In West End event with Barry Humphries

A planned silent comedy extravaganza featuring Barry Humphries has been replaced by an ‘audience with…’ event.

The Dame Edna creator was due to be joined by a live orchestra on the stage of the London Palladium for two screenings on April 28 – but now the evening event will now feature the Dame Edna creator being interviewed by Rob Brydon.

However the matinee remains the same: a screening of Buster Keaton’s  Steamboat Bill Jr and shorts from Laurel & Hardy and Charlie Chaplin, accompanied by  Carl Davis conducting the Bristol Ensemble.

Only around ten per cent of the 2,200 seats for the 3pm have been sold in the month since it was announced, but organiser Chris Daniels, who is also director of Bristol’s Slapstick vintage comedy festival, insisted that cutting costs was not the reason for the change of format.

‘Rob has been wanting to do this for many years,’ he said. ‘He

he was free and we all jumped at it.  Usually one of them is overseas or not available as they’re so busy working.’

The evening show will take a format similar to that of BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs – or Chortle’s Perfect Playlists –  with Humphries revealing his top ten comedy moments of all time, which will be shown a huge HD screen. 

The 85-year-old, will also tell of his 64 years on stage, from the fresh-faced graduate starting out at the Melbourne Theatre Company, to selling out the Palladium in the 1980s. 

Brydon said:  ‘I’ve admired and been influenced by Barry Humphries for as long as I can remember.  I will probe his every nook and cranny, relentlessly."

 Humphries added: ‘I’m nervous about being probed by Mr Brydon, I consulted his wife. She reassured me by saying that it could be rather entertaining on the odd occasion." 

Tickets for Rob Brydon Probes Barry Humphries Live on Stage will be on sale from 10am on Thursday at www.lwtheatres.co.uk.

Published: 26 Feb 2019