“Your bravery was amazing.”
Fans of ITV’s This Morning were left in stitches after Barry Humphries, who is perhaps best known as his drag alter ego Dame Edna, mistook Dermot O’Leary for Philip Schofield and commended his bravery for coming out.
Schofield famously came out as gay while presenting This Morning in 2020.
During his interview, Humphries addressed Dermot and said: “I’ve got a very good memory Dermot. A very good memory and incidentally I want to congratulate you by the way, seriously, on your courage.”
He continued: “Last year, when he came out and told us about his sexuality.”
At this, host Alison Hammond started cracking up, while Dermot attempted to hold it together.
The Dame Edna creator went on: “No, no, because I think a lot of people respected you for that.”
Dermot thanked Humphries for his kind words, but attempted to clarify the situation.
Can guarantee this conversation doesn't go the way you'd expect it to 😂 pic.twitter.com/64PLpMq77e
— This Morning (@thismorning) November 26, 2021
The TV presenter said: “Thank you. I’ll pass that on to the gentleman who is here Monday to Thursday.”
Humphries looked confused, and Dermot told him: “Don’t worry, you memory is crystal clear.”
Alison, meanwhile, lost it completely.
Dermot added: “Thank you for your kind comments.”
Nevertheless, Humphries persisted with his praise for Dermot and told him: “Your bravery was amazing.”
Then, with a laugh, he added: “And by the way, we’re all in show business.”
This Morning viewers took to Twitter to share their reaction to the mix-up.
One fan wrote: “I don’t know what made me laugh more, the faux pas or Alison’s laugh.”
Another wrote: “Had me in absolute tears crying laughing, couldn’t stop, then Alison’s laugh was making me worse. Best medicine I’ve needed for a while, bloody loved it.”
A third fan said: “Dermot you were very gracious in your acceptance of congratulations for coming out last year, and passing them on to Phillip.”
