Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance

I had managed to steer almost totally clear of Dame Edna before my first live dose, reading lightly about Australian actor Barry Humphries' creation and skimming exactly one interview with milady. So I enjoyed myself immensely during my first exposure. The tacky glasses, the silky lavender hair, and the dopey gladiolas were all new to me. These would all probably become less amusing if I had to swallow them nightly. But I love Dame Edna's magnanimous, patronizing cruelty, showered with equal glee upon President Bush and the clueless electorate who keep him in office. Fresh rations of insult were doled out to victims plucked out of the front rows for humiliation and, yes, to those poor old paupers who must content themselves with balcony seats.

Even more adorable was the delight people in the audience took to being insulted by her ladyship. There was a Montel Williams-Jerry Springer crassness to this appetite for public mortification. My favorite segment came when the erstwhile Everage took a young couple onstage and commiserated with them on the impending dissolution of their marriage.

Edna sustained this pretense even after she had the kids phone Mom in New Hampshire and the audience shouted hello to her. TV used to have such zany moments fairly frequently in the old days, so it was welcome to see such frolic finding refuge on Broadway.

A day after Christmas, Edna was still showing motherly concern for President Bush, suggesting gifts that might help him through his struggles. A word-a-day calendar could strengthen the boy's vocabulary. A world atlas could help him master geographical concepts beyond "abroad" and "overseas." Sweet.