Ben Elton Live 2021

Author of no fewer than 15 bestsellers; playwright; screenwriter of television series “The Young Ones”, “Blackadder” and its sequels, and “The Thin Blue Line” and two feature films; and originally famous as the comic host of “Saturday Live”, Ben Elton is presently touring Australia and New Zealand after an 85-date tour of Britain, his first standup tour in 15 years.  And it’s difficult to imagine that he’s not improving with age — despite the theme of his schtick, along the lines of how much he’s losing his grip as he moves into this sixties.

If there was a subject that Mr Elton was unwilling to pry into with both hands during his discreet talk to a packed Canberra Theatre, it wasn’t evident.  He spoke about… well, things you wouldn’t discuss with your mother-in-law, your daughter, your student, or… pretty-well anybody, really… and he did so with great feeling and in all seriousness.  And we were unable to stop ourselves from guffawing all the way through it.  Sex, politics, young people, music: it was all grist to his mill.  He effectively insulted the entire audience, mostly for our decrepitude at our relatively young ages (all but two of us, he said) of somewhere in the range “old age” — and he had the lot of us in the palm of his hand.

Any more persuasive and likeable, and Mr Elton would be positively dangerous.

This is about the most fun you could have with your clothes on (though nakedness frequently arose in conversation).  A man this entertaining deserves to make a living — even if, as he confesses, he no longer needs to — from his art; and, at the end of the evening, you’ll be so glad you donated to the cause.  If you can catch him on a stage, do.

John P. Harvey