So Im sitting here watching it rain, and Im watching 'Are You Being Served?' excerpts. Nothing makes me laugh like Mr. Humphries and I have no idea why. The 70's/80's humor - BRITISH humor at that - is canned and campy. John Waters would have a field day. John Inman, the incredible actor who portrayed him for so many years, said that there was no talk of Mr. Humphries being camp at all.
What is camp anyway? Im sure the gentle readers who follow this stream of thought haven't the faintest idea. According to Wikipedia, my favorite reference, states...
"Camp is an aesthetic sensibility wherein something is appealing because of its bad taste and ironic value. The concept is closely related to kitsch, and things with camp appeal are described as being "campy" or "cheesy". When the usage appeared, in 1909, it denoted: ostentatious, exaggerated, affected, theatrical, and effeminate behaviour, and, by the middle of the 1970s, the definition comprised: banality, artifice, mediocrity, and ostentation so extreme as to have perversely sophisticated appeal.[1]"
I LOVE CAMPY!! If I'm Mr. Humphries - then I am the true personification of camp. Hell, you people know me...am I?
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