Ben Elton back on stage

Comedy icon brings “all new, all the same” set to the Ulumbarra

WHEN the chance came up for Ben Elton to get on the road for his first stand-up comedy tour of Australia in a decade-and-a-half, one thing was clear, he wanted to get out into the regions.

Like many of us, the prolific writer and creative behind legendary shows like The Young Ones, Blackadder and Upstart Crow has been trapped since the global pandemic hit.

In Elton’s case he’d been stuck in Perth for 12 months. While his wife is from there, he’d normally divide his time between the western capital and London.

“I wanted to do as much of Australia as I could this time as it’s been 15 years and also there’s been this dreadful year where we’ve had no live entertainment, no music, no theatre,” he said.

“I’m really not just excited, but quite emotional, getting back and being a part of what I hope will be an accelerated return to people being able to share art again.

“Art and culture are incredibly important parts of what being human is and while we all know why we had to take a break, we really need to be a part of getting that back together again.

“If my small show, my contribution, is playing Bendigo, I want to be part of a global return to live theatre.”

As it’s been a long time since Australians last got a chance to see the 40-year stand up veteran tread the boards solo with just a mic in hand and head full of cutting observations, Elton described what audiences can expect as “all new, all the same.”

All the same being his trademark pull no punches, comedy with meaning. All new being a lot has changed, even in the last 12 months.

“It’s definitely all new stuff,” he said. “If I was doing the greatest hits of 2005 I’d feel a bit ashamed of myself.

“I’ve been using this phrase, an awful kind of grim new phrase, people talk about ‘telling their truths, speaking their truths’.

“Well, I’ve been speaking my truth since I first got on a stage and started swearing for a living in 1981, and I’ll be continuing to do that.

“I give my impressions of myself and the world I live in and there’s an awful lot to talk about right now.

“I don’t believe in the kind of comedy that says, ‘oh, they’re all the same’. You know, political satire pretending to be satire but what they’re really saying is, ‘oh, they’re all idiots, they’re all fools’.

“You have to take a side in comedy. That doesn’t mean the audience has to agree with you, I think it’s funnier when they don’t, but whatever I’m talking about I’m giving my honest view on where I stand.”

Elton’s list of credits are long and include some of the most impactful TV shows, books, films and stage productions of his generation.

As a result his words and phrases are starting to enter people’s lexicon of everyday use, even if they don’t know it.

Yet Elton said he doesn’t think about the effect his creations are have on the zeitgeist as he’s writing, or afterwards.

“I’ve never thought about legacy. I don’t think about the past, I don’t think about the future. I think about the work I’m doing now,” he said.

“If a painter approaches a canvas thinking about the best thing they ever did, or the thing they’d like to make popular, then I don’t think it’ll be a very honest painting. All they can do is just paint, and all I’ve ever done is just write.

“I am aware of one thing and that’s the work I did in the 80s, often as part of a great team did enter the language.

“Young Ones and Blackadder speak kind of became part of the way people talked, and because I love language and language is the tool kit I take to work, so to have had some small influence is a source of great pleasure.”

Ben Elton is set to play the Ulumbarra Theatre on Wednesday, 21 April with a start time still to be confirmed. Tickets are on sale now via livenation.com.au.