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Les Patterson

Sir Les Patterson
First appearance January 1974, St. George leagues club, Sydney, Australia
Created by Barry Humphries
Portrayed by Barry Humphries
Born (1942-04-01) 1 April 1942 (age 75)
Taren Point, Southern Sydney
Information
Family Gerard Patterson (brother)
Lois (sister)
Noreen (sister)
Spouse(s) Gwenneth Lorraine Dolan
Children Craig and Karen
Relatives Leo (uncle)
Ebenezer Patterson (ancestor)
Religion Christian (Roman Catholic)

Sir Leslie Colin "Les" Patterson (born 1 April 1942) is a fictional character created and portrayed by Australian comedian Barry Humphries. Obese, lecherous and offensive, Patterson is Dame Edna Everage's exact opposite: she is female, refined, Protestant and from Melbourne; he is male, uncouth, Roman Catholic and from Sydney.

Patterson's humour abounds in such a wide range of racist and sexual stereotypes that it would offend almost anyone who takes it at face value.

By Humphries' own account, the character of Patterson first appeared in a one-man show that he performed at the St. George leagues club in Sydney in January 1974. Appearing in the guise of the boorish, loud-mouthed and uncultured Patterson, Humphries claimed to be that club's own entertainments officer as he introduced the next act, Dame Edna Everage. As Humphries recalled, "I understood later that many members of the audience thought Les was genuinely a club official, which says a lot for his charm and sincerity". Later that same year, the character (by now identified as Australia's cultural attaché to the Far East) was revived in a two-week cabaret appearance that Humphries performed at the Mandarin Hotel in Hong Kong. In Humphries' words, "The English merchant bankers and commodity brokers and Australian accountants there all recognised Les as someone they knew in the Australian diplomatic corps, and took him to their hearts." Patterson went on to play an even larger role in Humphries' next one-man show in London, Housewife, Superstar! (1976), delivering a lengthy monologue that was included on the original cast album.

Humphries (who gave up alcohol in the seventies) said in 2016 that in Les I can release my alcoholism. He found that of all his characters Sir Les caused the most offence Down Under, as Australians are deeply conventional and like being bossed around.

For more than 30 years, the character of Sir Les Patterson has been a regular feature in Barry Humphries' solo theatrical appearances in Australia and Great Britain, during which he performs a monologue and frequently bursts into song. Some of Patterson's specific monologues (as documented in the theatre programmes for Humphries' various shows) include the following:


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