Several years ago, I found one of my parents doubled over in laughter – barely containing their brimming tears and gasping breaths as a book threatened to slip onto the floor. The perpetrator of this humour was a copy of More Please: An Autobiography by Barry Humphries.

The man was somewhat of a mystery to me, overshadowed by his theatrical creations that had long since transcended from the stage into the fabric of Australian culture – never to be hushed.

It feels as though there has never been an Australia without Humphries.

Although the exaggerated cringe of the lecherous cultural attaché Sir Les Patterson...