Humphrey B. Bear (originally called "Bear Bear" until an on-air competition resulted in his renaming) is a honey-loving and sometimes very clumsy star of the long-running Australian series Here's Humphrey, which debuted on Adelaide's NWS-9 station in 1965 before being picked up by its interstate counterparts a little while later. Humphrey has been an influence on other popular Australian programmes such as Fat Cat & Friends and the original Bananas in Pyjamas due to the appeal of the suitmation concept. Moreover, Humphrey has won many awards and commendations including a "Citizen of the Year" award at the Australia Day celebrations in 1994.
Humphrey was initially an expy of Fredd Bear, star of Fredd Bear's Breakfast A-Go-Go (1964) and the ever popular Network Ten programme The Magic Circle Club (1965), but soon Humphrey gained unique characteristics such as a straw boater, tartan waist-coat and over-sized yellow bowtie. The show was well-loved by generations of Australian children and spawned much merchandising, including dolls, lunchboxes and later VHS tapes and DVDs.
However, even an insitution such as Here's Humphrey was not immune to backlash. Predating the Teletubbies' similar criticisms by about 20 years, many "experts" and parents feared the fact that Humphrey was a mute would have a harmful effect on their children in developing their communication skills. Humphrey, like his one-time rival Fat Cat, has also come under fire for not wearing any pants. Needless to say, criticism of this convention was not taken as seriously as the former. Today however, most of the criticism are not targeted at Humphrey himself, but at his co-hosts, specifically for talking down to the viewers.
The series went into hiatus in 2003 (the next few years' worth of programming was entirely sustained by reruns), but in 2007 Banksia Productions and the Nine Network recorded a new season's worth of shows to be transmitted that year. However, the series went into hiatus yet again the next year after it was found that Banksia Productions had not paid off all its debts. Humphrey was finally rescued once again by media tycoon Shane Yeend in February 2012, who bought the rights to Humphrey and is now planning a comeback.
In no relation to Disney's Humphrey the Bear.
Tropes:
- An Aesop: Most episodes teach life lessons revolving around song, dance, stories and the like.
- Beary Friendly: The titular character is supposed to be a Friend to All Children and Friend to All Living Things.
- Captain Ersatz:
- For twenty whole years, Fat Cat was this. Like Humphrey, Fat Cat is an oversized half-dressed animal (in this case, a cat) who never speaks and always has the help of young women to explain concepts to the pre-school audience. Eventually, Fat Cat was cancelled in 1992 in order for the Seven Network to make way for a new show, The Book Place.
- Humphrey himself was a Captain Ersatz of Fredd Bear in the mid-1960s. But really,
who remembers him?
- Enchanted Forest: Humphrey has his own tree house in the neighbouring "magic forest" and regularly goes on his adventures there.
- Friend to All Living Things: According to the theme song, Humphrey loves animals and trees.
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Humphrey does not wear pants.
- The Kiddie Ride: A single-seater car and a two-seater car, by Kiddie Rides Australia.
- Long-Runners: He's been around for a total of over fifty years.
- Lovely Assistant: In his show, Humphrey is aided by a young attractive woman (or sometimes a man) who make Humphrey's actions comprehensible to his young audience.
- Repetitive Name: Humphrey's full name is Humphrey Bear Bear.
- Viewers Are Morons: The host may be an attractive young woman, but she talks down to the viewers. It doesn't go down well with certain groups of people.
