Barry Humphries

Dame Edna Everage will bring final show to Britain

Barry Humphries will bring his final Dame Edna Everage show, "Eat Pray Laugh!" to Britain and America.

Bye-bye, possums! Dame Edna exits stage left

Farewell, possums. Barry Humphries, the man behind the big glasses and purple hair of Australia's first lady, has announced he is retiring Dame Edna Everage from the stage after admitting he is feeling a "bit senior".

Barry Humphries joins Hobbit cast

Australian-born comedian Barry Humphries, who is best known for his alter ego Dame Edna Everage, is to join the cast of The Hobbit.

Some episodes of QI are quite funny, others are quite interesting. The best episodes combine the two to become extremely entertaining, but I think "Gravity" will have to settle for quite interesting. Actually, make that very interesting. This was one of those episodes where the sheer wealth of astonishing trivia overshadowed the jokes because the guests were hanging on Stephen Fry's every word. Ordinarily, I'd grumble about them being paid to sit there as glorified members of the studio audience, but I actually don't blame them because I was similarly fascinated...

Regardless, it was a shame Rich Hall didn't make much of an impression here, as he's ordinarily good value as the laconic interjector, but my low expectations for QI newbie Barry Humphries were proven well founded. He's only ever funny in the guise of his alter-ego Dame Edna Everage (and even the hilarity of Edna's debatable), and his lacklustre performance here proved so. Humphries' garish clothes were the only thing memorable about him. So yes, we'll have to put this episode down as a something you'll find yourself enjoying mainly for non-comedic reasons. I'm still fascinated by the fact it takes 42-minutes to fall through the Earth's surface to any point on the planet (be it London to Australia, or London to Paris), and that the bullet from a gun fired while aimed parallel to the ground at arm's length will hit the ground at the same time you simply drop a bullet held at the same height.

The frustrating thing about QI is that it's increasingly difficult to impress people down the pub with the littleknown facts it throws up, as it's become so popular (and it repeated so often) that your source is always never in doubt.

This esoteric quiz continues to leave us feeling we've learned something new. Tonight Stephen Fry and Alan Davies welcome guest panellist Barry Humphries. Let us hope that Humphries will display the same acerbic wit as his alter ego, Dame Edna.