing but an utter gentleman to me, and occasionally a dame.”
Ricky Gervais said Humphries was a “comedy genius”, and the impressionist Rory Bremner said he was an “all-time great”.
Bremner wrote: “Lightning quick, subversive, mischievous, widely read, deeply knowledgable about art, music & literature & savagely funny. Dame Edna arguably the greatest comic persona ever. Les Patterson too. True genius.”
Matt Lucas said Humphries was “quite simply the greatest”. “I wonder if all geniuses are as lovely as Barry Humphries. Thank you for delighting and inspiring us,” he wrote.
Dara Ó Briain, the former host of Mock the Week, said Humphries was “one of the absolute funniest people ever”.
Tweeting from Australia, where he is on tour, Jimmy Carr, wrote: “A bit bittersweet doing gigs in Australia this evening, Barry Humphries has passed and no one will ever be as good at crowd work again.”
The presenter Michael Parkinson said Humphries was one of his favourite talkshow guests ever.
“I have lost a dear friend of many years,” he said in a statement to PA news agency. “Barry was a cultured, highly intelligent, fascinating man who just happened to create, in Dame Edna Everage, one of the everlasting comedy characters of all time as well as one of my favourite guests on my talkshow.”
He added: “In a time when the word is bandied around far too easily, we have truly lost a genius. I shall miss him and the dame in equal measure. So will we all.”
The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said Humphries was “the brightest star” in his “galaxy of personas”. “A great wit, satirist, writer and an absolute one-of-kind, he was both gifted and a gift. May he rest in peace,” he wrote.
The Australian actor Jason Donovan said the country had lost “one of its greatest”. “Funny, literate and fiercely intelligent. Barry Humphries was quite simply an entertaining genius,” he wrote. “The characters he created brought laughter to millions.”
The BBC said it would make episodes from Humphries’ BBC Radio 2 series Forgotten Music Masterpieces available on BBC Sounds as a tribute.
Laura Busson, a commissioning executive for Radio 2, said: “Everyone at Radio 2 is saddened to hear of the passing of Barry Humphries. His six Radio 2 series of Barry Humphries’ Forgotten Music Masterpieces were hugely popular with our audience, and we will publish some of these programmes on BBC Sounds today for listeners to enjoy, in tribute to Barry.”
