Growing up near Melbourne in roughly the same time period, I appreciate Barry's sure touch with Sandy and the extraordinarily vivid detail of this character's life and times, like delicate brushwork on a great work of art, which is exactly what he is. A satirical genius is at work here,
I saw Mr Humphries a few years ago in the UK. He did Dame Edna and Sir Les. He started the second half with Sandy Stone. Perfectly written and observed. It was such a contrast and is engrained in my memory. For me, this is not just about life in a backward-looking Australian city in the 1950s. It is timeless. It is about life and it's end game: memories of small things that bring comfort as you leave an out of control world.
Barry is exceedingly intelligent. There's so much more to his characters than I fear most people see, the depth one can read into his characters is almost without end. They say so much more than is said.
Humphries says that as he grows older he appreciates Stone more and needs less make up. I think Stone is a wonderful character and those who think this is boring have no real understanding of the subtlety of the humour. I first came across the character of Sandy Stone in "Sandy Comes Home" in 1990 which I thought was wonderful.The Royle Family is from the same mould, there is real pathos in the humour. Humphries is a real polymath and a comic of genius.
Although Dame Edna is brilliant, I have to say Sandy is the very pinnacle of Barry Humphries’ talent. When the audience is laughing through teary eyes, that’s the sign of pure genius.
Thank you. My Father was a great fan who enjoyed Sandy Stone’s character. After watching this I now know why. R.I.P. to Barry Humphris and my Dad. Brilliant.
My favorite of all of Barry Humphries' characters ... Sweet. Sincere. Slightly repressed. A man (and his wife) who'd lived through the depression. And the war. A couple in love with the banality of their lives, and at exactly the same time, justifiably in love with the banality of their lives. The secret to Sandy Stone is to hear what he doesn't say. Why his RSL membership? Why his eternal tiredness. Why doesn't he talk to anyone about anything beyond the schedule? Utterly masterful.
Thank you for your explanation.I did missunderstand this Sandy Stones character, because my English isn´t the best....but I am learning and I am always thankful for a good hint.
I can't thank you enough. Saying that I managed to find a very rough copy some 20 years ago. Always my favourite Humphries character, a master story teller that moves me to tiers. A Melbourne that is no more, Thank you for posting.
Wonderful stuff and Sandy has always been my favourite Humphries character. I managed to find a very poor VHS copy in 1993. So pleased to see this up on youtube after all these years, a real gem and thank you for posting.
RIP Sandy, et al... Barry Humphries was a big fan of Samuel Beckett; his favorite book was Watt according to an old interview. I always think of Sandy and his monologues of beloved period trivia, subtle double-entendres, humorously applied clichés, and genuinely whistful reminiscences (say that with his characteristic whistle!) as a character in a Beckett novel or play.
'and nipping down to the shops to do the occasional messages' WOW! Never heard that outside of Scotland! 'Doing the messages' = going food shopping. RIP Sir, what a fabulous talent ❤
Thanks a million for posting. I re-read the book at least once a year, to cheer me up after some heavy stuff like a biog of Trotsky or Simone de Beauvoir. I've just finished the annual peruse. Loads of Brits appreciated Edna Everage and Sir Les, but Sandy Stone was a rare appearance on the telly. My favourite character.
Humphries' opening monolgue about how we perceive the past is very interesting. I'm watching this as far away in time from the broadcast as the broadcast was from the 1950s. These days we wouldn't see the 80s as so alien to our own times, yet we would view them as a crass, tasteless period. The 50s, by comparion, seem, if a little dull, quite civilised.
So this particular performance was set in 1958 the year after I was born. My childhood growing up in Australia from that time was wonderfully free, with nature close to the suburban big back yards and green corridors bringing nature into the cities too. We lived all around the nation as a RAAF base living family. Beaches or rivers, lakes and wetlands everywhere for free, fun entertainment. As a toddler I remember the colours of the early plastics in our home and the old fashioned pre plastic bakelite still in the oldies fusty, darkened for coolness, heavy furnished houses while we lived in bright airy colourfully decorated lightly furnished, bright homes with pretty electric fans.. Pretty coloured plastic cannisters and an aluminium saucepan set with different coloured shiny anodised lids. As a teen in the seventies and young woman in the 80's, there were so many colourful plastic fantastics to be bought. NOW in my mid sixties, I'm seeing the wild expansion of concrete, tar and cheek by jowl, yardless housing into the, and burying the, wild as alarmingly destructive. Animal species facing extinction due to more regular and expansive heat waves, bushfires and floods. Forever plastics inside ocean creatures and our blood as well, forever toxic water in natural waterways, caused by toxic crop sprays and fire fighting foam, used with the intention of saving us and the natural environment in mind, coming into our homes through our taps. Toxic cookware used over generations. Easily erected asbestos panel fencing and houses. The simple natural pleasures, we were told back then, by big profit making corporations, were boring and Dullsville. Now it dawns upon us, not as dull as Deadsville.
I love this character. I saw online what purports to be an account of seeing BH do this in which Sandy specifically mentions his daughter, June. I wonder if there is video of this bit anywhere. I would pay money to watch it.
A WORLD of pubs with full ashtrays. well endowed barmaids, & SP bookmakers.Races on the bakelite wireless,listening to the horse races from Moonee Valley..The wonderful tranquility, of six o'clock closing..Sunday a thermos of TEA,and a game of mixed doubles Tennis, with the other couples...
People laugh but Sandy Stone was Humphries' stinging portrayal of the sad, hopeless and boring lives of the middle class in Melbourne, much like Johnny Speight's tragicomic working class "Steptoe and Son" series.
The ultimate in gentle but devastating critique of a suburban life as death...hence the title obviously. Gangajang's song "Sounds of Then" makes a similar comment. Most listeners rate the song as great and representative of the great Australian life; but listen closely and the criticism of Australian suburban life lurks in every verse.
Sandy Stone was a poignant character creation underpinned by pathos. Barry was remarkable. Can’t understand why the audience are so amused by this superb performance. This isn’t comedic, it’s very sad & touching.
Too true in my case. My parents were of Barry's vintage and showed me this on TV when I was a teenager. They had seen him live many years prior and this was their favourite of his characters.
His phrase "returned man". I presume it is WW1 vintage, repurposed for WW2. Does it indicate the man suffered mental/physical injury or did it refer to all former soldiers?
Soldiers that served overseas I believe. I think he knowingly used this term as a form of semi-ridiculous satire suggesting that the man was “returned” like an item from a shop , it must confuse younger people. Davox.
@@davidmartin1015 It turns out it was the official term used both in Canada and Australia (perhaps UK and elsewhere) for soldiers having returned from fighting WW1. They were looked after by the authorities until they could take up their old job. It is indeed awkward but it's not something he made up. I hadn't heard it before and I can't find it referring to WW2.
There was a generation of Aussies who had missed both wars, lived around Glen Iris and Camberwell in the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, and who comprised the base of the Conservative Liberal Party, who neither drank / smoked / danced / or gambled / and who comprised a section of Melbourne's protestant conservative society known as THE WOWSERS. This Liberal Conservatism is what kept Robert Menzies and his Liberal Party in power in Australia for 23 years - until the BABY BOOMERS came of age with the Beatles / Rolling Stones / Vietnam War protests / and Gough Whitlam and the Labor Party winning its first election in 1972. It was this stifling conservatism that sent Barry Humphries and other Australian identities like artists / musicians / actors - overseas to England and Europe, just to escape. In paroding this conservatism thru the character of Sandy Stone, Barry is showing how much he was reviled by this conservative and banal lifestyle.
But there was a generation of Aussies who had missed both wars, lived around Glen Iris and Camberwell in the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, and who comprised the base of the Conservative Liberal Party, who neither drank / smoked / danced / or gambled / and who comprised a section of Melbourne's protestant conservative society known as THE WOWSERS. This Liberal Conservatism is what kept Robert Menzies and his Liberal Party in power in Australia for 23 years - until the BABY BOOMERS came of age with the Beatles / Rolling Stones / Vietnam War protests / and Gough Whitlam and the Labor Party winning its first election in 1972. It was this stifling conservatism that sent Barry Humphries and other Australian identities like artists / musicians / actors - overseas to England and Europe, just to escape.
you wouldn't have left without a complete serve of Barry Humphries wonderful vitriol which Barry saved for tossers like you and his audience would be laughing at YOU...not Barry!
Ciao Lorenzo, It's probably hard to appreciate this sort of monologue if you've never lived in Melbourne, Australia and aren't old enough to remember the events,characters and situations he describes. You have to understand how stiflingly conservative, banal and self satisfied was the milieu which Sandy Stone gently parodies,to really get the humour.
Well, at least you got the point - it was supposed to be "boring" Barry Humphries,, who rejected the predictable life of suburban Melbourne, illustrates the tedious details and boredom of older people of a certain age ithere. If you had lived in this age, or had parents or grandparents like this you would have appreciated it more.
This is why new age comedy in Australia is dead. No one talks this way anymore, and acts the ass the same way that Barry does. Perhaps one day i'll do some standup shit. Certainly hold true to all this old way of life whilst having a young / eccentric approach. Either way been around great characters like Barry all my life. Can certainly say they are the best of "The last of the Mohicans" Norm Macdonald has a similar style / approach also.
Growing up near Melbourne in roughly the same time period, I appreciate Barry's sure touch with Sandy and the extraordinarily vivid detail of this character's life and times, like delicate brushwork on a great work of art, which is exactly what he is. A satirical genius is at work here,
I saw Mr Humphries a few years ago in the UK. He did Dame Edna and Sir Les. He started the second half with Sandy Stone. Perfectly written and observed. It was such a contrast and is engrained in my memory. For me, this is not just about life in a backward-looking Australian city in the 1950s. It is timeless. It is about life and it's end game: memories of small things that bring comfort as you leave an out of control world.
Never ever seen this character before. Genius. RIP my dear Barry x
A very unsung and brilliant character and one of my favourite monologues. Rest easy Mr. Barry Humphries.
❤
RIP Barry. We’ll miss you.❤️
Barry is exceedingly intelligent. There's so much more to his characters than I fear most people see, the depth one can read into his characters is almost without end. They say so much more than is said.
"Barry is exceedingly intelligent?" Hmmm, you must be pretty smart to spot that. He's brilliant. He's bitingly funny. That about sums it up.
@@jezebeljones659 Guess you need to be artistically inclined then.
His sense of observation and comedy were exceptional.
You have to be appreciative of him sharing his lovely mind of acting out so many characters and for bringing so much laughter into the world xx
Humphries says that as he grows older he appreciates Stone more and needs less make up. I think Stone is a wonderful character and those who think this is boring have no real understanding of the subtlety of the humour. I first came across the character of Sandy Stone in "Sandy Comes Home" in 1990 which I thought was wonderful.The Royle Family is from the same mould, there is real pathos in the humour. Humphries is a real polymath and a comic of genius.
They reckon he knows a lot and is pretty funny, too.
Although Dame Edna is brilliant, I have to say Sandy is the very pinnacle of Barry Humphries’ talent. When the audience is laughing through teary eyes, that’s the sign of pure genius.
Thanks a lot for posting this. I’ve never seen only heard of this character and I haven’t laughed this much in ages. Barry is an absolute genius!
This was a very nice night's entertainment. :)
Thank you so much for posting this!
The greatest entertainer to ever walk on this Earth...
debiedog1 Indeed! His wit is incomparable!
He is
We're certainly going to miss you Barry thanks for the laughter
Thank you. My Father was a great fan who enjoyed Sandy Stone’s character. After watching this I now know why. R.I.P. to Barry Humphris and my Dad. Brilliant.
I've never seen much Sandy Stone before.
Wow. He's hypnotic.
My favorite of all of Barry Humphries' characters ...
Sweet. Sincere. Slightly repressed. A man (and his wife) who'd lived through the depression. And the war. A couple in love with the banality of their lives, and at exactly the same time, justifiably in love with the banality of their lives.
The secret to Sandy Stone is to hear what he doesn't say. Why his RSL membership? Why his eternal tiredness. Why doesn't he talk to anyone about anything beyond the schedule?
Utterly masterful.
Thank you for your explanation.I did missunderstand this Sandy Stones character, because my English isn´t the best....but I am learning and I am always thankful for a good hint.
Brilliantly written and performed by the Master.Funny and sad
He reminds me of a less complicated version of my grandfather, who coincidentally spent most of his life in Glen Iris.
So wonderful. So gentle. So truthful.
I can't thank you enough. Saying that I managed to find a very rough copy some 20 years ago. Always my favourite Humphries character, a master story teller that moves me to tiers. A Melbourne that is no more, Thank you for posting.
Tears ! .
Wonderful stuff and Sandy has always been my favourite Humphries character. I managed to find a very poor VHS copy in 1993. So pleased to see this up on youtube after all these years, a real gem and thank you for posting.
RIP Sandy, et al... Barry Humphries was a big fan of Samuel Beckett; his favorite book was Watt according to an old interview. I always think of Sandy and his monologues of beloved period trivia, subtle double-entendres, humorously applied clichés, and genuinely whistful reminiscences (say that with his characteristic whistle!) as a character in a Beckett novel or play.
Thank you for uploading. Sandy is my favourite Humphries character.
'and nipping down to the shops to do the occasional messages' WOW! Never heard that outside of Scotland! 'Doing the messages' = going food shopping. RIP Sir, what a fabulous talent ❤
We said it in Dunedin New Zealand. I was raised doing the messages. Delia Morris
Comic genius and endlessly kind. You will be so sadly missed.
Thanks a million for posting. I re-read the book at least once a year, to cheer me up after some heavy stuff like a biog of Trotsky or Simone de Beauvoir. I've just finished the annual peruse. Loads of Brits appreciated Edna Everage and Sir Les, but Sandy Stone was a rare appearance on the telly. My favourite character.
I adore both Dame Edna & Sir Les but Sandy is perfection. He makes me laugh, and makes me cry. I’d love to see Humphries do some more Sandy Stone.
I am a big fan of Les Patterson (The charter) best one I have ever watched was, "Late Lunch with Les" brilliant 😀
So funny - the best of his characters - a very nice night's entertainment 😅
Thanks for the video, a brilliant man, so sad to hear he died today.
R.I.P. Barry.
Thank you very much for uploading this.
I can't believe I have never seen this...haven't belly laughed like that for ages!!❤
Humphries' opening monolgue about how we perceive the past is very interesting. I'm watching this as far away in time from the broadcast as the broadcast was from the 1950s. These days we wouldn't see the 80s as so alien to our own times, yet we would view them as a crass, tasteless period. The 50s, by comparion, seem, if a little dull, quite civilised.
Glad I finally took the time to watch the whole thing. Very nice.
So this particular performance was set in 1958 the year after I was born. My childhood growing up in Australia from that time was wonderfully free, with nature close to the suburban big back yards and green corridors bringing nature into the cities too. We lived all around the nation as a RAAF base living family. Beaches or rivers, lakes and wetlands everywhere for free, fun entertainment. As a toddler I remember the colours of the early plastics in our home and the old fashioned pre plastic bakelite still in the oldies fusty, darkened for coolness, heavy furnished houses while we lived in bright airy colourfully decorated lightly furnished, bright homes with pretty electric fans.. Pretty coloured plastic cannisters and an aluminium saucepan set with different coloured shiny anodised lids. As a teen in the seventies and young woman in the 80's, there were so many colourful plastic fantastics to be bought. NOW in my mid sixties, I'm seeing the wild expansion of concrete, tar and cheek by jowl, yardless housing into the, and burying the, wild as alarmingly destructive. Animal species facing extinction due to more regular and expansive heat waves, bushfires and floods. Forever plastics inside ocean creatures and our blood as well, forever toxic water in natural waterways, caused by toxic crop sprays and fire fighting foam, used with the intention of saving us and the natural environment in mind, coming into our homes through our taps. Toxic cookware used over generations. Easily erected asbestos panel fencing and houses. The simple natural pleasures, we were told back then, by big profit making corporations, were boring and Dullsville. Now it dawns upon us, not as dull as Deadsville.
This summed up my grandparents life in a nutshell. Happily living 2 minutes from the RSL in their blonde brick house with a sun room at the back
Barry has a beautiful command of the English Language. It shows in this script and as Dame Edna.
The first time ll saw Sandy Stone l fid not realise it was Barry Humphries He was sn amazing performer and so observant of the human condition
Much appreciated viewing. Beaut stuff, indeed. Ta.
Pretty Special stuff Albert isn't it
Seen this 100 times and still funniest thing ever.The politics of niceness
i've never seen this character either. like an aussie version of allan bennett's "talking heads"
Rest In Peace Barry!!
I love this character.
I saw online what purports to be an account of seeing BH do this in which Sandy specifically mentions his daughter, June. I wonder if there is video of this bit anywhere. I would pay money to watch it.
A WORLD of pubs with full ashtrays. well endowed barmaids, & SP bookmakers.Races on the bakelite wireless,listening to the horse races from Moonee Valley..The wonderful tranquility, of six o'clock closing..Sunday a thermos of TEA,and a game of mixed doubles Tennis, with the other couples...
Simply BRILLIANT!
About the most Subtle humour i have ever seen. Great stuff.
Surely, with the possible exception of CHARLES CHAPLIN, this man is the greatest comic genius of them all........remarkable. ❤
oh Barry Humphries how clever/ intelligent you are...Sandy Stone is Australian of the Year..EVERY year
Sounds like Herbert The Pervert from Family Guy.....just an observation 😑
So glad I found this
what a talent!!!!!!!!
Brilliant pathos. Master of his craft.
A national treasure!
And the Oscar for Best Actor in a drama ora comendy goes to ..... BARRY HUMPRHIES.
heartbreaking...
Had a bit of trouble extricating the vehicle
This is exceptional I relate to all of it, which is a bit scary!!
Perfection
Wonderful. My favourite character.
Pure Genius ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
Our great loss.
The cancel culture don't understand what they do.
Never forgotten Barry. ❤❤
from a "returned" man--- Genius
The great loss,every thinking person's darling.oh I wish he hadn't left us.
Never seen this ❤
Wonderful wonderful.Beryl is a gem
I love that bit about crying for help 😅
Australia I envy you even though he will belong to the whole world for all ages. As long as there are people who can recognize his genius.
In his final tour ten years ago we learnt that Sandy and Beryl had actually had a child. Polio.
Brilliant just brilliant
I love this man !!👠🎩👠
Brilliant!
‘It’s funny though, isn’t it, the way you can’t remember your dreams?’
People laugh but Sandy Stone was Humphries' stinging portrayal of the sad, hopeless and boring lives of the middle class in Melbourne, much like Johnny Speight's tragicomic working class "Steptoe and Son" series.
Could not agree more.
The ultimate in gentle but devastating critique of a suburban life as death...hence the title obviously. Gangajang's song "Sounds of Then" makes a similar comment. Most listeners rate the song as great and representative of the great Australian life; but listen closely and the criticism of Australian suburban life lurks in every verse.
i have been trying send wonderful bit of stuff it doesn't work for old Sandy's
He's really something, isn't he?
Everyone laughs but people were happy. I remember the fifties, I was a toddler. Delia Morris
Vale Barry Humphries.
Have they cancelled him yet.
Pure genius, makes life worth living.
Sandy Stone was a poignant character creation underpinned by pathos. Barry was remarkable. Can’t understand why the audience are so amused by this superb performance. This isn’t comedic, it’s very sad & touching.
Yep, first saw Sandy a few years ago and thought it highly amusing. Rewatching the monologues now seems vaguely disturbing. Tempus fugit.
Brilliance
People who could remember the Australia Humphries evokes here are now decea … have passed on.
There’s still an odd one of us left Andrew. Davox.
or those of us with fond memories of our grandparents
Too true in my case. My parents were of Barry's vintage and showed me this on TV when I was a teenager. They had seen him live many years prior and this was their favourite of his characters.
Humphries' finest creation, and I believe his favourite. Such beguiling banality.
Barry Humphries...so true..i know it won't happen to you "Edna"
Would love a copy of this some how?
instal the You Tube downloader, then you can play it anytime without being on the internet. Just save to a USB stick.
Check the ABC store.
His phrase "returned man". I presume it is WW1 vintage, repurposed for WW2. Does it indicate the man suffered mental/physical injury or did it refer to all former soldiers?
Soldiers that served overseas I believe. I think he knowingly used this term as a form of semi-ridiculous satire suggesting that the man was “returned” like an item from a shop , it must confuse younger people. Davox.
@@davidmartin1015 It turns out it was the official term used both in Canada and Australia (perhaps UK and elsewhere) for soldiers having returned from fighting WW1.
They were looked after by the authorities until they could take up their old job.
It is indeed awkward but it's not something he made up.
I hadn't heard it before and I can't find it referring to WW2.
Returned soldier from ww1 and ww2.
The 1950's were actually the century's sixth decade.
I knew people like this zzzThey made me feel like sceaming
He never put "we'llmeet again " I wander why ...
GAAAA that dental whistling
Lol. I've been to Lorne.
He sounds a bit like the pedophile on family guy (the whistling speech)
1990
There was a generation of Aussies who had missed both wars, lived around Glen Iris and Camberwell in the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, and who comprised the base of the Conservative Liberal Party, who neither drank / smoked / danced / or gambled / and who comprised a section of Melbourne's protestant conservative society known as THE WOWSERS. This Liberal Conservatism is what kept Robert Menzies and his Liberal Party in power in Australia for 23 years - until the BABY BOOMERS came of age with the Beatles / Rolling Stones / Vietnam War protests / and Gough Whitlam and the Labor Party winning its first election in 1972. It was this stifling conservatism that sent Barry Humphries and other Australian identities like artists / musicians / actors - overseas to England and Europe, just to escape.
In paroding this conservatism thru the character of Sandy Stone, Barry is showing how much he was reviled by this conservative and banal lifestyle.
bad luck my little left wing possum Barry is a dyed in the wool original Menzieist!
@@navydoll Perhaps one can sense a hint of envy in Humphries in Sandy's contentment.
Family guy
Sandy and Edna aren't funny to me. Les was.
Real aussies are not wimps evenin old age
But there was a generation of Aussies who had missed both wars, lived around Glen Iris and Camberwell in the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, and who comprised the base of the Conservative Liberal Party, who neither drank / smoked / danced / or gambled / and who comprised a section of Melbourne's protestant conservative society known as THE WOWSERS. This Liberal Conservatism is what kept Robert Menzies and his Liberal Party in power in Australia for 23 years - until the BABY BOOMERS came of age with the Beatles / Rolling Stones / Vietnam War protests / and Gough Whitlam and the Labor Party winning its first election in 1972. It was this stifling conservatism that sent Barry Humphries and other Australian identities like artists / musicians / actors - overseas to England and Europe, just to escape.
Too blody long
IfI was in a theather - even if I had to pay good money - I would have left after 20 minutes of this totally boring thing - stick with Edn
you wouldn't have left without a complete serve of Barry Humphries wonderful vitriol which Barry saved for tossers like you and his audience would be laughing at YOU...not Barry!
Ciao Lorenzo,
It's probably hard to appreciate this sort of monologue if you've never lived in Melbourne, Australia and aren't old enough to remember the events,characters and situations he describes. You have to understand how stiflingly conservative, banal and self satisfied was the milieu which Sandy Stone gently parodies,to really get the humour.
@@johnclarkkennedy1556 True, it’s very much an Aussie memory !
Well, at least you got the point - it was supposed to be "boring" Barry Humphries,, who rejected the predictable life of suburban Melbourne, illustrates the tedious details and boredom of older people of a certain age ithere. If you had lived in this age, or had parents or grandparents like this you would have appreciated it more.
This is why new age comedy in Australia is dead.
No one talks this way anymore, and acts the ass the same way that Barry does.
Perhaps one day i'll do some standup shit.
Certainly hold true to all this old way of life whilst having a young / eccentric approach.
Either way been around great characters like Barry all my life.
Can certainly say they are the best of "The last of the Mohicans"
Norm Macdonald has a similar style / approach also.