Michael Palin’s Diary entry, 23 May, 1976 after having lunch with Ian, [who collaborated on material for Barry Humphries’ stage show]:“Ian tells a good Barry Humphries tale—apparently Barrie was in full swing as Edna in his show at the Apollo, when a man in the front row, ever so discreetly, left for a pee. But he couldn’t really escape Edna’s eye and Edna remarked in his absence and talked to his wife for a while about his waterworks. Having found out the man’s name, Edna and the audience plotted a little surprise for him. So when he duly reappeared from the gents and made for his seat, once again stealthily and soundlessly, without disturbing a soul, Edna gave a cue and as he was half-way down the gangway, the entire theatre chanted, ‘Hello Colin!’”
Michael Palin Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2006, 317.
Image: Dame Edna.