y separately published work icon The Wonderful World of Barry McKenzie selected work   short story  
Issue Details: First known date: 1968... 1968 The Wonderful World of Barry McKenzie
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

Follows the adventures of Barry McKenzie, an 'ocker' lad who travels to the United Kingdom to claim an inheritance.

Adaptations

form y separately published work icon The Adventures of Barry McKenzie Barry Humphries , Bruce Beresford , ( dir. Bruce Beresford ) Sydney : Longford Productions , 1972 Z400738 1972 single work film/TV humour satire (taught in 2 units)

After he comes into a small inheritance, Barry McKenzie (aka Bazza) decides to visit England with his aunt, which leads to many humerus and some not-so-humorous incidents with Poms from all persuasions and classes. As Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper note: 'The narrative offers a 'vigorous parody of the Australian "ocker," anti-intellectual, xenophobic, obsessed with beer and sex but never capable of relating positively with women, using a vernacular of prodigious vulgarity and inventiveness, and totally oblivious of anything beyond his own narrow conception of the order of things' (1980, p. 340).

Notes

  • Barry 'Bazza' McKenzie (aka Barrington Bradman Bing McKenzie) is a fictional character created by Australian comedian and satarist, Barry Humphries. The idea for the character came through a suggestion by British comedian, Peter Cook. Humphries subsequently collaborated with New Zealand artist Nicholas Garland to create a comic strip which was subsequently published in the British satirical magazine Private Eye. These were later compiled into The Wonderful World of Barry McKenzie and published out of London by McDonald and Co. The publication and importation into Australia was banned, however, when the Minister for Customs and Excise declared that the book 'relied on indecency for its humour.' Interestingly, as Anne Pender notes in 'The Mythical Australian: Barry Humphries, Gough Whitlam and "New Nationalism"' (2005): 'Two years later the Australian Government, under Prime Minister John Gorton, fully funded a film version of the book, The Adventures of Barry McKenzie (1972) through the newly created Australian Film Development Corporation. In 1974, another Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, appeared in the sequel entitled Barry McKenzie Holds His Own. He played himself' (p. 67)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      McDonald and Co. ,
      1968 .
      Extent: 102p.
      Edition info: A Gnome book.
      Description: illus.
      Note/s:
      • Dedicated to Peter Cook
      ISBN: 0356025020
    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Sun Books , 1971 .
      Extent: 102p.
      Description: illus.
      ISBN: 0725101199, 0233964142
  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Complete Barry McKenzie Barry Humphries , Sydney : Allen and Unwin/Haynes , 1988 Z824202 1988 collected work short story satire humour London : Methuen , 1988
Last amended 14 Dec 2012 09:24:13
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