Sir Les Patterson

Sir Les Patterson

Sir Leslie Colin "Les" Patterson is a fictional character portrayed by the Australian comedian Barry Humphries. Obese, lecherous and offensive, this farting, belching, nose-picking figure of Rabelaisian excess is an antipodean Falstaff. He is Dame Edna Everage's exact opposite: she is female, refined, Protestant and from Melbourne; he is male, uncouth, 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.

• He boasts of his prowess with his "Girl Friday" and his trips to Bangkok "rub and tug shops".
• He jokes that "the best place to hide something from a Pom is under a bar of soap".
• He also resents Australians having died "stopping a bullet for the Pommy Empire".