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Ben Elton, autumn 2019 British tour

Started by Phoenix Lazarus, January 12, 2019, 05:01:04 PM

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TheMonk

Quote from: rue the polywhirl on September 09, 2019, 09:24:06 PM
How about a Blackadder return written by people who aren't Ben Elton? Surely everyone would be up for that. I feel a bit sad that Ben Elton is denying Tony Robinson and the rest of the old crew in this manner. I'd probably write a whole new series out of spite towards Elton.
Presumably a joke, but of anything I've ever read in here, this post is the one I disagree with the most.

poodlefaker

How about a new series, set in the 90s? Blackadder is now a comic actor, making a series with an annoying alternative comedian, a posh bloke dreaming of directing romantic comedies, and a bunch of Footlights types.

TheMonk

I don't know what's going on with this article but it's brilliant and I'm going to presume the quotes are accurate and he's had a brain aneurysm.
https://headlinezpro.com/ben-elton-speaks-to-event-about-his-renewed-reputation-and-comedy-in-the-social-media-age/

Twed

You're going to think the world has become a new, scary place that you don't understand anymore if I explain that article to you.

I think Ben Elton's kids are about student age, now.  Perhaps one of them could take up the Blackadder torch.

idunnosomename

Quote from: Ballad of Ballard Berkley on September 09, 2019, 08:44:04 PM
Ben Elton confirms that Blackadder will never ever return. GOOD. As he says, it's best left alone.

https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/news/5478/no_more_blackadder/
but but

The drummer would be called Bald Rick!!!!


Saw him tonight at the De Montfort Hall, Leicester. 

He got quite the cheer when recalling he'd appeared here with Rik Mayall, back in the 80s.  During the first half, he seemed to be a race to mention modern cultural tropes as he could, like gender politics and me too.  He had a go at Boris Johnson, saying that that though Spitting Image is coming back, no puppet could do justice to his grotesqueness.  He got quite serious at the first half's end by mentioning his father's final years with Alzheimer's disease, saying that if his father had had thirty seconds of clarity, he would have thrown himself out of the care home window, and that if he, Ben, were not afraid of a life sentence, he would have helped him.  He got some applause by then saying there needed to be a debate on assisted suicide.  The start of the second half lost me, with him going on about different beers and gins, now, plus rock salt.  I'm a non-drinker and don't eat rock salt, so I just assumed from the laughter going on that those things were funny if you knew about them.  He later went into a routine imagining his children's generation, becoming elderly and having sing-songs in a care home when old to songs with sexually explicit lyrics, which was mildly funny.  He ended quite seriously with fears of internet misinformation and distorted facts taking us back into a new dark age.

All in all, not brilliant but okay; some amusing bits; some thought-provoking bits; it got me out of the flat, and I got to have a nice meal at an Indian restaurant nearby just before the gig.

I was amused by one line, whose context I don't recall, but he was talking about the time since the first person called him a hypocrite for being a Labour party member 'while owning clothes and food.'  This got quite a laugh.

Bennett Brauer

Quote from: Phoenix Lazarus on October 17, 2019, 11:59:56 PM
I got to have a nice meal at an Indian restaurant nearby just before the gig.
So you're just a little farty?  Yesindeedbeneltonrelatedracismstillaliveontheinternetinthe21stcenturyladiesandgentlemenbevigilant

Coincidentally the only time I've seen him live was at De Montfort, and I was still in school. Motormouth tour, late '80s. I am old.




Captain Z

Quote from: Phoenix Lazarus on October 17, 2019, 11:59:56 PM
He later went into a routine imagining his children's generation, becoming elderly and having sing-songs in a care home when old to songs with sexually explicit lyrics, which was mildly funny.

This joke was done in The Vicar of Dibley.

Quote from: Bennett Brauer on October 18, 2019, 01:02:11 AM

Coincidentally the only time I've seen him live was at De Montfort, and I was still in school. Motormouth tour, late '80s. I am old.

The autumn '87 gig?  I was there.  I remember he got heckled then.  He didn't last night.

checkoutgirl

Quote from: Cold Meat Platter on September 06, 2019, 08:57:28 PM
Hope he does the "double seat" train stuff. Classic.
'Farties' ahaha.

What are farties again? I can't remember.

Quote from: checkoutgirl on October 18, 2019, 07:23:49 AM
What are farties again? I can't remember.

His term for those who were in some way incompetent, uncertain, insecure, and vulnerable, which he always said was pretty much everyone, including himself.

Bennett Brauer

Quote from: Phoenix Lazarus on October 18, 2019, 07:10:18 AM
The autumn '87 gig?  I was there.  I remember he got heckled then.  He didn't last night.

Yes. Queued up in St Martin's Records to get my Motormouth LP autographed. Psyched myself up to ask him about getting into comedy writing... ended up mumbling hello and thank you. But I think he sensed I was a future talent to look out for.

Lisa Jesusandmarychain



gloria

Saw him last night at the Lowry, Salford and it really was terrific. He taunts the audience about their expectations that'll he do a load of dad jokes about identity politics. When he does get around to the subject, it's with the same compassion and curiosity that characterised his last novel, Identity Crisis: the world has changed rapidly and older people who were once on the cutting edge of social issues are finding themselves playing catch-up. I also enjoyed a brilliant little routine about the pleasure of alcohol which morphs, via a touching discussion of his father's dementia, into a serious argument about assisted dying. At the end he received a standing ovation, which clearly surprised and moved him.

Quote from: gloria on October 25, 2019, 08:36:51 AM
Saw him last night at the Lowry, Salford and it really was terrific. He taunts the audience about their expectations that'll he do a load of dad jokes about identity politics. When he does get around to the subject, it's with the same compassion and curiosity that characterised his last novel, Identity Crisis: the world has changed rapidly and older people who were once on the cutting edge of social issues are finding themselves playing catch-up. I also enjoyed a brilliant little routine about the pleasure of alcohol which morphs, via a touching discussion of his father's dementia, into a serious argument about assisted dying. At the end he received a standing ovation, which clearly surprised and moved him.

Did he tell the story about a guy at one show shouting he was a cunt repeatedly then storming out after assuming Ben was opposed to Brexit when he'd expressed no opinion either way?

gloria

Quote from: Phoenix Lazarus on October 25, 2019, 06:33:25 PM
Did he tell the story about a guy at one show shouting he was a cunt repeatedly then storming out after assuming Ben was opposed to Brexit when he'd expressed no opinion either way?
Yes, horrible stuff. I like how even-handed Elton is about Brexit.