One of my first authentic Australian ‘cultural’ experiences, years before I made it my home, was Barry Humphries’ good mate Sir Les Patterson. Much to my pleasant surprise, Sir Les ‘crashed’ Bill Leak’s book launch last week – a “deplorable interruption” Barry said of it today.

But there I was in the same room with two of my favourite humourists, one of whom, Bill, I was just beginning to get to know as a friend.