It’s a serious business, this comedy lark. Well, it is for Ben Elton, anyway. It’s no laughing matter. Except when it is.
But don’t expect one liners and puns in an interview with the veteran British comedian, screenwriter and author. Because he’s a man on a mission. To make us laugh but, more to the point, to make us think about the state of the world.
The undisputed godfather of modern stand-up, who is now 65, is returning to our shores in 2025 with a new live show, Authentic Stupidity. He’s recently been trying it out on the Poms in his homeland before bringing it Down Under for a national tour, starting in Perth in March.
Elton is only really half a Pom nowadays. His wife Sophie Gare is Australian, he’s a dual citizen (he can therefore never be prime minister) and he divides his time between Western Australia and England.
So, what’s his new show about? It’s about a new existential threat that has emerged to challenge our very existence. Artificial Intelligence? Well, yes, but that’s not the greatest threat that we face. Even scarier than AI is AS – Authentic Stupidity.
“The verdict is in,” Elton says. “Humanity is thick. Homo halfwit. The idiot branch of the ape family. We need signs to tell us to step off escalators, we elect gibbering fools to lead us and now we’ve invented artificial intelligence, which is actually going to replace us!
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“I’ve spent 45 years in comedy exploring the outer limits of human idiocy and my mission has never been timelier. Forget AI. It’s AS we need to be worrying about.”
Elton’s multi-award-winning career spans more than four decades and includes seminal and groundbreaking television shows (The Young Ones, Blackadder, Upstart Crow), West End plays (Popcorn, Upstart Crow), West End musicals (We Will Rock You, The Beautiful Game, Close up: The Twiggy Musical), best-selling novels (Stark, Dead Famous, Two Brothers) and feature films (Maybe Baby, Three Summers, All is True).
In October last year Elton returned to the UK’s Channel 4 for a one-off revival of Friday Night Live, to rave reviews. The reincarnation of the original smash-hit Saturday Night Live was critically acclaimed and he won the 2023 BAFTA for comedy entertainment program.
He could easily rest on his laurels, but he won’t. He is enjoying being back on the road and his tour of England is exhaustive.
“But it’s also quite exhausting,” Elton says down the line from the UK. “I certainly don’t drink after gigs any more. I have to focus and keep fit.”
He’s business-like in an interview, quite serious and his message is really that both AI and AS are a threat.
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“AI will render the whole of humanity unemployed eventually,” Elton says. “I loathe it. What I do in my show is unpack the essential absurdities of existence. I do what I always do … point out my own foolishness and the foolishness of the world.”
Politics is firmly in the cross hairs.
“Politics has really gone stupid,” Elton says. “Authentic Stupidity includes a resurgence of fascism and everyone seems to be taking great comfort in stupidity. People know I’m quite a leftie but on stage it’s not about party politics.”
Some comedians tweak the material depending on where they are performing, but that’s not Ben Elton’s schtick.
“The show is universal,” he insists, “I have written a show that’s about everything for everyone. It’s general and universal. Our essential humanity is the same whether you’re in Baghdad or Birmingham.”
Or Adelaide, Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane or any of the other stops along the way on the forthcoming tour.
Elton is a fan of Australasian comedy with the late great John Clarke uppermost in his mind when we chat.
“I took part in a documentary series about John Clarke,” he says, “He was a true comedian. He understood our essential human weaknesses and how funny and small we are.”
Ben Elton’s Authentic Stupidity tour starts March 13 in Perth before heading to Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, Canberra, Thirroul, Newcastle, Brisbane and the Gold Coast.